Best Graphics Card for Budget Gaming Build?

Hunje

Honorable
Jun 20, 2013
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10,510
I am building a gaming rig that is not budget breaking, I got components that will get the job done but at a good price. Most of these components I got on sale. I got AMD components because they usually offer the same quality for a lower price, but is that the same for graphics cards? Should I get a GeForce card or a Radeon card? Also, is more expensive always better? These cards look to have some pretty damn good benchmarks for as cheap as it is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127720&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID= (GeForce)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121632&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID= (Radeon)

Now these seem to have the same benchmarks, but are more expensive. Does this mean they're better? How so?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202004 (Radeon)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130910 (GeForce)

Now, I just kinda picked some good looking video cards only because I don't really know how to distinguish what's better and what's a rip-off. If you guys could tell me how I can tell the difference and tell me what's the best video card around $150. I really only play LoL and I might move up so what would get the job done for a couple of years?

CURRENT BUILD:
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131872
Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152028
Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104387
Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
DVD R/W: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Thank you in advance everyone!
 

X79

Honorable
Any of those GPUs you put forth will handle league extremely well. It's not a demanding game.

A Radeon 7850 or GTX 660 would position you quite well for not only league, but other games too.

The GPUs which are usually the best for the money, are the midrange ones and that's exactly what

cards like the GTX 650 Ti Boost and Radeon 7850 are. If you were doing something like photoshopping, then

it would be beneficial to pick a GTX GPU moreso than a Radeon GPU perhaps; due to programs being able to

use the GPUs power to help the CPU.
 

Hunje

Honorable
Jun 20, 2013
5
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10,510


Ok, thank you. That was pretty helpful. I could still use some info on how to tell which are actually better than others, plus what the memory size, bit amount and core clock all mean.
In your opinion though, which is the best graphics card around $150? I might want to sell this to upgrade so which would also have the best resale value?
Thank you again.

 

X79

Honorable
The only way to tell is by reading/watching reviews and benchmarks.

You can't say "oh this Radeon card has a slower core clock than this GTX card, therefore it's worse".

It only makes sense to do such comparisons between similar GPUs; such as two Radeon 7850s or two GTX 650s etc.

For a 150$ a Radeon 7850 or GTX 650 Ti Boost are the best ones I can think of. The Radeon wins in this case

I believe. As for a thing like memory, when you see a GPU with "1GB RAM/Memory/VRAM" it's a way of saying

that the GPU has 1GB to store things that it's working on; such as textures in your games. Nowadays you'll

want a GPU with at least 2GB RAM and the more the better. For games like league though, 1GB is fine.

More RAM is of consequence if you need to render very large images, say 2560 x 1440; especially if you

have a monitor with such a resolution and you intend to play games on it. Simply because the GPU will have

more to work with and thus needs RAM to do it. If you then run out of RAM, your FPS will "tank" as it starts

switching back to the HDD. Not good. 256bit on the Radeon 7850 link you provided refers to a 256 bit wide memory bus.

The wider the better, as it should allow for more data to be passed through I believe.

As for the other things like core clock, well you could write a whole book

about all the different things I'm sure, as a lot goes into a GPU.
 

Hunje

Honorable
Jun 20, 2013
5
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10,510


Thank you very much, that was extremely helpful. Now, you said that as of now, the best graphics card for $150 would be the Radeon 7850 series, correct? I found a good looking card on sale from Newegg plus it has a good MIR.
Here's the card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202004
I'm a little bit upset though, because yesterday it was the same price and had a coupon for free Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry 3 and Blood Dragon. Is this a good deal? Should I get it because it's that great if a deal or is there a better card around the same price that is not on sale?

Sorry for the immense amount of questions, I'm just trying to learn as muh as possible!
Thanks again!
 

X79

Honorable
No worries.

Yes a good midrange card is the 7850/650 Ti Boost and also the GTX 660. They're all quite decent.

AMD runs this thing where they bundle games with some of their GPUs. You need to get up to a

7900 series card to get some of the games. Like a 7950. I don't recall you getting any games with

the GPU you're interested in; so if you were actually able to do so, I'd consider that a nice deal yes.

You can always sell the games too I'm sure. Here's a slightly cheaper 7850:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-1003551gocl
 

Hunje

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Jun 20, 2013
5
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10,510


This is the exact same card that I posted haha. Well I took your advice but at the same time I didn't. That Sapphire canes with games last week but offer just expired, which is why I was upset. I decided to go a bit cheaper on the graphics card and got this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161402
 

Hunje

Honorable
Jun 20, 2013
5
0
10,510


Thank you again for helping me! I'll keep this thread saved for future reference. You were a big help :).