Recommend me a new graphics card?

[localzuk]

So, its been about 4 years since I last replaced my GFX card and I'm now far from being able to play modern games in top quality.

 

I'm looking for recommendations for a new card. My budget is about £200.

 

At the moment I'm looking at the Asus GeForce GTX 960 DirectCU2 OC Strix 4GB, as my current one is an Asus DirectCU card and its been brilliant.

 

What do people recommend? Am I right moving from my current AMD to Nvidia also?

[featured_spectre]

Yes move from amd to nvidia. It seems that nvidia reply to driver issues much faster.

 

Also a GTX 770 is better than the 960 if you can afford it.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

If you can afford it I'd go for the GTX970. I've upgraded to that from my GTX760 and the difference is startling! I also got the MSI Gaming edition over the ASUS as it saved a few bob and OC's just as well

 

Now running all games on ultra at 2560 x 1440 and 60+ fps!

[ICTDirect_Dave]

At the moment I'm looking at the Asus GeForce GTX 960 DirectCU2 OC Strix 4GB, as my current one is an Asus DirectCU card and its been brilliant.

 

 

Also a GTX 770 is better than the 960 if you can afford it.

 

The 2GB 960 is going to perform below the 770 but the 4GB version should be better

[localzuk]

How about the GTX 970? There's a ZOTAC one for £258 on Amazon. Zotac GeForce GTX 970 Graphic Card (4GB, DDR5, 256 Bit): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Yup, I'd get that. Looks to be a very good price

[siuko]

An extra £15 above that is one of the best recommended and quietest 970

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-GTX-970-Graphics-Express/dp/B00NOP536Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1429087396&sr=1-1&keywords=msi+970

 

Listen to some of the coil whine on some of them when they are under load (also notice at idle some dont need to spin their fans) -

Edited April 15, 2015 by siuko

[localzuk]

Hmm... Thing is, my budget was £200, and that is closer to £300. Decisions, decisions!

[ICTDirect_Dave]

An extra £15 above that is one of the best recommended and quietest 970

 

MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 Gaming Twin Frozr HDMI DVI-I DP Graphics Card (4GB, PCI Express, DDR5, 256 Bit): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

Listen to some of the coil whine on some of them when they are under load (also notice at idle some dont need to spin their fans) -

 

That's what I'm using. fantastic card. Hardly makes a noise, even under load. And coupled with a corsair cooling kit my machine is a quiet beast

[3s-gtech]

I would suggest the R9 280X. Its only downside is higher power consumption, but it's faster than the GTX 960 (obviously, there's a bit of to-and-fro here). You can get them for £170 now. Edited April 15, 2015 by 3s-gtech

[w-clarke101]

I've got the GTX970 What a great GPU, If your going for the GTX970 it will keep you game for some time. It a big card so look to see if it fits in your case.

[w-clarke101]

I would suggest the R9 280X. Its only downside is higher power consumption, but it's faster than the GTX 960 (obviously, there's a bit of to-and-fro here). You can get them for £170 now.

 

put's out a lot of heat and nose to.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

I've got the GTX970 What a great GPU, If your going for the GTX970 it will keep you game for some time. It a big card so look to see if it fits in your case.[ATTACH=CONFIG]30152[/ATTACH]

 

They're big, but not too massive

 

[rob101]

You might want to hold on a little longer if you can, ATI are close to releasing there next set of cards which might cause the prices to change depending on how far off the pace the 960/970/980 cards are. Worse case for consumers is that the ATI new offerings offer no competition. Edited April 15, 2015 by rob101

[tmcd35]

Disclaimer - not a PC gamer, haven't bought a graphics card since 2002...

 

Reading sites like NeoGaf and comments in Eurogamers Digital Foundry, there seems to be a general consensus around AMD's drivers being...poor. Personally, if I was in the market again, I'd probably look at the nVidia GTX cards. Not au fait with the difference between models (960/70/80) but would probably look for 4Gb GDDR5 regardless for future proofing over chip model. Apparently Windows 10 and DX12 is going to make a big difference to performance as well - A multi-core CPU and DX12 complaint GPU might be worth the investment now.

Edited April 15, 2015 by tmcd35

[flyinghaggis]

If you're looking to save some money I have an MSI GeForce 770 2Gb I'm looking to sell. Was gonna put it on ebay for around £125?

[Achandler]

AMDs drivers are perfectly fine, people moan and whinge and say they aren't any good but I always have AMD/ ATI cards and never have driver issues. Haven't in 10-15 years.

 

I originally bought an ATI when an nVidia I had blew up, quite literally with sparks and everything! But that doesn't mean I think every nVidia card will explode.

 

Personally I have an R9 290, yes it runs hot and its huge, but it was best abng for buck when I bought it, drivers aren't a problem.

 

The cards that tend to have problems are the double chipped ones, i.e crossfire on one card. Drivers cause stuttering and all sorts. But nVidia SLI had similar problems as well originally.

[3s-gtech]

The AMD driver thing is one of those internet 'facts' ("I had a mate who had a AMD card and the drivers were rubbish"). It's like saying that all Nvidia cards desolder themselves, just because the 9400s in some laptops did so.

 

I've had AMD cards going back to the 9800 Pro, and I've had Nvidia cards. Had more Nvidia hardware failures (totally dead), though I've had the fans die on several AMD cards. Never had these fabled particular 'driver issues' though. I know AMD's Linux drivers aren't as hot as Nvidia's though.

[localzuk]

I have to admit, I've had driver issues only once - with "The Saboteur", but this is down to the developers rather than the AMD drivers specifically.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

I've been lucky with graphics cards over the years. I've only ever had one die on me and that was a Radeon 9200 back in 2006 (it'd been abused a lot since 2002 when I'd bought it). I replaced it with a 7600GS and have been with nVidia ever since (9500GT, 9800GTX, 260GTX, 760GTX, 970GTX).

 

Hopefully, going to stay with the 970 for a couple of years at least

[tmcd35]

Like I say, don't PC game so don't have personal evidence, etc. Site like this: The Digital Foundry 2015 budget gaming PC guide • Eurogamer.net suggest theres a performance issue with AMD drivers. How important that is, don't know. Personally I'd go nVidia on that basis - but that's just me.

 

Regardless I'd say 4Gb and DX12 is probably more important right now than nVidia vs AMD or GTX960 vs GTX970, etc.

[tmcd35]

with "The Saboteur",

 

Off topic, what the game like? Been thinking of picking up for PS3 for a while...

[localzuk]

Off topic, what the game like? Been thinking of picking up for PS3 for a while...

 

I love it. Its just a fun "run around and kill Nazis" game with a nice film noir look and feel. But as I say, on PC its a bit buggy (as EA shut down the studio almost immediately after release and pretty much ignored it afterwards).

[sonofsanta]

If you can stretch to the 970, stretch to the 970, it is by far the best performance/price card on the market. The 960 isn't quite such a bargain, relatively speaking, although if you do decide to stay sensible (as if!) the Asus Strix cards are brilliant so that 960's a good 'un.

 

AMD drivers are fine, only problem I ever had was with Crossfire profiles for Witcher 2 on release, so don't CrossFire and wait for the Steam sale and you're fine but nVidia are just a better GPU at the moment - getting more performance for less power, i.e. less heat & noise.

 

If you get a 960 or a 970, you also get the Witcher 3 for free when it's released, and goddamn if the Witcher games aren't amazing. Lookers as well.

[chazzy2501]

without knowing the spec of your PC it's hard to say, or if you have future plans to upgrade your mobo/cpu in the near future. The 960 has amazing benchmarks for the money although for the same money you could get a 760 which benches slightly slower but has massive specs they may pan out to a better overall average framerate. you could get a 770 for £216 (Scan) which is a mighty card. Having 4GB of RAM on the card is of little benefit right now but may prove it's self in a few years.