GTX 950 adequate for 1080p Gaming on my System?

[JapesFaw]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to get a GPU for my new-ish system (I'm currently just running onboard graphics), I'll be gaming at 1080p, and would like to play new titles like FarCry 4, GTA V, NBA2K15, Need For Speed etc.

Would a GTX 950 be a good choice with my current specs?

CPU - i3 4360 3.7Ghz
Memory - 8gb 1600Mhz
PSU - 500watt Gigabyte Powerock
Motherboard - MSI B85m-E45

I'm also considering the GTX 960, but am not sure if it's worth it for such minimal performance increase?

Also, I live in South Africa, so just a 950 will set me back at least $250.

Any feedback or wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

 

[geofelt]

I like your plan.

A good rule of thumb for a balanced gamer is to budget 2x the cpu cost for the graphics card.
I think you are good there.
And... a GTX960 would be appropriate too.

Worth is something only YOU can determine.
In my experience, I have never regretted buying the stronger product.
I have often regretted compromising on something cheaper.

 

[davmazin]

the best option for 1080p is the gtx 970, but since you cant go with that the 960 should be the one you must get

 

[blazorthon]

If you get the GTX 960 and ever run into a performance problem, you definitely won't be wishing you'd gotten the GTX 950 instead. If you get the GTX 950 and run into a performance problem, you may wish you'd gotten the GTX 960 instead. With that said, the performance difference really isn't much, granted the price difference isn't usually huge here in the USA either. If the 960 is no more than about $300 instead of $250 for the 950, then I'd consider it. If it's past that point, then it probably isn't worth the cost.

 

[Zyb3r]

Hello

I think for your current config the GTX 950 will be a good choice. I also live in SA and GPUs here are damn expensive. The price difference between the 2 is not that big, so I think I would rather go for the GTX 960. That way you get a little headroom into the future since you would probably not want to buy one again in the near future. So in my opinion 960 > 950, but both cards will be good with the rig, depends if you mind dishing out the extra R200 - R500 for the 960.

Hope this helps

 

[Guest]

Guy paying 250$ for a 950?? D: wtf ??? I would start looking at amd immidiatelly
I bought my gigabyte gtx 970 g1 gaming for 220$ (brand new 3 year warranty and stuff)

And i still think i should have gone with amd r9 300 series (even if it costs a bit more)
8gb vram and stuff amd is now the better value even for somebody buying nvidia relatively cheap
(And im playing in 1440x900 btw so 1080p its even more true to you as the higer your res is the more vram matters)

 

[blazorthon]

Prices vary by region. Have a look at Australian prices; they're very high too.

 

[Guest]

Yes i know im just saying that buying a gtx 950 for 250$ is totally not worth it if prices would be that high here i would just quit gaming lol 😀
Im suggesting to take a look at the prices on amd gpus as thoes might be better options also the r9 380 is worlds better than anything suggested so far and also tend to be cheaper and i would buy an r9 390x for 440$ (its price here) before buying a gtx 970 for half its price (i have the 970 bcs the 300 series were far from release when i bought it :/ )

 

[blazorthon]

Not everyone is going to quit gaming over an extra $100 for a graphics card. It's worth it to many people, but sure, we could look at AMD prices too.

 

[Guest]

^^ sure its just me i was just suprised is all 😀

 

[JapesFaw]

Thanks for all the advice guys, you've all made some really great points! And yeah, I know it's ridiculous in terms of pricing, but hey you've gotta do what you can with what you can get!

I actually just found this 960 on a local site, it's a gigabyte one, but it's small form as opposed to the larger sized version - is there a difference between the physically smaller 960s compared to full form ones? This is the one I'm looking at - http://www.takealot.com/gigabyte-nvidia-gtx-960-oc-edition-2gb-graphics-card/PLID40400814

Thoughts?

 

[Guest]

Np its a gtx 960 with all its aspects and preformance i think it wont be as cool or oc as high as bigger models but will perform like any other 960 😉
But how about an r9 380? Just take a look its worlds better than the gtx 960 trust me

 

[jerdle]

Gigabyte offers an r9 380 on that website that costs less than the 960 - and the r9 380 outperforms the 960. As has been said before, look at the AMD cards.

 

[Zyb3r]

Guy paying 250$ for a 950?? D: wtf ??? I would start looking at amd immidiatelly
I bought my gigabyte gtx 970 g1 gaming for 220$ (brand new 3 year warranty and stuff)

And i still think i should have gone with amd r9 300 series (even if it costs a bit more)
8gb vram and stuff amd is now the better value even for somebody buying nvidia relatively cheap
(And im playing in 1440x900 btw so 1080p its even more true to you as the higer your res is the more vram matters)

Unfortunately its not just Nvidia, it is all computer related things here.Your GTX 970 G1 will cost about $500 here.

 

[Guest]

:/ 🙁 still buy the r9 380 its great even costing as much as it does there 😉

 

[Bence0421]

I chose R9 380 4GB and i wont regret it. just installed fallout 4 and settings are ultra high at 1080p