What GPU is for me?

Jellypickaxe · Jul 10, 2014

Hi, I want to play games on reasonable (medium-Highish) settings at 1366x768. With an fps of 30+ minimum. I would prefer 60+. Frame rate is a priority. My maximum budget is £100.

My current specs:
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W
CPU: Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz Clarkdale overclocked to 4.20GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
Cooler: Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU Cooler
RAM: Corsair vengeance(2x4GB) DDR3 1600mhz
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Graphics Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTS 450 OC 1024MB GDDR5
Sound: Realtek 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)
Optical Drive: LG DVD+/-RW SATA Drive

Please help me also what may I be able to get for the money now and in around 5-6 months time?
Is it worth waiting?
Thanks.

Shadowblade2652 · Jul 10, 2014

GTX 750 TI is your best option, but I believe it's around $130 - $150 (convert that to GBP if you need to)

herrwizo · Jul 10, 2014

Nvidia 750ti or r7 265 are your best bet. Even better, r9 270x, if you can stretch a little, but that would push your psu quite hard.

toddybody · Jul 10, 2014

Jellypickaxe :

I would check out a GTX 750ti...within your budget and will provide strong performance at your resolution:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nvidia-GeForce-Graphics-GDDR5-PCI-Express/dp/B00ICUGOP0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1405023617&sr=8-4&keywords=r7+265

5-6 months might open up some price drops on the GTX700 series (maybe allowing you to get a GTX 760), or the replacement of the 750ti. IMO, I would save for the next few months and bring your budget up to 150-75 quid if you can. At that time, see what options present themselves.

stickmansam · Jul 10, 2014

Only this r7 265 and this 750ti match your price range under 100 pounds
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-112320020g
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx750tioc2gd5

between the two, I would go AMD as it perfroms faster and is cheaper

stokes1790 · Jul 10, 2014

Just to point it out that PSU is borderline of what's considered acceptable in a gaming machine. Its not something that needs to be replaced ASAP, but personally I'd want something of higher quality, especially if I'm going to be spending a lot of money on a nice graphics card.

To your specific question, I think r7265 is the card for you coming in at nearly exactly 100 pounds. And should work fine with your PSU, but again, I'd recommend upgrading it in the medium term, hopefully you didn't JUST get that PSU.

jessterman21 · Jul 10, 2014

herrwizo :

Hard shmard - the whole system would only draw 300w at most.

Shadowblade2652 · Jul 10, 2014

stokes1790 :

His PSU is fine? I have a CX500M and it works fine and a friend has a CX500 and has had it for a couple years now.

stokes1790 · Jul 10, 2014

Shadowblade2652 :

Yea, its fine. Its on the border of being quality and being an issue. That is exactly what I said? I personally would prefer the TX or HX series, but if you don't plan on overclocking or really trying to squeeze everything out of it, it should be fine.

herrwizo · Jul 10, 2014

jessterman21 :

When you factor in the psu efficiency of approx 80 percent at best for this psu, and the fact that its 12v rails are loaded by other stuff as well, you end up in loading that one rail quite hard for prolonged time periods. With corsair cx series, that never a good idea.

Shadowblade2652 · Jul 10, 2014

herrwizo :

jessterman21 :

When you factor in the psu efficiency of approx 80 percent at best for this psu, and the fact that its 12v rails are loaded by other stuff as well, you end up in loading that one rail quite hard for prolonged time periods. With corsair cx series, that never a good idea.

I have a GTX 660 and an AMD A8 5600k running on a CX 500. No problems.

stickmansam · Jul 10, 2014

the CX are not exactly high end but the newer versions, v2.3 are better than the old ones

If you have a CX, don't bother getting a new one if the current wattage is good but if you have the cash and are in the market for a PS, you could do better than the CX

stokes1790 · Jul 10, 2014

stickmansam :

That's all I was trying to say. Doesn't need to get upgraded ASAP, but should be on your radar.

@shadow- that is great that your CX has served your well, but it certainly has a less than stellar reputation here, and in my personal experience I've seen multiple builds fail from pushing a CX model PSU.

herrwizo · Jul 10, 2014

From my experience, cx series is somewhat of a gamble. I have seen people get quite good mileage of it, and good power. Others couldnt get a mid range single graphics without it failing...

Shadowblade2652 · Jul 10, 2014

stokes1790 :

Yea I totally understand what you mean,
but he's not going to push that 500W PSU with an i3 and a budget R7 265. That won't push his PSU at all.

solkeher · Jul 10, 2014

herrwizo :

What 750 watt psu is recommended around here? I saw a thread of tier psu's in here but I can't find it anymore, don't know why...

stickmansam · Jul 10, 2014

don't worry, you're fine on the CX500

stokes1790 · Jul 10, 2014

Shadowblade2652 :

I don't have the amperage of the cx500 12v rail on hand, and his cpu is overclocked, if he overclocks the gpu as well, multiple HDDs, you can get up there pretty quickly. I would guess you're only looking at about 400w actual performance, and off the head oveclocking that system is probably somewhere around ~350. Like I and others have said, probably not an issue... but should be a consideration going forward.

Especially with PSU, as I and sure plenty of other people have learned the hard way, it pays to be conservative particularly with the quality of the unit (wattage is really not an important figure, 12v rail A is what matters). You don't want to be cutting corners on the PSU, despite it seeming like a good way to save money as a novice builder.

stickmansam · Jul 10, 2014

the cx500 ranges from 32/34a to 38a on the 12v rail depending on the specific version

notherdude · Jul 11, 2014

herrwizo :

PSU efficiency is about saving money on power bills, it does not mean you will only get x% of rated power. http://www.corsair.com/en-us/blog/2012/august/80-plus-platinum-what-does-it-mean-and-what-is-the-benefit-to-me

Jellypickaxe · Jul 12, 2014

Why does everbody think of the msi radeon 7770

Shadowblade2652 · Jul 12, 2014

Jellypickaxe :

do you mean why does nobody think of the radeon 7770?

stickmansam · Jul 13, 2014

the 7770 is about the same as a R7 250X

What GPU is for me?

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