Which Graphics Card?

[Alphanse]

Hi everyone, this is my first time building a gaming computer so far i'm going with a Intel Core i5 3570 Gen3 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor, With 8GB of RAM, i'm just a little stuck on the Graphics card, i am debating between:

Single NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 1GB GDDR5

and

Single AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5

I am using this website to build it, here's the computer to begin with,: http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0140076/CATID=54/ID=18417/SID=221402947/idPlaytechNZ_OrderDetails=/idOrderDetailsSession=/customise.html (New Zealand website)


I will be using a 21.5 inch monitor at decent sized resolution, and pretty much want the best performance for gaming, i'd like to see what everyone has to say, thanks in advance. I know i could use a max resolution but probably won't, please suggest the best card for me.

Games i mainly plan on playing:

Guild Wars 2 - Medium - High graphics
Blacklight Retribution - Medium - High graphics
MW3 - Any graphics
BF2 - Any graphics
Skyrim - Medium - High

 

[Alphanse]

Oh and if anyone recommends a different one all together please tell me.

 

[daswilhelm]

at that resolution you should be looking at the 7850 and up.

 

[Alphanse]

I probably won't want to play in ultra settings all the time, does that really make a difference with that resolution?

 

[daswilhelm]

you mentioned best performance in gaming. at that resolution a 7770 would barely hold up.

 

[Alphanse]

I'm not planning on running everything on Ultra, am i able to change down the resolution and still fir the screen? i can go with a 7850.

 

[daswilhelm]

a 7770 will run at that resolution, but with lowered AA. so it wont look to pretty. not a bad video card though.

 

[fuzg13z]

Which titles do you intend to play? If you want to play metro 2033, and Crysis on max settings at 1920x1080 then I'd at least go with an overclocked 7950 and you'd probably barely get playable framerates. There's a considerable leap in price to that card from the 7770 though. If you're okay with sacrificing some picture quality then you could use a 7850 to run any title at medium to high settings with a decent frame rate. The 7770 will run Metro 2033 at 1920X1080 at medium presets but it's just above playable quality and I'd be concerned about future titles and playability. Check out the benchmarks below!


Source: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7870-review-benchmark,3148-7.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7770-7750-benchmark,3135-11.html

 

[Alphanse]

Thanks for the feedback, i have a few questions, because my monitor is going to be 21.5 inches, does it mean i have to play 1080 x 1920 to have full screen, or can i play in windowed lower resolutions, if so, will i need anything extremely better than the 7770 i won't be playing in maxed setting all the time, so what do you think?

 

[Sunius]

You should drop budget on CPU and invest into GPU.

But seriously, don't buy that PC. It's too overpriced! For same price you can get much better deals. Like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($265.00 @ PC Force)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-GL Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($100.94 @ Ascent Technology)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($81.29 @ Ascent Technology)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($113.00 @ PC Force)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($403.54 @ Aquila Technology)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.70 @ Aquila Technology)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($99.00 @ PC Force)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($146.95 @ Ascent Technology)
Total: $1299.42
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-16 17:36 NZST+1200)

 

[Alphanse]

I'm really not sure as to how to build a PC though, i have a PC guy in town, do you think it would be cheaper to ship in the parts and get them to build it? (I live in New Zealand)

 

[Alphanse]

Best answer selected by Alphanse.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey