Nvidia card to pair with my i5-2500k

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N

nutingut

Junior Member
May 15, 2011
23
0
0
I was hoping to get some advice on which Nvidia card would be best for me (it must be Nvidia because I prefer their linux drivers). Here is my situation:

Current Hardware
CPU : i5-2500k @ 4.2 GHz
GPU : Evga GTX 460
MB : Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3
RAM : 16 GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600
SSD : Crucial m4
PSU : Corsair ATX 850
Monitor : 1920 x 1200

Games I want to play
X-Rebirth
Elite: Dangerous
Anno 2070
Skyrim
Rome Total War II
Civ V

I plan on upgrading the whole system in about 2 years time and will stay at 1920x1200 till then. The card should allow me to play the above games with high to very high settings. I know that the first two games in the above list have not been released yet, so it's a bit of a guessing game.

Thanks in advance!
 
N

nutingut

Junior Member
May 15, 2011
23
0
0
Cool, I was guessing GTX 770, but that would save me 100 bucks. Will the 2GB version be good enough, or should I opt for 4GB?
 
S

seitur

Senior member
Jul 12, 2013
383
1
81
Nvidia GPUs currently are overpriced. In november there will be price cuts, NVIDIA should announce next week what date exactly price cuts will be made - so you may want to wait for them.

VRAM amount from game list you made. It all depends on if you're planning to do very heavy modding Skyrim to get better graphics. If yes then more VRAM may come in handly. Other games you listed (and not heavily modded Skyrim as well) don't need more than 2GB. It may (or may not) help for upcoming 'next-gen' games.
 
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N

nutingut

Junior Member
May 15, 2011
23
0
0
Wow, thanks for the link Teizo. I was going to get the EVGA SC ACX because of the looks and general EVGA build quality, but seeing the noise levels reported by the site and anand, I'm not so sure. MSI seems best but is a no for go due to a bad experience, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 OC 2.0 though is tempting, although it looks kinda weird I must say, hmm.
 
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Teizo

Teizo

Golden Member
Oct 28, 2010
1,271
31
91
Well, trust me on the MSI one. I have two running in SLI and they are great. However, can't go wrong with the Gigabye Windforce. Nothing wrong with EVGA one either other than the fan is set to favor cooling over acoustics.
 
N

nutingut

Junior Member
May 15, 2011
23
0
0
Although, it's nice that the EVGA card's cooling fins guide the air directly out of the case.
 
Teizo

Teizo

Golden Member
Oct 28, 2010
1,271
31
91
If you really prefer EVGA, get that one. It is a good card. If the noise is a bit more than you would like, you can use Precision, or Afterburner, to make a custom fan profile that is not quite so aggressive. It will be silent in windows, and if your speakers are up loud when you game you won't really notice the load fan levels too much, or even at all if you use a headset.
 
el etro

el etro

Golden Member
Jul 21, 2013
1,584
14
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Max card for your processor: Two or three Titans in SLI. really.

An affordable card for now to is Gigabyte Radeon 280X. My recommendation.
 
P

pcslookout

Lifer
Mar 18, 2007
11,959
157
106
BioShock Infinite used much more than 2 GB of video ram for me with all detail settings at maximum.

Does this game really take more than 2 GB of video ram ?
 
toyota

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
pcslookout said:
Well that is what it said in GPU-Z over 2 GB of video ram used.

I had maximum AA and AF enabled too. Could that be why ?
Click to expand...
I emphasized the word need. I think its one of those games that will allocate more vram if you have it.
 
T

tential

Diamond Member
May 13, 2008
7,348
642
121
How is SLI on Linux? I agree with the 760, just wondering whether adding a second 760 down the road may get you even more use out of your system for cheap.
 
Majcric

Majcric

Golden Member
May 3, 2011
1,409
65
91
If I were buying today I would opt for a 3/4gb card. Skyrim with mods, BF4, and GTA 5(I know its not out yet) are some games off the top of my head that will be using over 2gb and with a new console launch we can only assume more titles will follow.
 
R

rgallant

Golden Member
Apr 14, 2007
1,361
11
81
I plan on upgrading the whole system in about 2 years time and will stay at 1920x1200 till then.
I'd go for the 770 you will not be playing those games in 2014
-newer games based on ps4-xb1 could be more demanding in 2014-2015
 
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