Choices, choices, choices: Graphics Cards

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HVBill

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Oct 15, 2013
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I am taking notes and writing down names of components for a computer that I will be building. I build cars and work on firearms and am very good with my hands but I have never built a computer before so a buddy who has will help me with that. I'm starting to lose traction with what graphics card to roll with as there are so many choices that seem they may be viable. I have read these benchmark test things that are posted online, but I haven't a clue what any of the numbers mean. So I found this site and hoped I could explain my situation and maybe get a recommendation or two on a graphics card. The system I am planning will have one monitor, and I would like to play most games on higher end settings. I'm not too concerned with price as I have a significant amount put aside for this project. I don't know what the advantage is, if there is any, to having 2 graphics cards or if I should just get one killer one or something. The games I would be playing would be Day-Z (online), Battlefield (multiplayer), Diablo III, Elder Scrolls Online, Star Wars The Old Republic, the Far Cry series, StarCraft (latest). As I said before I don't know all the tech lingo and tech abbreviations so sending me a link to somebody's benchmark test just won't help me because I don't know what any of it means, lol. I've looked at the Nvidia Titan 6GB, Nvidia GTX 780 3GB, and AMD's 7970 3GB so far. Any help and recommendations would be much appreciated. This is also a brand new build so I can adjust to make room or meet power supply demands and so on.
 
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Tradesman1
Best right now I'd say is the 780, the Titan is a bit better, but I don't feel $300 better, the new 290X when released should be right there with the 780 and Titan, especially like the looks of the Asus 290X with the CU cooling, that should be a great card
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thomaskasper

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Aug 8, 2013
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What is your budget?

 
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BIGDMAC

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Oct 1, 2013
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The GTX 690 is a very good card and is similarly priced with the GTX Titan but you would get better performance with a 690. With a 690 you will be able to max out any game easily.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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Best right now I'd say is the 780, the Titan is a bit better, but I don't feel $300 better, the new 290X when released should be right there with the 780 and Titan, especially like the looks of the Asus 290X with the CU cooling, that should be a great card
 
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thomaskasper

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Aug 8, 2013
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Before making a choice you should wait for the new AMD GPUs to be released. The AMD R9 290 and 290x are rumored to be the worlds fastest
 
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WarWolverineWarrior

WarWolverineWarrior

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Sep 24, 2013
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You're looking at high end cards. Bench marks is a measurement in performance. Different games perform differently on AMD vs Nvidia GPUs. You will not go wrong buying either one that's top of the line. Having 2 cards means getting a large GPU boost but that does not mean that you can't play on Max settings on one card. What kind of monitor are you going to play on? 1440p?
 
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Roger Rogers-1382392

Roger Rogers-1382392

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Aug 6, 2013
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DUDE; FIRST; WHAT MONITOR WILL YOU BE USING? (Will you ever use NVidia 3D? or Hi-Def 4K monitors?)

The monitor determines EVERYTHING YOU BUY...

Second; WHERE do you live? (I live in Japan) and a GTX790 is $2,000 but you?
Search this on Amazon Japan.... (Google) "MSI GeForce GTX690 グラフィックカード　N690GTX-P3D4GD5"
($2,000 EACH)

Personally; if you are not skint (just back from Afghanistan); I would go for the GTX680 and buy two if you are feeling rich.
SLi them on an ASUS Sabertooth motherboard for MAXIMUM RELIABILITY.

Third; Have a Platinum Power supply at the ready if you will use it a lot (missing any legs?). Around 750+W should be peachy.

I would go 3D Asus 27-inch (VG278H) with built in 3D and glasses; for the monitor.

Ah; I already did. BeJesus, its BRILLIANT.

Are you a Mick, a Frog, a Limey or a beloved patriot?

Dont bother messing about with OVERCLOCKING; buy the i7 4770 and be SENSITIVE SENSITIVE SENSITIVE when you install it in the M/B. Damage is tooooooooooo easy; and frustration is maxed out when you get it wrong.
Everything else is on Youtube.
 
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HVBill

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Oct 15, 2013
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Ok, great responses so far everyone. A lot of questions about monitors. I wasn't planning on doing any 3D anything and I was definitely going to go with a 27" monitor. Probably 2560x1440,unless there's no reason to and it just makes sense to roll with the 1920x1080 (my other choice).

One fellow asked again about budget, really that's not much of an issue. I am a sensible person however and if the visible difference from one card to the next is next to nothing but the cards bear an $800 price difference or something, then it just doesn't make sense to me unless that's some kind of 'future proofing' or whatever term you'd like to use.

Someone else asked where I'm from. I am from New York state.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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Your decision, the higher resolution is nice, but may in part depend on what you do, it's great for Video, images, CAD, GIS work etc - 1920x1080 is fine for most including watching TV, movies, most general computing....with the higher, the GPU also plays in to support the higher resolution
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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That's been floating along with the 770TI, also a 790 and the Titan Ultra, they've been on hold waiting for the AMD R7 and R9, they also have the new 8XX series due out in the 1st quarter of 2014 codename Maxwell, - everything GPU wise is just a bump in the road for a year or two at most before faster better
 
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Roger Rogers-1382392

Roger Rogers-1382392

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Aug 6, 2013
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The limiter will be the games being produced for the X-One and PS4.

The developers are unlikely to only cater to PC owners when they want to sell in BULK to all 3 systems and port them quickly and easily.

QED...

The cards could be built somewhat faster, but what point is there if there are no games to make use of it?

Its a bit like here in Japan. It would be suicidal for me to have brought my ZX12R 180mph+ superbike, because the roads are utterly dangerous compared to Europe. The same goes for PC graphics cards; the manufacturers also are having difficulties with the shrink process in regards to reliability.

The Titan may be let off the reigns next year; to tackle Destiny at 4K 3D on triple monitor systems.

But they (4K 3D) are as rare as rocking horse turds; and priced the same as large diamonds.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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There's always predictions, on the games they've been saying that for years, go back to the 90's they said laptops would eliminate desktops, didn't happen.....pen based laptops were a prediction back in the 90's also, I used some grid laptops that had pen capabilities to develop apps in the archaeology and conservation fields, those are actually starting to pick up now, what close to 20 years later (the pen based), there will always be predictions, whether or not they happen we just have to wait and see
 
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