Need help with GPU Upgrade (Please)

[aram444]

Hello, I'll first start off with my PC Specs then go further into my question.
OS: Windows 8.1 32 bit (PAE Unlocked so >4GB RAM Usable)(+3GB Switch is on)
GPU: Nvidia GTS 450 1GB GDDR5
MOBO: M4N68T-M Series Asus Xtreme Design motherboard
AMD PHENOM B55 X4 3.20 GHz (Was originally dual core but mobo let me core unlock to 4)
PSU: NAXN 550 Watt
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Alpine 11 Pro Rev. 2
HDD: 1TB Hitachi 7200 RPM.
RAM: Two 2GB RAM Sticks DDR3

Ok, I have around $200-$225 as my budget for a new GPU because recently I have bought DayZ and also want to get BF4 soon and The Division in the future. So I have found 2 GPU's and I am stuck between which one to buy. These two cards are http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8687104&sku=JIE-102120916
and http://www.frys.com/product/7573456?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

I was looking up specs of the cards and for the EVGA card it says 8GB of RAM Strongly recommended for the GPU. Do I really need 8GB? If I do should I just get the radeon because I only have 2 RAM slots, and RAM is expensive. Please if someone could help me that would be greatly appreciated. I play DayZ on everything very low except HDR being low instead of very low, and I just want to upgrade my GPU. If someone could tell me which card is more compatible/better with my system I would appreciate that! Thank you!

 

[CraigN]

Either card will work fine on your system.

8GB of RAM is quickly becoming the new "recommended" for games, with 4 GB being the minimum. You can still get by with 4 for awhile longer, but you may want to look into that as another upgrade down the line, as I've seen BF4 get up to 5 or 6 GB of RAM at max settings (You won't be playing with everything on ultra with one of those cards on BF4, however, just giving it as an example). You can easily pick up 2x4GB sticks for $60-65 US.

That being said however, you're definitely going to need to switch from 32-bit Windows to 64 bit if you plan to up your RAM...

 

[aram444]

What about the differences in Directx. How much better is it getting a DX 11.2 card than a DX 11?
Also what card is superior in terms of effectiveness?

 

[CraigN]

The 270 is the direct competitor to the GTX 660 (non-Ti verson). As such, they are likely to perform very similarly, with the 270 having advantages in most ATI optimized games and Nvidia having the advantage (sometimes) in most Nvidia optimized games. I'd say pick whichever company you like better at this price point.


There are hardly any games using DirectX 11.2 at the moment, as it's 8.1 exclusive. You will most likely have your next video card before it's of any consequence to you.

 

[aram444]

Final question I have is checking these 2 cards to see which one is better. The FTW edition or the SC ediiton.
FTW: http://www.frys.com/product/7940210?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
SC: http://www.frys.com/product/7573456?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

I was a reading another thread discussing this and someone said the FTW is better because it's on a Nvidia board, but I just want to make sure since you are an Nvidia expert

 

[CraigN]

They're different labels for EVGA's tier of overclocking.
Superclocked is the first tier
FTW is the middle tier
Classified is the highest tier.

So Classified > FTW > Superclocked.

The idea is, the better the yield is on the graphics chip they get, the higher EVGA can get a stable overclock out of it without a drastically different cooling setup. So they bin their items as 3 different tiers based on what stable out of the box overclock they can achieve.

Hope that helps!

 

[aram444]

Ok thank you!