gpu Help me choose the perfect graphics card for my system

[AMDGrill]

Greetings!

As title says; I am looking to get a new GPU for my Potato rig that I am slightly upgrading. Here, let me list out the specs:

Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard 
AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0 GHZ 6MB Processor + ThermalTake NiC F4 Cooler
3x4=12GB GSkill Ripjaws 1866Mhz DDR3 Dual Channel RAM
ThermalTake SmartPower 80+ Bronze 550W PSU with 504W of power at 12V Max
WD C. Blue 64mb 1TB HDD
WD C. Blue 16mb 500GB HDD
Dark Raiden ATX Case ( A Local brand case, installed 5x Asiahorse Solar Eclipse fans - 2x on Front, 2x at the top and 1x at Rear, has a 14cm Side intake currently vacant)
And finally a potato GPU of Asus Nvidia GeForce GT630 2GB 128-bit with 810Mhz core and 1800Mhz Memory speed.

The rig is currently running Windows 8 Pro, and as you can see from the specs, its not really impressive. The GPU is very subpar and I'm looking to replacing it.
This computer is currently used for extended hours of intense gaming (GTA V & BF3 etc @Low-Mid settings @30~fps

Things to consider when getting the new GPU

• Must not burn a hole in my wallet. Cannot give you a price range because of market pricing ( a $200 card should be 700₺ but its 1200₺ instead -- example)
• Not looking for something very high end, As you can see my CPU is fairly lackluster and I dont have the budget to upgrade it anytime soon, must not bottleneck too much(No xx70-xx80s)
• My case supports up to 30cm VGA cards. Must fit
• Must work with my current PSU. My PSU has the necessary GPU power outputs (8Pin and 6Pin etc) but as you can see its not very high capacity.
• Must give noticeable FPS increase, To elaborate, I want to be able to play games at medium settings after this upgrade at 45~ FPS 

 

On a side note, I want the take all the load from my GPU. I want the next bottlenecking part of my system is to be my CPU. To elaborate, Lets say I want to play GTA V at the highest graphics my system can handle, I want to be able to push my GPU to the level where my CPU can no longer keep up. I plan to get a CPU in the future, an AMD FX X6 or X8 maybe, but as I stated above, not anytime soon.

 

Preferances

• An Asus Nvidia card. I know a lot of you guys would recommend going for a Radeon hence my CPU but I dont feel comfortable with AMD GPUs from my past experiences.

What I dont care

• VR Support and very futuristic tech like the new PCI-E interface and whatnot. 

 

Hence this card will stay on this motherboard for the rest of its life, I want something that will run just right with my current CPU and my next one ( Performance matching wise)

Thank you for your time if you have read this far and cared to comment your opinion

 

 

[3 Lions]

GTX 1050Ti 4GB or RX 460 4GB. 

[AMDGrill]

Thank you for your fast response.

Searching these cards now, apparently they have many versions, Windforce, StrictX, OC Edition and such, what are the difference between these models of the 1050Ti and which one should I get?

On another topic, While browsing for a card I came across a GTX680 for a very decent price (400₺), Would my PSU be able to handle it and what would be the performance difference between a GTX680 and per say, a 1050Ti?

[3 Lions]

1 minute ago, AMDGrill said:

Searching these cards now, apparently they have many versions, Windforce, StrictX, OC Edition and such, what are the difference between these models of the 1050Ti and which one should I get?

The one that is the cheapest for you (they all perform around the same). 

 

2 minutes ago, AMDGrill said:

On another topic, While browsing for a card I came across a GTX680 for a very decent price (400₺), Would my PSU be able to handle it and what would be the performance difference between a GTX680 and per say, a 1050Ti?

http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=576&gid2=3669&compare=Nvidia GeForce GTX 680-vs-Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB  

[Froody129]

3 minutes ago, AMDGrill said:

Thank you for your fast response.

Searching these cards now, apparently they have many versions, Windforce, StrictX, OC Edition and such, what are the difference between these models of the 1050Ti and which one should I get?

On another topic, While browsing for a card I came across a GTX680 for a very decent price (400₺), Would my PSU be able to handle it and what would be the performance difference between a GTX680 and per say, a 1050Ti?

1050ti is better while using DRASTICALLY less power and being cooler and quieter. Most old high end cards have been replaced in performance by the newer low/mid range

[AMDGrill]

1 minute ago, Froody129 said:

1050ti is better while using DRASTICALLY less power and being cooler and quieter. Most old high end cards have been replaced in performance by the newer low/mid range

Yeah, I have heard that the newer generation cards use way less power for the same or sometimes even more performance,
But hence I will be getting one from the second hand market and the country that I currently live in, my options will be mostly Radeon R7 3xx series and 5xx, 6xx or 7xx Series at best. 

[Coaxialgamer]

Rx 470 imo.  Slight more expensive than the 1050ti,  but considerably more powerful. 

[Froody129]

R7 380 and up. Not too clued up on 7xx series, 770 should still be half decent but many are upgrading from those. 760 will run basically all games but no idea about settings/FPS

 

Input from someone who knows more about older GPU's would be appreciated.

 

( There's this guy in YT I think his name is RandomGamingHD that does all this old/potato GPU and what you should buy on a budget)

[AMDGrill]

1 minute ago, Coaxialgamer said:

Rx 470 imo.  Slight more expensive than the 1050ti,  but considerably more powerful. 

Searching for both currently. Sadly there seems to be no 10xx or even 9xx series at the market. Not sure about the AMD GPUs, I dont follow their news much, I take it that the 4-series is their newest generation.

Let me list out the cards that I have currently found, they are all around the same price range, so amongst the listing below, the only determining factor is the performance&efficency
 

• Asus GeForce GTX570 1GB 320-bit (WAT?)
• Sapphire Radeon 7950 3GB 384b I dont trust Sapphire
• AMD Radeon R7 370 OC Nitro GDDR5 2GB 256b
• Zotac GTX670 2GB I dont trust Zotac either
• Asus GTX650Ti Boost DirectCU II 2g 192b
• Powercolor 7950 3gb 384b I dont trust this brand either
• XFX Radeon HD6850 Dual Fan Black Edition 1GB 256b - Not sure about this one
• Sapphire 7850 1Gb 256b 
• Asus Gtx 750 Ti 1Gb 128b
• an NVidia Quadro K620. Heard they are for rendering and graphics design, Pass?
• Asus GTX760 3G 192b 
• Asus Radeon RX460 Dual 2G 128b O.C 
• another Quadro 4000 2G 256b
• Asus Radeon R7 360 O.C Edition

I hope these give you an idea about what is avaliable in my market, given the general hardware given above, which one would you choose?

[Coaxialgamer]

11 minutes ago, AMDGrill said:

Searching for both currently. Sadly there seems to be no 10xx or even 9xx series at the market. Not sure about the AMD GPUs, I dont follow their news much, I take it that the 4-series is their newest generation.

Let me list out the cards that I have currently found, they are all around the same price range, so amongst the listing below, the only determining factor is the performance&efficency
 

• Asus GeForce GTX570 1GB 320-bit (WAT?)
• Sapphire Radeon 7950 3GB 384b I dont trust Sapphire
• AMD Radeon R7 370 OC Nitro GDDR5 2GB 256b
• Zotac GTX670 2GB I dont trust Zotac either
• Asus GTX650Ti Boost DirectCU II 2g 192b
• Powercolor 7950 3gb 384b I dont trust this brand either
• XFX Radeon HD6850 Dual Fan Black Edition 1GB 256b - Not sure about this one
• Sapphire 7850 1Gb 256b 
• Asus Gtx 750 Ti 1Gb 128b
• an NVidia Quadro K620. Heard they are for rendering and graphics design, Pass?
• Asus GTX760 3G 192b 
• Asus Radeon RX460 Dual 2G 128b O.C 
• another Quadro 4000 2G 256b
• Asus Radeon R7 360 O.C Edition

I hope these give you an idea about what is avaliable in my market, given the general hardware given above, which one would you choose?

Why don't you trust powercolor,  zotac and sapphire?  They make great cards.

Plus,  the hd 7950 is the fastest card you listed ( followed by the rx 460). 

 

By the way,  the 320 bits of the gtx 570 refers to the memory bus, which was cut down from the gtx 580's 384bit bus, partly due to the fact it has less memory. 

But i wouldn't get anything from the gtx 5xx,  6xx or 7xx,  or before the hd 7000 series as they haven't aged well. 

 

Try and see if you can't find r9 290's for sale.  They are great cards. 

[AMDGrill]

3 minutes ago, Coaxialgamer said:

Why don't you trust powercolor and sapphire?  They make great cards.

Plus,  the hd 7950 is the fastest card you listed ( followed by the rx 460). 

 

By the way,  the 320 bits of the gtx 570 refers to the memory bus, which was cut down from the gtx 580's 384bit bus, partly due to the fact it has less memory. 

But i wouldn't get anything from the gtx 5xx,  6xx or 7xx,  or before the hd 7000 series as they haven't aged well. 

I see. 
Powercolor and Zotac and Sapphire etc always seem to be less expensive than their original counterpart ( Asus, AMD, MSI etc)
and I take it that they are some side-brands, dont know, probably from my previous marketing experiences. Which was about 3 to 5 years ago, so I'ld say my thoughts are fairly outdated.

[AMDGrill]

Alrighty, I increased my price range by a notch and found some much better results. The list is as follows:
 

• Asus GTX 950 ROG Strix
• Asus R9 280
• Sapphire R9 285 Dual-X O.C 
• Asus R9 270X 
• Powercolor R9 270X TurboDuo OC 
• Evga GTX 950 2 GB SSC
• SAPPHIRE HD 7970 - This got my interest
• Sapphire Dual-X R9 280 OC
• and finally a Sapphire Radeon HD6990 

Any opinion would be appreciated, as I'm having the hardest time deciding, being the newbie I am

[Coaxialgamer]

19 minutes ago, AMDGrill said:

I see. 
Powercolor and Zotac and Sapphire etc always seem to be less expensive than their original counterpart ( Asus, AMD, MSI etc)
and I take it that they are some side-brands, dont know, probably from my previous marketing experiences. Which was about 3 to 5 years ago, so I'ld say my thoughts are fairly outdated.

Yeah,  i see.  But they are definitely not side brands or knockoffs. In fact,  i would recommend a sapphire card over an asus card when dealing with amd gpus. 

[AMDGrill]

18 minutes ago, Coaxialgamer said:

Yeah,  i see.  But they are definitely not side brands or knockoffs. In fact,  i would recommend a sapphire card over an asus card when dealing with amd gpus. 

Well, I will keep that in mind

[AMDGrill]

So, any thoughts about what to go for in that list?

[AMDGrill]

The thread died rather quickly, oh well..

[AMDGrill]

Uhm, Up?