Looking for a low~medium budget Graphics Card?

[Haopeng Lin]

Title pretty much describes it all.
I'm moving my old parts in my computer into a new one and I need a graphics card.

My case is a Corsair Vengeance C70, so if has compatible with that.

 

[TechyInAZ]

How much are we talking exactly? Because graphics cards can cost up to $1000, so when I think medium i'm thinking $400 and low around $200-$250. Am I correct?

 

[jazzy663]

I think that's a bit much, I'd call a $400 card a high-end one. For lower-mid I would say something like a GTX 750 Ti. But still, we do need a price point.

Sharing the rest of your build would be beneficial as well.

 

[Haopeng Lin]

I think that's a bit much, I'd call a $400 card a high-end one. For lower-mid I would say something like a GTX 750 Ti. But still, we do need a price point.

Sharing the rest of your build would be beneficial as well.

I'd call $400 my max. I'm not looking for like a Titan Z. $150-200 is about what I mean by low- low medium.
I'm using these parts (some are from my old alienware)

CPU: Intel i7-4770 @ 3.4GHz
PSU: Corsair AX860 80+ Plat ATX
MOBO: Alienware 0PGRP5
HD: SeaGate 1TB
MEMORY: Hyundai HMT451U6AFR8C-PB DDR3 8GB 2 Modules 1,600 MHz
OPTICAL DRIVE: HL-DT-ST DVDRWBD CA40n
CASE: Corsair Vengeance C70

 

[Haopeng Lin]

If I were to get an Nvidia Card, what brand should I get?

EVGA, Zotac, ASUS, etc.

 

[jazzy663]

EVGA is, I think, the most popular vendor when it comes to Nvidia products. Though I do very much like the quality of Asus' products, their motherboards especially. Having never owned an Asus GPU though, I can't speak for their quality. You'll want to avoid Zotac, not because their cards are of lesser quality, but because the stock cooling units that they supply are usually not very good quality. Having owned a Zotac card I can confirm this.

Since $200 is your maximum, I would try to find a GTX 760 for around that price point. They have dropped in price with the release of the 900-series cards. I owned a GTX 760 (before upgrading to a 970) and it held up very well in today's games. Paired with an i7-4770 you will have a very decent rig.

But please don't disregard AMD cards, while games are less-often optimized for them there are advantages to choosing AMD over Nvidia, better memory bandwidth and lower prices, to name a few. Since $200 is your max, I would look for an R9 280 (non-X, though if you can find a 280X within your budget please do go for it). It will offer 384-bit/3GB over the 256-bit/2GB of the GTX 760. Since games are using more and more VRAM these days, this is the route I would go.

If you don't mind buying used (please keep in mind this is a greater risk), then you might be able to find a card that's a tier higher than the GPUs I listed that's within your budget.

Since you are moving your parts to a new case, I am sure you already know these things, but please:

-Make sure there is sufficient space in the case for the new card. Modern graphics cards are big.
-Make sure your power supply is up to the challenge of a new graphics card. Should be no worries there, though, the AX860 is a top-quality unit.
-Make sure there's sufficient cooling.

I hope I helped.