Help me pick a Video Card

[Gregory14]

I have 3 in mind the HD 7870, the R9 280x, or the gtx 770. I'm running a 6770 with a 500W PSU and a FX-6100. Games crash all the time with turbo boost on, only way I can get a stable desktop environment, but not games. Also have 16GB ram in there too.

Does gaming use RAM or VRAM more? that I will take into consideration about the VRAM amount.

MY other concern is the size, I'm not sure if these cards will fit in my case since they are almost 2x as big as my 6770, and I cant afford much more room.

I will definitely update the PSU first to see if thats the problem, 800W should satisfy me.

But of those 3 which is the best bang for the buck? Oh I use it sometimes as a dual moniter on my 32" HDTV.

My cuurent power situation is GPU 1.2v max, CPU 1.48v max, 2x8GB @ 1.5v each, + fans and usb.

 

[caj]

vram depends on your gaming resolution & how graphic intensive the game is. you can attain smaller cards such as zotac or msi. minium i suggest for casusal gamers is 2 gb thou the limit has been jumped. i strongly suggest the above as 280x. try for the sapphire vapor x( if money permits) else go for the dual x. both are equally good

 

[Gregory14]

Thats what I was leaning towards. The AMD brand. But now how will know if it will fit in my case?

 

[caj]

check the size of your overall chasis width & check the size of the gpu. measure & find the difference.

 

[Gregory14]

the only thing holding it back is the width, and with the length I would have to change the HD position. The guy who built my computer says an 770 gtx he has will fit so IDK. I will call and find out.

 

[caj]

if a gtx 770 can fit im sure a 280x can too unless ur going for the sapphire 280x toxic edition.

 

[Gregory14]

So I endend up getting a 880w PSU and the 770 2GB, and upgraded my board to the usb3 version. Passed PC Mark 8 fine, 7.9 on the Windows index, but my RAM rating went down from 7.7 to 7.5, wierd. It also runs at lower volts than my 6770. Anyway, the card is running smoothly but I had a question.

I like the NVIDIA style of their control panel, and their customer service is great, helped me set up my HDTV with it.

Anyway, now the question, what do I do with the remnants of the AMD card, i uninstalled Catalyst control center, but none of the other stuff cuz My board is AMD. Am I good the way it is or should I run a registry clean up?

Thanks.