GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

It’s a slight bump up, but honestly, probably still not enough to actually play anything decent.

It isn't anything to write home about.
If you're actually looking for a meaningful jump in performance, grab an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 and an HD 7770 if your budget allows.

thanks

Jonathan Bennett46 said:Hey there, I'm trying to pick up that Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, but it looks like it's completely vanished from the market since it's such an old chip. Any advice? Can you recommend something in the same ballpark regarding price and performance? Thanks

It seems they aren't selling them anymore. Those CPUs were legendary and stayed relevant for a long time because they were solid, and so many people still have those AM3/AM3+ motherboards. Your best bet is to email the retailers on this list to see if they can source any, or just hunt for one used online.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Intel+Core+2+Quad+Q9550

If your motherboard is a GA-MA770-UD3,
http://www.gigabyte.com/support-down....aspx?pid=3302

you specifically need the C3 version of the Intel Core 2 Quad 125 W (that was usually what stores stocked). Your board won't support the C2 version which pulls 140W (the BIOS notes say N/A next to that version).
Your only real option left is to look for a used quad-core from the listings.

I called everyone, but they don't believe I'll be able to snag any more. So, I did a little digging on Craigslist, and I spotted some guy selling that processor for $167. It’s only been used for about six months, so I’ll probably reach out to him.

And hey, if I end up receiving a literal brick in the mail, I might just have to track him down at his house. That's how things go on Craigslist, I guess.

New rumors surfacing regarding AMD's integrated graphics on the FM2+ socket
Haswell Benchmarks Revealed!

Basically:

The Kaveri GPU is effectively just an underclocked 7790 that swaps out GDDR5 for DDR3 and ships with a single CU disabled.
...
Dell claims they see a massive 30% jump in performance on their Kaveri FM2+ product page when you bump the speed from 1333 up to 2133 MHz!

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750
ASUS GeForce GTX 770 - Crossfire test
EVGA GeForce GTX 780 x Twin Frozr 270 x

270X

Timothy Kim60 said:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750
ASUS GeForce GTX 770 GPU top - Crossfire test
EVGA GeForce GTX 780 x Twin Frozr 270 x

270X

Man, this was a total disaster.🤷

What are you... those are just overclocked HD 7790s (though I think they're overpriced), overclocked HD 7870s, and overclocked HD 7970s. The flagship cards (R9 290 x and R9 290) should be going toe-to-toe with the GTX Titan, and I guess they’re dropping sometime this week 🙂

crimsonstag84 said:What are you even talking about... those are just overclocked HD 7790s (though they're way too pricey if you ask me), overclocked HD 7870s, and overclocked HD 7970s. The flagship cards—the R9 290 X and R9 290—are gonna be going head-to-head with the GTX Titan, and I think they’re dropping this week 🙂

We'll just have to wait and see what the prices look like here in the States.
Since there’s barely any performance jump compared to the cards you mentioned, I'm really hoping we see some price cuts on those—or maybe some new cards stepping into that same price bracket.

The 7790 is sitting at $850-$300, and the 7850 is already starting at $367. You think they'll squeeze the R7 260 in between them?

I mean, an R9 270 would sit right between the 7870 and the 7950, where there's a bigger price gap, so that might actually make sense. There’s only about $167 difference in price there, so it could totally work.

Hey, I've got a quick question for you guys.
Since everyone’s talking about how much we should expect from the FM2+ platform and those new "Kaveri" processors with built-in graphics, I was wondering—how does Crossfire even work when you're pairing them up with a standard dedicated card?

So, take this scenario from the link here

http://videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.ph...0+Dual&id=2572

I’m guessing there’s some kind of ceiling where it stops making sense to try Crossfire with integrated graphics, right? Like, is there a specific tier of dedicated card you shouldn't go above if you're trying to pair it with the onboard stuff?
Honestly, though—does this whole setup actually make any sense at all, or is it just a total bust?🤷

I’ve been reading some international forums suggesting they intentionally overpriced the 260X just to clear out the remaining stock of the HD7790. Once those are gone, prices should drop as its successor takes over. Honestly, the 260X is actually more powerful than that weak HD7790—it performs more like a 5870 and handles that shitty audio processing much better. On the other hand, the 270X could be an absolute massive hit since it's positioned to replace the 7870 (which is currently retailing for under $467 here in the States). In terms of raw power, it sits right in the ballpark of the 660Ti, 760, or 7950—maybe even beating some of those AMD cards depending on how you look at it. From what I can gather, most of those performance differences are just noise, maybe a couple of frames per second on average, with a few exceptions. If the 280x hits the market for around $2,500, that would also be a solid deal, though we'll have to see how much of a markup the local scammers decide to tack on.

I have a quick question.. I've been getting pretty interested in computer components ever since I picked up my new PC.. so here is a bit of a beginner question...
how can you tell which graphics card is actually good for gaming? Or more generally, how do you distinguish between junk and something worth buying...
for example, I could have bought ..a Palit Nvidia GeForce GT 630, 1GB DDR3, PCIe/PCIe x16, DVI, HDMI, but people told me it was total garbage
compared to this one being better:
an AMD Radeon HD 7750 1GB DDR5, which is what I ended up buying.
What does it actually matter if they both have 1GB? What specifically makes one better than the other....

DDR5 is obviously faster than DDR3. But let’s be real—if you’re just your average user who isn't really into gaming and just likes browsing the web, you're naturally going to hunt for the cheapest graphics card available. Anyway, to cut to the chase, you should always buy components based on what you actually plan to do with them. For instance, if you're looking at some more serious gaming at 1080p, you might want to check out cards like $333 +.

Larry Ortiz5 said:If you're looking to step up your game and actually enjoy some decent performance at Full HD, you really ought to take a look at these graphics cards$333 +.

It’s kind of like saying if you don't know what makes a quality product, you usually just end up paying a premium for something expensive without knowing why.😁

Justin Phillips15 said:So, I have a question... I've been getting somewhat into computer components since I picked up my new PC, so here is a bit of a beginner question...
How can you actually tell which graphics card is good for gaming? Or more generally, how do you distinguish between total junk and something actually worth buying...
For instance, I could have bought a Palit Nvidia GeForce GT 630, 1GB DDR3, PCIe/PCIe x16, DVI, HDMI, but people told me it was trash.
Like maybe this one would be better:
I ended up buying an AMD Radeon HD 7750 1GB DDR5.
What is the actual difference if they both have 1GB? What determines what works and what doesn't....

You just look at reviews (Google them up), read some articles—there isn't really a magic formula. Usually, you can judge by the price, though you can still get burned there.

If you aren't quite sure what you're looking at, this is probably the easiest way:

http://anandtech.com/bench/GPU13/583

Pick two cards and compare them... mostly it just shows the high-end stuff, but still.

Justin Phillips15 said:So, I have a quick question... I’ve been getting pretty interested in PC components ever since I picked up my new rig—so this is a total beginner question for me...
How can you actually tell which graphics card is good for gaming? Or more generally, how do you distinguish between a piece of junk and something that actually has some value...
For instance, I could have bought a Palit Nvidia GeForce GT 630 with 1GB of DDR3 via PCIe/PCIe x16, featuring DVI and HDMI—but people told me that thing is garbage.
Instead, I ended up grabbing this one, which is supposedly better:
An AMD Radeon HD 7750 with 1GB of DDR5.
What is the actual difference if they both have 1GB? What determines whether one is actually worth anything or not?....

If you're looking to dive in as a future enthusiast, here is my take

Start with the basics—Wikipedia is actually a great starting point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_card

Get a handle on what all those acronyms mean—like understanding the difference between various types of DDR memory—and a GamersNexus article might really help clarify things for you.

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/71...deo-card-specs

After that, you’ll need to learn how to rank modern cards. Honestly, hardly anyone in our community has the resources to bench every single card on the market, so we mostly rely on the work others have done.

You have plenty of options there—the big names are AnandTech, TechPowerUp, Tom's Hardware, and sites like those.

I personally really like one specific thread over at Tom's Hardware because it doesn't overwhelm you with a mountain of data you could easily find yourself; instead, it just lays out exactly what offers the best value on the market in plain English.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...view,3107.html

This particular thread gets updated monthly, focusing primarily on the latest cards that offer the best bang-for-your-buck within a certain price range—it’s ranked specifically so you can see which cards are actually worth your money.

Keep in mind, since it focuses on the newest releases, if you're hunting for used gear, you'll still need to go out and hunt down individual reviews manually.

One piece of advice: don't make the mistake of getting too sucked into the world of synthetic benchmarks. As an average gamer and enthusiast, what you really care about is "real-life" benchmarking—you know, the actual FPS you get while playing games.

So, don't stress over sites that bombard you with millions of virtual benchmarks; stick to the ones that test a wide variety of actual games across all different resolutions.

Hey there,

I'm looking to pick up a new GPU since I'm currently rocking an Nvidia 6600😁
Here's what I'm running right now:
CPU: x4 965@ 3.8GHz
RAM: 4 gb ddr3
Mobo: some ASUS board, doesn't really matter...
PSU: Corsair 400w

Since my budget is basically tied to whatever I can swipe on my student AMEX, I found this pretty cheap online retailer -> Newegg. Best Buy is also on my radar. Basically, anywhere in the States that takes my AMEX works for me. With that card, I can $667 blow through my cash.
I play at 1680x1050 resolution.
I need some advice... should I grab an XFX 7870 and a fresh PSU—maybe around 500-600W—or do you think my old 400w unit could actually handle it?
Or maybe skip the new PSU entirely and just put that money toward a beefier 7870 or maybe a GTX 660 (either the non-Ti or the Ti version)...

Even though I mostly use this rig for coding, I still jump into games from time to time... stuff like Coda, NFS, Battlefield, and GTA IV etc.
Thanks for the help!

Based on what I’ve been chatting about with the crew here, I kinda feel like jumping straight to the 7870 might be a bit too much to chew for a Phenom. If you don't want to just throw cash out the window—which, let's face it, we all hate doing—the sweet spot would probably be the 7850 or maybe even just a 650 Ti boost.

Lawrence Phillips said:Based on chatting with the guys in this thread, I honestly think 7870 is asking for way too much from a Phenom. If you don't want to just throw money down the drain, sticking with a 7850 or maybe a 650 Ti boost would be the sweet spot...

What about pairing it with an X6 6300 in a van?