Back into pc gaming....need some help with new vid card

[recklessfun]

Ok so first post lol...anyways ive been out of the pc game scene for awhile (quit playing wow when cata came out to be exact.) So recently there hasnt been anything really good on ps3 or 4 of mine thats ive wanted to play....sooo i thought i would check out rift since its free to play now. I have a 9800gtx vid card and it seems like i need more now. Im at my parents writing this so i cant remember all the specs but i have a older amd black tri-core 3.2cpu....8gb of ddr2 ram if i remember right and a ddr3 mobo but i forgot all the specs on that as well. I also have a 700watt corsair psu. I would like to ony spend about 150 for a new vid card cause i think everything else will do fine for now. But i would also like to have something that will be good later on if i do decide to play more graphic heavy games.....any help would be great.

 

[BleedingEdgeTek]

A good pairing for a lower-power setup would be the GTX 750 or 750 Ti. Either will give you the power to run 1080p at Medium settings or better, depending on how hard the game will hit the CPU.

 

[recklessfun]

Is there anything really that is say like 30 bucks give or take that it would be worth it to go with something else?? Im just saying that i dont mind spending slightly more if the gap in performance is worth it.

 

[The Builder]

I would like to ony spend about 150 for a new vid card cause i think everything else will do fine for now.

For that budget you can get a nice EVGA GeForce GTX 750TI and still have some money leftover. It isn't very big nor very demanding on the PSU. It should fit right in with your system.

 

[solkeher]

For $150, the 750 Ti is great! Low power consumption, small and compact, and great performance for that price: http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Superclock-Dual-Link-Graphics-02G-P4-3753-KR/dp/B00IDG3IDO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404932076&sr=8-1&keywords=gtx+750+ti

 

[bccorrupt]

$30 no. If you need to squeeze your budget down as low as possible go with something like this. It's between a 750 and 750ti in performance and uses a little bit more power. This is actually a really good price on a 260x.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/powercolor-video-card-axr7260x1gbd5dhoc

 

[solkeher]

Is there anything really that is say like 30 bucks give or take that it would be worth it to go with something else?? Im just saying that i dont mind spending slightly more if the gap in performance is worth it.

For $10 dollars more, you can get a R9 270, it has better specs and performs better than the 750 Ti - benchmarks: http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-270-vs-GeForce-GTX-750-Ti

From Amazon $160 Saphire Radeon R9 270: http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Version-PCI-Express-Graphics-11220-00-20G/dp/B00I0D81OG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404932183&sr=8-1&keywords=r9+270

You also get up free games (up to three, I think)

 

[shnuhh]

A good video card is the Gtx 750 ti which should give you a significant performance boost. You should really consider getting a better processor as it will barely be enough (but it should suffice for now). Also, upgrading to ddr3 ram is highly recommended.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127783&cm_re=750_ti-_-14-127-783-_-Product

Great graphics card for $115

 

[recklessfun]

im not a cheap wad lol so spending a 150 isnt bad im not trying to save....i was reading about the saphire today actually. So the 750 or the r9 would be a pretty good improvement over my 9800gtx?

 

[solkeher]

im not a cheap wad lol so spending a 150 isnt bad im not trying to save....i was reading about the saphire today actually. So the 750 or the r9 would be a pretty good improvement over my 9800gtx?

Yep! Personally I recommend the saphire r9 270, great performance and great price. The 750 Ti is also good, but if you want more then the 270 would be better.

 

[recklessfun]

i might look into the 270 later on then....and i could swear that i was running ddr3 mem instead of ddr2 but ill have to look when i get home. Like i said im not really a heavy pc gamer like i was so im not really looking to start replacing everything and get it all up to date...just think my vid card would be my main first improvement being a couple yrs out of date.

 

[coozie7]

@ recklessfun: The 9800GTX is more than a couple of years out of date, it was around in 2008, and was basically a slight rework of the previous G92 core used in the 88xx cards, putting it as late Bronze Age tech.
Joking aside I'd go for a GTX750 (non Ti) as top choice, the old tri core CPU is going to be a severe handicap for anything faster and anything much lower down isn't going to gave a really useful boost in performance: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-graphics-card-review,review-32899-7.html
By all means, go for a GTX750Ti if you plan to move it into a new/heavily upgraded build in the future, it's a good card, capable of decent 1080 performance if you keep the settings within reason.

 

[BleedingEdgeTek]

The R9 270 is a great card for the prices they're at right now. Problem is, it uses a LOT more power than the 750 or 750 Ti, and I'm assuming you have an old OEM power supply. I would certainly not want to run a (relatively speaking) power hungry card like the 270, while the 750 or 750 Ti will use about 60% less power, while only performing 10-15% slower. In your position, I think the 750 Ti would be a perfect fit. You'll still get High/Ultra in a lot of games. Go watch some gameplay videos of people with the 750 Ti. Some can even get Ultra in BF4 (though with a 3-core AMD chip I wouldn't expect that lol)