Need a GPU recommendation

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1dog

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Apr 11, 2010
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Hi all.

I recently built a system for my wife, with the following components based on a recommendation here on Tom's Hardware:
CPU: Intel Core i3-4330 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor
Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: WD1500ADFD 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s - this is an old drive from her last machine.

I am considering a GPU for it. I was recommended the GTX 960 or AMD 280. I believe both of these are not released yet, am I right in that assumption?

Could you recommend a GPU to me? I built this system for my wife. She uses it for watching movies, browsing, office work. Now she is interested in getting back into some gaming. Most of the games we play are not too demanding - RPGs, RTSs, mostly from last decade. My ASUS Rampage II Extreme+i7+GTX285+6GBRAM system is pretty much what we game on. No FPSs with lush environments. But I don't want to skimp on the GPU and would rather get a good one.
 
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Eximo

Eximo

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R9-280 has been out for a while, and even earlier in the form of the HD7950. That would be a pretty high end card.

GTX750Ti is the fastest card available that doesn't require external power, and is the latest generation from Nvidia.

As a comparison, it achieves about 30fps in Battlefield 4 @ 1080p. It maxes out most previous generation RPG and RTS.

 
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Alfrodo

Alfrodo

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The R9 280 (and 280x) are out, the gtx 960 is not.

A couple things you need to consider that may help you make a decision:
What is the most you are willing to spend?
How much room do you have in the case?
What kind of power supply do you have (brand, model, and wattage)?
 
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1dog

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Thanks guys. I apologize for not mentioning budget and room, as Alfrodo pointed out. My budget is in the $400 range (don't mind going above it a little). The power supply is 850W: http://www.coolermaster.com/service/support/model/RS-850-EMBA/ .

http://tinypic.com/r/2wdzr0p/8 is a pic of the available space. The green line (length) is 30 cm, red line (height) is 14 cm, depth (no line shown) is 12 cm. I can move the hard drive to another bay so I should be able to get those dimensions of free space.

Would you have a link for the AMD R9? I typed "amd radeon r9 280" in PCPartpicker and it doesn't list anything. Sorry, first time I'm trying to search for parts on that site: http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/
 
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Alfrodo

Alfrodo

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Your power supply has plenty of wattage and you have plenty of room in your case.

If you have $400 to play with, you can get anything from a GTX 750 ti to an R9 290x (the GTX 970, although a great choice too, is out of stock everywhere it seems).

When using PCpartpicker.com, click on the video card link at the top and then search "R9 280" or whatever you want. A slew of names will show up in the first column, concentrate on the "Chipset" column to verify it is the right GPU you are looking for.
 
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1dog

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Thanks. I typed "R9 280" and got 18 results with 3GB memory (one with 6GB but I don't think I need that much). The prices range from $170 to $302 - quite a variance. They all show "Radeon R9 280" under Chipset. Anything else I can look for to distinguish among these? Also, some of the results show "Combo" - what does that mean? Sorry for the newbie questions.
 
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Icaraeus

Icaraeus

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Differences between the same GPU would be the complexity of the air cooling, the core and memory speed of the GPU itself and the amount of memory (VRAM) it has. Combo means that if you buy that item with another item that is in the 'combo' then you get both for a discount.
 
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1dog

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Thanks.

PS - I just realized my thread is in the Systems forum. I had navigated to the Graphics Cards forum before posting so I'm not sure how it ended up here. Either way, I take the blame for it. Sorry about this.

PPS - Thanks again, to everyone, for your help. Much appreciated.
 
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