Which Graphic Card should i buy ?

Marco101Polo

Junior Member
Oct 27, 2014
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Hey guys,

Like Title already says I am looking for a new graphic card. Currently I am having the AMD Radeaon HD 6800 from 2012.

My PC Setup:
- Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit
- Intel i5-3470 CPU @ 3.20GHz
- 8 GB of RAM

So what Graphic Card makes Sense ? I am willing to spend up to 350€ (444.80 US Dollar). I was thinking about the "Zotac GeForce GTX 970", but I have no idea if this is a good choice for me.

looking forward to your help

Marco Polo
 

SPBHM

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2012
5,056
409
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check the r9 290 price, it seems to be a better deal in most places at the moment.
 

escrow4

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2013
3,339
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check the r9 290 price, it seems to be a better deal in most places at the moment.

If you want a card that dumps way more heat and noise unless you snag a really decent aftermarket sure. It will still suck way more power as well.
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
5,331
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Just because AMD has to crash the price of their cards so people look at them, doesnt mean they are the best buy! If you are on a budget maybe, but OP has already stated his budget is higher than going cost of the 970 he already stated.
Forum has turned into, 'who has the best sales pitch'....what a joke!
 

SPBHM

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2012
5,056
409
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If you want a card that dumps way more heat and noise unless you snag a really decent aftermarket sure. It will still suck way more power as well.

almost all the 290s I've seen on sale recently have decent coolers, the power difference exists, but you are comparing around 200 to around 250, I don't really think this extra heat is such a big factor for the other components or room temp.

as I said, I've seen some great deals on the 290 recently, and it's not that much slower, definitely a card to consider at this price/performance range, like the 970.
 

linster

Senior member
Aug 20, 2000
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What is your display? Resolution? What type of games? These specs are more relevant than what you actually listed for determining the video card.
 

master_shake_

Diamond Member
May 22, 2012
6,430
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gtx 970

regardless of info the gtx 970 is the BEST bang for your buck period.

290 is great.... if you can keep it cool in your case.
 

96Firebird

Diamond Member
Nov 8, 2010
5,709
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What is your display? Resolution? What type of games? These specs are more relevant than what you actually listed for determining the video card.

This, as well as case, PSU, and where you'll be buying from. :thumbsup:
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
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If you want a card that dumps way more heat and noise unless you snag a really decent aftermarket sure. It will still suck way more power as well.

Why can't he find a decent after-market card? MSI Gaming R9 uses less power than some after-market 780s or 780Ti. Not that it matters since the difference is so small between these cards. After-market 970 uses just 50-70W less power than most R9 290s but you often have to pay a lot more for these efficiency gains which takes most of the luster off the 970:

power-consumption4.png


970 is definitely not the best bang for the buck automatically. If he can find a 290 for substantially less, it's better to buy that card and save $ for his future GPU upgrade. If the price difference is $30-40, then 970 is better.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
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Just because AMD has to crash the price of their cards so people look at them, doesnt mean they are the best buy! If you are on a budget maybe, but OP has already stated his budget is higher than going cost of the 970 he already stated.
Forum has turned into, 'who has the best sales pitch'....what a joke!

If your budget is $600 for example, doesn't mean 980 is the best buy. The best strategy for keeping your rig up to date is to upgrade it often. That implies finding a balance of how to get good performance now without overspending and allow yourself room to upgrade again in 2-3 years. If you blow all your money and keep the card for 4-5 years, it's the inferior strategy. That said if the OP upgrades every 2-3 years then 970 is a solid option.
 
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Dribble

Platinum Member
Aug 9, 2005
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GTX 970 - get one with up rated power circuitry such as MSI GTX 970 gaming to stop coil whine/buzzing problems. Probably o/c's better too.
 

Marco101Polo

Junior Member
Oct 27, 2014
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What is your display? Resolution? What type of games? These specs are more relevant than what you actually listed for determining the video card.

This, as well as case, PSU, and where you'll be buying from. :thumbsup:

Display: Samsung SyncMaster P2250 FullHD 1920 x 1080 at 60 Hz

Games: All upcomig games like Far Cry 4 , AC Unity and since i play a lot of skyrim i want that my PC can handle some good graphic mods.

Case: Corsair Carbide Series Black 300R (http://www.amazon.de/Corsair-Carbid...8&qid=1414500197&sr=8-8&keywords=corsair+case)

PSU: Corsair VX450W Power Supply (http://www.anandtech.com/show/2371/5)

I'm probably buying it from "DiTech" , wich is an austrian PC Shop, or Amazon.
 
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Erenhardt

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2012
3,251
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Get r9-290 or gtx970. Whichever fills your inside geeks desire. Dont buy 290x and 980 as the additional $ doesn't bring enough performance to justify he purchase.

If you have money to blow, give the premium for top SKU to charity - they will feel the difference, opposite to the measly pew % in FPS which are not noticeable for you.
 

96Firebird

Diamond Member
Nov 8, 2010
5,709
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Looks like the GTX 970 would be a great card for your setup. You may be able to get away with an R9 290, but I'd be a little concerned with that PSU. Especially considering it only has 1x6-pin PCI-E connector. The Zotac needs 2x6-pin, so you'll need to use the molex --> 6-pin adapter that it should come with.
 

Marco101Polo

Junior Member
Oct 27, 2014
8
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Looks like the GTX 970 would be a great card for your setup. You may be able to get away with an R9 290, but I'd be a little concerned with that PSU. Especially considering it only has 1x6-pin PCI-E connector. The Zotac needs 2x6-pin, so you'll need to use the molex --> 6-pin adapter that it should come with.

Ok thanks alot !!
i was researching and i found out that the zotac makes really loud noises. would it be better to spend a little bit more and get the MSI GTX 970 ??
 

96Firebird

Diamond Member
Nov 8, 2010
5,709
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Ok thanks alot !!
i was researching and i found out that the zotac makes really loud noises. would it be better to spend a little bit more and get the MSI GTX 970 ??

It was probably from "coil whine", which is really hit or miss. Since Europe has a pretty lenient return policy (not sure about Austria, though), I wouldn't worry too much about it. The MSI 970 is probably a better card, but you may still get coil whine on that as well. I clicked on the 2-star review for the Zotac on Amazon.de, then realized I couldn't read the language... :oops:
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
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Ok thanks alot !!
i was researching and i found out that the zotac makes really loud noises. would it be better to spend a little bit more and get the MSI GTX 970 ??

The MSI Gaming also has a bonus of turning off the fans up to 65C and it runs cooler than the Zotac. The only Zotac that's better in terms of noise levels it the Extreme version. The small Zotac card at $330 or MSI Gaming at $350 or Asus Strix $350 or Gigabyte Windforce 970 at $360 are good cards. Don't pay more than that for the 970 or a quiet R9 290 is more appealing. The mini-Zotac 970 is still a good card too.
 

Marco101Polo

Junior Member
Oct 27, 2014
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The MSI Gaming also has a bonus of turning off the fans up to 65C and it runs cooler than the Zotac. The only Zotac that's better in terms of noise levels it the Extreme version. The small Zotac card at $330 or MSI Gaming at $350 or Asus Strix $350 or Gigabyte Windforce 970 at $360 are good cards. Don't pay more than that for the 970 or a quiet R9 290 is more appealing. The mini-Zotac 970 is still a good card too.

At my local shop though the MSI GTX 970 costs about 380 € wich are 487.72 US Dollars, but i guess thats just because i live in austria. 350 Dollars would be 274 € and i havent found a such a good offer.
 

MeldarthX

Golden Member
May 8, 2010
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Hmmm........check the price between the 290 and 970; newer games have show them either a wash the 290 just a hair faster with the 290X pulling ahead.

right now UK; OCUK got 290 XFX DD for 199 with 3 games.....basically can knock it down to 150 if you sell the games......at that price 970 isn't even close.....couple 290X are under 250 in price.....970 being more expensive than the 290X.

Both are great cards....both will run everything; but we are starting to see newest games running better on AMD hardware because of console sweep; will this continue? Most likely.

I'd find the cheapest card out of them and get SSD with the change left over.
 

wand3r3r

Diamond Member
May 16, 2008
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Just because AMD has to crash the price of their cards so people look at them, doesnt mean they are the best buy! If you are on a budget maybe, but OP has already stated his budget is higher than going cost of the 970 he already stated.
Forum has turned into, 'who has the best sales pitch'....what a joke!

When you can't counter to back an alternative it appears that you don't have a better one.

The price difference is getting large and most brand agnostic buyers will find no gain to paying more for the same experience. Note* brand agnostic recommendations, after release it was the 970 when it was clearly a better value, that has since changed.
 

netxzero64

Senior member
May 16, 2009
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my system can run even with a 450w psu. I have tested with my power meter using the socket. the consumption of my rig at max load is 411w and that includes the monitor.
 

Dribble

Platinum Member
Aug 9, 2005
2,076
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my system can run even with a 450w psu. I have tested with my power meter using the socket. the consumption of my rig at max load is 411w and that includes the monitor.

No way you want to be running a PSU that close to its maximum however - there's very little room for power spikes, it'll run hot and loud, wear out the capacitors fast, and give a less stable supply (getting worse as the capacitors start to go). This then has to be smoothed by things using the PSU causing the power regulation on the motherboard and GPU to work extra hard and die young. As they start to go then you'll find the cpu and gpu start getting less stable and you have to clock them down, till eventually something dies expensively.

If you are buying a $400 GPU then you can afford a few $ for a more powerful PSU that can handle the load without struggling.
 
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Marco101Polo

Junior Member
Oct 27, 2014
8
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So this card: "SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC, 4GB GDDR5" would cost 333 € (424.50 US Dollar), which is 54€ cheaper (68.83 US Dollar). Actually i already decided for the MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G, but would the R9 be the better choice ??