Graphics card decision

[Moopey]

I'm building a new PC and I can't decide between Sapphire R7 260X 2GB OC lite and Gainward GTX 650Ti 1GB.. That's the highest I can go with the budget when it comes to the graphics card and going lower than this doesn't make any sense. I've seen a lot of fanboyism, misinformation, dated arguments being used etc. Linus already reviewed R7 260X and it seemed to preform really well (mine's 2GB and OC so I'm guessing it's even better) and it does have great bang for the buck. On the other hand, I couldn't find a lot of 650Ti benchmarks and comparisons, I mainly found 650Ti Boost reviews, benchmarks and comparisons. 

The drivers seem to be pretty good on both sides (My previous card was Radeon HD2600XT, I haven't had any problems with it and it served me REALLY well for 4 years.) as does the performance. PhysX seems to be the deciding point for many people, I've looked up the list for PhysX supported games and it doesn't really excite me that much. Mantle looks like it's getting some popularity and does look like it's going to be used so I'm willing to take a risk there. 

I still haven't decided on which one to get, but I'm slightly leaning towards the R7, but just slightly. Any advice would be helpful and just general info about the two. The rest of the specs are:

i3 4130 @3.4GHz

8GB DDR3 1600MHz

some Silverstone 500w PS

some Frontier housing that idc about

some Biostar MB that I also don't care about (yes, it does support all my other parts, checked it)

I have my own 320GB HDD that I'll use for this build

Here's the build with links to the shop I'm buying my PC from: http://pastebin.com/v93rf6uC (If you want to convert into US$, my currency is BAM in currency converters). Yup, my country is pretty limited when it comes to a lot of things.

[Guest]

Make a poll

[Tech_Dreamer]

Why dont you go for a bit higher & get the 270? since graphics card purchase is a long term one :huh:

[WoodenMarker]

The 260x is better: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-280x-r9-270x-r7-260x,3635-11.html

You could probably get a better overall build if you shift parts around though. What's your budget?

[i_build_nanosuits]

op you should look for an r7 265 it wont cost much more than a 260x but perform very close to the 270...its worth it!

[Moopey]

Well, I could go for 4GBs of RAM instead of 8 to get the R7 265, I could upgrade to 8GBs later on if needed. You can try to build something better but I doubt it you can do it with the pathetic little choice I have on this website (www.genelec.ba), or in my country in general. I tried to find some other shops, but this one was the cheapest and the most convenient for me. The most I would spend on this PC would be 1000 KM (I don't need a monitor or a hard drive).

[Silver Knight]

Well, I could go for 4GBs of RAM instead of 8 to get the R7 265, I could upgrade to 8GBs later on if needed. You can try to build something better but I doubt it you can do it with the pathetic little choice I have on this website (www.genelec.ba), or in my country in general. I tried to find some other shops, but this one was the cheapest and the most convenient for me. The most I would spend on this PC would be 1000 KM (I don't need a monitor or a hard drive).

Po sajtu, da li si iz BiH

 

Ja mislim da ce bi bilo bolje da uparis 760k sa 260x, Procesor je jeftiniji, a mozda bi onda i mogao da uzmes 270

[i_build_nanosuits]

Well, I could go for 4GBs of RAM instead of 8 to get the R7 265, I could upgrade to 8GBs later on if needed. You can try to build something better but I doubt it you can do it with the pathetic little choice I have on this website (www.genelec.ba), or in my country in general. I tried to find some other shops, but this one was the cheapest and the most convenient for me. The most I would spend on this PC would be 1000 KM (I don't need a monitor or a hard drive).

Well, most games don't use more than 4gb. Pretty much only BF4 will use 4GB in heavy multiplayer match-ups on ultra settings (wich you won't be able to run Ultra with this GPU anyway)and even with a 4gb system it run's without any issues the game simply adjust itself to 4GB...99% of the games will run just fine on 4gb, so if this is what you have to do to allow you to get yourself a better GPU than that's what i would do and consider a second stick of 4gb as an upgrade for later, yes.

[i_build_nanosuits]

Po sajtu, da li si iz BiH

 

Ja mislim da ce bi bilo bolje da uparis 760k sa 260x, Procesor je jeftiniji, a mozda bi onda i mogao da uzmes 270

this is an english forum you will get warned.

[Moopey]

Jesam, iz BiH sam. What's that 760k processor? 270 would be too bang-for-buck inefficient, 265 seems just fine for me; R9 is mostly for performance first, cost second people anyway. Also, I'm not really fond of switching that i3, I plan on doing some 3D modeling and photoshoping in my free time but mostly playing games. I think that I have a 2GB DDR3-1333MHz stick lying around somewhere, would it be a problem if I mix the new 4GB and the old 2GB sticks? They're from different manufacturers (Kingston and GSkill).

[Silver Knight]

this is an english forum you will get warned.

I understand that this is an english forum, but nowhere in the rules (which Linus stated there aren't any) is stated that i have, or anyone else, has to use english... If it's easier for us to communicate using our own language, why is that bad

 

But okay, i'll humor you

 

I wrote:

"Looking at the site, are you from BiH

 

I think that it would be better to pair up 760k and 260x, the CPU is cheaper, and maybe you could vuy 270 :D"

[i_build_nanosuits]

Jesam, iz BiH sam. What's that 760k processor? 270 would be too bang-for-buck inefficient, 265 seems just fine for me; R9 is mostly for performance first, cost second people anyway. Also, I'm not really fond of switching that i3, I plan on doing some 3D modeling and photoshoping in my free time but mostly playing games. I think that I have a 2GB DDR3-1333MHz stick lying around somewhere, would it be a problem if I mix the new 4GB and the old 2GB sticks? They're from different manufacturers (Kingston and GSkill).

Absolutely no problem with using your 1333mhz ram with the new one, you will have 6gb running at 1333mhz wich is perfect for gaming, RAM speed have no effects on games anyway.

I personaly would use the 760K as well, it will perform pretty close and even better than a core i3 in many situations, especially in 3d modelling and anything that use more than 2 threads.

If that could allow you to get a better GPU for gaming that would be worth it, 760K paired with R9 270 would be indeed ideal. You could also look for an FX-6300 wich would be even better.

[Silver Knight]

Jesam, iz BiH sam. What's that 760k processor? 270 would be too bang-for-buck inefficient, 265 seems just fine for me; R9 is mostly for performance first, cost second people anyway. Also, I'm not really fond of switching that i3, I plan on doing some 3D modeling and photoshoping in my free time but mostly playing games. I think that I have a 2GB DDR3-1333MHz stick lying around somewhere, would it be a problem if I mix the new 4GB and the old 2GB sticks? They're from different manufacturers (Kingston and GSkill).

Oooh Retko kad se vidi neko sa ovim jezikom na ovakvim forumima Ae pricacu na engleskom da se drugi clanovi ne bi bunili

760k, or AMD Athlon X4 760k, is an AMD budget gaming CPU, and it's cheaper that I3 (here in Serbia it's around 30$, or around 2.500 RSD)

As for RAM, i'm not very knowledgeable on that, but i think that it mostly depends on the mobo and manufacturers compatibility...

As for CPU's watch this video

 

Absolutely no problem with using your 1333mhz ram with the new one, you will have 6gb running at 1333mhz wich is perfect for gaming, RAM speed have no effects on games anyway.

I personaly would use the 760K as well, it will perform pretty close and even better than a core i3 in many situations, especially in 3d modelling and anything that use more than 2 threads.

If that could allow you to get a better GPU for gaming that would be worth it, 760K paired with R9 270 would be indeed ideal. You could also look for an FX-6300 wich would be even better.

I second that, here the difference between 6300 and 4130, price wise, is almost non-existent...

In this shop, 6300 is actually cheaper...

[Moopey]

Well, I've been thinking a bit about the CPU. Dual core seems to be a bit too little for the future, even with the HT. A quad core is a quad. All the big games are going to want to have 4 cores and getting a quad core CPU just seems more future-proof. I don't want AMD CPU (or a GPU for that matter, but I'm forced to get one), even with its cheap prices, I just don't. I can downgrade the GPU back to 260X, the motherboard would cost less and I could get a housing from my friend which would save me enough money for i5 Ivy and I would stay bellow my 1k mark. I'd be willing to sacrifice that ultra to high setting or 5-ish FPS to get that quad. Would that be smart?

[i_build_nanosuits]

Well, I've been thinking a bit about the CPU. Dual core seems to be a bit too little for the future, even with the HT. A quad core is a quad. All the big games are going to want to have 4 cores and getting a quad core CPU just seems more future-proof. I don't want AMD CPU (or a GPU for that matter, but I'm forced to get one), even with its cheap prices, I just don't. I can downgrade the GPU back to 260X, the motherboard would cost less and I could get a housing from my friend which would save me enough money for i5 Ivy and I would stay bellow my 1k mark. I'd be willing to sacrifice that ultra to high setting or 5-ish FPS to get that quad. Would that be smart?

would getting something like a core i5-4430 would allow you to get an r7 265 GPU? that would be better...or even an r9 270, for gaming you need a good GPU to get good framerate on nice settings...what resolution are you going to play your games?

[Moopey]

would getting something like a core i5-4430 would allow you to get an r7 265 GPU? that would be better...or even an r9 270, for gaming you need a good GPU to get good framerate on nice settings...what resolution are you going to play your games?

 

Well, I really don't mind top notch graphics not being available to me anyway. It would be nice to play at 1080p at decent settings (Medium-High), I wouldn't even mind 720p. I'm not that nitpicky when it comes to that, I just want good performance. R7 260X can still play games at 1080p highish settings at a decent framerate. The available (to me) i5s are 3340, 3470, 4570. The differences among them aren't that great, although getting the Haswell would allow me to upgrade later on, but I doubt I'll be upgrading in the near or distant future, I tend to buy a PC once every 4-5 years.

[i_build_nanosuits]

Well, I really don't mind top notch graphics not being available to me anyway. It would be nice to play at 1080p at decent settings (Medium-High), I wouldn't even mind 720p. I'm not that nitpicky when it comes to that, I just want good performance. R7 260X can still play games at 1080p highish settings at a decent framerate. The available (to me) i5s are 3340, 3470, 4570. The differences among them aren't that great, although getting the Haswell would allow me to upgrade later on, but I doubt I'll be upgrading in the near or distant future, I tend to buy a PC once every 4-5 years.

then get the i5-3340 along with an r7 265 or r9 270, this is what will give you the best performance in games...the 260x at 1080p will play in the 35-40ish FPS at medium settings...not very optimal and not futureproof at all...you should spend some more on the GPU.

The i5-3340 will be good for any games.

[Moopey]

Hey guys, just wanted to check in. I found another seller, and he gave me some great prices. I've managed to get:

Intel Core i5 4570, Haswell, 4 x 3.2 GHz
Asus H81M-K
Kingston HyperX DDR3 8 GB 1600 MHz
Sapphire R9 270 OC 2 GB GDDR5
Chieftec Smart Series 500 W

for 950KM! I've just ordered the parts and I'll put them all together (should arrive in a couple of days). This is just great, Washdogs here I come. Thanks for all of your tips, don't forget to stay awesome.

[i_build_nanosuits]

that's a very good news! good job man ! good luck and have fun with your new PC!