New Card Advice

[derekbbolt]

Max i want to spend is 300. Looking for the best fps / dollar possible. Have a xfx 6870 now and is not quite cutting it for me. I play skyrim with mods and what not and using an ENB kills my frame rates to 20 ish. Setting are on High. Using a 23 inch monitor.

Dont really care if its AMD or NVIDIA, just the best for the money.

So, with 300 what would you guys put your money on?

Thanks,
Derek

 

[ilysaml]

In order to feel a good move over your current card, you need a high end GPU such as GTX 670 / HD 7950, anything else wouldn't worth the money.

You need to raise up ur budget $100 more, $300 will get you GTX 570 or HD 7850 which is not a good upgrade over your current card.

 

[derekbbolt]

what about a 7870? Kind of middle of the road... Think i could get 30% boost or better from my current card?

 

[ilysaml]

Yup true, HD 7870 is a sweet card almost as powerful as GTX 580, with a nice overclock you'll get nice results.

 

[purple stain]

Your biggest problem is probably the amount of VRAM.Personally I think the 7850 is a nice upgrade over the 6870 but if you can spare more cash then by all means go for a 7870.The extra VRAM those cards have will go a long way.

What are your full system specs?(CPU,RAM,etc.)

 

[derekbbolt]

X6 1090T not overclocked
600W Corsair power supply
8gb ram
60 gb OCZ synapse
2TB raid 0 black

I think overclocking my my CPU would help a little but not really a computer guru. Was very lucky when i put the comp together that it worked.

 

[derekbbolt]

Mother board: MSI 890FXA-GD65

 

[ilysaml]

I vote for HD 7870 here, I wouldn't pay for a minor upgrade by grabbing HD 7850.

 

[purple stain]

I used to have that motherboard.It has a lot of good componets on it.And I think it has like 16+2 power phase's on it which is great for O.C.ing.

If your new to O.C.ing and want to give it a try this guide will help you immensely.I used it myself back when I had a 965.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274820-29-black-edition-overclock-raising-multiplier-guide

How much money do you think you can scrape together in total for a GPU upgrade?

 

[derekbbolt]

I could do up to 400. Its just convincing myself I wanna pay that much for a dang video card. Kind of a tightwad.

 

[derekbbolt]

Do you think overclocking my CPU would help game performance in my case? I know GPUs are generally the limiting factor these days. But if overclocking my CPU will get me even a few fps without risking my computer I would do it.

 

[purple stain]

Yes I do.If your that worried you don't even have to increase the voltage.You should get about 300-400mhz out of it without a voltage increase.Just follow the guide i posted above.

If you can fork out $400 then going for a 7950 is within your grasp.I would suggest getting this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127667

With a 7950 you should be able to maintain a 60fps average on high settings with your mods.

 

[derekbbolt]

OK. Thanks! So that 7950 would be better than a non reference gtx 670?

 

[derekbbolt]

Btw, my CPU cooler is the COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520. Works fine I guess, but like I said, I'm no expert. Will it be fine for overclocking 300 - 400 mhz?

 

[psikaikai]

OK. Thanks! So that 7950 would be better than a non reference gtx 670?

670 is better benches say so

 

[purple stain]

Yah it should be fine just don't add any voltage.But watch your temps.62c is max.Don't go over 60c.

The GTX670 is about 10-20fps faster than the 7950 on average.I didn't realize the GTX670 was priced at $400.That being the case get the GTX670.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2585856

 

[ilysaml]

Yup right now the GTX 670 is the best bang for buck.

 

[derekbbolt]

how does a 7970 stack up against a 670?

 

[purple stain]

The 7970 is right between the GTX670 and the GTX680.

 

[Deemo13]

I used to have that motherboard.It has a lot of good componets on it.And I think it has like 16+2 power phase's on it which is great for O.C.ing.

If your new to O.C.ing and want to give it a try this guide will help you immensely.I used it myself back when I had a 965.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274820-29-black-edition-overclock-raising-multiplier-guide

How much money do you think you can scrape together in total for a GPU upgrade?

This isn't really relevant, but I totally laughed out loud when you said "back when I had a 965"

It makes the 965 sound so old lol! I still run mine in one of my rigs. Its been through overheating issues, bent processor pins and overclocking failures, and still treks on today.

 

[purple stain]

I just moved on.I would of stayed with it but it was bottlenecking my crossfire.YOu just can't beat the prices of high end AMD boards vs Intel.It's in the other room upstairs as a HTPC and family computer.Still works as it should at stock clocks.I had some overheating problems and unstable overclocks with it as well and it's still truckin.

And I guess by today's standards you could call it old.I mean it was released back in 2009.Intel has released 3 new CPU arch's since then.

 

[manknownasbert1]

I just picked up a powercooler hd7870 for £200 theres some more a little pricier,head over and have a look mate.

 

[manknownasbert1]

i meant say on ebay lol