New graphic card for PC

[rand0miz3r]

Hi
This question might be asked alot but I really chould use some advice. I'm looking for a new video card in normal price range (150-250€). Since I really don't know much about graphic cards I was hoping for some useful tips/advice.

My specs:
CPU: DualCore IntelCore i5 650, 3333 MHz
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series
RAM: 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
OS: Windows 7 Professional

 

[rapidflyhigh]

r9 280

 

[Eggz]

What country are you in? And what power supply unit (PSU) to you have?

If prices are similar in your country, and you have enough power on your PSU, I'd say the GTX 960 is a pretty good card or your system.

 

[rand0miz3r]

I have CHIEFTEC 550W but that will be probably swapped out too. And I live in Estonia. Oh and reason for videocard is to play GTA V in high resolution, if that changes anything.

 

[jerdle]

For hi res? 960 not the right choice. I wouldn't get anything less than an R9 285 for high resolution, preferably an R9 280X or even better an R9 290. Unsure of what the prices are there.

 

[Eggz]

GTA V will take just about as much as you would throw at it. When you say "high-resolution," do you mean 1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840 x 2160, or higher? The 960 will do 1920x1080 with most setting up most of the way, and it will look good. For higher than that, the rest of your system would be the bottleneck. Getting a better card would give some performance, but you wouldn't get the full performance of the card because the CPU wouldn't always be able to feed information to the GPU fast enough. That said, getting a GTX 980 would still make your graphics much faster than a 960. It just depends on how much you can spend.

 

[rand0miz3r]

Well this has been some kind of an eye opener. Thanks for the replys. One question about, for example, gtx 960 - there are 2 differet kind of memory sizes on these, one is 2 gb and other is 4 gb - Which one should I choose? Or what is the difference?

And I'd rather not watch cards over 250 €
GTX 960 around ~205€ and R9 280 around ~230€ in my region
Also I read from this forum that people tend to say that R9 280x is better. Which should I prefer then?

 

[Eggz]

Having 2GB will be fine for most loads the 960 is capable of handing, but having 4GB will cover the rare situation where 2GB isn't enough. I'd say it's worth the upgrade only if the price is very similar. As for the 280, it will be very similar in performance to the 960 (a bit faster though), but it will also draw more power (and thus be a little louder and hotter). Given your PSU, I'd say the 960 is a safer bet, but I also don't think the 280 would be risky.

 

[rand0miz3r]

Last question:
Which one of these would you suggest? Because I don't get the difference between these 3. Also these prices are in my region.

Gigabyte (205€) - http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5373#ov
EVGA (215€)- http://www.evga.com/articles/00895/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-960/
MSI (215€)- http://www.msi.com/product/vga/GTX-960-GAMING-2G.html#hero-overview

 

[Eggz]

All three are basically the same. The extra 10€ on the EVGA and MSI is for the slight overclock they do for you before shipping out. It gives a slight boost to the chip, but it's still the same chip.

Those coolers are all more than sufficient for the card, so the difference between them will be negligible. All three are good companies too.

That said, EVGA is great to deal with if you have any issues. They have nice people who are easy to get in touch with for problems and replacements.

 

[rand0miz3r]

Thanks for all the help!

 

[rand0miz3r]

Hi
I forgot to mention earlier my motherboard which is Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L
Does that change anything or I can still go with GTX 960

 

[rapidflyhigh]

I have CHIEFTEC 550W but that will be probably swapped out too. And I live in Estonia. Oh and reason for videocard is to play GTA V in high resolution, if that changes anything.

Hi
I forgot to mention earlier my motherboard which is Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L
Does that change anything or I can still go with GTX 960

dont worry it will run just fine

 

[Creme]

R9 280 or 280X if the price is close.

On the Nvidia side, a 670 or 770.

 

[rand0miz3r]

R9 280 or 280X if the price is close.

On the Nvidia side, a 670 or 770.

Nvidia 670/770 instead of GTX 960? Or I don't understand atm

 

[Creme]

R9 280 or 280X if the price is close.

On the Nvidia side, a 670 or 770.

Nvidia 670/770 instead of GTX 960? Or I don't understand atm

They are better than the 960. The R9 280 and 670 are about the same and cheaper but the 280 has more VRAM (unless you buy more expensive 4GB versions). The 280X matches the 770 and both handily beat the 960.