Advice on a video card

[2danny9]

Hello great people of tom's hardware forum,

I wish to ask you all on:

I want to buy a video card that can play some new games around 1600 resolution and up preferably on high. I don't want it too expensive ; I'm unsure about ATI HD cards ; I had one new HIS 6850 turbo and it gave me constant problems (blue/white screens verticals as well as horizontal lines across the screen – story short, buying new PSU did not fix it, sent it back and they seemed to agree it had a fault, regardless I asked for my money back.)

By the way: the system below started out very cheap as it was my first build. Slowly I now wonna add more things eh?

So the financial plan is:

£80-£130 (excluding delivery)
Silent - I don't want a jet engine
Stable - a card that is just that, stable - I don't seem to trust ATi anymore

My system specs:

OCZ ZS Series 550W 80 Plus Bronze
AMD Phenom II X4 960T
Asus M5A78L-M LX
8GB Kingston DDR3 Memory 1333
Some cheap case
A 1080p Monitor ( with one dead pixel )

I think that's all, so please guys and girls shoot me video card you think it’s capable of playing games, running on my system WITHOUT crashing it every 5 minutes., silent under load, thanks again everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan

 

[Sunius]

The best card you can get for that price is GTX 560:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-msi-gtx-560-40nm-4000mhz-gddr5-gpu-810mhz-shader-1620mhz-336-cores-2-x-dvi-i-mhdmi-plusfree-batm

It's a decent card .

 

[2danny9]

The best card you can get for that price is GTX 560:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-msi-gtx-560-40nm-4000mhz-gddr5-gpu-810mhz-shader-1620mhz-336-cores-2-x-dvi-i-mhdmi-plusfree-batm

It's a decent card .

Is MSI good brand? Look like it will got hot quick no?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[2danny9]

OK I'm willing to pay up to from £100 to £150 excluding delivery and your opinions on if it is silent and that my PC and PSU is able to handle it!!!

Please reply!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAND thank you if you do!

 

[photonboy]

*about that HD6850:

The problem is NOT the fact that it was AMD, nor the fact that it was an HD6850. The failure of the card is completely due to the manufacture of the card, HIS. There are other manufactures such as Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Sapphire Tech, that have better reliability.

Other cards:
- just Google some benchmarks and look for the best card in your budget
- HD6870, GTX560 are probably your best choices
- *look for non-reference cards with better cooling than normal (look for reviews) if possible and the price isn't much more than the cheapest reference design
- look around for sales

I can't recommend an exact card because I'm in Canada.

 

[dalmvern]

With the increased budget it could get you a 560Ti.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-msi-gtx-560ti-oc-twin-frozr-ii-40nm-4200mhz-gddr5-gpu-880mhz-shader-1760mhz-384-cores

The TF is a tasty card.

 

[2danny9]

*about that HD6850:

The problem is NOT the fact that it was AMD, nor the fact that it was an HD6850. The failure of the card is completely due to the manufacture of the card, HIS. There are other manufactures such as Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Sapphire Tech, that have better reliability.

Other cards:
- just Google some benchmarks and look for the best card in your budget
- HD6870, GTX560 are probably your best choices
- *look for non-reference cards with better cooling than normal (look for reviews) if possible and the price isn't much more than the cheapest reference design
- look around for sales

I can't recommend an exact card because I'm in Canada.

The 560 and 560 ti what is the difference?

The 560 and 6870 both require two PCI-E power plugs? Does my OCZ ZS Series 550W able to juice it up?

 

[2danny9]

With the increased budget it could get you a 560Ti.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-msi-gtx-560ti-oc-twin-frozr-ii-40nm-4200mhz-gddr5-gpu-880mhz-shader-1760mhz-384-cores

The TF is a tasty card.

167 bit to much

Don't really want to go over £150. Thanks for the update thought

 

[joecole1572]

I think your power supply should be able to provide enough juice to the card.

 

[2danny9]

I think your power supply should be able to provide enough juice to the card.

You think? I want certain! I've already bought a new PSU, I don't want to get one.

OK guys I'm looking betweent he 560/560ti and the HD 6870.

But I'm really unsure about power wise if the PSU can handle it?

 

[dalmvern]

Your PSU is a good one, and a 560ti requires a 500W power supply and same with a 6870, so it will run any of the three you are looking at.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-sli-review/14
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/10/

 

[joecole1572]

You think? I want certain! I've already bought a new PSU, I don't want to get one.

OK guys I'm looking betweent he 560/560ti and the HD 6870.

But I'm really unsure about power wise if the PSU can handle it?

Here is what AMD says about the 6870

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/amd-radeon-hd-6000/hd-6870/pages/amd-radeon-hd-6870-overview.aspx#3

That is for the reference design, overclocked cards may require more.

Nvidia on the gefore 560 ti

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-560ti/specifications

Both say that a 500W power supply is recommended (550W for the 560 ti).

you should be fine with your psu

 

[2danny9]

Wicked thanks everyone. I'm also looking to upgrade memory. That won't change power requiments? The highest I saw my mobo supported was 1.65v