Opinions on this graphics card

[GollyJolly]

Hey guys, doing a budget build and strongly considering this card. It's fairly new so there aren't a mountain of reviews to judge from. What do you guys think of this card?

Here is my build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Krbk8d

Here is a direct link to the card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131595

I'm a new builder so any feedback is very appreciated, thanks for taking the time to answer.

 

[maestro0428]

Not a bad card. Not my first choice of manufacturers, for AMD, it would be Sapphire or ASUS. You have some good choices too. I would switch to 2x4GB ram instead so you get dual channel performance.

 

[GollyJolly]

So overall seems to be a good buy? Also, what is dual channel performance? (First build so I'm a total newbie)

 

[maestro0428]

There are four slots on the motherboard for memory. Two sets of two for dual channel memory operation (in other words, more performance). Yeah, I say the build looks good. Everyone is a noob once, no problem.

 

[GollyJolly]

Awesome, thanks for the feedback!

 

[maestro0428]

You bet.

 

[xDarkxIdealsx]

Yeah the R9 285 is good but as maestro said the brand isn't the best, something like Sapphire or Gigabyte is a better manufacturer. What's your max budget for a graphics card? I would honestly recommend getting a Sapphire R9 290 Tri-x rather than the 285 since it has double the VRAM (4GB vs 2GB) and is a good amount faster. It was only around $260 on newegg but sold out recently so that might not be an option.

The R9 290X Tri-X is like $350, but honestly for that price you would be FAR better off Getting a GTX970, i just got a Gigabyte G1 gaming GTX970 and i'm getting well over 60fps in even the most demanding games like The Evil Withing, Metro 2033, Crysis 3 etc.. at 1080p with max settings, even at 1440p i get 50+ in most games maxed out. An R9 285 would probably get around 12-15fps lower than a GTX970 on average, with an R9 290 getting around 8-10fps lower than the 970 and a 290X being around 6-8fps lower. You could take off some cost by either not getting an SSD or getting a 1TB hard drive rather than 2, or perhaps a slightly cheaper mobo if you can't afford a more expensive GPU. T

he GTX970 G1 is the highest rated of all 970's and it's $369, the Gigabyte GVN970OIX mini-itx card is only $339 and had a rebate on it iirc, it's a very small card which is a bonus but doesn't have the huge overclocking and 3 fans like the G1 does. The middle Ground would be something like the ASUS strix 970.

If you really can't afford something like the 290 or 290X Tri-x then a 280X tri-x would still be a fair amount more powerful than the 285 if you want the best gaming fps/performance


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202125&cm_re=R9_280X-_-14-202-125-_-Product

^ This is a link to an R9 280X for $214 with a rebate that takes it down to $199 so it's the same price as the 285 you linked.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125505&cm_re=R9_290-_-14-125-505-_-Product

^This is a middle ground option, an R9 290 for $269 with a $30 rebate taking it down to $239, this GPU would be much better than the R9 285 you picked out, so if you can't get a GTX970 i'd reccomend this one. or if you'd prefer ASUS here's an ASUS R9 290 for $289 with $20 rebate = $269

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121842&cm_re=R9_290-_-14-121-842-_-Product

 

[xDarkxIdealsx]

Here's my reccomendation for a slightly higher budget setup if you can afford a little more, but not a GTX970 setup.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

Overview: Better, but slightly cheaper RAM, Slightly cheaper but equal hard drive, R9 290 GPU, better monitor that's a bit more expensive (TN panel isn't as good as IPS especially a 5ms TN like that Acer one.) Slightly better case, has a window to see your parts and show off for a couple dollars more, windows 7 instead of 8 (trust me, you do NOT want windows 8 it's horrible. it sounds good at first, but once you start it up it's a disaster if you don't have a touchscreen monitor. There's even a few games that won't work on windows 8 no matter what you do such as Total war shogun 2 and a couple others along with some older games.)

 

[GollyJolly]

I've already bought everything on the original list except for the video card, OS and case. I actually was considering the Sapphire R9 280X but I was worried it would be too big. And honestly, it's more expensive and I can't afford a whole lot. As long as I can hit 60 FPS at 1080p in my games I should be happy which you apparently can with the 285. I know the 280x might give an edge but I don't think it's a huge improvement to justify the cost. Thanks for all the feedback thought, I really appreciate it. I believe the 285 card I bought is a solid option, may not be the best but from what I've read it can hold it's own.

Thanks again for taking the time to give me some feedback, I really appreciate it!

 

[xDarkxIdealsx]

I've already bought everything on the original list except for the video card, OS and case. I actually was considering the Sapphire R9 280X but I was worried it would be too big. And honestly, it's more expensive and I can't afford a whole lot. As long as I can hit 60 FPS at 1080p in my games I should be happy which you apparently can with the 285. I know the 280x might give an edge but I don't think it's a huge improvement to justify the cost. Thanks for all the feedback thought, I really appreciate it. I believe the 285 card I bought is a solid option, may not be the best but from what I've read it can hold it's own.

Thanks again for taking the time to give me some feedback, I really appreciate it!

Well, i kind of doubt you can hit 60fps at 1080p with a 285 but if you overclock it you might, it depends on what games you play. Things like Diablo 3, Bioshock infinite or Skyrim etc.. you should be able to hit 60fps fine, but on games like Watch Dogs, The Evil Within, Metro 2033/last light, Crysis 3, Shadow of Mordor etc.. you'll get ~40fps unless you turn down settings to accomodate.

Btw, the reason i reccomended that case was for the R9 280X, i know it's longer so i picked a case that has room for up to 13 inch video cards, i just put in a Gigabyte GTX970 G1 in there which is a huge 12.2 inch card with 100mm fans in it so it has plenty of space. I'll also mention again how horrible windows 8 is and how i hate it so much, just to let you know in case you've never used it lol.

And just for the record, the 280X isn't really more expensive than the 285 by much, you can get a top of the line brand Sapphire R9 280X tri-x 3 fan card for $199 which would give you a fair amount more power than a generic powercolor 285

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202125&cm_re=280x_tri-x-_-14-202-125-_-Product

But hey, if the 285 is good enough then don't worry