Whats the best Graphics card form my system with a budget of £140?

[pearceywwfc]

Hey guys,

My question is, i have looked on ebuyer and other pc parts websites (such as Amazon and Overclockers) and im looking for the best graphics card for the money and to fit my system, due to other payments i must look into i have dropped my budget from the original top end £150 to £140 (i know its a tenner but im a student at college and have a car so budgeting for everything and a cheap case lol) I was going to originally buy the 6870 sapphire from ebuyer but the price went up £20 from £134.99 to £154.99 so now looking at other cards. Also should I be going for AMD or Ge-force at my budget? Also looking at my PSU, I have a spare 6 pin and a few molex cables so will I be okay with adapters for a dual 6 pin card with the 700w supply I have?

My Setup:

Asrock M3A770DE 770 Motherboard
Phenom 960gt Black Edition 3.0GHZ Processor
Corsair 4GB Unbuffered DDR3 RAM 1333MHz
CIT 700W Black Edition PSU heres a link - http://www.ebuyer.com/169063-cit-700w-black-edition-psu-12cm-fan-dual-12v-rail-20-4pin-2x-psucit700ub
Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit)

Heres the selection i am looking at (which one is best for my PSU and system?) Would be best to get a few suggestions within the day as I was going to order one up by the end of the day

1. Power Colour HD 6870 (£134.99) - http://www.ebuyer.com/248745-powercolor-hd-6870-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-dual-mini-displayport-pci-e-ax6870-1gbd5-2dh

2. Power Colour HD 6850 (£113.99) http://www.ebuyer.com/321991-powercolor-hd-6850-1gb-gddr5-pci-e-graphics-card-axp6850-1gbd5-dh

3. OcUK HD 6850 (£99.95) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-174-OK

4. Power Colour HD 6790 (£99.98) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=

5. ASUS GTX 550Ti (£89.99) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-270-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=

6. or are there older cards out there for the price that will play okay games and be used for video making? (such as the geforce 9800gtx?)

I want to be playing not too graphic demanding games such as Sims 3, Football Manager, Terraria, Minecraft, and maybe get onto others such as Shogun total war. Thanks for all your time and any suggestions made in the day today would be great as want to order a card today

Thanks again,

Shaun

 

[ricardois]

550ti is a good GeForce Solution, and 6870 is the best performance on those you are looking at, for playing shogun total wars you'll need it. but for minecraft sims 3, terraria, you almost don't need graphics card a 9800 would be ok but it you have the money take 6870 you will need for future games.

 

[pearceywwfc]

So my first option is good then? Should it be okay with my psu? i have one 6 pin connector free and a few molex (i believe there are adapters molex to 6 pin with some cards?) I will get that power colour one then

 

[UltimateDeep]

Your Power supply is more than enough to handle a single card on the above. Heck, you can even go CrossFire given the choices you provided. But if you are not going for CrossFire, head straight for the 6870.

 

[ricardois]

I don't know this psu but 700w should be enough even if the psu is bad you will not need more than 500w on that system.

yes there are molex to 6pin conector adapters, some graphics card have them in the box.

 

[Onus]

The GTX550Ti is by far the weakest of those cards; skip unless you need some nVidia-specific feature like PhysX or CUDA processing for any of your schoolwork (unlikely).
I'm not familiar with your PSU brand, but if it only has a single PCIE power connector (better PSUs at only 650W have up to four of them), chances are it is overrated and may be good for only a fraction of what is on its label. While you should be able to use an adapter to power a HD6870, I would suggest that a HD6850 is your safest choice. I am employed; I wouldn't like it, but if my PSU died and took my mobo with it, I could order replacements tomorrow. As a student, I doubt you have that option, so I would recommend sticking to the HD6850. If you read the article at http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-4100-core-i3-2100-gaming-benchmark,3136.html you will see that a HD6850 was able to play all the test games well, with good settings.

 

[pearceywwfc]

JTT: Thanks ever so much for this advice, i am a student but working part time also so can provide funds for replacements however it would be a pain if the psu did die so for that matter and that matter only i will go safe with the 6850, this leaves me with a few options, which one would you recommend out of the choices i provided or any of your own? (out of the OcUK or Power Colour) neither of them ive heard of :/ also thanks to all the other suggestions from people i am very appreciative

 

[ricardois]

The GTX550Ti is by far the weakest of those cards; skip unless you need some nVidia-specific feature like PhysX or CUDA processing for any of your schoolwork (unlikely).
I'm not familiar with your PSU brand, but if it only has a single PCIE power connector (better PSUs at only 650W have up to four of them), chances are it is overrated and may be good for only a fraction of what is on its label. While you should be able to use an adapter to power a HD6870, I would suggest that a HD6850 is your safest choice. I am employed; I wouldn't like it, but if my PSU died and took my mobo with it, I could order replacements tomorrow. As a student, I doubt you have that option, so I would recommend sticking to the HD6850. If you read the article at http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-4100-core-i3-2100-gaming-benchmark,3136.html you will see that a HD6850 was able to play all the test games well, with good settings.

I still think that would be better to go for the 6870, even if you would need to change the psu... but i think that a 700w would work with that gpu even if the psu is very bad, just like i've said, there are lots of psus that don't have 4x 6+2pin and can handle SLI/Crossfire, so i think just because there is just one pci-e doesn't mean that the psu will not handle a 2 pin graphics card... but like i really don't know this brand, i have no idea... you should at least try it, if you experience Gpu turn-offs or another problems change the psu.

 

[pearceywwfc]

I still think that would be better to go for the 6870, even if you would need to change the psu... but i think that a 700w would work with that gpu even if the psu is very bad, just like i've said, there are lots of psus that don't have 4x 6+2pin and can handle SLI/Crossfire, so i think just because there is just one pci-e doesn't mean that the psu will not handle a 2 pin graphics card... but like i really don't know this brand, i have no idea... you should at least try it, if you experience Gpu turn-offs or another problems change the psu.

Thanks again, but as the PSU is unknown in the pc world i will have to play it safe until i upgrade again in a few years time, the 6850 (now looking at it, also as JTT recommended) will be the best option as it wont demand a high power wattage and will be fine for this setup, i do agree that the PSU isn't a top name but it cost me around £190 for my whole setup without case (which im looking into today also) so i wasn't going to look for higher end psu's as there £30-50 dearer for the same Wattage :/ Thanks for your help, just need to get the best one for the price now

 

[andylou11]

Hey guys,

My question is, i have looked on ebuyer and other pc parts websites (such as Amazon and Overclockers) and im looking for the best graphics card for the money and to fit my system, due to other payments i must look into i have dropped my budget from the original top end £150 to £140 (i know its a tenner but im a student at college and have a car so budgeting for everything and a cheap case lol) I was going to originally buy the 6870 sapphire from ebuyer but the price went up £20 from £134.99 to £154.99 so now looking at other cards. Also should I be going for AMD or Ge-force at my budget? Also looking at my PSU, I have a spare 6 pin and a few molex cables so will I be okay with adapters for a dual 6 pin card with the 700w supply I have?

My Setup:

Asrock M3A770DE 770 Motherboard
Phenom 960gt Black Edition 3.0GHZ Processor
Corsair 4GB Unbuffered DDR3 RAM 1333MHz
CIT 700W Black Edition PSU heres a link - http://www.ebuyer.com/169063-cit-700w-black-edition-psu-12cm-fan-dual-12v-rail-20-4pin-2x-psucit700ub
Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit)

Heres the selection i am looking at (which one is best for my PSU and system?) Would be best to get a few suggestions within the day as I was going to order one up by the end of the day

1. Power Colour HD 6870 (£134.99) - http://www.ebuyer.com/248745-powercolor-hd-6870-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-dual-mini-displayport-pci-e-ax6870-1gbd5-2dh

2. Power Colour HD 6850 (£113.99) http://www.ebuyer.com/321991-powercolor-hd-6850-1gb-gddr5-pci-e-graphics-card-axp6850-1gbd5-dh

3. OcUK HD 6850 (£99.95) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-174-OK

4. Power Colour HD 6790 (£99.98) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=

5. ASUS GTX 550Ti (£89.99) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-270-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=

6. or are there older cards out there for the price that will play okay games and be used for video making? (such as the geforce 9800gtx?)

I want to be playing not too graphic demanding games such as Sims 3, Football Manager, Terraria, Minecraft, and maybe get onto others such as Shogun total war. Thanks for all your time and any suggestions made in the day today would be great as want to order a card today

Thanks again

,

Shaun

I want to be playing not too graphic demanding games such as Sims 3, Football Manager, Terraria, Minecraft, and maybe get onto others such as Shogun total war. Thanks for all your time and any suggestions made in the day today would be great as want to order a card today

 

[pearceywwfc]

Now i'm stuck :/ Which one to get?

the Powercolour hd 6850- http://www.ebuyer.com/321991-powercolor-hd-6850-1gb-gddr5-pci-e-graphics-card-axp6850-1gbd5-dh

or the Sapphire that requires more Wattage - http://www.ebuyer.com/338547-sapphire-hd-6850-1gb-gddr5-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-card-11180-00-20r

Stuck, any suggestions? Is that the only card i should be going for are there others for around that price?

 

[pearceywwfc]

or the OCUK one which looks the best bet - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-174-OK&tool=3

 

[ricardois]

What about MSI?
http://www.ebuyer.com/280667-msi-hd-6850-cyclone-1gd5-power-edition-oc-dual-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-r6850cyclone1gd5pe-oc

Good Cooling System, also higher Clock.

 

[Onus]

Andylou, you should start your own thread to get answers to your question.

The Sapphire shouldn't require more wattage. GPU manufacturers may overstate their requirements in an attempt (often vain) to compensate for all the overrated junk PSUs out there, but two HD6850s will only need different wattage if one of them is clocked substantially higher than the other; even so I'd be surprised if it were more than a 1A-2A (12W-24W) difference.

 

[pearceywwfc]

Thanks once again Jtt, I have looked into all the cards and the best one for the money seems to be the OcUK one (link in my last post ^) which is £99.95 with a 4000MHz Memory Clock Speed The MSI one also looks very good for roughly £15 difference but only offers 400MHz more Memory Clock Speed so is that really worth getting or is the OC one better?

 

[Onus]

I am not at all familiar with the OcUK brand. I have a MSI GTX460 with the Cyclone cooler on it, and it stays very quiet, although all of its heat remains in the case.

 

[ricardois]

Thanks once again Jtt, I have looked into all the cards and the best one for the money seems to be the OcUK one (link in my last post ^) which is £99.95 with a 4000MHz Memory Clock Speed The MSI one also looks very good for roughly £15 difference but only offers 400MHz more Memory Clock Speed so is that really worth getting or is the OC one better?

it is not only the memory clock that makes it worth it, it is the core clock:

OcUK = Core Clock: 775MHz
MSI = Core Clock Speed(MHz) - 860

this is just possible because of the msi cooling solution wich is very powerfull and yes worth paying more for a great gpu cooler and default overclocked video card.

this will probably waste more power but your psu can handle it.

 

[maxinexus]

i'd go with 6870 with cyclone cooler

 

[pearceywwfc]

Car broke down yesterday so paying out for that now, i will be purchasing one and a case in the next few weeks though, very undecided as there are loads of good cards that dont need loads of power to fit my setup on the market.. The 6850 is the predominate choice possibly the OcUK one off Overclockers but there are a few im looking into more like the msi one and power colour so what ever ends up the best for the cash i will get