Please help recommend a Graphics Card. LOTS of buyer's remorse in the past.

SakuraMaple · Nov 13, 2015

I have an Asus M11BB (AMD A8-6500 APU 4 CPUs ~3.5GHz).
I want to buy the best video card I can without bottlenecking.
- I'm already getting a 650W PSU to replace the smaller PSU I currently have
- I also bought 4GB Ram, so I now I have 8GB total.
- I'm looking to play Fallout 4. Medium settings are OK, it doesn't have to look absolutely awe-inspiring, just "good".
My local shop (which I have $145 in store credit in), has a new GTX 750 TI for $200.

My budget is $200.

Please help. What can I get? What should I get? What would be worth it for my current machine?

Thank you so much, I've read reviews and the GTX 750 Ti looks like a great card for my budget, but does it fit my system?

getochkn · Nov 13, 2015

If you can get a 950, it blows the 750ti away. Problem is your local shop probably wants to sell the 750ti and might not get you a 950 or charge you more for it, but generally they are the same price as the 750ti now and way better.

SakuraMaple · Nov 13, 2015

Thanks for the reply! I'll go tomorrow and ask them their price on a 950. The 950 seems to be just a hair over my budget, but if it really is disproportionately better than the 750, I should look into it.
Can my system be "bottlenecked" by that? I mean, would I get the full power of the 950 even though I don't have an i7 or alienware or something?

getochkn :

SakuraMaple · Nov 13, 2015

This one, right?
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=EN...

I'll check tomorrow at my local store to see if they have it.

getochkn :

jerdle · Nov 13, 2015

Also check the price on the R7 265 and R7 370

Their performance is in between that of the GTX 750Ti and GTX 950

SakuraMaple · Nov 13, 2015

The guy at the store told me last week that the R7 370 wouldn't run fallout 4. Something about n Nvidia and Radeon being differently scaled or something.
I'll check tomorrow and post an update.

jerdle :

getochkn · Nov 13, 2015

The guys an idiot then. Like they would make Fallout4 and not have it run on 50% of the cards out there.

jerdle · Nov 14, 2015

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/fallout_4_pc_graphics_performance_benchmark_review,7.html

The R9 370 outperformed the GTX 950 on fallout 4.

Tell the guy at the store you want a Radeon R9 370.

SakuraMaple · Nov 17, 2015

Sorry for the delay, I was sick. OK, here's what the store has in the cards you've mentioned.
GTX 750ti - $199
R7 265 - Not in stock
R7 370 - $234
GTX 950 - $239
All new. 2 year warranty.

Then he pulled out a used card that he said blows all of these out of the water - GTX 770 for $250. I specifically asked to look at the fans and they looked good. One month warranty.
He agreed to set that one aside for me and I told him I'd be back in the morning.
So if you look at my CPU, which of these cards do you think I should get?

Thank you for your help again. I'll trust your judgment because I really don't want to waste money.

jerdle :

mjslakeridge · Nov 17, 2015

The GTX 770 is selling for $370 on Amazon. I would offer him half of the retail price for a used GPU, which would be $185. He may counter offer you something, but I would probably not pay more than $200. As to whether that GPU would be a good fit with your system, I can't speak to that, others here probably can.

As to the one month warranty, how well do you trust this shop? Have you worked with them in the past? Will they give you a written warranty?

SakuraMaple · Nov 17, 2015

Well, they don't really negotiate, but I can try.
As for how well I trust them - implicitly and wholly. They've been in my town for decades and I've been their customer since the late 80s.
I'll try to negotiate the price down a bit. I just wanted to be sure I don't bottleneck it with my system. I don't want to end up with a graphics card by CPU can't make full use of. I posted my CPU specs in the original comment.

mjslakeridge :

mjslakeridge · Nov 17, 2015

Are they giving you a 30 day warranty just covering whether the GPU dies, or is it a 30 day return policy in the event you are not satisfied with how it works in your system? If the latter, you should give it a try.

SakuraMaple · Nov 17, 2015

30 days to be satisfied. It's all store credit, but that's not an issue, this place sells tons of stuff.
I think I'll be buying the used GTX 770 unless someone can tell me I'll severely bottleneck my system. Meaning, it's a waste of money in my CPU (I have an Asus M11BB (AMD A8-6500 APU 4 CPUs ~3.5GHz).

mjslakeridge :

SakuraMaple · Nov 17, 2015

So far one vote for the used GTX 770 (with an attempt at haggling).
I'll be going tomorrow morning to get whichever one you all recommend the most.
I'm so excited! The runner up is R7 370, new, for $234

mjslakeridge :

mlga91 · Nov 17, 2015

I may be missing something in his thread, but why dont you order the card online? Those prices are really jacked up. Where are you from?

SakuraMaple · Nov 18, 2015

Hi! I should have mentioned that, sorry, I'm Canadian. All the prices I mentioned are in CAD.
The same card, online, refurbished, is $309.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=gtx+770&N=4016&isNodeId=1

As for why this store... well, the main reason is the $150 store credit I have there.

mlga91 :

ComputerSecurityGuy · Nov 18, 2015

GTX 770 will blow the other cards away. You will see some bottlenecking in CPU dependent games but the 770 will run most games smoothly on that CPU.

SakuraMaple · Nov 18, 2015

The store opens in 10 minutes

Looks like we've got my answer.

mjslakeridge · Nov 18, 2015

Let us know how the GTX 770 works out in your system!

And hopefully you can get them down on the price somewhat.

SakuraMaple · Nov 18, 2015

mjslakeridge :

SakuraMaple · Nov 18, 2015

Will do! They didn't move on the price, but he did install the whole thing for me. It's an msi twin frozr gaming GeForce GTX 770.
The power supply is a thermaltake tr2 600w (new).
The only concern was that the card needed two 8 pin power supply connectors and the only power supplies they had were one eight pin and one six pin.
But, we turned it on and everything ran ok.
I have to go to work now, but tomorrow, I'll get something like Arkham City or Far Cry 4.... Something cheap, but will put the card through the tests.
He did say that if the power supply was insufficient in any way, I could get a new one they would order in.

Can't wait until tomorrow to test out this baby! All I had on my machine was fallout New Vegas, and that ran perfectly fine before.

I'm confident this was the right choice, but we'll see. Thanks everyone, I'll let you know how something more powerful plays tomorrow.

Oh... Fallout 4, I found out I might be getting it for my birthday in two weeks, so I can't really test it out right now, so I'll test something else.

getochkn · Nov 18, 2015

Hate to say, but expect some more buyers remorse.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2027116/thermaltake-tr2-600w-good.html

That is about the worst PSU you could buy. Tier 5.

If the PSU doesn't have the right amount of plugs for the GPU, then it's the wrong PSU. Using molex plugs is a bad idea and will put too much strain on the molex line and result in melting of the wires, fire, etc. The quality of that PSU might make it catch fire on it's own.

SakuraMaple · Nov 18, 2015

Hmmmm.... suggestions? The link within that link (the newegg one) doesn't work.
I'm still gonna see how something newer runs, I think.
Hmm.... nuts.

getochkn :

mjslakeridge · Nov 18, 2015

Here is the link to the Tom's Hardware Power Supply Tier list.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

SakuraMaple · Nov 18, 2015

"These units are a potential fire hazard and could even kill you,"

W.T.F.??????

No... wait.... it says the TR2 hasn't been tied'ed yet. And the box doesn't say bronze or gold or anything like that.

OK, guys... seriously..... "KILL YOU".??? My kids will be using this.... What's the threat here and please for the love of god be honest and plain. Is my family at risk using that PC right now?

mjslakeridge :

Please help recommend a Graphics Card. LOTS of buyer's remorse in the past.

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