Best Graphics card for 200-300 Dollars

Camsea · May 16, 2015

Hello, i am currently looking for a graphics card that will be able to play all games on medium-ultra for the price above. please leave as many comments as you can as i would like a variety of answers thanks!
(P.S, it is Australian dollars so keep that in mind)

Epic Sasa · May 16, 2015

australian huh gtx 960 is ok and r9 280x is hitting the 300 dollar range they both are good cards but you need a good PSU to use the r9 280x.

yeskay · May 16, 2015

Camsea :

Get the GTX 960. Why?

GTX 960 vs R9 285/ R9 280/ GTX 760 1080p Benchmarks

- As you could see from that video, the GTX 960 out class the R9 280 and even performs on par or better in some games than the R9 285.
- This card is extremely power efficient only require a 430W PSU with 20Amps or more on its +12V rail.
- With any GTX 960, regardless of the brand, you will get a redeemable code to download "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" for free.

You can redeem those games here at NVIDIA's Official Redeemable Website:
Geforce Redemptions

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($289.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $289.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-16 22:41 AEST+1000

Cheers!

Camsea · May 17, 2015

Epic Sasa :

Thanks for the help i might choose either of these cards but, i would like to know what a good PSU would be for the r9 280x? and also if i were to use either these cards in a pre-built work PC (lower specs then a gaming PC, like 4 gigs of ram whatever fans the company puts in and a Intel core Pentium or I3 ect.) would it work well? and would i be able to play more games with this card alone or would i need to upgrade ram and such before i see any change.

yeskay · May 17, 2015

Camsea :

The pre-built PCs will usually have low profile PSUs. Since you're talking about Pentium or i3, there is a very good chance you will have 250W/300W/350W PSU in that rig.

The GTX 960 require a quality 430W PSU that can deliver 20Amps on its +12V rail.
The R9 280X require a quality 600W PSU that can deliver 30Amps on its +12V rail.

Remember, the important criteria in selecting a new or looking into your PSU is the Amps it can deliver on +12V rail. Then comes the Wattage. Your PSU must meet the Amps requirement. You can find this info on the side of the PSU mention in a tabular column.

As you could see the GTX is extremely power efficient than the R9. Also we should consider the dimensions of that case first. So that we can tell exactly which card will fit into that.

You can pair either of these cards with i3, that to 3rd or 4th gen ones. But a Pentium may not be able to keep up with either of those cards (Intel's recent 20th Anniversary Pentium G3258 is an exception in this case). Because of the CPU being a bottleneck, you may not be able to extract the full potential of either of those cards. So in that case a CPU and MB upgrade may be needed.

For today's and upcoming games, having another 4GB of RAM is desirable for smoother game play on hardware hungry tities. 8GB of RAM is the sweet spot for gaming. Also going over 8GB is not advisable, as the performance you'll see will be close to zero or highly negligible. Having said that you can very well manage with 4GB if you're ok with with longer loading times between levels, stuttering here and there sometimes in densely populated with object areas etc.

Please consider these things and then take a decision. Cheers!

Camsea · May 18, 2015

yeskay :

Camsea :

The pre-built PCs will usually have low profile PSUs. Since you're talking about Pentium or i3, there is a very good chance you will have 250W/300W/350W PSU in that rig.

The GTX 960 require a quality 430W PSU that can deliver 20Amps on its +12V rail.
The R9 280X require a quality 600W PSU that can deliver 30Amps on its +12V rail.

Remember, the important criteria in selecting a new or looking into your PSU is the Amps it can deliver on +12V rail. Then comes the Wattage. Your PSU must meet the Amps requirement. You can find this info on the side of the PSU mention in a tabular column.

As you could see the GTX is extremely power efficient than the R9. Also we should consider the dimensions of that case first. So that we can tell exactly which card will fit into that.

You can pair either of these cards with i3, that to 3rd or 4th gen ones. But a Pentium may not be able to keep up with either of those cards (Intel's recent 20th Anniversary Pentium G3258 is an exception in this case). Because of the CPU being a bottleneck, you may not be able to extract the full potential of either of those cards. So in that case a CPU and MB upgrade may be needed.

For today's and upcoming games, having another 4GB of RAM is desirable for smoother game play on hardware hungry tities. 8GB of RAM is the sweet spot for gaming. Also going over 8GB is not advisable, as the performance you'll see will be close to zero or highly negligible. Having said that you can very well manage with 4GB if you're ok with with longer loading times between levels, stuttering here and there sometimes in densely populated with object areas etc.

Please consider these things and then take a decision. Cheers!

Thanks for all the help but i have one last question, will a power supply that has too much watts affect the PC. I heard that it would and would like to confirmed if this is true or false.
thanks.

Epic Sasa · May 18, 2015

Camsea :

yeskay :

Camsea :

The pre-built PCs will usually have low profile PSUs. Since you're talking about Pentium or i3, there is a very good chance you will have 250W/300W/350W PSU in that rig.

The GTX 960 require a quality 430W PSU that can deliver 20Amps on its +12V rail.
The R9 280X require a quality 600W PSU that can deliver 30Amps on its +12V rail.

Remember, the important criteria in selecting a new or looking into your PSU is the Amps it can deliver on +12V rail. Then comes the Wattage. Your PSU must meet the Amps requirement. You can find this info on the side of the PSU mention in a tabular column.

As you could see the GTX is extremely power efficient than the R9. Also we should consider the dimensions of that case first. So that we can tell exactly which card will fit into that.

You can pair either of these cards with i3, that to 3rd or 4th gen ones. But a Pentium may not be able to keep up with either of those cards (Intel's recent 20th Anniversary Pentium G3258 is an exception in this case). Because of the CPU being a bottleneck, you may not be able to extract the full potential of either of those cards. So in that case a CPU and MB upgrade may be needed.

For today's and upcoming games, having another 4GB of RAM is desirable for smoother game play on hardware hungry tities. 8GB of RAM is the sweet spot for gaming. Also going over 8GB is not advisable, as the performance you'll see will be close to zero or highly negligible. Having said that you can very well manage with 4GB if you're ok with with longer loading times between levels, stuttering here and there sometimes in densely populated with object areas etc.

Please consider these things and then take a decision. Cheers!

Thanks for all the help but i have one last question, will a power supply that has too much watts affect the PC. I heard that it would and would like to confirmed if this is true or false.
thanks.

nope it will not matter

yeskay · May 18, 2015

Camsea :

yeskay :

Camsea :

The pre-built PCs will usually have low profile PSUs. Since you're talking about Pentium or i3, there is a very good chance you will have 250W/300W/350W PSU in that rig.

The GTX 960 require a quality 430W PSU that can deliver 20Amps on its +12V rail.
The R9 280X require a quality 600W PSU that can deliver 30Amps on its +12V rail.

Remember, the important criteria in selecting a new or looking into your PSU is the Amps it can deliver on +12V rail. Then comes the Wattage. Your PSU must meet the Amps requirement. You can find this info on the side of the PSU mention in a tabular column.

As you could see the GTX is extremely power efficient than the R9. Also we should consider the dimensions of that case first. So that we can tell exactly which card will fit into that.

You can pair either of these cards with i3, that to 3rd or 4th gen ones. But a Pentium may not be able to keep up with either of those cards (Intel's recent 20th Anniversary Pentium G3258 is an exception in this case). Because of the CPU being a bottleneck, you may not be able to extract the full potential of either of those cards. So in that case a CPU and MB upgrade may be needed.

For today's and upcoming games, having another 4GB of RAM is desirable for smoother game play on hardware hungry tities. 8GB of RAM is the sweet spot for gaming. Also going over 8GB is not advisable, as the performance you'll see will be close to zero or highly negligible. Having said that you can very well manage with 4GB if you're ok with with longer loading times between levels, stuttering here and there sometimes in densely populated with object areas etc.

Please consider these things and then take a decision. Cheers!

Thanks for all the help but i have one last question, will a power supply that has too much watts affect the PC. I heard that it would and would like to confirmed if this is true or false.
thanks.

No it won't affect your PC. Read this.

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Best Graphics card for 200-300 Dollars

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