Looking for a budget nVidia Card for 1920x1090 Gaming Machine

[GamingDaemon]

Hi Fellow AnandTechies,

I'm usually eyeing the high-end video cards, having last dished out $$$ for an nVidia 680GTX when they first arrived. But that was a while ago, and now I'm out of touch with the more budget video cards.

But now I'm building a gaming PC for my nephew who has a budget of around $800. I'm outfitting him with a nice LAN case, an intel i5-4570 Haswell, a super-fast Samsung 840 128GB SSD, a WD 1TB drive, and 8GB of memory.

But I need a solid video card that will play games like TF2, Civ V, etc. at 1920x1080? Maybe 1920x1200 (need to check which monitor they have).

I'm looking at nVidia cards only. So is a GTX 650 good enough?

Thank you, in advance!

 

[n0x1ous]

Depends on what type of settings he intends to play at - I would say not really - at least need a 650 TI minimum for good 1080 performance- as that is the next chip up in the stack and would make a huge difference. if you could push the budget for the card more then the 760 is probably the sweet spot for nvidia 1080p

 

[GamingDaemon]

Depends on what type of settings he intends to play at - I would say not really - at least need a 650 TI minimum for good 1080 performance- as that is the next chip up in the stack and would make a huge difference. if you could push the budget for the card more then the 760 is probably the sweet spot for nvidia 1080p

Ok, I'll see what I can do. What's interesting to me is my GTX 680 is running games at high and ultra on my 30" monitor at 2560x1600 pretty easily. I'm playing Skyrim, Borderlands 2, Saints Row IV, etc. Maybe those aren't super tough games, but it's handling them fine.

 

[guskline]

How much $$ do you have left for a video card?

 

[GamingDaemon]

How much $$ do you have left for a video card?

Well, I'm already $100 over, so I'm trying to back off on the processor/case/SSD. So not much. I might be able to get by with something under $150.

 

[Keysplayr]

You can probably find a GTX660 2GB in that neighborhood. Or a GTX650 TI Boost (which is the lowest I would go at 1080p. Try the used market also. You can generally get one tier higher for the same money when you go used. GTX760 is still well over 200 dollars right now, unless you find a deal.

 

[Freddy1765]

I wouldn't get an SSD for such a low budget gaming build. Your nephew is going to benefit much more from a more powerful GPU than faster load times. And even so, popping an SSD into the computer later on is easy, might as well do it if and when he gets the money for it scraped together.

 

[selni]

Even quite low end cards will probably run games like TF2 and Civ 5 fine at high detail at 1080p I'd think? These aren't exactly cutting edge titles.

 

[blackened23]

Depends on what type of settings he intends to play at - I would say not really - at least need a 650 TI minimum for good 1080 performance- as that is the next chip up in the stack and would make a huge difference. if you could push the budget for the card more then the 760 is probably the sweet spot for nvidia 1080p

I'd agree with this. For light 1080p gaming I would eye the 650ti or 660. The 760 performs well and is the best card in the 250$ range, but that would probably exceed the system budget of 800$.

Even quite low end cards will probably run games like TF2 and Civ 5 fine at high detail at 1080p I'd think? These aren't exactly cutting edge titles.

I'm sure this system will last probably a couple of years with more games added in that time frame. So a lesser card could play those fine, but by the same token it's not like his nephew will play just 2 titles indefinitely. I wouldn't think. That's where a slightly better GPU would come into play.

 

[Biggu]

I would go with atleast a GTX660 Ti. You should be able to pick them up used for $150-175 ish.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

I wouldn't get an SSD for such a low budget gaming build. Your nephew is going to benefit much more from a more powerful GPU than faster load times. And even so, popping an SSD into the computer later on is easy

Agree...Faster load times for OS is kind of a luxury, especially if the main purpose is for gaming.Games don't need a fast SSD, but do need a good vid card. For gaming, money would be better spent on GPU, CPU AND PSU.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Think the only game in my library that played well with my old gtx650 and hit over 60fps at 1080p is BF2 lol and maxed out it sustained 100fps which is something my old 8800gts 512mb couldn't do with that card getting dips into the mid 60s.

BF3 played ok if you didn't mind dropping all to low but personally look at other options like the other folks here mentioned, i figured with my pass experience with a gtx650 that i would give you the 2 extreme examples of performance.

 

[blastingcap]

Hi Fellow AnandTechies,

I'm usually eyeing the high-end video cards, having last dished out $$$ for an nVidia 680GTX when they first arrived. But that was a while ago, and now I'm out of touch with the more budget video cards.

But now I'm building a gaming PC for my nephew who has a budget of around $800. I'm outfitting him with a nice LAN case, an intel i5-4570 Haswell, a super-fast Samsung 840 128GB SSD, a WD 1TB drive, and 8GB of memory.

But I need a solid video card that will play games like TF2, Civ V, etc. at 1920x1080? Maybe 1920x1200 (need to check which monitor they have).

I'm looking at nVidia cards only. So is a GTX 650 good enough?

Thank you, in advance!

For those specs yes 650 is good enough.

I disagree re: SSDs. A good SSD benefits you at all times including non-gaming, and for games it not only shortens load times, but it also may raise minimum framerates which is what matters (not average fps).

 

[Freddy1765]

If I'm getting 30 or 40 max fps with a low-end video card, I'd much rather upgrade that to get a sustainable 60 with occasional dips into the 30s in the case of a HDD bottleneck.

Higher graphics settings and fluid gameplay contribute so much more to an enjoyable experience than the benefits of an SSD. It's also a much better upgrade path to get a proper card first and an SSD later than it is to skimp on the card now only to upgrade it within 6 months.

 

[blastingcap]

It's also a much better upgrade path to get a proper card first, then an SSD later than it is to skimp on the card only to upgrade it within 6 months.

OP said games like TF2, Civ V (last time I checked, Civ V was not a twitchy FPS... that game can run at 24 fps and you'd still be doing just fine). You can turn down settings in TF2 to pretty low to boost framerates and turn up settings later if you want. I played TF2 and L4D2 on a freaking IGP for a while while I was waiting for a replacement video card. I had to play on lowest settings to get playable framerates, but guess what, it was just as fun.

Better to get a decent SSD and decent graphics card and upgrade the card later if necessary. GPU depreciation is astronomically high even by tech standards, where every 12 months you can expect large performance gains per dollar, whereas SSD prices have only slowly gone down over the last year. SSD also helps with non-gaming activities. Most people do not spend all their time on PCs doing nothing but gaming. For OP's purposes (TF2, Civ V, etc.) a GTX 650 is more than enough.

 

[Freddy1765]

Most people do not spend all their time on PCs doing nothing but gaming.

Agreed, but something tells me the guy this build is meant for doesn't use a whole lot of productivity programs
Can't speak to those games OP mentioned, I'm just saying how I'd prioritise if it were my build.

 

[blastingcap]

Agreed, but something tells me the guy this build is meant for doesn't use a whole lot of productivity programs
Can't speak to those games OP mentioned, I'm just saying how I'd prioritise if it were my build.

I agree with you, and I wouldn't build my own rig with a GTX 650. But TF2 and Civ V are not exactly the most demanding games out there and you can definitely get away with a GTX 650 and then upgrade later if necessary.

 

[GamingDaemon]

Wow, lots of good information!! His parents decided to chip in a little too, so now the budget is up to $950. So, I think the 650 ti might be the best route, something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130840

With that video card, I am at $954. So I need to trim a little bit because I need to add a wireless card to the deal.

I am very close, and I still get to keep the 128GB Samsung 840 SSD (I'm getting it for $50 off at $120), which I do think is important.

I'll post the final list of parts in a couple of hours once I get it all together.

EDIT: Question, why does my EVGA GTX 680 power the games I play (Skyrim, Saints Row 4, Borderlands 2, Fallout New Vegas) on my 30" monitor at 2560x1600 at ultra and high settings without any issues? That's an older card. Just curious?

 

[blackened23]

The 680 is still a very fast card by current standards. It won't play all games at ultra 1600p, but it does very well. Still a relevant card IMO. Just can't buy it anymore since it's EOL and replaced by the 770.

 

[GamingDaemon]

The 680 is still a very fast card by current standards. It won't play all games at ultra 1600p, but it does very well. Still a relevant card IMO. Just can't buy it anymore since it's EOL and replaced by the 770.

Cool, thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[GamingDaemon]

So I need to cut out about $40 if I go with this video card and these storage devices:

Video Card $160: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130840

Samsung 840 128 GB SSD $120 ($50 off)

WD 1TB drive $60 ($10 off)

I was going with the Intel i5-4570 $200.

Maybe I should go with an i3-4330 for $140 and save the $40 there. It has 4MB of L3 cache versus the 6MB cache of the i5. But it runs at 3.5GHz instead of the i5's 3.2GHz.

 

[blastingcap]

The i5 is better, don't skimp on the CPU. I have no idea what you linked to because the link is broken, but if you must, skimp on the video card and upgrade it later, it's a lot easier and will play TF2/Civ V just fine.

So I need to cut out about $40 if I go with this video card and these storage devices:

Video Card $160: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130840

Samsung 840 128 GB SSD $120 ($50 off)

WD 1TB drive $60 ($10 off)

I was going with the Intel i5-4570 $200.

Maybe I should go with an i3-4330 for $140 and save the $40 there. It has 4MB of L3 cache versus the 6MB cache of the i5. But it runs at 3.5GHz instead of the i5's 3.2GHz.

 

[24601]

SSD is for people with disposable incomes.

Get 4670k, cut the SSD, cut the case to 50 USD or less.

Also give us the exact details on everything you are purchasing so we can give detailed advice.

 

[Vesku]

I'd try to fit in the GTX 660 if at all possible, the ~$30 buys quite a step up in terms of graphics performance from the 650 Ti.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

For those specs yes 650 is good enough.

I disagree re: SSDs. A good SSD benefits you at all times including non-gaming, and for games it not only shortens load times, but it also may raise minimum framerates which is what matters (not average fps).

Its been tested a lot, no difference.


OP get a 64GB ssd instead of 128, that should free up enough funds. Or drop the SSD until more funds come.