What's the best $175 video card any brand

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Sort by date Sort by votes
bdiddytampa

bdiddytampa

Honorable
Dec 2, 2012
1,012
0
11,660
Agree with both of you, Toms best cards for the money article is a good resource, and it recommends the same thing that Neospiral has said. If you spend the extra 30 bucks though, it will be worth it, the 660 is a great card. I'm seeing Radeon HD7870s for less than 200 now too, and those a great performing cards as well.

MSI is a good brand, they have a good rep, and good support.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127730

Again, another MSI card, same reasons, and this one comes with a free Game and Benchmarking software
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127707

I've never owned an HIS card, but they seem to get great reviews and they have top performing cooling solutions, this is great option for a 7870. I'm seeiing them elsewhere for less sometimes depending on the brand and sales and rebates, keep your eye out and you could find one of these cards for less as well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161404
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,298
4,146
174,240
My rule of thumb for a balanced gamer is to budget twice the cpu cost for the graphics card. In that respect, your budget is fine.
But, I think I would do things differently.
1. The main reason for a A series amd cpu is that you intend to use the superior graphics. But, since you will be using an even better discrete graphics card, I would look at a FX-4100 or intel i3-3220 For most games, the faster intel cores will prevail.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-3.html
2. If you go the Intel route, a socket 1155motherboard will cost as little as $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135343
Intel does not need ram faster than 133, so more savings there.
3. The only case maker that includes a psu that I would trust would be Antec.
It appears that the included 500w psu has only 22amps on the +12v rails where the graphics card needs it. The Corsair CX500, by comparison has 38a.
4. I might suggest a Antec 300 illusion case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
and a XFX 550w psu:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013
Whatever you do, DO NOT buy a cheap psu.
Here is a tiered list of psu quality:
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx
5. With your budget, you may be forced to depend on a conventional hard drive.
But, if at all possible, start with a ssd. It will make everything you do fee so much faster. 120gb will hold the os and a handful of games. With a 240gb, you may never need a hard drive at all. You can always add a hard drive for storage and overflow later.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

Joshuahandy

Honorable
Jul 3, 2013
119
0
10,680


Will do
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,298
4,146
174,240
Here is my canned rant on dual cards:
-----------------------------Start of rant----------------------------------------------------
Dual graphics cards vs. a good single card.

a) How good do you really need to be?
A single GTX650/ti or 7770 can give you good performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.

A single GTX660 or 7850 will give you excellent performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.
Even 2560 x 1600 will be good with lowered detail.
A single gtx690 is about as good as it gets.

Only if you are looking at triple monitor gaming, then sli/cf will be needed.
Even that is now changing with triple monitor support on top end cards.

b) The costs for a single card are lower.
You require a less expensive motherboard; no need for sli/cf or multiple pci-e slots.
Even a ITX motherboard will do.

Your psu costs are less.
A GTX660 needs a 430w psu, even a GTX680 only needs a 550w psu.
When you add another card to the mix, plan on adding 150-200w to your psu requirements.

Even the strongest GTX690 only needs 620w.

Case cooling becomes more of an issue with dual cards.
That means a more expensive case with more and stronger fans.
You will also look at more noise.

c) Dual cards do not always render their half of the display in sync, causing microstuttering. It is an annoying effect.
The benefit of higher benchmark fps can be offset, particularly with lower tier cards.
Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

d) dual card support is dependent on the driver. Not all games can benefit from dual cards.

e) cf/sli up front reduces your option to get another card for an upgrade. Not that I suggest you plan for that.
It will often be the case that replacing your current card with a newer gen card will offer a better upgrade path.
The Maxwell and amd 8000 series are due next year.
-------------------------------End of rant-----------------------------------------------------------
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom