Need a gaming graphics card for ~£200

[Emkayu]

Hello Tom's Hardware community!

I've recently built myself a new computer but left out the graphics card as I've very little knowledge on partner graphics cards (palit, zotac, sapphire, XFX). I'm interested mainly in gaming, but I also handle a lot of Graphics Design work and occasional video editing. I've been looking at nVidia's 560 ti series of cards and AMD's 6950 cards. My budget is around £200 pounds, give or take 30 pounds. Obviously Bang for Buck is a priority, if there's a 570 or 6970 for around £250 I'd be interested in those too! My rig is below:

i7-2600k @ 3.4ghz with a hypermaster 212 cpu cooler

8gb Corsair Vengeance RAM

750W CoolerMaster GX power supply

Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 motherboard

Thanks in advance!

 

[Emkayu]

Oh the resolution would be 1080p, I've looked into nVidia's CUDA technology and I'm guessing that will help immensely in Adobe's Premier Pro?

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

yes nvidia has some advantages when it comes to adobe software.Nvidia has been partnered with Adobe for quite a number of projects.So i would suspect Nvidia to be the best bet for you.

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

I dont know the UK market that well but if you are doing full time video editing you could try to purchase Nvidia Quadro.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/adobe_PremiereproCS5.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1232471207304.html
But if you want to do both work and play i still feel the gtx 560 is good for you.

 

[jyjjy]

Quadros are crazy expensive. Here is a GTX 560 Ti for £170
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/8811697/art/pny/geforce-gtx-560-ti-1-gb-g.html
They also have a GTX 570 for £247 though the 560 is a better value for the money.
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/8162532/art/pny/geforce-gtx-570-1280-mb-g.html

 

[Emkayu]

Yer quadro's not really doing it for me seeing as Gaming is my main use for the PC! Are there any reccomended 560 Tis? I was looking at the MSI 560 ti frozr II. I had no idea those PNY cards were so cheap, may have to get the 570! Any other options?

 

[Emkayu]

Any opinions of the msi 570 with the frozr III (yes the III) card?

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

Yer quadro's not really doing it for me seeing as Gaming is my main use for the PC! Are there any reccomended 560 Tis? I was looking at the MSI 560 ti frozr II. I had no idea those PNY cards were so cheap, may have to get the 570! Any other options?

I still think evga and xfx have the best support here in the US.I am not so sure about the UK though.But for world wide support my vote goes to Gigabyte.

 

[chesteracorgi]

PNY makes good reference cards, but the problem with the reference models is cooling. Heat kills electronics and if you are going to use it for intense graphics you need a well cooled card.

 

[shrkbay]

probably coolest and fastest 560Ti is GIGABYTE SOC, it has 100% copper cooler and runs very quiet, only phantom, which is badly cooled, is quieter. if you're going to edit videos etc nVidia brings you advantage over AMD, will you OC by yourself? i, personally like PNY cards just cause of the design they use, but their cooling system could be better

 

[Emkayu]

I may overclock it myself based on performance in the upcoming battlefield 3, but a factory OC would be sweet if the cooler's good!so it's between the gigabyte SOC 560 ti and the pny 570

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The 900 MHz 560 Ti's with the better cooling systems are the way to go .... easily overclockable to 1000 Mhz which I was able to do w/o any voltage adjustment and temps at 75C under OCCT's GPU test. I just built a box for Son No. 3 and it has two of these:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/nvidia_asus_gtx560ti/4.htm
ASUS GTX560 Ti DirectCU II TOP 1004/2008/2408/4816MHz

Ya can find it here at £238

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/8901204/art/asus/geforce-gtx-560-ti-top-di.html

Here'sa Giga set at 950 @ £201
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/9291882/art/gigabyte/geforce-gtx-560-ti-1-gb-g.html

And a 900 MHz @ £190
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/8840071/art/gigabyte/geforce-gtx-560-ti-oc-1-g.html#pix-review

And 1000 @ £233
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/8840072/art/gigabyte/geforce-gtx-560-ti-so-1-g.html

For ya Adobe work, this will come in handy

http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htm

 

[shrkbay]

most of the 560s don't go much over 900, so i personally recommend GIGABYTE SOC @ 950, it's 2nd quietest 560 and 1st coolest *100% copper cooler*, probably MSI TWIN FROZR can reach high clocks, but Twin Frozr II/III is noisier than ASUS and not that efficient *except for Golden Edition - 100% copper*, from those that JackNaylorPE listed i'd choose GIGABYTE SOC @ 950 Mhz core or if you can find an ASUS DirectCuII