Super Budget Build GPU confusion

[F7GOS]

Morning folks, I've been out of the PC building game for a while. In fact my last build was an OC AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 2Gb Ram and an OCd ATi 9800 Pro. So over a decade ago! I moved onto Laptops and Consoles as they suited my gaming needs. I have an i7, Quadro, 32Gb workstation at the moment but really want to get back into building something for me.

I've decided to Build an Uber Budget 1080p30 gaming rig which will not get upgraded and is purely for the enjoyment of the build and tweaking.

Ill go over the specs first and then onto the question I have.

CPU: Pentium G3258
CPU Cooler: Stock
MB: MSI H81M-P33
RAM: 8Gb Corsair 1333Mhz DDR3
CASE: Generic Midi Tower
PSU: CiT 550W (80+ Bronze rated) (+3.3V: 8A, +5V: 8A, +12V1: 39A, -12V: 0.5A, +5VSB: 2.5A)
OS: Win 7 Pro
HDD: 1TB Seagate Barracuda.

All of the above (minus the OS and HDD which I have) comes in at about £190.

The aim is under £300.

As you will have noticed, I have omitted the GPU. Now this is where I am seriously struggling.. Back in the mid 00's GPU choosing seemed to be much easier... with better naming making things a LOT clearer on what was best.

Now its even more complicated seeing how older GPU's flood the used market and there are new revisions every few months!

In roughly the same £85-£110 bracket there are heaps of options, new and used the question is, what should I go for? a newer GPU with less power draw from the PSU or the older but more powerful card? will the 39A Single Rail PSU be able to cope with an older card?

The options for GPU are as follows and in no particular order of preference.

GTX-770
R9-280X
GTX-960
R7-370
750Ti

What would be a good match for the system I am building?

***Edit***
Thanks for the responses so far. Sounds like either the 770 or 280X is the way to go.

I notice that these cards have a "8+6" Power connection...

Excuse my Naievity... but WTF is that... The PSU i have specced has 2 x (6+2) PCiE connectors.. (I assume these are both 75W)

is that just a fancy way of saying (6+2) (6) with the (2) dangling about?

 

[n0ns3ns3]

the GTX 960 would be the most powerful/efficient option.
Though in many games you will be limited by CPU performance

 

[pete_101]

I would go for one of the more powerful cards. The GTX 770 and the R9 280X have a slight edge over the 960 and or quite a bit better than the other two. Both cards use a lot of power, but a 39A single rail should be more than enough, as the CPU isn't very demanding. Personally I would go for the R9 280X as it's newer and is 3GB vs 2GB.....unless you have found a 4GB version of the 770, then it might be better.

 

[hang-the-9]

I'd avoid that power supply, unless you are buying it for a gift for someone that stole your girlfriend or kicked you in the nuts. I have not seen a single good review of a CiT power supply, even though it's not widely seen. The 6+2 cables are 8 pin cables with detachable 2 pin to fit 6 pin PCIe power slots. But cheap power supply is as bad to use as cheap brakes and tires for your car. Sure they will work, but do you want crap tires when you have to stop from 60 when you are approaching a cliff? Same thing with cheap power supplies, they may work fine for a bit, but the chances of them frying and taking out the rest of your system are a lot higher than a good unit, you are basically gambling cheap cost now vs stability. At least get a Corsair CXM unit, while it's not very good either, it's at least a tier in quality over the one you picked.

 

[F7GOS]

Thanks for the advice.. the revised specification is slightly more costly £335 or $436 but takes on the advice for above.

CPU: Pentium G3258
CPU Cooler: Stock
MB: MSI H81M-P33
RAM: 8Gb Corsair 1333Mhz DDR3
CASE: Generic Midi Tower
PSU: Seasonic M12 Evo
OS: Win 7 Pro
HDD: 500GB Seagate Barracuda.
GPU: Radeon R9 280X

 

[JUICEhunter]

Switching to an i3 would be worth the extra cash as long as you're not doubling your cpu cost. You'd be holding onto it longer and possibly allowing one more GPU upgrade such as a 1060/480 before having to get another CPU.

 

[F7GOS]

Thanks, The G3258 should suffice for now. Like I mentioned in the OP, i've been out of the game for a decade and the open nature of the G3258 sounds like it will give me good scope to get up to speed again. If a year down the line I think I really need a new CPU then ill flog the G (which, if its anything like special edition CPUS in the past will hold its value better) and buy a used i5 as 1150 chips will be going for peanuts by then :lol:

Bumping up to an i3 looks like it would add a minimum of £40 (or $52) - Might have been possible but it looks as if the PSU is the buzz word now so I stretched the budget out to cover a Teir 2 unit.