GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

gentlehawk342 said:I mean, I honestly don't know the first thing about these graphics cards—like, what am I even supposed to look for to tell which one is better? So, yeah, I really can't tell you much, to be honest! I wish someone would just give me a specific model and be done with it so I could just go out and buy it... because right now, I have no clue if yours is better than the one the other guy mentioned, or whatever else someone might write.

Long story short.
If you're looking at the budget stuff, AT&T actually has more going for them than Nvidia.

Just hop onto Best Buy and search through the cards in order of their power levels.

7730, 7750, 7770, 7790, 7850
Each one is basically up to 50% faster than the last, and the price jumps are only like $20 at a time. Only the 7850 has that weird price hike that, honestly, doesn't even seem worth the extra performance. It's like paying an extra $30 just for a 20% boost over the 7790.

The breakdown looks something like this:

30%-30%-20%-30%

crimsonstag84 said:The split is roughly somewhere around here:

30%-30%-20%-30%

I mean, you definitely know way more about this stuff than I do—so let's just go with your numbers as the truth!🙂

Hey there,

I'm still running the exact setup from this thread and I've finally decided it's time to upgrade my GPU.

Here are the current specs:

Intel Core i5-750, 2.66GHz, 1156MHz, 8Mb cache, LGA1156 socket
Sapphire HD 4670, 512Mb GDDR3 Ultimate, 128bit, dual DVI, PCI Ex
CORSAIR 400W power supply, CX Series CMPSU-400CXEU, 12cm fan
ASRock P55 Extreme motherboard - Intel P55, LGA1156 socket, ATX, 4xDDR3

It's currently hooked up to an old Philips 190 monitor (so max resolution is 1280 x 1024)

plus

It's also connected via HDMI to an amp (which then goes to my TV) in dual monitor mode. If the new card is actually "powerful" enough, maybe I'll try gaming on the TV in 1080p.

The absolute dealbreaker is that it MUST have passive cooling. Even quiet fans are off the table because they eventually start whirring, and I plan on riding this same build for several more years—if it isn't broken, I don't want to touch it.

My hard limit for spending is about $400. Of course, if one of the $200 options is three times faster than what I have now and meets all my criteria, I wouldn't mind stretching the budget a bit 😉. I won't be playing Battlefield 4 or other massive resource hogs; the most demanding stuff will be Company of Heroes 2 (and eventually DayZ and Mount and Blade 2 when they drop).

If possible, I’d prefer to buy from Micro Center (). I bought two full builds there before and was more than happy with them, so I want to keep my business with them. If they don't happen to carry the specific card you guys recommend, please just post the suggestion anyway so I can reach out to them and see if they can source it.

Thanks a ton for your time and help. Have a good night...

Personally, I’d lean toward the AMD Radeon HD 7850 2 GB, though it does cost a bit more than the $433 option. If that’s out of reach, honestly, just grab the 1 GB version from MSI—it comes with $408 extra perks. You get a 3-year warranty plus their silver reward, which is basically a voucher for two games
.
http://www.newegg.com/p/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=12031

To be fair, nothing is really worse about the HD 7790—plus, you get Far Cry 3 bundled with it
.
http://www.newegg.com/p/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=13346

Larry Ortiz5 said:Personally, I’d aim for the AMD Radeon HD 7850 2 GB, though it does cost more than $433. If that’s out of reach, just grab the 1 GB version from MSI—it’s only $408 more. Plus, you get a 3-year warranty and a Silver Reward, which is basically a voucher for two games.

http://www.adm.com/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=12031

True, nothing's actually worse about it, and with the HD 7790, you also snag Far Cry 3.

http://www.adm.com/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=13346

Thanks for the reply. The photo shows a fan on it; which model would you recommend if I need passive cooling?

Whoops, my bad—I totally misread your post because I was just skimming through it too fast. 🤣

Anyway, don't quote me on this since I'm not 100% certain, so if I've got it wrong, please forgive me. (I'm pretty wiped out right now and honestly can't be bothered to Google everything.) I think when you're buying high-end graphics cards, they don't really come with passive heatsinks anymore? It seems like they aren't built that way from the factory, so you'd have to go out, buy a separate cooler at a shop like Best Buy, and install it yourself. Though, now that I think about it, I'm not entirely sure if that specific cooler is designed strictly for liquid cooling or if it's actually possible to set up some kind of passive cooling on the card itself. Sorry again if I'm off base—please feel free to set me straight.

All I could find was this

Pretty much. The best passive cooling cards I’ve come across here in the States were those HD7750 DDR5 models. Back in the day, there used to be quite a few of those high-end ultimate versions available.
You won't find this one locally (plus, it would probably run north of $1,200).

http://www.legitreviews.com/powercol...rd-review_2213

I haven't actually played it myself, but based on the reviews I've read, coh2 is a beast of a game—it's incredibly demanding (if not the most demanding one out there). Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I’d stop worrying about silent passive cooling and just grab the most powerful card you can afford.

I mean, the HD 7850 runs pretty cool anyway. You’re probably better off grabbing an EVGA model since the dual-fan setup lets you dial the speeds down however you want; I guess they could handle an 80+ PSU without much trouble at all.

I'm looking to pick up a new GPU—budget is around $1,500, though I could probably stretch it a bit if it makes sense.

Here’s what I’m running right now:

1 x Gigabyte 970A-UD3 motherboard
1 x AMD FX-8320 processor
1 x 8GB (2x4GB) Kingston DDR3 @ 1600MHz
1 x PointOfView GTX 460 1024MB GDDR5 256-bit (shaders at 336/1350 MHz)
1 x 1TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD, 7200rpm, 32MB cache, SATA II
1 x Dell OptiPlex DVD burner, DVD±RW, 22x DVD±R, 8x DL, 40x CD-R
1 x Seasonic 520W power supply, SS-520GB, S12 II, active PFC
1 x Scythe Yasya CPU cooler (scys-1000)

Mainly using this setup for gaming and general productivity on a single monitor.

Thanks a ton for all the input, everyone. Since I’m still gaming at a resolution that feels ancient by today's standards, I might actually pull the trigger on a passive card. That said, I need to dig deeper into how much of a performance bump I'll actually see playing at 1280 x 1024 compared to the higher resolutions out there.

@ Scott Diaz7

No worries at all, your answers were actually super helpful. 🙂

@ darkskipper5

Thanks so much, I'm going to spend some more time digging through reviews and checking things out.

@ Timothy Kim60

Thanks to you too, especially since you were replying at such odd hours. I caught a review that mentioned this specific model runs pretty hot, so I definitely need to put in some more legwork to read up on that.

@ crimsonstag84

Thanks for the heads-up (and thanks for being up so late yourself, too). Can I just use some specialized software to dial back the fan noise?

Thanks again, everyone. I'm going to look into everything you guys suggested before making a call. First step is probably measuring my current component temps to see where I actually stand 🙂 ).

Best regards...

hiddencyclist2 said:I'm looking to pick up a new GPU for around $1,500, maybe a little more if it makes sense.

My current setup is:

1 x Gigabyte 970A-UD3
1 x AMD FX-8320
1 x 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) Kingston, 1600MHz
1 x PointOfView GTX 460 1024MB GDDR5 256-bit (shader: 336/1350 MHz)
1 x 1TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD 7200rpm 32MB cache SATA II
1 x Dell OptiPlex DVD burner, DVD±RW, 22x DVD±R, 8x DL, 40x CD-R
1 x Seasonic 520W Power Supply, SS-520GB, S12 II, active PFC
1 x Scythe Yasya CPU Cooler SCYS-1000

It's mostly for gaming and general work on a single monitor.

http://www.newegg.com/p/product_info.php?products_id=13701

@darkskipper5

If you have plenty of software that handles tuning, you can probably just use the NVIDIA Control Panel too.

You could try messing with them to see if they can source a gtx660Ti, but honestly, you’ll probably be waiting forever.

My current setup looks like this:
- Intel Core i7-13700K
- Gigabyte EP45-DS3 motherboard
- 2X 2GB AENEON PC-6400 RAM
- CORSAIR VX 450W power supply
- 2 HDDs
- 1 DVD-RW drive
- Dell Monitor
Since my graphics card just decided to kick the bucket (it was an >), I’m looking for a replacement that won't instantly fry my system—given that my power supply is what it is. Look, I’m not expecting to crank everything up to Ultra High settings, but I’d love to actually play some of the titles that have hit the market over the last year or so without it being a total slideshow.
Any suggestions? If you could list them from highest price to lowest, that would be great, since I haven't quite nailed down my budget for this card yet.
Thanks!

It's a bit more powerful than the GTX 260, so that's probably about as far as you should go with that processor. I’d suggest doing a little overclocking, though—you've got a solid motherboard and power supply for it.😛

The power supply isn't going to be your bottleneck here; you should focus on the processor first if you're planning to run any high-end graphics cards.

Timothy Kim60 said:The power supply isn't going to be your bottleneck here—if you're planning on dropping in some high-end GPUs, you should probably worry about the processor first.

So, what CPU do you think I can swap in without having to overhaul my entire motherboard?

I’m not saying it’s a lost cause, but honestly, just let it go and pick up a new GPU instead.

If you’re looking at an upgrade path, any quad-core from that list would serve you well enough.
http://www.gigabyte.com/support-down....aspx?pid=2843
Think along the lines of a Q8xxx or a Q6600, for example.