Upgrading dated ATI Radeon HD 5750 to....??

[deusvolt]

Hi all, Waes Hael!

I am looking to upgrade my somewhat dated ATI Radeon HD 5750, which I must admit has served me extremely well over the years.
Initially I thought I would go for a budget stop-gap card (I can hear the groans already) something like the Nvidia Geforce 730 2gb GDDR5 (made bGigabyte, yes it does have 2gb GDDR5) for £60.

Really what I want to use the card for is not so much the latest games (unless they go on massive sale or the Humble Bundle!) but I do want to get the most out of my monitor which is 1920x1080, and apparently that card is fairly poor at that resolution. I would also like to make the jump to Nvidia although this is by no means essential. Oh and watching a fair few videos etc. HDMI and DVI a must, as I need to get a digital projector soon 😉

I currently play a lot of Chivalry Medieval Warfare (living in the past!), Far Cry 3 (heavily modded) but also might jump onto Rome 2 Total War soon and I am salivating at the thought of Mount & Blade 2, and looking forward to Far Cry 4 once it gets within budget (I generally don't buy games for more than £10 and even then that's splashing out!)

As you might have surmised I am an old school gamer, and am happily ploughing through the backlog of 'new' games. I was mightily pleased when I saw the original Strife on sale the other day. Awesome.

Following the advice post: I'm not really looking to overclock much, had some bad experience in the past :/ lol, and I am based in the UK and not fussed over vendor though I will avoid the likes of Scan etc as they have a bad reputation. I bought an EVGA PSU that blew the fuses in my plugs and it took me a while to work it out - EVGA customer service didn't even answer me, so I am against using them.

Any advice for a card in the ~£80 mark would be much appreciated. I can appreciate a lot of folks will say spend x more for a bit extra, but that's not really an option, although of course with an enticing sale or a 'leaps-and-bounds ahead of the rest at the price' card that can be made to happen.
I'd also like to thank you all in advance for your opinions and if you can also spare a moment to glance at my rig specs below and take these under consideration, I understand my HDD is a bottleneck for load times, but it will be a long time before I go Solid (that's what..she? said...)

Rig:
Ati Radeon HD 5750
8gb DDR3 RAM 4x2gb
Intel i5 2400,
Intel DQ67SW (SKTH)
430w XFX PSU
2 HDDs SATA 7200

EDIT:
I have seen the R7 250X 2GB GDDR5 made by Powercolor for £77.00 on Ebuyer
http://www.ebuyer.com/645018-powercolor-r7-250x-2gb-gddr5-vga-dvi-hdmi-pci-e-graphics-card-axr7-250x-2gbd5-he

Can anyone confirm if Powercolor are a reputable make? This looks like a bang-on-the-money solution.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Creme]

I think the jump to the 7850/R7 265/R7 370 (they're all the same) is worth it for 1080p. 32 ROPs makes a difference.

Try to get a used 7850 (2GB) or discounted R7 265. If it's too much, a R7 260X 2GB is still good.

 

[deusvolt]

I think the jump to the x/R7 265/R7 370 (they're all the same) is worth it for 1080p. 32 ROPs makes a difference.

Try to get a used 7850 (2GB) or discounted R7 265. If it's too much, a R7 260X 2GB is still good.

What's the 2nd hand GPU market like? I would have thought it would be full of knackered cards...?

Won't the R7 250X 2GB GDDR5 run 1080p modern games but on med-low settings....?
🙁

 

[Creme]

I think the jump to the x/R7 265/R7 370 (they're all the same) is worth it for 1080p. 32 ROPs makes a difference.

Try to get a used 7850 (2GB) or discounted R7 265. If it's too much, a R7 260X 2GB is still good.

What's the 2nd hand GPU market like? I would have thought it would be full of knackered cards...?

Won't the R7 250X 2GB GDDR5 run 1080p modern games but on med-low settings....?
🙁

Oh it will, but it's not as future proof. I had a 7770 2GB (same thing) and I ran most games at 1080p medium-high settings at decent framerates (depends on the game, highest was Alien Isolation, maxed out at 50fps).

Just make sure to only use post-AA (SMAA, FXAA, MLAA), as the memory bandwidth is not that high.

 

[deusvolt]

I think the jump to the x/R7 265/R7 370 (they're all the same) is worth it for 1080p. 32 ROPs makes a difference.

Try to get a used 7850 (2GB) or discounted R7 265. If it's too much, a R7 260X 2GB is still good.

What's the 2nd hand GPU market like? I would have thought it would be full of knackered cards...?

Won't the R7 250X 2GB GDDR5 run 1080p modern games but on med-low settings....?
🙁

Oh it will, but it's not as future proof. I had a 7770 2GB (same thing) and I ran most games at 1080p medium-high settings at decent framerates (depends on the game, highest was Alien Isolation, maxed out at 50fps).

Just make sure to only use post-AA (SMAA, FXAA, MLAA), as the memory bandwidth is not that high.

Ok thanks very much

I'm wondering why I am seeing the same cards for 1gb and 2gb variants, the 1gb more expensive but made by a better known brand, is the difference in brand quality enough to negate double the memory....?

For example:

Sapphire AMD Radeon R7 250X Graphics Card (1GB, GDDR5, PCI Express 3.0) £77
vs
VTX3D AMD Radeon R7 250X Graphics Card (2GB, GDDR5, PCI Express 3.0) £71

Confuses me - I'll still go with the 2gb option, though I guess the parts won't be as high quality.

 

[Creme]

The Sapphire cooler might be better and it will probably last longer, but for short-medium term the VTX3D is fine.

 

[deusvolt]

The Sapphire cooler might be better and it will probably last longer, but for short-medium term the VTX3D is fine.

Thanks buddy, much appreciated
Now I'm locked between GTX 750 vs R7 250X.... xD
But that's a new thread....

 

[Creme]

The Sapphire cooler might be better and it will probably last longer, but for short-medium term the VTX3D is fine.

Thanks buddy, much appreciated
Now I'm locked between GTX 750 vs R7 250X.... xD
But that's a new thread....

GTX 750 is slightly better, about on par with a R7 260.

 

[deusvolt]

The Sapphire cooler might be better and it will probably last longer, but for short-medium term the VTX3D is fine.

Thanks buddy, much appreciated
Now I'm locked between GTX 750 vs R7 250X.... xD
But that's a new thread....

GTX 750 is slightly better, about on par with a R7 260.

Thanks again!
Mind if I ask how about GTX750 vs the R7 260X? Both 2GB GDDR5, I've spotted an OEM version of the 260X and they are basically the same price...some reviews peg them as neck and neck, some say 260X is much better :/
I am thinking the lower energy and heat of the Nvidia card might be of benefit to me...hmmmm

 

[Creme]

R7 260X competes with the 750 Ti, so it's above the 750. Previously the 750 Ti was ahead of the 260X, but since then new drivers have reversed that.

Get whichever is cheaper, if they're the same price, the 750 Ti's lower power consumption might be of a benefit to you, though it's not a big factor in cards of this class (which consume less than 100w in typical gaming), unless your power supply is very weak. If it was a 290X vs 970 it would be a bigger factor.