GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Adam Moore3 said:Look, he’s just trying to get a better price, obviously. The guy dropped it from about $1300 down to $333. Honestly, I don't see this being much of a steal; it doesn't feel like a realistic price point. A little while back, I saw a 270X listed for $267 and I think it still had a year of warranty left on it. This guy is asking 1000 for a standard 270. He needs to get down to at least 900 if he wants movement.

Chuck Norris, the thing is he was originally asking $400, so technically this is already a markdown 🤣

swiftfalcon89 said:haha the thing is he was looking for $400, so this actually is a discounted price 🤣

Chuck Norris, don't just give him that money out of principle. Look, OVO is already a much better deal. It's the GTX 960X version, plus it's an Alienware model, which is a pretty solid build. Try to talk him down to $300 and you've got a great deal there.

Adam Moore3 said:Chuck Norris, don't just hand over the cash because of some principle. Honestly, THIS looks like a much better move. It's the GTX 960X version, and since it's an Alienware model, the build quality is actually solid. If you can talk them down to $300, you've got yourself a winner.

I reached out as soon as the listing went up, but they didn't get back to me. To be honest, the fact that it's been sitting there at that price for so long without selling makes me a little suspicious... I don't know. I've been hunting for a while now, but nothing decent seems to pop up when I need it.

Personally, I wouldn't even bother messing around with used hardware in a situation like this; I’d just grab an NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti from Asus. I'm not quite sure which 270 you're referring to, but here's the reality: 1) those two cards are essentially identical in performance, 2) you're looking at a shorter warranty and potentially a subpar cooling solution, 3) there's always that nagging risk of getting scammed by a shady seller, and 4) if I were actually going to take a gamble on the used market, I'd be hunting for much more powerful cards for that kind of cash, because this isn't exactly a steal.

Timothy Kim60 said:Personally, if I were in that situation, I wouldn’t even bother messing around with used gear. I’d just grab an ASUS R7 265 brand new. I’m not sure which 270 you’re talking about, but here’s the reality: 1) they're basically the same card, 2) you get a shorter warranty and potentially a crappy cooler, 3) there's always the chance you're getting ripped off, and 4) if you’re actually going to take a risk on used parts, you should be looking for something significantly more powerful for that kind of money. It's not much of a steal otherwise.

1.) If that's the case, then I’d go with the R7 265—that was actually my original question. 🙂 2.) Yeah, it's a year old, so there are still two years of warranty left. It's the OC version with dual fans. 3.) The guy lives in Indianapolis, so I could easily drive out there to check it out in person and buy it if everything looks solid. 4.) What do you mean "more powerful"? If you're pointing toward an R9 270 x, those are going for $400-$167 more than what we're discussing here... 😵

Well, $333 you can still track down an HD7950 (R9 280) if you look hard enough. It might not be a guaranteed find every single day, but that’s pretty much the standard market rate. It reminds me of how back in the day, you could snag a 280x (HD7970) for that exact same amount of cash.

Timothy Kim60 said:It looks like you might have hit send too early. What were you going to say? $333 You can still track down an HD7950 (or an R9 280) if you look around. It’s not a guarantee every single day, but honestly, seeing them at that price point is pretty routine now. I remember back in the day, you could pick up an R9 280x (an old HD7970) for about the same amount of cash. Prices have definitely shifted since then.

I get what you’re saying. Most of those listings are for gear that’s already two or three years old, and honestly, for the kind of cash we're talking about, I want something that actually comes with a warranty. Ideally, I'd be hunting down an R9 270 x, but let's be real—finding one in good shape on the used market around here feels like a total pipe dream.

If you've got an extra 2-3 gigs for $400 with some steam, you can always knock a few bucks off the price. 😉

Hey everyone... I've finally decided it's time to pick up a new graphics card 😵😛 and I would really appreciate some solid recommendations.
My current motherboard is a K9AG Neo2-Digital, MS-7368 (v1.X), which features a PCI-E slot.
I've attached an image with the rest of my specs, though it's highly likely I'll be upgrading the RAM by at least another 2 gigs pretty soon.
My budget for this is around $110.
Regarding where to shop, I'm looking at local retailers in San Diego or any reliable online stores.
http://www.newegg.com/
http://www.amazon.com/
Or, if you have a favorite online retailer, please let me know.
Thanks.

Hmm, I honestly think you’re better off going the used route. I'm assuming you're looking for better gaming performance?
You've got an old setup, and in terms of new parts, the R7 250 DDR5 is pretty much the only thing in that ballpark. Even then, your CPU is probably too weak to keep up with that GPU. Unfortunately, you can't even drop an Intel Core 2 Quad into that motherboard since it won't support them.

What kind of power supply are you running (brand, model, and wattage)?

For instance, if you were in San Francisco, you might find something like this:

It's quite a bit stronger than the R7 250... if you're planning on upgrading your whole platform, you could grab it and really see a difference. For maybe $100, you could get a new platform with a much beefier processor that could actually keep pace with an R7 260X:

1x4GB DDR3
Celeron G1820
MSI H81M-P33

~$247

I really appreciate the quick response and all the detailed information you provided. Regarding the power supply situation, I'll get back to you tomorrow since it isn't actually my own PC... and yes, of course, the primary goal here is gaming.

Could someone who actually knows their way around GPUs put together a consolidated list of decent Nvidia and AMD cards, ranked from worst to best—or vice versa?

It would be helpful if the list covered cards in the $500 price range and up, specifically things like:

GTX - 960/970/980
Radeon - 7950/7970/270X/280/280X/290/290X/370/380/380X/380Nitro/390/390X/Fury.

Maybe rank them by performance, but I guess it would also be useful to note the wattage requirements, thermal issues, and whether any of them are massive enough to require an oversized case.

If there’s already a thread like this somewhere, please just point me toward the specific post.

I'm currently putting a gaming rig together, and having a resource like this would save me from digging through benchmarks and review sites every single time a new listing pops up.

Hey there,
I'm looking into picking up a new graphics card. Right now, I'm just making do with integrated Radeon HD 4200 graphics:

CPU: Intel Core i5, LGA 1366, BOX, 7.5Mb cache (unlocked to 4 cores)

Mobo: Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, AMD 785G+SB710, S. LGA 1366, 6xSerial ATA II

Cooler: Scythe Katana 3

PSU: CORSAIR 550W, VX Series CMPSU-550VXEU, 12cm fan, ATX

RAM: DDR3 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair, 1333MHz, 9-9-9-24, TW3X4G1333C9A

HDD: WD 640GB, WD6401AALS, SATA II, Buffer 32MB, 3Gb/s, 7.200 rpm

My goal is to actually be able to play Call of Duty on Steam without everything crawling. I'm aiming for decent mid-range settings, but I don't want to sink too much cash into this since the whole rig is getting pretty old.

silvermoose14 said:GTX - 960/970/980
Radeon - 7950/7970/270X/280/280X/290/290X/370/380/380X/380Nitro/390/390X/Fury.

It might be helpful to put together a performance list, maybe noting the wattage for each, how much they run hot, and if any are massive cards that would need a huge case.

Just off the top of my head, so the power draw might not be perfectly spot on:

R7 370(110-120W) < R9 270/270X/GTX 950(120-130W) < GTX 960(120-130W) < R9 380(180-190W) < R9 380X(190-200W) R9 390X(270-280W)
http://anandtech.com/bench/GPU15/1248

- not using the latest drivers

EDIT: Oops, I flipped the comparison signs. My bad, too much CPPA today.😬

@Jeffrey Hall11/">@@Jeffrey Hall11

Are you looking for used gear? You could go from new R7 360/GTX 750 Ti up to $333. For used, maybe an R7 260X with 2GB VRAM for $60-$217.

crimsonstag84 said:Just eyeballing this, so the power draw might be slightly off:

R7 370(110-120W) > R9 270/270X/GTX 950(120-130W) > GTX 960(120-130W) > R9 380(180-190W) > R9 380X(190-200W) >> GTX 970(160-170W) > R9 390(250-260W) > GTX 980(180-190W)/R9 390X(270-280W) >>
R9 Fury(250-260W)

So the R7 370 is the strongest and the R9 Fury is way behind everyone else, right? 😬

Hey there, I'm trying to figure out if it's actually worth dropping about $500 on a new GPU. My current setup handles most things okay, but I can't really crank up the settings without everything looking like a pixelated mess. I've never messed around with Nvidia gear before, so I'm leaning towards Team Red. I’ll probably just put it on a 2 or 3-month payment plan. Here's what my current rig is running:
FX 8320
M5A97Pro
Sapphire 7770GHz
8GB
FSP Raider 650W

At Comcast, you can grab an EVGA GeForce GTX equivalent for $530(cash), though I guess there might be a 10% markup if you go with financing.

The 4GB version is $80 a bit more expensive.

I’m looking at picking up an R9 390 8GB.

1. Which specific version has the best cooling performance, assuming I can find one for under $1000?

From what I’ve been able to dig up, everyone seems to be raving about the ASUS ROG equivalent as a solid choice ($996 @adm.hr).

2. Is there actually any meaningful difference between the VGA and PCI-E 3.0 versions of the exact same card model?

VGA is just the video input on the graphics card.

PCI-E 3.0 is the slot on the motherboard where you plug the card in...
☕

You already have your own thread dedicated to recommended full builds, so why the need to post in two other different topics?

The AMD version has decent enough cooling, and besides... VGA refers to the slot on the card.