Graphics cards

[M/Sgt.Croaker (RO)]

Hi guys I came to ask a question about graphics cards since i have no idea what to look for even after reading reviews for pointers. I was looking to get one for my PC since i am still running on integrated graphics I have an i7-3770k processor, but I don't know what Graphics card would fit well with it. I do not care about the price at the moment. Can anyone help me? Thank you for your time.

[frigileFrieda]

Well, where is your location?

In Europe, i'd go for a ATI about 180-220 € or a NVidia about 250-300. So, the mid class of the current generations.

They give the best price-performance ratio.

I'd prefer the ATI 7870, "GV-R787OC-2GD" by Gigabyte. They mostly do good cooling solutions and they're worth the price. Its about 220€.

I paid 2 years ago about 220€ for a ATI 6950 with 2 gigabyte. Not a Gigabyte card, because they weren't available with an own cooling solution, but by Sapphire, and i'm quite pleased, never had problems with the hardware, the beta drivers are the only thing i wouldn't recommend. I can play current games on 2560*1440 with mid to high details. The card is only a bit loud, but i don't care about that since i play with good isolating headphones.

I didn't look for performance tests in the last months, but if you change hardware often, i'd go for the cheaper ATI cards, if you want to have a system which has a nice performance even in 3 years+, you may choose a NVidia. But technics changes fast these days, so i wouldn't pay too much for a card, which is only 15% better as the reference cards i recommend.

[M/Sgt.Croaker (RO)]

I live in the US on the east coast price. When looking for a card of sort what should i be looking for in the card itself that would help?

[Col.ChetHoppens]

Comes down to what ports you have available on your motherboard, and what size power unit you have. That will narrow your search greatly. If you have a 250W PSU, and you buy a 1000W card, you'll hurt the motherboard.

What research have you done, what choices have you narrowed your search down to?

I trust nVidia over other brands, just by years of listening to people and that is all I've ran and have good rates, no problems, they keep the drivers up to date nicely too automatically.

So, let us know what is available on your mobo (ports), and what size PSU you have, and we can go from there

[frigileFrieda]

Today it should have at least 2 gigabyte of RAM. As a graphics chip, as i recommend, an ATI 7870, or a NVidia GT 660 at least.

Dont forget that these cards have a high power consumption when they have to work hard, so your power supply should have at least 550 Watts with an efficiency rate of at least 80%, but better a supply with 650 Watts with 80%+...

Does your motherboard support PCI express 3.0?

@chet:

So does ATI. Never had problems with them.

[M/Sgt.Croaker (RO)]

Alright well, slots wont be a matter on the motherboard. ASRock Model Z77 Extreme4 All slots are available.
My power supply unit is 800 Watts i have 8 GB of Ram. I can basically fit most of anything in it.
I have been looking and came down to these models.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... ID=ShopAMD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814202030

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130809

[Col.ChetHoppens]

ok fragile frieda ... lets not turn this into Coke vs. Pepsi lol

Gorrilla, may sound silly, but your 3rd link, has 5 out of 5 eggs. Reviews speak louder than any item description in my opinion.

I would go with that one. Looks nice.

[M/Sgt.Croaker (RO)]

Hm alright thank you for your opinion and help chet. Thank you also fragile frieda Now it comes down to me having to decide. thank you for both of your times

[frigileFrieda]

Gorrilla, may sound silly, but your 3rd link, has 5 out of 5 eggs. Reviews speak louder than any item description in my opinion.

Its clearly afri-cola- germans will understand.

Well yes, i didn't thought the NVidia is that "cheap" in the usa, but i still would go for a gigabyte card.

Maybe this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125443

I won't pay too much now. I'd buy a new one right at the end of the warranty so you may can sell it with a bit rest-warranty.

[Lt.Gen.xXHeAdShOtXx]

What are you looking for in terms of graphic performance? High end so that you can run games at max settings? Mid range? You have a good system and I'd recommend getting a good graphics card to accompany it. Personally, I prefer Nvidia over ATI. Whats your price range or budget? If you let me know of these details then I can recommend you a graphics card accordingly. From what you've narrowed your search to, the max price is $300. For about $50-$70 more, you can get a GTX 650 Ti Boost 2-way Sli. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130910. If you don't know what Sli is, it is a method of linking multiple GPUs together to produce a single output. So by getting 2x GTX 650 Ti Boosts for $360 on newegg, the performance is significantly better than the GTX 660 and even has better benchmarks then the GTX 670. Have a look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9YMbWXn6Sw. Also have a look at this performance summary in comparison with other graphics cards: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_650_Ti_Boost_SLI/21.html.