Help me understand how to choose a Video Card and make some recommendations

glenquagmire · Sep 7, 2013

Okay so I am planning on doing 50/50 gaming/media center usage. I may do more gaming however I always played PS3. I want to have a good system but I do not want a $600 Video Graphics Card. My GPU is $300 or less, but I prefer less (more like $200-$250). As my media center, I watch ESPN, download shows, watch movies, music, etc...I dont do 3d graphics rendering or stuff like that. I am a Banker, not a web designer/video game maker. I do plan to OC my PC or whatever I can for the sake of, I can.

Here is what I have so far (all new):
AMD FX 8350 $180
Gigabyte GA990FXA-UD3 (4.0) $127
Cooler Master v700 $89
Cooler Master Storm Scout II (white) $67
ASUS Blu Ray Burner RW/Disc $55
WinTv 2250 $70

I need (feel free for recommendations):
RAM (I think G Skill Sniper 1866 CL 9 or Ripjaw X 1866 CL 8 (Blue))
HDD/SSD (haven't chosen yet)
GPU (haven't chosen yet

JackNaylorPE · Sep 7, 2013

At $260, if ya can stretch $10, the 760 is e easy choice.

toyftw · Sep 7, 2013

glenquagmire :

Hi - Congrats, you chose one of the very few CM PSU's considered good, Jack is right, the 760 @ $250
would be your best bet:
http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/amazon/evga-video-card-02gp42761kr

or jump to $280+ for hd 7970
http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/newegg/sapphire-video-card-211970040g

For ram - your choices are good, Corsair, G Skill, Crucial, Patriot, & a few others are all good.
for HDD - depends on your budget. Best approach is SSD for OS & APPS, & spin type for storage.
SSD:
http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/microcenter/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct128m4ssd2
http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/amazon/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7td250bw

Mech Spin Type:
http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/outletpc/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm001
http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/outletpc/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex

http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/superbiiz/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st2000nm0033 longer life ecpectancy
http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/ncixus/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st1000nm0033

endeavour37a · Sep 7, 2013

In that price range a GTX-760 is hard to beat at $250, it would most likely be your best buy per price/performance and future up grade ability with SLI later on if needed..

glenquagmire · Sep 7, 2013

endeavour37a :

So that means running two simultaneously with crossfire or sli? How does two perform better or equal one good gpu?

Also I see several options for 760. Which do I go with or how do i choose? Is a 760 good for gaming with high resolution? I don't need 1,000 fps but I want high resolution on and not sacrificing quality at the same time.

glenquagmire · Sep 7, 2013

JackNaylorPE :

How do I select which 760? Also what matters in selecting a gpu?

JackNaylorPE · Sep 7, 2013

Two moderately priced cards are almost always faster then the top end single GPU (and less expensive). For example, two 650 Ti Boosts ($310) beat the 680 and 7970 Ghz edition in any given generation.....two 560 Ti's beat the 580 by 40% while being $100 cheaper than the 580. And as long as ya stay above the $150 per card price point, there are no "issues" with SLI....only game I know that doesn't support it is F1

here's the 7xx series compared.

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/4632/6/geforce-gtx-700-series-sli-review-geforce-gtx-760770780-in-sli-and-3-way-sli-battlefield-3---1920x1080-+-frametimes

As for which one, read the reviews, the factory overclocks and be aware of component differences.....i.e. whether a factory overclocked card uses a stock PCB and VRM (i.e EVGA superclocked) or whether they use custom PCB and beefed up VRM (i.e. Gigabyte Windforce, Asus DCII, MSI Twin Frozr & Lighning, EVGA Classified)

Here Im liking the MSI and Gigabyte ones at 1150 Boost clock
http://www.maximumpc.com/gtx_760_video_card_roundup

id do the MSI

glenquagmire · Sep 7, 2013

JackNaylorPE :

Two moderately priced cards are almost always faster then the top end single GPU (and less expensive). For example, two 650 Ti Boosts ($310) beat the 680 and 7970 Ghz edition in any given generation.....two 560 Ti's beat the 580 by 40% while being $100 cheaper than the 580. And as long as ya stay above the $150 per card price point, there are no "issues" with SLI....only game I know that doesn't support it is F1

here's the 7xx series compared.

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/4632/6/geforce-gtx-700-series-sli-review-geforce-gtx-760770780-in-sli-and-3-way-sli-battlefield-3---1920x1080-+-frametimes

As for which one, read the reviews, the factory overclocks and be aware of component differences.....i.e. whether a factory overclocked card uses a stock PCB and VRM (i.e EVGA superclocked) or whether they use custom PCB and beefed up VRM (i.e. Gigabyte Windforce, Asus DCII, MSI Twin Frozr & Lighning, EVGA Classified)

Here Im liking the MSI and Gigabyte ones at 1150 Boost clock
http://www.maximumpc.com/gtx_760_video_card_roundup

id do the MSI

I cant tell the difference in MSI and Gigabyte. Are they the same?

JackNaylorPE · Sep 7, 2013

Again, that takes some reading .....

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GeForce_GTX_760_TF_Gaming/30.html

BF3 performance

MSI GTX 760 Gaming - 87.8 FPS
Gigabyte GTX 760 OC 1190 MHz - 86.6 FPS

glenquagmire · Sep 7, 2013

JackNaylorPE :

Pretty close. Seems like get which ever is cheaper? Can they be OC'ed even more or is it not supposed to?

See link....Whats the difference between AMD and Nvidia??? Price is less and seems similar. I am a NOOB with video cards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600007797%20600100181%20600007782%20600007801&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&CompareItemList=48%7C14-127-745%5E14-127-745-TS%2C14-125-466%5E14-125-466-TS%2C14-125-418%5E14-125-418-TS%2C14-121-649%5E14-121-649-TS%2C14-102-999%5E14-102-999-TS&percm=14-125-418%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-121-649%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-102-999%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

glenquagmire · Sep 7, 2013

see prior post

endeavour37a · Sep 7, 2013

Between AMD and Nvidia, the same as General Motors and Ford, 2 different companies selling cars. There is not that much difference in all the 760s for sale, MSI, Gigabyte, ASUS and EVGA are all good. If customer support is important then EVGA has the best.

glenquagmire · Sep 7, 2013

endeavour37a :

With that said, is the AMD 7950 like the 760 or is more the 7970 more like the 760? I see I can get 7950 for around $200 since they are on sale but $259 for 760.

JackNaylorPE · Sep 7, 2013

glenquagmire :

From prior posts

The MSI and Gigabyte Windforce are the same price, have the same clock "outta the box" but as that last link shows, you can manually overclock the MSI further and get higher fps as a result.

The 7870, 7850 and 7950 get toasted by the 760

glenquagmire · Sep 7, 2013

JackNaylorPE :

does the video card matter when not gaming? So does the MSI 760 or Gigabyte 760 make a difference in streaming video or watching "Watch ESPN" (like I am doing now) or when watching Blu Ray? How about when OC'ing?

endeavour37a · Sep 7, 2013

glenquagmire :

The 7950 BOOST is like a 760, not a plain 7950, the 7970 is faster than a 760. Perhaps you should look at the 7870 if you do not want to spend the money on a 760 or 7950 BOOST, don't think you want a plain 7950, the 7850s are pretty cheap right now and good cards.

glenquagmire · Sep 7, 2013

endeavour37a :

Am I wrong here.....is the 7950 or even 7950 Boost a better GPU??? See the link. The 7950 outpaces the 760 on all levels. Can someone more knowledgeable than I help me understand if the 7950 or 7950 Boost is better than 760??

Here is the 760 vs 7950 benchmark:
http://www.techoftomorrow.com/2013/pc/nvidia-geforce-gtx-760-2-gb-review-feat-msi-twin-frozr-gaming-edition/6/

Here are some 7950 compared on Newegg to 760 MSI:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=Property&N=100007709%20600007797&IsNodeId=1&PropertyCodeValue=679%3A266449&bop=And&CompareItemList=48%7C14-127-745%5E14-127-745-TS%2C14-125-414%5E14-125-414-TS%2C14-202-003%5E14-202-003-07%23%2C14-202-007%5E14-202-007-TS%2C14-202-026%5E14-202-026-TS&percm=14-125-414%3A%24%24%24%2438%24%24%24%3B14-202-003%3A%24%24%24%2438%24%24%24%3B14-202-007%3A%24%24%24%2438%24%24%24%3B14-202-026%3A%24%24%24%2438%24%24%24

endeavour37a · Sep 7, 2013

OK, one last time for me here. As I have said already the 760 and 7950 BOOST are very close, no big difference. Is it a better GPU? the answer is NO! Is it a better buy, the answer is NO! The GTX-760 is a better buy than a 7950 period end of story, as everyone here has told you.

Please get a 7950 because you seem to think it is a better card overall and a better value, that is cool and fine, it is a good card and you will be happy with it's performance. There is more to graphics cards than FPS scores, but you must know that already.

glenquagmire · Sep 7, 2013

endeavour37a :

Listen I appreciate the input. Some of us on this board are NEW, like me.....member since ummmmm 3 days.

I didnt consider a 7950 until you actually mentioned it and I started researching. The 7950 based on benchmark beat the 760 in everything. I dont care one way or another name brand, serial number, country of origin or who is in political office! I am spending some dough and want to make the best choice. If you can enlighten me on the "there are more to graphics cards than FPS", I am all ears. I am trying to learn, understand, and then decide. Think of it this way, I am sure there are plenty of other people wanting to know the same thing that are new to building, like me.

endeavour37a · Sep 8, 2013

OK, I did not mean to be rude to you, hope you did not take it that way, just a bit frustrated about a simple question with a simple answer, let me try this....

You will see almost no difference at all in performance between the 760 and 7950, they are both just about the same as 2 cards can be. I just looked at the pricing of the 7950 on New Egg and they really dropped the price, looks like they did it to match the 760. You told me this a couple comments ago and it went over my head, sorry for that. But it is still not cheaper than a 760, with the games you get it looks like a better value if you want the games.

The 760 is better because it works better in SLI than a 7950 does in XFire, a driver issue AMD just can't seem to get right. So if you need more graphic power down the road sometime adding a second card it the best bang for the buck instead of replacing the card, the Nvidia cards are much better at this, so that makes it a better card for future up grading over an AMD card. It also uses less power and runs cooler, 170W vs. 200W.

The 760 is a new card and should be around a while to add a second card in 2 years, AMD is ready to release their new line up and the 7950 may get discontinued and replaced with something else. Never the less it is a good card (7950) and at the current price is a great performance value. I would get the 760 over the 7950 for the reasons above and recommend it to others also. But you should get what you feel is best for you.

Perhaps let this thread die and start a fresh one, something like "Help me pick between a GTX-760 and HD-7950 Please". I would of course stay out of it so you can get fresh input from others about it. The title is specific and you should get an ear full

Help me understand how to choose a Video Card and make some recommendations

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