Choosing a new graphics card

[heyYou44]

Hey guys i need some help deciding between this two graphic cards to replace my old geForce gt8600.


ASUS GEFORCE GT620 DCSL 2GB DDR3

ASUS GEFORCE GT730 SILENT 1GB GDDR3

What would be the best one for gamming.

The price difference is only 7€.

I have a M5A97 EVO R2.0 motherboard

 

[mfenn]

We need a little more information to make a cogent recommendation:

- What are your full specs?
- Where are you buying from
- What is your budget?

 

[heyYou44]

Hello, i'm buying it on a local store here in my country
I dont intend to spend more than 60€

Current specs:
Motherboard Asus M5A97 Evo
AMD fx 8350
geForce 8600 GT
maxtor 250 hd
cd/dv

 

[lehtv]

A Maxtor hard drive, eh? You're pretty old school 😛

8600 GT was actually released as a gaming graphics card. Neither of GT620 or GT730 were released as gaming graphics cards. However, GT730 is easily the faster one out of those: http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GT-730-vs-GeForce-GT-620. It's about 2-3 times the speed of the GT620. I'm not 100% sure on how a 8600GT compares to these, but I'm pretty sure the GT730 beats it pretty easily. It's a decent all-purpose graphics card that can play games on low image quality settings and resolutions.

Personally, I'd keep saving a bit more and buy something that pairs well with the FX-8350. You've got a great processor (not the best objectively, but really good compared to your other hardware), and it deserves a great graphics card to show its potential in games. I'd go for something like R7 260X, cheap but extremely fast compared to an entry level card like GT730.

It would also help to have some sort of price catalogue from your local store and have us look through what's on offer.

Also, can you find out what your power supply is?

 

[heyYou44]

Hum the ASUS RADEON R7 260X OC 2GB GDDR5 is 131€ on this store
http://www.alientech.pt/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=22941
The page is in portuguese you'll have to translate it.
I think i'll save a few more bucks.
The power supply is a corsair cs550m.

 

[lehtv]

Portugal? Alright 😛.

That PSU is good 🙂

There's an Asus 250X for 93.60 €, not a bad deal. It's essentially identical to HD 7770 of the previous generation, which is around twice the speed of a 8800 GT. 8800 GT was about twice the speed of your 8600 GT, so you should expect about at least four times better performance.

But if you want to save up more and get something even better, feel free, your CPU can handle it.

Gigabyte 260X, 128.40 €:
http://www.alientech.pt/product_info.php?cPath=180_19_23_382&product
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1044?vs=1126

Sapphire 270, 167.70 €:
http://www.alientech.pt/product_info.php?cPath=180_19_23_381&products_id=23361
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1080?vs=1126

 

[heyYou44]

Thank you for taking the time and help me choose 🙂 . The 8600GT still performs reasonably well. I'll give it more time and maybe buy the 260x or even the sapphire if i find a better price.

 

[heyYou44]

Hum i was checking used cards on olx and found a Sapphire radeon 7850 2gb gddr5 dual-x for 110€. Now i dont know if it's a good idea to buy a used card...

 

[lehtv]

Hum i was checking used cards on olx and found a Sapphire radeon 7850 2gb gddr5 dual-x for 110€. Now i dont know if it's a good idea to buy a used card...

For a used card to be attractive, the price has to be really good. 7850 is slightly better than 260X, but even so, 110€ for a used card seems a bit much. I suppose it depends on how much it's been used and whether it's been overclocked. There's always a risk involved when buying a used card because you can never be 100% sure what the card has been through, and you have no warranty to fall back on in case it breaks (or maybe you do, not sure how this works in Portugal).

You could also try to find a used 7770 GHz. If you think the 8600 GT is reasonably good still, then it's probably not worth going higher than a used 7770 GHz / a new 250X.