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GPU upgrade
Hello
I am looking to upgrade from an ATI Radeon HD5770.
I currently have an AMD phenom II x4 965 black edition CPU(oc to 3.8) so i am looking for something that this cpu will not bottleneck.
The budget would be 300$,i am willing to go a little higher if necessary but not much.
I would like you guys to pick me a video card from this site (it is romanian) http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/
300$= around 1000 RON
Thanks in advance.
Comments
GTX 660 OC Twin Fozr would give you most bang for your buck.
Or if you must have AMD card, go with 7850 or even better, 7870 if you can afford it, since it's a bit over your budget.
humm i think i would start saving up for a new system.
IF you do really need a new graphics card then the suggestions above are fine.
What power supply do you have, and what case? You don't want to plug in a higher power video card that promptly fries things.
This would do a little better than double the performance of what you have now:
http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/asus/radeon-hd7850-directcu-1gb-ddr5-256-bit/
Essentially the same thing with 2 GB of video memory:
http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/msi/radeon-hd7850-oc-2gb-ddr5-256-bit/
Typically a little bit faster, but mismatched memory channels means that you lose memory bandwidth if you go over 1.5 GB of video memory in use:
http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/gainward/geforce-gtx-660-2gb-ddr5-192-bit-1/
This is substantially faster than any other card that stays inside your stated budget, but it does go slightly over:
http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/sapphire/radeon-hd7870-xt-with-boost-2gb-ddr5-256-bit/
If AMD had been trying to give their cards clear names, they would have called it a Radeon HD 7930 rather than a 7870 XT, as it's the GPU chip of the 7900 series. It's also significantly faster than a normal 7870.
Of the ones that Quiz linked I would go with
http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/sapphire/radeon-hd7870-xt-with-boost-2gb-ddr5-256-bit/
I have the regular version of the 7870 and its a very decent card. I have had mine since they came out and have no complaints about performance. You will see a nice boost over the 5770.
Plus it seems you get 3 games with it. It may be just a tad over your budget but will be well worth it.
I got mine for less than a 660ti and only £20 more than a 7870.
Hi
My other components are as follows:
CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 965 black edition (oc la 3.8)
PSU : Sirtec - High Power Element 400W
RAM:Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit
Cooler:Thermalright True Spirit 120
Mobo:MSI 870S-C45 (FX)
HDD: Samsung 500 GB(i don't know which model but i believe it is a 5200 rpm)
Current GPU: Gigabyte Radeon HD5770 Ultra Durable 1GB DDR5 128-bit
As for the case ,it is nothing fancy but is not a regular one either.I could not find a link of it .It is branded Delux and has some kind of ventilation on top of it along with a handle.I keep the side open because otherwise the Cooler touches the side.
You might want to look here..
ATi http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=56
Nvidia http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=1914
Forum http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=3
I don't want to buy from outside my country because i would have to pay extra fees.
How much risk do you want to take that you'll fry things? Considering that you've substantially overclocked your processor with a fairly low end motherboard and power supply not meant to handle such overclocks, I'd say "quite a bit".
But upgrading to a higher power video card with that power supply is a risk. It only has one 6-pin PCI-E power connector, so the manufacturer doesn't think it can handle higher power video cards. That you're also pulling very large amounts of power for the CPU by taking a high power CPU and overclocking it doesn't exactly help with your power supply headroom, either.
If you keep your current power supply, then getting a Radeon HD 7870 XT is definitely a bad idea, and a GeForce GTX 660 is pretty dicey, too. A Radeon HD 7850 might be all right, especially if you undo the CPU overclock, but it's still a considerable risk.
You can avoid the issues if you replace the power supply by something that can definitely handle a higher load. For example, get this and you can get whatever video card you want (well, single GPU, and a GeForce GTX 480 would still be a bad idea) and not have to worry about overtaxing the power supply:
http://www.pcgarage.ro/surse/seasonic/s12ii-520-bronze-520w/
The highlighted text is an area of concern. Good chance that PSU either wont work or will damage stuff. My bet would be on it going balls up sooner rather than later.
Buy a decent PSU along with the video card and you should be OK to get a 7870xt and OC your cpu. If you not willing or able to buy another psu then just hold what you got until you can. IMO
edit: The psu quiz linked would do the trick
I can and will buy a new psu along with the card,just not exactly the one that quiz linked,not because i doubt his choice,i appreciate it even,just like every other suggestion here, but i know some forums that sell neat stuff at better prices(new or still in warranty) so i might be able to get a more powerful one at a lesser price.
Once i made up my mind ill post here and see what you think about my choice.
Unless you plan on crossfire or SLI a good 550-650w should do. I would get a gold rated 650w and be done with it. You wont have to worry about power and can OC all you want.
both consoles have 7850s
I doubt the new GPU series are coming anytime soon.As for the new consoles i am planning to buy a PS4 when it releases .
That's probably junk, and may or may not even be an upgrade over what you already have.
There is an 80 PLUS certification program for power supplies run by Ecos Consulting and funded by a consortium of electric utilities. Their standards aren't very high, so passing certification doesn't mean that a power supply is good. But being unable to pass usually does mean that a power supply is rather bad.
In the case of the power supply that you linked, it looks like they're trying to make you think that it passed certification without actually having passed it. The box says "80 PLUS ready" and "82 PLUS ready". But the 80 PLUS program has standard logos for these things, and the ones on that box aren't them. You can see the 82 PLUS bronze logo on the Seasonic power supply that I linked earlier, so this isn't just an American thing. For that matter, there are many power supplies that have such certification and aren't sold in the US--and in some cases, wouldn't even run in the US because the require a voltage around 230 V.
A warranty on the power supply doesn't necessarily do you much good. If a power supply is junk and fries because of that, then you don't want another of the same power supply that will likely also fry. The danger of a bad power supply isn't that it dies and you have to replace the bad power supply. It's that it dies and takes the rest of your hardware with it. If a bad power supply fries your memory, video card, processor, motherboard, and hard drive, the power supply warranty will only get you a new power supply and will not replace everything else.
To be honest I said pass on that before posting here but i did post here anyway because i wanted to make sure that i did not turn my back to a good offer.Thanks for making it clear.
You can check out the performance difference here and decide is it worth 15$ more.
Personally, if it was my PC, I wouldn't go for used PSU and also, would rather consider going for some better CPU instead spending all money on GPU.
If it were me I would go with the 7870 and put the $15 towards a better psu. You seem to be reluctant to go ahead and drop the money for a good Power Supply but then would drop another $15 on a used 7950.
Before I skimped on a psu I would drop down in gpu or stay with the 7870. Dont cheap out on a power supply just to save $15-20 bucks, or even $50 bucks for that matter. People post all the time with a great PC build and a craptastic psu. Its like why spend all that money on a top build PC and buy a cheap PSU all in the name of saving $15 bucks out of $1200 budget 0.o
You got me wrong,i said i am going to buy a PSU that will work on whatever GPU i decide on.I mean i will even buy a more expensive PSU than the one linked by Quizzical if needed( will post here before buying).
Also about the last part of your post,some people are not rich and have a fixed amount of money they can spend ,which is my case , and that is why people want to save as much as they can.
I understand saving. Most people including myself are in that boat, hence why I have a 7870 instead of a 7970 or 680
But if thats the case why link a used $60 non rated PSU and then ask if you should spend the extra money on a 7950?
What I was meaning was if your willing to spend extra money on a gpu then you might can save that money and go ahead and buy a decent PSU. If your looking at used PSUs that cost $60 bucks I understand trying to save money, just in the wrong place IMO .
No offense intended if that the way you took it. Either way good luck to you .