GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

David Moore83 said:I’ve honestly tried everything under the sun, and I'm not even entirely sure if I'm running a 64-bit or 32-bit system, but I've attempted to install both versions. I managed to get some ancient driver from way back to work, but nothing more recent seems to be available; even when I check the Nvidia website manually for my GeForce 9600, I come up empty-handed, and whenever I try using their automatic search tool, it claims it can't even detect my GPU.

I actually did manage to get the Nvidia automatic tool to identify the specific driver I need—it's version 327.23 for desktop Windows XP 32-bit—so I followed all the steps to wipe everything clean just like you suggested above, yet the installation still fails every single time.

It’s most likely a software glitch (I really doubt it’s an issue with the card itself). Honestly, there’s a 99% chance you’d fix this whole headache with a clean installation of Windows.

David Moore83 said:Honestly, I’ve tried everything. I’m not even sure if I’m running 64-bit or 32-bit, but I tried installing drivers for both. I managed to get some ancient version 175 driver working, but I can't find anything newer. Even when I go manually to the Nvidia site for my GeForce 9600gt, nothing works. When I try the automatic search, it just tells me it can't find my GPU.

That graphics card is ancient. Are you even sure the latest drivers still support it? Just use those old ones if they work and call it a day. There's really no point overthinking it—you aren't going to gain any performance on that card by hunting down the newest drivers anyway.

What does the age of a GPU even matter? If the drivers still support it, they should work just fine.

What do you guys think—would it be better to grab two AMD Radeon R9 280X cards and run them in a setup like SLI, or just go with a single AMD R9 290X instead?

It’s probably better to just wait and see the actual benchmarks for these cards—after all, they're brand new. Besides, who can really say for sure how they'll perform right now?

fadedorca66 said:I don't see how the age of the graphics card matters at all. As long as the drivers still support it, everything should function perfectly fine.

Honestly, I'm having a terrible time with it because the latest driver just won't work for me; even after trying to roll back to version 306, I can't get anything to take hold except for some ancient version 175 release.

http://www.techoftomorrow.com/wp-con...-R7-Series.jpg
Only the 290 x hasn't been confirmed yet—I guess.
Also, could someone maybe tell me what the benchmark results would look like for a Radeon HD 7450 m?
I mean, any kind of comparison between that card and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 780

Scott Hayes96 said:1) Radeon HD 7450M
2) Nvidia GeForce GTX 780

1) maybe somewhere around 500-600
2) probably close to 7000

Scott Hayes96 said:What do you guys think? Is it better to grab two AMD Radeon R9 280 x cards and run them together, or should I just go for a single AMD R9 290 x instead?

Get an RTX Titan and just crush OC benchmarks until they break!!!

Hey there... I could use some help here... I've currently got an FM1 A55 R2.0 motherboard paired with an A6 X4 3670 K processor, and I'm thinking about picking up this graphics card
http://www.mylemon.at/artikel/sapphi...hd7770-oc.html
I'm just wondering if everything will run smoothly together, or if my CPU is going to end up bottlenecking the card... thanks

It should run fine, probably won't even lag.

Thanks for the quick reply...

Hi there!

1. I'm looking for something to fit my PCI-E slot.
2. Here is my current setup—and honestly, I don't see myself changing anything else for a while.😁
Intel Core I5 2500 k 3.30 GHz Socket 1155 LGA Core speed is what I'm running: http://prntscr.com/1ug1gy )
ASUS Z68X-UD4-B3 x.x
I have 2x4 GB DDR3 RAM
Western Digital 1 TB Hard Drive
For the power supply, I'm using a Corsair 450 w CMPSU
My current card is an Nvidia GeForce 9600 gt 512 mb GDDR3
3. I usually play at a resolution of 1280x1024.
4. Hmm, regarding the budget... I'm thinking somewhere around $167 maybe even a little more if needed.😁
5. Any stores that offer shipping across the entire US would be great.
6. The main reason I'm hunting for a new GPU is that my current one doesn't support DirectX 11—so the new one definitely needs to have DirectX 11 support. Plus, I really need something with a bit more punch than what I have now, since I can feel my current card struggling to keep up with some newer titles.

The thing is, I guess it might not be worth picking that one up when you could just grab an HD7770 for $67 more. It’s honestly a much stronger card:

crimsonstag84 said:The real issue here—and I say this with all due respect to your budget—is that picking up that specific card doesn't make much sense when you could grab an HD7770 for just $67 a little bit more. Honestly, the HD7770 is quite a bit more powerful:

I'm looking at both of these and seeing they both have 1 GB of GDDR5 memory, so what's the actual difference between them? 😁

VRAM on a graphics card really just matters for your resolution—honestly, even 512MB would probably cut it if you're just running at 1280x1024 😛

Long story short... the HD 6670 is slightly weaker than the HD 7730, which means the HD 7770 is about 70% more powerful:

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/613?vs=536

crimsonstag84 said:Honestly, the VRAM on a video card really only matters when you're pushing higher resolutions—to be fair, even 512MB would probably cut it for you if you were sticking to 1280x1024 😛.

To put it simply... the HD 6670 is just a tiny bit slower than the HD 7730, which means the HD 7770 actually offers about a 70% performance boost:

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/613?vs=536

Aha, so it sounds like my best bet is to go with that one then!

copperotter20 said:Hey there.

1. Needs to fit a PCI-E slot.
2. Current setup—don't plan on changing anything else for the foreseeable future.😁
Intel Core I5 2500 k 3.30 GHz Socket 1155 LGA Core speed : http://prntscr.com/1ug1gy )
ASUS Z68X-UD4-B3 x.x
8GB RAM (2x4 GB DDR3)
Western Digital 1 TB Hard Drive
Power supply is a Corsair 450 w CMPSU
Current GPU is an Nvidia GeForce 9600 gt 512 mb GDDR3
3. Playing at 1280x1024 resolution.
4. Budget is roughly around $167 maybe a little more.😁
5. Any retailer that ships nationwide across the US.
6. My main reason for upgrading is that my current card doesn't support DirectX 11. I need a new card that supports DirectX 11 and offers better performance, because I can tell my current one is struggling with some modern titles.

Pick up at least an HD7770. It would be a shame to go any lower; at your resolution, it will perform beautifully. You actually have a very solid machine, but the graphics card and the monitor (assuming that's your max resolution) are definitely your biggest bottlenecks.

Timothy Kim60 said:I’d suggest grabbing at least an HD7770—it’d be a shame to go any lower, honestly. At your resolution, that card is going to perform beautifully. You’ve actually got a really solid rig here; it's just the GPU and the monitor (assuming that's your ceiling for resolution) that are acting as your main bottlenecks right now.

That's exactly what I was leaning toward—picking up the HD7770. Though, I've been wondering... would it be worth tossing in another 2 GB of RAM? Does that actually make much of a difference in this case?😁