Graphics Cards

Forums › Gaming › Graphics Cards

trig42

5814 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#179339 4-Sep-2015 13:44

I am just upgrading the mainboard, CPU and RAM in my home PC (got given an Asus P6T, 12GB RAM, i7 930 CPU) but he kept his graphics card. I have a Samsung EVO850 SSD as the OS drive, and 1TB 7200RPM WD data drive (and maybe a couple of others).
I need to sort out a new PSU and Graphics card, but it has been so long since I looked at specs and what they can do, I have no idea what I should be looking at.

I don't want to spend a huge amount.
I would like to play BF4, and SW:Battlefront when it comes out later this year, but I do not need the highest graphics settings turned on (a little eye-candy is good, but I'd be cool if I couldn't turn up all the settings to full).

What suggest you at ~$200 or below?

1 | 2

1527 posts

Uber Geek

#1379821 4-Sep-2015 15:19

Asus GTX 750Ti are around $200

macuser

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1379823 4-Sep-2015 15:22

As above

750TI is a great card for the price, I got the Asus Strix 750Ti for a little over $200

That's the minimum card you'll be looking at for good performance on medium/high settings at 1080P

trig42

5814 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1379847 4-Sep-2015 15:42

Awesome, that's the sort of information I am after.
No idea about the numbers on these cards these days, but I will look for 750ti.

Inphinity

2780 posts

Uber Geek

#1379853 4-Sep-2015 15:48

If you want to run them at 1080p or better, I would go for at least the 760, if not 960.

macuser

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1379855 4-Sep-2015 15:51

Inphinity: If you want to run them at 1080p or better, I would go for at least the 760, if not 960.

Between those two, 960 is a more compatible card as it has a HVEC(h.265) hardware decoder and HDMI2.0

wasabi2k

2096 posts

Uber Geek

#1379856 4-Sep-2015 15:51

Current gen is the GTX 900 series.

The 960 is midrange and is a massively powerful card for the money (320-400).

The 970 is a major step up and the 980 is a monster, but are very expensive. The Titan/TitanX is insane top end.

I would not be buying 7xx series cards today.

macuser

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1379861 4-Sep-2015 15:56

wasabi2k: Current gen is the GTX 900 series.

The 960 is midrange and is a massively powerful card for the money (320-400).

The 970 is a major step up and the 980 is a monster, but are very expensive. The Titan/TitanX is insane top end.

I would not be buying 7xx series cards today.

The 960 is 150-200% more expensive than the budget, its an OK card (still at 2GB VRAM which is only enough for low-medium texture settings in 2015 games tho there is a 4GB SKU) and certainly better than the 750TI but the 750TI still is DX12 compatible.

If the new 950 drops in price to $250 it could be a good option too

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

trig42

5814 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1380517 6-Sep-2015 10:19

Hmm, would a 960 be twice as good as the 750ti?

As mentioned, I do want the ability to run these games, but I do not need all the eye candy turned on/up. I'd be a bit gutted if they wouldn't play at all (do I need 1080p? Do todays games have to run at 1920 x 1080 (don't even think my monitor goes that high)?

Brumfondl

1187 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1380529 6-Sep-2015 11:12

trig42: Hmm, would a 960 be twice as good as the 750ti?

As mentioned, I do want the ability to run these games, but I do not need all the eye candy turned on/up. I'd be a bit gutted if they wouldn't play at all (do I need 1080p? Do todays games have to run at 1920 x 1080 (don't even think my monitor goes that high)?

From what I can see it is at least 50% faster and can be up to twice as fast. It all depends on the game.

It would also appear that the 750, TI or not, is at the very bottom end of the expected requirements for Star Wars Battlefront, and based on the alpha is not even close to the minimum.

PANiCnz

990 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1380575 6-Sep-2015 14:28

950Ti has just been announced. Successor to the 750Ti but based on the same architecture as the 960, 970 and 980.

macuser

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1380663 6-Sep-2015 16:15

If you can afford to spend more than first said, do go with the GTX960, as it has better 4K support (HDMI 2.0), hardare HVEC decoding, better performance and the SKU I'm linking to here has 4GB of VRAM, which is now quite important because all console ports use around 2-4GB VRAM at 1080P (because the Xbox and PS4 have 8GB of shared GPU/CPU memory developers are upping texture qualities hugely, so your card needs to be able to have room for those high res textures)

http://www.alphacity.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=10018708&qr=pricespy

You should get a free copy of MGS:V with that too.

It's all round a better, more future proof card, but does cost $200 more than you hoped.

reven

3743 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1380735 6-Sep-2015 19:09

another vote for 960. I have 3 750s, (2 are Tis), they were good in there day, but I wouldnt recommend them now, a 960 is a great card and worth the extra price for it. you'll be happy with the 960.

trig42

5814 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1380914 7-Sep-2015 09:08

OK, getting convinced now. Might just be saving up for the 960

wasabi2k

2096 posts

Uber Geek

#1380960 7-Sep-2015 10:23

I would thoroughly recommend that.

trig42

5814 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1380997 7-Sep-2015 11:02

Thanks for help everyone.

What would the equivalent Radeon card be to the 960? Is there one?

1 | 2