Best Graphics Card under $300

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slycube

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Dec 27, 2013
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Looking to upgrade my 7850 2gb card to a newer R9 series card. What would be my best performance card to get? and cooling is definitely a main concern
 
Solution
lukababu


Haha, very funny...

use any benchmark site, my favourite is videocardbenchmark.net
to calculate % difference --> 100-((variable benchmark score)/(controlled benchmark)*100)
so giving an example R9 280x has a score of 5,108 and GTX 770 has a score of 6,232
-----> 100-(5108/6232)*100= 100-(0.819*100)=100-81.9=18.1% ---> so to be precise the GTX 770 is 18.1% better...

Now I cant tell how well the GTX 770 does mining. nowadays I think its not worth mining with a video card, the difficulty just...
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EnvyForMe

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Nov 13, 2013
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Stick with what you have, its a good card and should last another year. Here is the R9 270x vs your card now (Same GB)
http://www.hwcompare.com/15679/radeon-hd-7850-vs-radeon-r9-270x/
 
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lukababu

lukababu

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Dec 27, 2013
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GTX 770,

It is around 330$ but it is just one step below the R9 290x which costs 630$, R9 being approximately 10% better, and 20% better than the R9 280X which costs 400$

below that is the R9 270X (200$) but go for the R9 270(180$) instead because they are nearly the same, and with just a slight overclock you have a 270X at the price of 270.

 
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slycube

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Dec 27, 2013
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Where can you find an r9 280x for under $300?
 
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envy14tpe

envy14tpe

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Mar 3, 2012
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In the store called Dream Land.
 
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lukababu

lukababu

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Dec 27, 2013
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My bad, 400$ (answer updated)

 
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hypergon

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Oct 17, 2013
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Where is the 770 20% better than r9 280x and 10% weaker than 290x? DreamReview.com?
AMD cards (especially 280x/290/290x) are currently extremely overpriced in the US due to mining.
You should consider the gtx760, is a better card than 270x
 
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fastestlouigie1

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Nov 24, 2013
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127741
$319.99 for an MSI GTX770? Bargain. That's $100 less than it would cost here in the Uk.
Btw, the 770 is very similar in benchmarks to the r9 280x, better in some, worse in others. Trust me, I looked for about two months before getting my card and it was price (and cooling and noise, or lack of it) in the end that factored into my purchase, not how much better or worse these two cards are than each other.
 
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lukababu

lukababu

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Dec 27, 2013
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Haha, very funny...

use any benchmark site, my favourite is videocardbenchmark.net
to calculate % difference --> 100-((variable benchmark score)/(controlled benchmark)*100)
so giving an example R9 280x has a score of 5,108 and GTX 770 has a score of 6,232
-----> 100-(5108/6232)*100= 100-(0.819*100)=100-81.9=18.1% ---> so to be precise the GTX 770 is 18.1% better...

Now I cant tell how well the GTX 770 does mining. nowadays I think its not worth mining with a video card, the difficulty just keeps growing and while the video cards are in MH/s the ASICs are in GH/s. I cant say much about mining performance but I can guarantee that gaming performance is higher.

 
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hypergon

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Oct 17, 2013
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Well I never care much about points in benchmarks, real world test are more realistic.
So if I use the % difference on games, the 280x could give me 60fps and the 770 will give me ~71? Not realistic!
Back to topic:
If op wants to stick with amd, for under 300$ you can get the r9 270x, nvidia has the more powerful 760 for under 300$
 
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lukababu

lukababu

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Dec 27, 2013
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Youre right real world tests are more realistic, but benchmarks give you a baseline.

here look at the canucks reaview of the gtx 770:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/62331-msi-geforce-gtx-770-lightning-review-3.html

You can see that GTX 770 outperforms the 7970 (which is absolutely the same thing as the R9 280X)

Although their is not a 20% difference the GTX 770 still out performs the R9 280X by 10% on Assassins creed 3

Real world test depend on a lot of factors, the games you are playing, the drivers you have, CPU, etc...
 
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slycube

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Dec 27, 2013
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The problem with your notion is these people are mining scrypt based coins, not sha 256 lol
and I'm looking for a gaming card, not for mining
 
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slycube

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Dec 27, 2013
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I have top of the line for all my other hardware(CPU, SSD, etc) so a decent gpu would be the last fix lol
 
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hypergon

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Oct 17, 2013
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Strongest card is the 770, then 280x, then 760 and the 'weakest' card is the 270x (everything without OC...)
Get the strongest within your budget, your PSU should be fine too if it could run 7850 (should be atleast 550watts).
 
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unknownofprob

unknownofprob

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Oct 3, 2013
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cards like the 280x and other models of other cards may have or may not be already OC'd. That said, you can't just put cards in highest to lowest-weakest based on something. Different cards will outperform in different games or different programmes. Driver support can advantage most Nvidia cards but normally the price of a Nvidia card is more and not because of the brand, AMD generally tend to price their cards lower and for the Price of a 280x that can put advantages to it and it also includes a wider memory bus and 1GB More VRam than a 770 which is very handy. The 770 is a 256-bit bus whilst the 280x is 384, whilst this is only a brief overview, the price/performance value actually favours the R9 280X. It really depends on what you like, AMD Cards generally do better in the video editing and graphics + design, Nvidia is usually better for games as the driver support is much better for a vaster amount of games.
 
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Don Julio Anejo

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Dec 24, 2012
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Keep in mind a 280X can be overclocked another 10-20%, while you can't do much with a GTX 770. That said, a 270X is almost identical to the 7850, and if you OC the 7850, you'll get performance identical to a 270X at stock speeds.

However, if you want to upgrade, your best bet is either a GTX 760 (~$250), about 1.3-1.5 times the performance of your 7850, or a GTX 770 (about 1.7 times), $350. Pretty much impossible to upgrade with AMD because of all the asshats buying 20+ 280X cards for litecoin mining, and stores counting cash instead of putting a cap on maximum purchases per customer. And as we've said, 270X is pretty much the same thing.

Honestly? Buy a second 7850 and run them in crossfire.
 
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unknownofprob

unknownofprob

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crossfire will not work in all games and isn't the best way of dealing with his cooling concern. Having two cards in crossfire will get hot! Having one more powerful GPU is better in the long run and will not be as hot. Not all games support crossfire and as a result if you want to play a game which needs a high performance GPU and doesn't support crossfire then you'll only be able to use 1 7850 and that won't be a good approach for the graphic dependent games are getting.
 
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envy14tpe

envy14tpe

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I agree with last comment. If you got a big enough PSU and a motherboard that is good (for crossfiring) then just add a second 7850. Otherwise with a $300 budget you can get a 760. Lastly if you are willing too go close to $350 then grab a 770 or 280x.

Personally I'd get whichever is cheaper. They both perform about the same overall. I have owned 2 Nvidia gpus and I'm going to jump ship for a 280x cuz it gets higher fps in BF4 and it is priced cheaper than a 770. (I'm in Taiwan)
 
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slycube

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Dec 27, 2013
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Well I'm getting rid of the 7850 because my brother needs a new graphics card because his GTX 460 just died and I'm selling him mine for $150. That said, should I just get a 270x? If so, which has the best cooling/best performance in the 270x series? Although I'm sure the Sapphire Toxic card will come to mind, I cant find it for under $300 anyways
 
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