GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

First off—never heard of it.
Second—this gaming series isn't anything to write home about. It’s definitely not on the same level as the Hawk or Lightning models.
Third—it's prone to artifacts.

If you absolutely have to go with the 280X, I'd personally grab the Gigabyte version with the triple fans.

I've been looking into i7 processors lately, specifically the i7 4790k, and it mentions having integrated Intel HD 4600 graphics. Looking at some benchmarks, that integrated chip seems to perform better than an HD 4670 or even an HD 4850. Is that actually possible, or have I misread something?
My apologies if I'm mistaken; I’ve been out of the loop on hardware specs for quite a while now...

On another note, I have a question regarding CPUs (and please excuse me for posting this in the wrong thread): is it worth opting for the i7 5820k over the i7 4790k when you consider the price difference? Thinking long-term—say, over the next five years or more—does the 5820k offer any technological advantages over the 4790k that might become relevant down the road?

It isn't quite as powerful (compared to an HD4850 ddr5) click

What exactly do you plan on using this PC for? Honestly, I suspect you actually need an LGA2011-v3 CPU—that's more for a workstation or professional-grade setup. Are you even aware of the price tag attached to a machine like that once you factor in DDR4 RAM, a compatible motherboard, and a decent cooler? If you're just a home user looking for web browsing, gaming, and similar tasks, then an i7-4790k is total overkill.

I'm running an i5 4670k with the integrated HD 4600 graphics, and I’ve tried playing some newer titles at a slightly higher resolution—keeping everything on the absolute lowest settings—and it actually ran relatively okay. But obviously, you can't really compare integrated graphics to having a dedicated PCIe card...

Regarding the choice between an i7 4790k and moving up to the newer x99 chipset with an i7 5820k—well, it really just depends on what you're planning to do with it. If you're primarily a gamer, I'd say stick with the 4790k, because if you want that x99 chipset, you're going to end up paying through the nose for it. I was just browsing Best Buy earlier...

i7 5820k = $996
the cheapest x99 board from ASRock is $600
and they only have one single sample of 16GB DDR4 RAM available for $933...

In my opinion, that's just a massive waste of cash if your main goal is gaming... and besides, where does that leave the rest of your build?

Honestly, you could easily grab an i7 4790k, a Z97 motherboard, 8 gigs of RAM, and then put that extra money toward a beast of a graphics card. That's a much better way to go—real "bang for your buck"—assuming we're talking about building a machine specifically for gaming, of course. 🙂

I am looking to acquire a graphics card, whether new or used, with a budget of approximately $500 $233. I would appreciate any recommendations you might have. My current setup consists of an ATI Radeon HD 4550
Intel Core2Duo 2.8
ASRock G31M-GS
2GB RAM
Xilence 400W

HD7770, you can probably snag one for about five bucks

I'm thinking about picking up a new graphics card—any suggestions? $233 Right now, I'm running an Nvidia GeForce 9600.

The slot is a PCI Express slot on a Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 motherboard.
So, just to get the specs straight—the processor I'm running is an Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz, which uses the 1155 LGA socket.
Memory specs: DDR3 4 GB 1333MHz

I’d skip the R7 250 if I were you. There isn't much of a price gap between that and the one in the link, but the performance jump is huge. Maybe just hold off for another week if you really need to save the cash.

crimsonstag84 said:I’d skip the R7 250 if I were you. There isn't much of a price gap between that and the card in the link, but the performance jump is massive. If you really need to, just save up for one more week.

+1

But if you absolutely have to stick to the $233 budget, then go with this:

I currently have a somewhat complete PC setup,
which is about three years old.
Intel Celeron G530 2.4
4 GB RAM Kingston 1300
Intel HD graphics (integrated into the motherboard)

Since my budget is rather tight at the moment, I was wondering if anyone could suggest which graphics card would be a wise investment to allow me to play titles like Far Cry 3, FEAR 3, and similar games?

Head over to this link. Look through a few different games and see which graphics card keeps popping up in the recommendations.

I wouldn't recommend anything too crazy to the guy... He can't just slap any random graphics card in there—his processor isn't quite powerful enough, so he'll run into a bottleneck where the CPU just won't let the GPU hit its full potential.

Jose Ruiz26

So, what kind of budget are we working with here? And what's the deal with the power supply—do you know the specific brand and model?

Honestly, let it bottleneck if it has to; I really couldn't care less. You can just toss this card into a brand-new rig later on once you upgrade, since this current setup isn't exactly built to last much longer anyway. My only real concern is whether the power supply can actually handle the load without throwing a tantrum.

Greetings! I am looking to purchase a new graphics card, primarily so I can run modern gaming titles without any issues. My goal is to play upcoming releases like GTA 5 on high detail settings—not just at medium, but at the highest possible level. Ideally, I want a card that will serve me reliably for several years to come without causing any headaches.

My current configuration is as follows:

Motherboard: ASRock P55M Pro (CPUSocket)

CPU: Intel Core i5 750 @ 2.67GHz

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 260

RAM: 4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz

I definitely need to pick up a new HDD as well. Regarding my memory, I am aware that I will need to upgrade by at least another 4GB.

Power Supply: LC Power Silent Giant Green Power LC6650GP3 V2.3, 650W.

Unfortunately, my budget for the graphics card isn't very high; I am looking at approximately $100-$$400 maximum. Are there any high-quality, worthwhile options within this price range that could last me 2–3 years given how demanding games are becoming? Furthermore, will I encounter a bottleneck, or are my processor and power supply sufficient? Since my current GTX has unfortunately died, I certainly need a replacement, and I would love to get the absolute best value for the money I have available.

I’d personally suggest going with the AMD Radeon R9 270, but the price tag at $440 Best Buy
is a bit steep...

As for your power supply, it should handle the card just fine—after all, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 pulls way more juice anyway. Also, wouldn't it be a smart move to bump that up to 4GB of RAM while you're at it?

Perhaps $33 I misspoke slightly, but $1,200 really is my absolute ceiling, especially since I’ll likely need to budget for a new hard drive and more RAM. Would an alternative that costs a few hundred dollars less still provide decent, playable frame rates in upcoming titles? Or is it simply not worth dropping $1,100-$400 on a mediocre graphics card right now?

Down the road, I intend to upgrade my processor as well, which will probably necessitate a new power supply too—essentially a total system overhaul. However, that isn't happening anytime soon; we are looking at a few years from now...

Look, the AMD Radeon R9 270/x is basically your standard mainstream card—you can definitely run newer titles at Full HD with decent settings. Since there are rumors that Grand Theft Auto V isn't dropping until next year, the developers haven't released official recommended specs yet, so we're all still kind of guessing, right? If you're aiming for those ultra settings, you might want to shell out more than a couple hundred bucks for a GPU. I was just browsing Craigslist and saw some R9 270x cards going for about $367... Whereabouts are you located?

Indianapolis

http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-card-listing-example

$333 If you ask me, it's a solid deal.. Maybe try offering him a little less $33 than what he's asking..