GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

ironcanyon7 said:I need it for mining—honestly, that PC would have the absolute worst processor anyway. I just really need a power supply that hits at least 1000W.

Bitcoin? The price difference isn't even that big—we're talking maybe $300ish (+/- 20), and you can easily pick $667 up right here in the States.

Benjamin King2 said:Bitcoin? There isn't much of a price gap, maybe like $300 (+/- 20), and you can grab $667 them right here in the States.

Actually, I was thinking about Litecoin. I'm running a little test run right now with a 5850, but I guess you're right—I was doing some digging earlier and if I could somehow snag them without paying sales tax, that would be killer. Plus, I've already got a huge investment sitting in my power supply, which had to cost at least $150 minimum.

So, yeah—if you do the math, giving yourself a little breathing room, we're looking at about 200W per card. You’re gonna need a 1kW power supply, something like this: >

Honestly, you aren't going to find anything cheaper without buying some absolute junk that'll probably fry your rig.

Robert Rodriguez2 said:🙄
It doesn't actually have to be PCIe 3.0.
A 2.0 setup works just fine.

The main thing is that it's
16x 8x 8x 8x 🙂

Technically possible, sure, but nobody is looking to deal with that kind of scenario—though, to be fair, I haven't personally run into such a massive performance hit anywhere else.
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m...e=1&print=true

Benjamin King2 said:Yeah, honestly, if you build in a little breathing room—say 200W per card—you’re probably looking at needing a full kilowatt power supply, something like this:

It's gonna be tough to find anything cheaper without ending up with some total junk power supply.

Are we talking 200 or 250? I was actually kind of thinking about downclocking the memory,

That card pulls a max TDP of about 200 W.

In reality, they’re pulling about 180W.

Larry Ortiz5 said:That card's max TDP is sitting at 200 W.

In that case, that’s actually looking pretty good. I guess I was always budgeting for about 250W when it hit a 95-96% load.

That power supply from Benjamin King2 is 👍

Corsair is the real deal—pure quality and actual power, not some cheap junk meant for a $50. Would I really be an idiot if I paid $400 +/-
for my own 450w unit?

So, I decided to run some stress tests on my fx 6100. While I’m running mafiu 2 with PhysX set to medium, I noticed some interesting behavior regarding core usage—on cores 1 through 4, I'm hitting about 90%, whereas core 5 drops down to roughly 50%, and core 6 is basically idling at around 5%.

So, what's your GPU utilization looking like right now?
Look, you're running dual 6850s. Based on what's being said here, that setup is roughly equivalent to an HD 5970—which performs about as well as an HD 7870 or even better link1 link2.
- Given those numbers, upgrading to a 7950 isn't really worth your money since your current setup is already sitting right around that performance level. Honestly, jumping to cards from the $1.25 series probably won't help much either, because you're likely hitting a massive bottleneck regardless...

On another note, that fx 6100 just doesn't cut it for gaming. It's barely any improvement over a Phenom II 955 or 965, and even those struggle to push past an HD 7870. In fact, its single-core performance actually lags behind the Phenom series, and we all know single-core speed matters way more for gaming than having five or six cores link 1 and link 2.

I've got an OptiPlex GX280 P4 3.0 with 1.5GB of RAM, and I just want to play SC2 on it. Is it actually worth upgrading the GPU to something like an HD 5450? And if I do, am I going to have to swap out the power supply too?
http://az413224.vo.msecnd.net/img/42821/m_42821_1.jpg

briskhound13 said:I've got an OptiPlex GX280 P4 3.0 with 1.5GB of RAM, and I'm just looking to play SC2. Would upgrading to something like an HD 5450 actually be worth it? And if I do go through with it, am I going to need a new power supply?
http://az413224.vo.msecnd.net/img/42821/m_42821_1.jpg

Nah, honestly, the whole setup is just too weak. You'd probably need to start from scratch with something new for at least $833...

If you're looking to pick up an SC2, I'd grab at least a 6570. They don't pull much power, so your current PSU should handle it just fine.

Alexander Moore67 said:For an SC2 build, you should grab at least a 6570. They aren't power-hungry, so your current PSU will handle it just fine.

That advice is pretty much useless when he's stuck with a single core. Whether it's a 5450 or a 6450, performance won't matter once that CPU hits 100% load. Maybe a low-end card if he's truly desperate, but honestly?
It's better to just save up for a whole new rig.

briskhound13 said:So, let's look at the second option. I'd love some help picking out a configuration up to $1000, excluding the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
Right now, I've got a mid-tower ATX case with an MS 350W ATX P4 power supply—dimensions are 410mm H x 440mm D x 190mm W—and a micro ATX motherboard. If the case and PSU can be reused, that would be great. I mainly want to play SC2 and a few other games that aren't too heavy on the system. Thanks in advance.

Look, if you aren't exactly a hardcore pro gamer and you're trying not to blow all your $1000 money, you could grab something like this http://www.craigslist.com/listing/pc-computers/i...-ad-8271916 and throw another 400-$167 on a used graphics card (like an HD7750 http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-cards-ad-8081707). That would give you more than enough juice for the types of games you're looking at, leaving you some extra cash for 😁 something else... or, you could see if your buddies can put together a fresh build for the same amount 🙂

All those configuration posts for briskhound13 have been moved over here:

Hey everyone, I'm looking to pick up a new graphics card, but honestly, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to specific models. If anyone wouldn't mind giving me a hand, I'd really appreciate it.

Right now, I'm running a 7300gs (I think?), and let me tell you—it's a total disaster. It can barely handle Windows 7 without choking; Aero won't even kick in. On top of that, everything from videos to Flash content just stutters constantly. Everything is lagging.

Basically, I just need something that can handle all the standard multimedia stuff smoothly. I don't play games, so I don't need anything with massive power.

My main priority is that it stays quiet—either a naturally silent card or something where I can slap on a decent, budget-friendly cooler that doesn't sound like a jet engine.

Here’s what else is in my rig:

17" CRT monitor
Gigabyte P35DQ6 motherboard
Intel E7500 processor
Tagan 580 w power supply
2GB DDR2 RAM

I'm planning on buying used, staying under $83. Which used models would give me the best bang for my buck right now?

Thanks!

Hey, $83 you can actually grab a brand new one if you want: