Which Card do i buy??

[CGurrell]

I've been looking around on amazon since i have some vouchers to spend and I've seen a few Graphics Cards that i like the look of, however i'm a total noob when it comes to Graphics Cards. These are the cards that I have seen:

1. Gigabyte R9 270x 4GB BF4 Edition ~£185

2. VTX3D r9 280x 3GB ~£200

3. Multiple Sapphire R9 270x cards (None of which i can understand, unfortunately I cant get the toxic, a friend brought his to mine to see if it would fit in my case, a Zalman Z11, turns out no). ~£140-170

I'm just wondering if anybody here has had any experience with these cards, and/or whether or not there's a better GTX card for £200 or less? Also, as long as it's under £200, price isn't really an issue for any of these cards, but value for money would be good, don't wanna end up with some 512mb 1mhz card for £170.

Thanks guys

Chris

 

[theonerm2]

Definitely get the R9 280x.

 

[CGurrell]

Definitely get the R9 280x.

Would cooling be an issue though? It doesn't look like it has the best fans compared to the gigabyte card, like i said i'm a noob so i'm probably 100% wrong 😛

 

[theonerm2]

Definitely get the R9 280x.

Would cooling be an issue though? It doesn't look like it has the best fans compared to the gigabyte card, like i said i'm a noob so i'm probably 100% wrong 😛

Cooling wouldn't be an issue at all on this card.

 

[GingerSloth]

I would say the R9 280x. BF4 Edition basically means nothing, just a marketing ploy. However, it seems like you like your AMDs. Have you considered Nvidia? You can pick up a brand new Nvidia 770 for around £210 (Gainward brand) from some reliable sellers on eBay. I have had a lot of problems with AMD but that could just be a personal thing. Never had a problem with Nvidia.

 

[theonerm2]

I would say the R9 280x. BF4 Edition basically means nothing, just a marketing ploy. However, it seems like you like your AMDs. Have you considered Nvidia? You can pick up a brand new Nvidia 770 for around £210 (Gainward brand) from some reliable sellers on eBay. I have had a lot of problems with AMD but that could just be a personal thing. Never had a problem with Nvidia.

I have a GTX 770 myself. It's a very good card. The 280x might be much better if Mantle catches on though.

 

[Lman8786]

Don't buy a card just for Mantle! Same thing could be said about PhysX and Shadowplay, it all comes down to the best price for performance. Which I think is Nvidia (personal opinion) but don't buy cards just for the features buy for the performance AMD or Nvidia, or if it comes down to features think of what games you play, such as Battlefield 4, then go with AMD or games such as Assians Creed 4 go with Nvidia.

 

[theonerm2]

Don't buy a card just for Mantle! Same thing could be said about PhysX and Shadowplay, it all comes down to the best price for performance. Which I think is Nvidia (personal opinion) but don't buy cards just for the features buy for the performance AMD or Nvidia, or if it comes down to features think of what games you play, such as Battlefield 4, then go with AMD or games such as Assians Creed 4 go with Nvidia.

With R9 280x vs GTX 770 I'd sure say it comes down to what features you want in the card because performance and price is so close between those cards. Right now I surely wouldn't buy a card just for Mantle because it may not catch on and there's Directx 12 around the corner too. Maybe in the future Mantle will be a good selling point. I'd rather have Shadowplay and Physx for the time being because those are features I use and enjoy. Mantle is very compelling though because it offers a good 15% performance boost more or less.

 

[Lman8786]

Don't buy a card just for Mantle! Same thing could be said about PhysX and Shadowplay, it all comes down to the best price for performance. Which I think is Nvidia (personal opinion) but don't buy cards just for the features buy for the performance AMD or Nvidia, or if it comes down to features think of what games you play, such as Battlefield 4, then go with AMD or games such as Assians Creed 4 go with Nvidia.

With R9 280x vs GTX 770 I'd sure say it comes down to what features you want in the card because performance and price is so close between those cards. Right now I surely wouldn't buy a card just for Mantle because it may not catch on and there's Directx 12 around the corner too. Maybe in the future Mantle will be a good selling point. I'd rather have Shadowplay and Physx for the time being because those are features I use and enjoy. Mantle is very compelling though because it offers a good 15% performance boost more or less.

Nicely said, also IF Mantle ever catches on, it will be open source so Nvidia could use it aswell. Nvidia is the king of GPU's right now so I think they will always be a little on top, just as they are now with Physx, Shadowplay, better game compatibility, and all that good stuff.

 

[CGurrell]

Thanks for your input guys, when I asked this last night I was a little drowsy and forgot to add that I am using a Corsair CX500M PSU, would this be able to handle an R9 280x (or a GTX 770)?

 

[CGurrell]

I would say the R9 280x. BF4 Edition basically means nothing, just a marketing ploy. However, it seems like you like your AMDs. Have you considered Nvidia? You can pick up a brand new Nvidia 770 for around £210 (Gainward brand) from some reliable sellers on eBay. I have had a lot of problems with AMD but that could just be a personal thing. Never had a problem with Nvidia.

I probably would go for a 770 for £210 if it was on amazon as I have vouchers, without them my budget is pretty much halved

 

[theonerm2]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/COLORFUL-iGame770-2GD5-Ymir-U-GeForce-Graphic/dp/B00H7URDT2/ref=sr_1_27?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1396955889&sr=1-27&keywords=GTX+770

How about this one?

 

[CGurrell]

How does that compare with the 280x? It's a little outside my budget atm but I can probably stretch it

 

[theonerm2]

How does that compare with the 280x? It's a little outside my budget atm but I can probably stretch it

They perform very close to one another. So get whichever is priced lower. With Nvidia you get shadow play, PhysX, and adaptive V sync. Consider whether or not those features are important to you.

 

[CGurrell]

How does that compare with the 280x? It's a little outside my budget atm but I can probably stretch it

They perform very close to one another. So get whichever is priced lower. With Nvidia you get shadow play, PhysX, and adaptive V sync. Consider whether or not those features are important to you.

The 280x is £20 cheaper, I've had a GeForce GTX 650 in the past, so i've had the chance to use Shadow play et al and they didn't really blow me away.