GTX 660 Ti just died, need to upgrade.

Karami

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE:
1 to 2 months max, i am saving up

BUDGET RANGE:
AUD $300-700

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:
Gaming - Payday 2, Skyrim, The Walking Dead, Elder Scrolls Online, SWTOR,
Home Theater/ Watching Movies - 1080p Bluray, 7.1 sound

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY:
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti [GV-N66TWF2-2GD]
PSU: CoolerMaster 1000W Silent Pro Gold Modular

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:
CPU: i7 3770k
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7
RAM: G.SKILL TridentX 2x 8GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz CL7
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64bit
Monitor Games: BenQ XL2420T 1080p @ 120hz
Monitor Movies: Panasonic TH-P50ST50A 1080p @ 60hz
Case: Thermaltake Level 10 GT
Corsair Hydro Series H100i
will want to get a watercooling set up for the gpu

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS:
Australia
http://www.msy.com.au/qld/brendale/
http://www.pccasegear.com/?gclid=CL200cW_lbsCFYPrpAodnmcAgg
http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=3

PARTS PREFERENCES:
i do prefer nVidia cards

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe in the future

MONITOR RESOLUTION:
1920x1080 @ 120hz for games via Display Port
1920x1080 @ 60hz for movies via HDMI

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
if possible, i will want a card that i can play games on one screen, and my partner can watch movies on the other screen.

if you need more information just ask, thanks for your help.
 
Solution
You should pull that max to $350 and get a 770. It really would make a difference from the 760 plus seeing as how you'll have roughly $20-50 leftover from buying the 760 your gonna be slapping yourself on what you could've invested in rather than buying a 'temporary' card

*Edit
The N760 is a Nvidia GTX 760 with a Gigabyte Windforce 3x Cooler on it. It's nvidia so self-explanatory
The R9270XOC is a AMD R9 series card with the same cooler, more VRAM(stupid because the R9270X can't fully use it) and it's AMD based so yeah.

The 760 has a higher memory clock so the pixel rate and bandwith rate is faster I think, I'm not really sure.

**Edit
just saw on the msy website that the 770 is roughly $400, really unfair for your end. If you can...

Karami

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thanks Dylzan, i just spoke to my partner and she almost kicked me out for saying the gpu will cost about 700 LOL, so im down to a max of 300 =(

i found these 2 what is the main difference? (besides the name the core clock and the vram)

Gigabyte N760OC-2GD 2G GTX 760 PCI-E VGA Card
[http://www.msy.com.au/qld/brendale/pc-components/11469-gigabyte-n760oc-2gd-2g-gtx-760-pci-e-vga-card.html]

Gigabyte R927XOC-4GD-GA 4GB R9-270X OC PCI-E VGA Card
[http://www.msy.com.au/qld/brendale/home/12580-gigabyte-r927xoc-4gd-ga-4gb-r9-270x-oc-pci-e-vga-card.html]

thanks for your help.

 

BlankInsanity

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Oct 14, 2013
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You should pull that max to $350 and get a 770. It really would make a difference from the 760 plus seeing as how you'll have roughly $20-50 leftover from buying the 760 your gonna be slapping yourself on what you could've invested in rather than buying a 'temporary' card

*Edit
The N760 is a Nvidia GTX 760 with a Gigabyte Windforce 3x Cooler on it. It's nvidia so self-explanatory
The R9270XOC is a AMD R9 series card with the same cooler, more VRAM(stupid because the R9270X can't fully use it) and it's AMD based so yeah.

The 760 has a higher memory clock so the pixel rate and bandwith rate is faster I think, I'm not really sure.

**Edit
just saw on the msy website that the 770 is roughly $400, really unfair for your end. If you can find a GTX 770 for roughly $320-$350 put the link up here I'll tell you if it a good brand and if so, you should definitely get it, worth the investment
 
Solution

Karami

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Thanks BlackInsanity

yeah the 770 has a stupid price over the 760, what would you say about the 280x? its $42 more (including shipping)
XFX Radeon R9 280X Double Dissipation 3GB
[http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=25553]

is XFX a good brand, ive never heard of them before
also why cant the 270x use the 4gig? can the 280x use all 3gig?
and might be a silly question but what exactly is pixel rate? (ie like what is it used for in games and movies)


**Edit
this is the cheapest 770 i can find, but ive also never geard of Galaxy, any good?
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1486&products_id=23603

add $17 for shipping
 

BlankInsanity

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R9 280X could be a great alternative, however I'm not so sure on the XFX brand. I was unable to find any reviews on it. If someone can vouch for it being good then I'd suggest probably getting it, however I won't say wether you should get it seeing as how idk much about XFX and I don't want you get a crappy non-reference cooler card

Pixel rate is basically the rate of how many pixels the GPU can put on the screen per second. It's a negligible difference in most cards today, so I wouldn't be reealllyy worried about it. The reason why the 270X shouldn't have the 4GB is because it's bandwith rate is a bit low to really utilize all 4GB of it. Maybe it'll use 2-3GB but that's from what I'm seeing.

if that Galaxy were the GTX 770 HOF edition then I'd reccomend it, if you had the ports and proper PSU. but that isn't the model I'm looking for.

Keep looking around for decent prices on the 770 and R9 280X, if you can't then I'd suggest going with a 760. Go with EVGA, ASUS, Gigabyte or MSI
 

Karami

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Awesome, i managed to talk my partner into letting me get a GTX 770
Gigabyte N770OC-2GD 2G GTX 770 PCI-E VGA Card - 2gig $402
[http://www.msy.com.au/qld/brendale/pc-components/11459-gigabyte-n770oc-2gd-2g-gtx-770-pci-e-vga-card.html]
Gigabyte N770OC-4GD 4G GTX 770 PCI-E VGA Card - 4gig $486
[http://www.msy.com.au/qld/brendale/pc-components/11465-gigabyte-n770oc-4gd-4g-gtx-770-pci-e-vga-card.html]

my question now is, is the 4gig version worth the extra dollars?
my last card the 660ti was 2gig and i can not recall any problems with it.

i will be picking the card up on Friday the 16th, =D my partner thinks im a little too excited.
 

BlankInsanity

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2GB is fine for 1080p, but if your into modding and stuff like Skyrim 4k textures and stuff then that extra 4GB may come in handy. Also 4GB is needed for things like 2k and 4K resolutions but looking at the price difference of $402 to $486 it's not worth it on your end. I can get a 4GB version for just $40-60 more than the normal 2GB. If you ask me stick with the 2GB.

I hope you enjoy it, I own that exact one (2GB) and I love it! it's dead silent under load and on idle and games pretty well. I suggest using 2x AA on games because if you ask me 2x or 8xAA doesn't make a big difference in 1080p gaming it just ruins your FPS. at 4K res you'll notice a difference.

Trust me the 770 is a great investment. If you're feeling nifty and you got good cooling give a hand at OCing the card as-well, I hear Gigabyte's PCBs overclock really well. I haven't tried it though
 

Karami

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i dont know how much further i could push the card, where i live the avg temps are around 35c and the coldest nights in winter are about 19c. i remember my old 660ti GV-N66TWF2-2GD would get to about 70c to 76c on normal days, but i will be trying =D.

and im over modding skyrim, i can't get my game to start back up now always crashes at loading a game. i'm very upset about it because i was playing the game without fast traveling anywhere. i unlocked so much of the map as well, took about 50 hours to get to lv 26.

ok i got 2 more questions,
what is a max temp these cards should get to?
the card is rated at 600w, does that mean i will need a 1200w psu to sli it?
 

Maciek Fulton

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770 is a great card, the card is rated for 600w but a bronze 750w PSU would be able to SLI the cards.
You should be seeing 33C idle and 65-70C gaming.
 

Karami

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thank you Maciek Fulton, but how do you (i) work it out, if it needs 600w how could a 750w psu handle it in sli?
 

BlankInsanity

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The card isn't rated at 600W, it's rated that you would need 600W with a full system to power the card. The card itself probably only needds 200-250ish W to power it by itself. to Sli a 770 I'd suggest an 850W PSU 80Plus rating OFC, I'd suggest Corsairs HX series? just my suggestion.

I live in the Caribbean so my ambient temps are similiar to yours, with the A/C on in the house the GPU doesn't go above 75C with the A/C it can go up to 78C. This is my case setup, with 7 fans in total. IDK how your setup but is but anything with a proper cooling and you should see the same temps.

Now you might get worreid about your idle temps being in the mid 30s because of your region(like mine) and you say benchmarks in the 20s this is all because the ambient temps, what you should be concerned about is the under-load temps which like I said before you should be covered. Oh yeah the GPU is almost dead silent while under load, you could ofc max the fans on the GPU to get like 65-70C but then it sounds like a vaccum. Gigabyte has a great cooling solution while maintaing silence and I really like that, it's not the most beautiful card but tell me, are you gonna be staring at your card while you game? nah.

Fulton may be a bit wrong with having a BRONZE 750W PSU, notice I said bronze. IF you want to stoop down to 750W then I'd suggest a gold or silver 750W PSU, loads of people say 850W is the reccomended PSU for SLIng the 770, so take your chances with that

P.S that skyrim problem of yours, try backing up your savegame, and fully re-install the game. Just my suggestion if you really want to fix it make a poll in the Games section, idk much about fixing games, just the basic stuff. I usually google my problems
 

Karami

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i'll just start a new game with skyrim, thanks anyway.
i have a 1000w gold psu, so i would be fine.
beauty is in the eye of the beholder, i think it's a sexy beast looking of a card, i really like the black backplate on the 780 Ghz edition =D

Thank you and everyone else for your help, i will report back tomorrow night and let you know how it goes

Edit**
i am in Australia =D
 

Karami

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OK so ive had a good afternoon with this card.
on payday 2 i was hitting 120fps, and on TESO i was getting an avg. of 60fps, 45fps in cities and 80+ in caves and dungeons.
i am very happy with this card, i was getting a max temp of 70c.
i started to OC it a bit, i got the GPU Clock to +63mhz and the Memory Clock to +100mhz. i dont know how much more i can push her, but i'll try for a bit more.

Thanks everyone

Karami
 

BlankInsanity

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Glad you enjoy it as much as I do, maybe I'll OC mine too