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New to PC Gaming, looking for a compatible card with recently won build

Tags:
  • PC gaming
  • Crysis
  • Build
  • Graphics
  • Graphics Cards
  • Compatibility
  • New Build
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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April 20, 2013 9:03:56 PM

Hi!
I recently won a PC in a videography contest, thus it is built for video processing, however I would like to transform it into a gaming PC. I'm not very tech-savvy, but I've always enjoyed PC gaming. Having run all of my old games on a GeForce 9600, I'm sure this will be a breath of fresh air :p . The build is as follows:
-a Corsair Ohsidian Series 650 D case
-an lntel@ Corem i7-3960X Extreme Edition Six-Core 3.30 GHz 1sMB processor
-NVIDIA Quadro 600 1GB 16x PCle Workstation Video Card (This is what I'll be selling)
-ASUS P9x79 lntel@ X79 Chipset Quad-Channel DDR3 ATX motherboard
-Coolit 240 mm Liquid Cooling System
-240 GB lntel@ 520 Series SATA-lll 6.0 Gb/s SSD; (0 2TB STA-lll 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
-32GB (4GBx8) DDR3/1600MH2 Quad Channel Memory
-Microsoft@ Windows 7 Professional (64-bit Edition)
-an LG 14X lnternal Super Multi Blu-Ray Rewriter
(taken from the affidavit they sent me)

I can't remember the power source at the moment (something tells me somewhere around 750 watts).

I'd love to run Crysis 3 smoothly on Ultra (I know this is everyone's dream right now), so with that being said, what should I look for in a video card? I'll be running a single monitor at 1920x1080. I don't know much about motherboards and compatibility, etc., so is the current motherboard sufficient?

My budget is ~$450. (Perhaps not realistic for Crysis 3?)

I'm new to the forums, so hopefully this thread is in the right place.

Thanks in advanced, guys!

-mcjord

More about : gaming compatible card recently build

April 20, 2013 9:10:07 PM

With that budget I would go for a Radeon 7970 GHz edition with 3GB memory. But you should not expect Crysis 3 in Ultra high details, since the game is designed for SLi or Crossfire. And your Mainboard is fine for that build as well as high end graphic cards.
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April 20, 2013 9:28:58 PM

That's a pretty good setup for some gaming and the gpu is definitely the only thing to upgrade to get some good fps. Well you can go with a AMD Radeon or an Nvidia GeForce. At $450 you can get a card that will gladly handle Crysis 3 (albeit perhaps not at the maximum settings). There are differences with the brands. Nvidia usually has very good drivers and are up to date while AMD usually is too, but their drivers can sometimes be faulty and can cause problems. Also with performance I've heard the Nvidia cards don't perform quite as well as AMD on higher resolution (1920x1080 or higher), so if you plan on playing on the big screen (which I suggest you should do as you will have full capability to do so). However this is only hearsay and I can't back that up with experience. There are plenty of other differences, but you can easily find those out yourself.

Well at 450 for Nvidia you can get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
4GB of VRAM and the stock clocks are awesome already without any overclocking
A great cheaper alternative is
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
if you plan to air cool these cards then the triple fan is good cooling

For Radeon you have
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
which again good air cooling and great stock values (plus you get Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite, and Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon with it)
Or a cheaper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Heres a link to around your price range so you can see all of your options
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...
make sure to read reviews and I'd also see about water cooling & water block compatibility because even if its something your not interested in, at least you'll always have the option available to you

The cheaper cards will still do very well at giving you some great FPS.
I have a Sapphire radeon 7950 ($300) and I can max every game (haven't tried Crysis 3 yet) I play.
Well I hope this helps (and doesn't confuse you more :p )
Happy gaming!
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April 20, 2013 9:43:41 PM

I'll throw in my 2 cents. I have a GTX 670 OC to 1267Mhz. When I played Crysis 3, the first the thing I did was max out the graphics at 1080p with 8x MSAA. In the first two levels I got around 25-30 fps. When I used FXAA instead I was able to get 45-55 fps. So, that is what a 670 OC will get ya in Crysis 3. Otherwise, the 7970 is another good card to take into consideration.

My card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

BTW: 4Gb isn't necessary for Crysis 3.
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April 20, 2013 9:51:10 PM

You could sell that i7 3960x and get an i5 3570k then buy a titan.
The i7 doesn't really get a boost in games http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Core_i5_3570K_...

It probably be best to sell that 3960x and Nvidia Quadro. You'd get enough from both to get a titan

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12P SE2 54.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($62.17 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 TH ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($182.97 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX Titan 6GB Video Card ($1025.91 @ Newegg)
Total: $1461.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-21 00:51 EDT-0400)


Though if you don't want to do that. You can just buy a 670 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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April 21, 2013 4:18:10 AM

Wow, lots of options. Thank you all for such the elaborate responses. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do at this point. I'm liking the look of that Radeon 7970, as does that Evga GTX 670 superclocked, but the idea of selling the 3960x for a Titan is appealing as well... I'll definitely take my time in my decision. Do you guys think the Titan will generally hold its value for the next year or so? I know it's difficult to say with the ever changing market and such.

I just don't want to overkill as I've seen a lot of people on other threads tell others that they're overspending on unnecessary things.

Again, thank you all for your responses.
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April 21, 2013 9:37:34 AM

mcjord said:
Wow, lots of options. Thank you all for such the elaborate responses. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do at this point. I'm liking the look of that Radeon 7970, as does that Evga GTX 670 superclocked, but the idea of selling the 3960x for a Titan is appealing as well... I'll definitely take my time in my decision. Do you guys think the Titan will generally hold its value for the next year or so? I know it's difficult to say with the ever changing market and such.

I just don't want to overkill as I've seen a lot of people on other threads tell others that they're overspending on unnecessary things.

Again, thank you all for your responses.

You have a 3960x thats overkill but noted that you won it and the rest of the parts but you won it in a videography contest. The i7 3960x is useful for video editing but with that said if your doing mostly gaming it really doesn't perform all that much better but if you do a lot of video editing just keep it and get a 670. The Titan will definitely hold out for a year and probably longer.
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April 21, 2013 9:54:02 AM

Stealth117 said:
mcjord said:
Wow, lots of options. Thank you all for such the elaborate responses. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do at this point. I'm liking the look of that Radeon 7970, as does that Evga GTX 670 superclocked, but the idea of selling the 3960x for a Titan is appealing as well... I'll definitely take my time in my decision. Do you guys think the Titan will generally hold its value for the next year or so? I know it's difficult to say with the ever changing market and such.

I just don't want to overkill as I've seen a lot of people on other threads tell others that they're overspending on unnecessary things.

Again, thank you all for your responses.

You have a 3960x thats overkill but noted that you won it and the rest of the parts but you won it in a videography contest. The i7 3960x is useful for video editing but with that said if your doing mostly gaming it really doesn't perform all that much better but if you do a lot of video editing just keep it and get a 670. The Titan will definitely hold out for a year and probably longer.


Yeah, I figured as much. I will most likely sell the 3960x then and pursue other options if it isn't necessary for gaming. I've got a Mac that I use for my videography, so I'll just keep that for the time being.
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April 21, 2013 11:15:12 AM

Well as far as the Titan goes, no one will really know if it will hold its value. It could last awhile or it could drop once more powerful cards come out. Games will look good whether you have the titan, 7970, or the gtx 670. Its your choice if you wanna throw down another $600 for that little added detail. In my opinion it's not worth it, but if you're REALLY deadset on getting that small increase in graphics for Crysis 3 then go for it. But to be honest there probably wont be any games for a very long time that will really push you to need a titan. You're basically paying premium on an item that will guarantee you to play games well into the future, where as if you just wait until those games actually exist you'd be paying a lot less for around the same specs. So it's really up to you, if you have the money and it won't hurt you in the pocket too much then go for it if that's what you want.

Also I'm not sure but I heard the titan STILL can't play Crysis 3 at max with great FPS. As mentioned before the game is designed for crossfire (which imo is a really inefficient thing) so I've heard you'd still need 2 Titans, but again that's just hearsay for I have no personal experience on that.
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a c 186 U Graphics card
April 21, 2013 11:26:04 AM

There really no point in paying a thousand dollars just to max out games unless you can afford it then go for it.But,to be totally honest a GTX 670 or Radeon 7970 is much better bang for buck!You will still be able to play all current games on high ultra settings.There is very few games you won't max out on a single monitor @ 1080p.
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a b U Graphics card
April 21, 2013 11:49:46 AM

You can't sell your i7 3960X and replace it with a 3570K, they use different socket and hence the motherboard is incompatible so you'd have to replace that too + I doubt anyone will buy a $1000 USD CPU used without some sort of warranty included. Your best bet would be to get either GTX 670 or HD 7970 and sell the Quadro. Titan just isn't worth it.
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April 21, 2013 12:46:01 PM

Well, I think I have come to my conclusion (thank you all for playing the role of my conscience). It seems like a hassle to go through reselling everything, though it is brand new, and it seems unnecessary as most of you have pointed out that the Titan is only a miniscule jump in FPS, so I think I will pursue the 7970 or the 670.
Now comes the debate... Which between these two? I'll do some more research on my own.
Another thing is, I'm in Canada, and I am having a HECK of a time finding the 7970 on the web. They're all either out of stock or they're not being carried? Newegg is completely out of stock, and it's a bummer because they have a promotion for a free copy of Far Cry 3 + Bioshock. I guess you win some you lose some! I'll keep an eye out.

I really appreciate all of your help and feedback. Thank you all SO much!
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April 21, 2013 8:27:00 PM

Well, I caved and bought the Sapphire 7970 3GB (not the Vapor-X, though). I am SO stoked for this! Thank you all for your excellent advice. I'll let you know how it's running once it gets here. :-)!
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