Which one of these three graphic cards should i choose?

[Stijn van Loo]

Hello Community!

I'm planning on buying a new graphic card. Which graphic card is better for my PC?
These are the 3 graphic cards i'm thinking of:
- SAPPHIRE R9 280X TOXIC 3GB GDDR5,
- MSI GTX 770 2GB Twin Frozr OC
- SAPPHIRE R9 290 4GB GDDR5.

I heard that the Sapphire r9 290 has some heat/noise issues so that keeps my from buying that one. Ive chosen these three graphic cards because i can get these at a low price.

Current Pc specs:
24inch samsung syncmaster 1920x1080
Inter core i7 3820 @ 3.6GHz (8 CPU's)
16gb RAM
Nvidia Geforce GTX 650
Windows 7 professional.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Gam3r01]

The sapphire 290, unless it was a reference card, would be the best bet no question.
However, I would recommend looking into the new 970 and 980 cards. They offer great performance, with lower costs and power consumption compared to the 7xx and r9 series.

 

[Alex Kelly]

none of them c;
GTX 970 if you can afford it. Should be about the same price as a 290 or lower.

 

[Stijn van Loo]

The sapphire 290, unless it was a reference card, would be the best bet no question.
However, I would recommend looking into the new 970 and 980 cards. They offer great performance, with lower costs and power consumption compared to the 7xx and r9 series.

Thank you for your quick reply. Ive looked into other graphic cards but i want to choose between those three. The r9 290 performence is excellent but the one im looking into is a reference card. Does this mean it is a bad choice? i could get it for 170€

 

[Gam3r01]

Reference cards run louder, and much warmer than non ref cards. Most have to downclock to support their thermals.

Of the 3 I would personally take the toxic, due to its superior cooling and OC capacity.
But I still strongly suggest the 9xx series. They offer too much performance to be overlooked.

 

[Stijn van Loo]

Reference cards run louder, and much warmer than non ref cards. Most have to downclock to support their thermals.

Of the 3 I would personally take the toxic, due to its superior cooling and OC capacity.
But I still strongly suggest the 9xx series. They offer too much performance to be overlooked.

Thank you. i will look into the 9xx series. I could get the toxic card for 125€ (160$) new. looks like a good deal to me.

 

[Gam3r01]

Where are you seeing these prices? They dont sound too legit to me.

 

[Stijn van Loo]

Where are you seeing these prices? They dont sound too legit to me.

Someone i knew build a bitcoin mining pc. He quitted after a couple of weeks and sells all his graphic cards.

 

[Gam3r01]

Then those arent new cards, they were used for mining which can cause serious issues down the line, the cards werent designed for the kind of load they are subjected to under mining.
Most common issues are thermal issues and artifacts.

 

[Stijn van Loo]

Then those arent new cards, they were used for mining which can cause serious issues down the line, the cards werent designed for the kind of load they are subjected to under mining.
Most common issues are thermal issues and artifacts.

Okay thats something i didnt know. He said they work like they should. If they were used for bitcoin mining is it to big of a risk to buy one ?

 

[Gam3r01]

It depends how hard he used them, and how well they were treated. I personally recommend never buying cards used for mining.
Ask him to boot them up and run some stress tests, if they dont overheat or artifact, you are fine.

 

[Alex Kelly]

I would never buy a used card period.

 

[Stijn van Loo]

Well thank you for all your feedback. It's much appreciated. I'm going to rethink my choice and look for a new graphic card.