What Graphics card should I buy

[pjim]

Hi

I'm a bit of a noob with gaming PCs as I've not built PCs for a long time. Hoping you can help me with choose the right graphics card?

I just got a new system.
Amd Fx 6300
8 Gb ram
With my old graphics card gt9600

I kind of regret not getting the Intel chip now as they seem to be a lot better from what people are saying?

I'd like to get a new graphics card, hopefully one that will last me a while. I could spend up to 300 pounds (I'm UK based) or so, but I don't want to waste money. I haven't got a solid state drive yet either, so I think some of my budget could be better invested there?

I don't want to buy something that I can't get the full power from, due to my cpu or the like. I play on a Asus 24" monitor, no extreme resolutions or the like.

I've looked at everything from the 560 ti, 660 ti, 7950, 7970, 670 gtx. I'm just really confused as what's worth getting.

I'd like to get really good graphics performance, the very high settings with a decent frame-rate. But I'll be happy with high settings at 40fps or so, I suppose. I'd like it to last a decent amount of time.

I play a bit of Wow and hear it works better with Nvidia cards? I also like Call of Duty and I've just brought Dishonored, not started playing it yet.

Really appreciate any advice, thanks.

 

[imomun]

Go for A 660 ti if you can add little more a 670
http://www.hwcompare.com/13138/geforce-gtx-660-ti-vs-geforce-gtx-670/

 

[amirp]

what is the exact model of your power supply? The GPU uses alot of power and knowing how much power you have available will guide the recommendation... but generally I would recommend getting an amd 7950...as I think many on this forum would also do the same.

EDIT: Use this guide as a general reference for the performance of the cards and what is best at which price points.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

and then look up reviews to see how specific cards perform in your favourite games... but both dishonoured and COD are easy to max out...and so is WOW

 

[cookybiscuit]

A 7970 or 7950 represents the best value in that price range, a 660ti is no comparison and a 670 is a little more expensive and not as fast. Only reason to go Nvidia is perhaps for the better SLI support and for 3D, if you aren't doing either of those I would stick with AMD.

However, you pointed out the problem yourself. CPU isn't too great with cards like this, not at all bad but in CPU bound games it won't be quite as fast. You might be able to negate some of this with a cheap cooler and an overclock though.

 

[pjim]

Thanks for the help I've got a 750w power supply, not sure of the model/brand.

Would I be able to fully use the 7950 or Gtx 670 as I don't have the more powerful Intel chip? Sorry bit of a noob with this stuff.
I've heard some people have had not the best performance on Wow with the AMD gpus, or maybe thats just a their setup?

 

[amirp]

so firstly although cookybiscuit is right about your CPU I wouldn't worry too much because with Vsync turned on all you ever need to reach is 60 fps and the cpu will very rarely be a bottleneck at FPS under 60.

I'm not sure but I don't think an old game like WOW should tax a 7950 lol

 

[ASHISH65]

fx 6300 will not bottleneck hd 7950 or gtx 670.

though it is better to overclock that cpu for optimum performance

 

[pjim]

Thanks all, really helpful. I'll start reading up on overclocking the processor, think I need some more info first as I don't know enough.

Something like this will be good for me then, I take it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0091MFBZC/ref=asc_df_B0091MFBZC12300741?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B0091MFBZC

Not sure about the WOW thing, just from what I was reading, on forums. Maybe WOWs crappy graphics optimisation is the issue, or people own setups causing problems.

 

[amirp]

yea that card looks good... just shop around your local websites and w/e to find the best price.

Yea read up, im sure there will be alot of guides that will help you, but you won't be able to overclock until you buy a better CPU cooler than the stock one.

 

[bigcyco1]

Thanks all, really helpful. I'll start reading up on overclocking the processor, think I need some more info first as I don't know enough.

Something like this will be good for me then, I take it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0091MFBZC/ref=asc_df_B0091MFBZC12300741?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B0091MFBZC

Not sure about the WOW thing, just from what I was reading, on forums. Maybe WOWs crappy graphics optimisation is the issue, or people own setups causing problems.

Sapphire's HD 7950 Vapor-X comes with a large dual-fan cooler that uses the company's famous vapor-chamber technology. On the Vapor-X you will also find a "Lethal Boost" button which switches to a second BIOS with higher clock speeds. With this BIOS, clocks are increased to 950 MHz GPU and 1250 MHz memory.It can be oc even further i would recommend you get that.

 

[pjim]

Thanks again, everyone. Think I'll go for one of those Sapphires then. I can put the rest of my budget towards a SSD.