I have 150$, what could get me the most bang for my buck

[LC1331]

I know there are tons of threads out there just like this one, but I wanted to ask anyway. I'm looking for a budget card. I have 150$ to spend on one. What can I get? Any and all suggestions are welcome. I use my graphics card mainly for gaming, if that's important.

 

[tropical8878]

You should get a GTX 950 like this one http://amzn.to/1Jppj52 as its the best gaming card in that price range.

here is some benchmarks
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asus-geforce-gtx-950-strix,4270.html

 

[photonboy]

I'd agree on the GTX950.

While AMD could be a valid alternative, it's not quite that simple. For one thing if you have a relatively weak CPU then go with NVidia since there's a big difference in performance at times due to inefficient DX11 driver support from AMD. Lots of benchmarks on that.

NVidia has great support and features that AMD doesn't even have such as PhysX. Going forward I think GSync is a superior monitor tech to Freesync in terms of upgradeability and how the MINIMUM end of asynchronous works (what happens if you drop below 30FPS on NVidia or 40FPS for AMD).

I will take a quick glance at pricing and performance. I do still recommend AMD when the value is worth it.

 

[photonboy]

Benchmark:
I know one exists above but this one is an AVERAGE of roughly 20 games and easier to use:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_950_STRIX_OC/30.html

Basically comparable (raw performance) to an R9-270X (or R9-380?) though that's not the whole story. I'd give AMD the benefit of having more VRAM for some cards though frankly I still have a GTX680 2GB which works really great for me. At this price/performance level I think 2GB is fine.

Pricing:
The above listed GTX950 2GB was $160USD. The R9-270X/R9-380 cards are closer to $200USD from my quick look.

Frankly, I can't see any solid reasons to get a different card from the GTX950.

 

[Bryan121813]

It depends, if you count rebates/discounts. If you do, there is a refurbished GTX 960 for I believe $155 on Newegg and if they still have the Visa checkout promo, you can get it at $145. Don't worry, I bought the same refurbished card in my system 2 weeks ago and it works fine. Now if you think that's a little too risky, get a GTX 950 which is exactly the GTX 960 with around 17% less performance, but outperforms anythi g in that price range by like 30%