Help, what graphics card to buy!

RobCherry · Oct 11, 2014

So ive decided to build a intel pc system but im struggling to choose a graphics card, the build I have picked is as follows:

cpu - i3 4130
mb - gigbyte z97p-d3
ram - 4gb crucial ballistixs 1866mhz
psu - 550w cooler master gm series
case - aero cool dead silence mini gaming case
ssd - 240gb Kingston hyperX fury

this build so far takes me to £363 and my budget at the moment is £500. So I have roughly £140 to spend on a graphics card. I have been looking at the gtx760's and r9 270x. I just want a good card that will play all the modern games I have on a fairly high setting or as high as I can get them for my cash.
any ideas or feedback from people with similar cards or similar price range would be brilliant, ive tried looking online for compare websites but they all say a lot of different things so I am not sure what to think.

this build was picked as I am planning on upgrading the ram/cpu/grahics card in the near future as and when I have the funds to.

thanks

13thmonkey · Oct 11, 2014

I'd wait for a month if you can as the prices might shake up with the arrival of the 970/980, and amd's partners price drops on the 280-290X. The 760 at £140 is a good price.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-gigabyte-gtx-760-windforce-2x-28nm-pcie-30-6008mhz-gddr5-gpu-1033mhz-boost-1085mhz-cores-1152-dv
depends on what you play:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1043?vs=1038

BUT i would consider a H97 board and get a slightly faster processor. By the time you come round to upgrade you may find limited stock of the appropriate i5's, we all dream about it, but never do it

. And getting a new mobo/cpu would be better and not much more expensive. I've recently built a 4160 + 760 and it runs like a dream.

In order of preference given a H97 swap:
decrease speed of ram to 1600 and increase to 8GB
increase to 4160

I doubt you can do both and get a decent GPU that'll be good for a good while .

Tzn · Oct 11, 2014

GTX 750ti is the sweet point.

vk991 · Oct 11, 2014

RobCherry :

7% Difference :http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=1863&gid2=882&compare=radeon-r9-270x-vs-geforce-gtx-760
I Would select r9 ,i like AMDs They are cheper than nvidias and better price/perf. ratio..
Battlefield 4 can run 60+FPS on it. at 1080p
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-270-review-benchmarks,3669-4.html
About Power Supply I Think it Should handle it ,i hope you have researched it..
So i would suggest you buy amd save some money

rockie_ · Oct 11, 2014

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-r9270xgaming2gitx

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-r9280gaming3g

RobCherry · Oct 11, 2014

I cant really wait a month for the pc as I sold mine two days ago and want to get one in place ready for the new borderlands game. so I have very little time.
so best option might be to drop the 4130 for the 4160, why do you suggest that motherboard, I doubt ile be doing much/if any overclocking.
and is it not worth getting the 1866mhz ram, is there not much difference between the 1600 and 1866?

rockie_ · Oct 11, 2014

at the same latency 1866MHz is 10% faster But 1600MHz is fast enough . Important is the GPU .

13thmonkey · Oct 11, 2014

very little difference between 1600 and 1866. The H97 is the haswell refresh non-overclocking board, the Z97 is the OCing version. So if you are not going to OC then go H97. If you go for the older haswell boards then you'll need to do a bios update to get the haswell refresh chips to work.

13thmonkey · Oct 11, 2014

Memory speed and latency scaling.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell

rockie_ · Oct 11, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (£85.36 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£58.90 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£64.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£74.39 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£144.22 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£42.99 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.09 @ Aria PC)
Total: £515.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-11 11:18 BST+0100

RobCherry · Oct 11, 2014

ok so I guess the z97 could be swapped for a h97 board as overclocking doesn't appeal to me, im still struggling on a graphics card for £140 tho. any ideas? the gtx750ti seems ok but looks like it may struggle on some of the more modern games, however the youtube clips ive seen of the r9 270x seem very good. is there any other graphics cards I should look at .... ?

13thmonkey · Oct 11, 2014

760, using the savings from the z97. m-atx would be fine, possibly even mini-itx.

linked above at 146 I think.

RobCherry · Oct 11, 2014

7% Difference :http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=1863&gid2=882&compare=radeon-r9-270x-vs-geforce-gtx-760
I Would select r9 ,i like AMDs They are cheper than nvidias and better price/perf. ratio..
Battlefield 4 can run 60+FPS on it. at 1080p
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-270-review-benchmarks,3669-4.html
About Power Supply I Think it Should handle it ,i hope you have researched it..
So i would suggest you buy amd save some money

yeh the power supply of 550w will do easily, but I was thinking of maybe getting one at 600/650w to future proof the pc incase I upgraded to a higher end graphics card with more wattage.

RobCherry · Oct 11, 2014

the pc shop I will be buying my computer parts from has the z97 forsale cheaper than the h97 so I guess I will be buying the z97, the board is only £58.99 so fairly cheap already. so I wont be able to save any money to put toward the graphics card by changing the motherboard ! bummer lol !

RobCherry · Oct 11, 2014

edit ..... so this is the system set-up ive decided to go with...

cpu - i3 4150
mb - gigbyte z97p-d3
ram - 8gb corsair vengeance low profile 1600mhz
psu - 650w cooler master gm series
case - corsair carbide spec 03
ssd - 240gb Kingston hyperX fury
gpu -gtx750ti palit 2gb
Samsung 24x cd r/w

total comes to £504.10.

rockie_ · Oct 11, 2014

650W for single GTX 750 ti card is much . 400W or 500W even 600W

RobCherry · Oct 11, 2014

yes but if you read above, im planning on upgrading my cpu and gpu in a few months soi wanted to future proof it.

rockie_ · Oct 11, 2014

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-r9280gaming3g
or GTX 970 or R9 290

if you got R9 280 3GB VRAM , you wouldnt need to upgrade neither 3 4150 nor the GPU . R9 280 is 60% faster than GTX 750 ti

RobCherry · Oct 11, 2014

system is up and running and im writing this post from it

specs changed slightly ;

cpu - i3 4150
mb - gigbyte z97p-d3
ram - 8gb kingston value ram1600mhz
psu - 600w corsair cx600m
case - cooler master silencio 452
ssd - 240gb Kingston hyperX fury
gpu -gtx660 palit 2gb
Samsung 24x cd r/w

RobCherry · Oct 11, 2014

total cost was £475 so £25 under budget :0

13thmonkey · Oct 11, 2014

and that 25 would get you to a 760, which is a lot better..

RobCherry · Oct 11, 2014

were can you buy a brand new gtx 760 for £124? as i paid £99 for a brand new gtx660

13thmonkey · Oct 11, 2014

ah, i was seeing 120 ish for 660.

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