Which GPU to buy + Potential bottleneck?

[wyattzx]

Hey folks!

 

With the Holiday Season fast approaching, so too is the Steam Winter Sale. Unfortunately for me, I haven't a GPU strong enough for most modern titles at comfortable settings. I've been upgrading my rig (albeit fairly slowly) over this past year, and have decided that I need to focus my attention toward a GPU now. My Sapphire Radeon 6870 died back in August, though luckily I managed to borrow one of my older brother's MSi HAWK 6870's. (From his old rig which ran two in CorssFire, his new rig runs a single 290x) Though it was more than pleasant being able to be back up and running on the same day without any performance decrease, it's still unfortunate that I am stuck in the new of 2010. 

This is not the first "New GPU" thread I've made. Before I was able to look toward a new GPU, I needed to upgrade my case and PSU first. Both of which are now suitable for even the most highest-end GPUs. 

(Corsair RM750 + NZXT Phantom 530) Space, nor power should no longer be an issue for a single-card setup. At least, power where the Power Supply is concerned. 

 

I've currently running an ASUS M5a97 R2.0 motherboard, with 8GB of Kingston HyperX Black 1600mhz RAM, and an FX-6300 Chip from AMD cooled by a Hyper 212+ from CoolerMaster (Soon to be replaced by an NZXT Kraken x61 so as to free up space and RAM slots.) Would this be enough to run an R9 290x, GTX 970 / 980 at Ultra with today's games (solely 1080p)? This question leads into the main question of the topic:

 

With a budget cap of $350, which would be the best GPU I can purchase? I am not stuck to Red Team or Green Team. Do note that aside from gaming, I do a lot of image editing in GIMP (which is why I bought an IPS panel recently) and Video Editing in Sony Vegas Pro 12, and Adobe After Effects CS6. With all of that in mind, what is the best GPU I should purchase? 

[Suffokation]

It sure will!

The 970 is by far the best graphics card on the market with every variable taken into consideration.

The exact 970 is personal preference but if silence isn't something you care for i'd like to take your attention to the 970 Windforce.

[TheHolyCawCaw]

It sure will!

The 970 is by far the best graphics card on the market with every variable taken into consideration.

The exact 970 is personal preference but if silence isn't something you care for i'd like to take your attention to the 970 Windforce.

Put fans to 100% and you got a fucking plane in your room I love it^^

[small2cats]

Nvidia cards are pretty solid option for now, as much as they perform well in games, you can also benefit from cuda acceleration in Adobe suite. Also they run much cooler and efficiently.
However, if you can get a super cheap deal on an R9 290 or 290x, have great airflow in your system and don't have to worry about the electricity bills, then go with that. Also stick with aftermarket cards if you go with AMD since the reference design is super loud and runs hotter than a volcano.

[nhatduy1611]

Hey folks!

 

With the Holiday Season fast approaching, so too is the Steam Winter Sale. Unfortunately for me, I haven't a GPU strong enough for most modern titles at comfortable settings. I've been upgrading my rig (albeit fairly slowly) over this past year, and have decided that I need to focus my attention toward a GPU now. My Sapphire Radeon 6870 died back in August, though luckily I managed to borrow one of my older brother's MSi HAWK 6870's. (From his old rig which ran two in CorssFire, his new rig runs a single 290x) Though it was more than pleasant being able to be back up and running on the same day without any performance decrease, it's still unfortunate that I am stuck in the new of 2010. 

This is not the first "New GPU" thread I've made. Before I was able to look toward a new GPU, I needed to upgrade my case and PSU first. Both of which are now suitable for even the most highest-end GPUs. 

(Corsair RM750 + NZXT Phantom 530) Space, nor power should no longer be an issue for a single-card setup. At least, power where the Power Supply is concerned. 

 

I've currently running an ASUS M5a97 R2.0 motherboard, with 8GB of Kingston HyperX Black 1600mhz RAM, and an FX-6300 Chip from AMD cooled by a Hyper 212+ from CoolerMaster (Soon to be replaced by an NZXT Kraken x61 so as to free up space and RAM slots.) Would this be enough to run an R9 290x, GTX 970 / 980 at Ultra with today's games (solely 1080p)? This question leads into the main question of the topic:

 

With a budget cap of $350, which would be the best GPU I can purchase? I am not stuck to Red Team or Green Team. Do note that aside from gaming, I do a lot of image editing in GIMP (which is why I bought an IPS panel recently) and Video Editing in Sony Vegas Pro 12, and Adobe After Effects CS6. With all of that in mind, what is the best GPU I should purchase? 

With that budget the 970 will be the best choice i will give you everything you need 

[wyattzx]

Alright, so taking into consideration the heavy bias toward the GTX 970 the answers I've been given, the GTX 970 seems to be the best bet! -- I've actually been eyeing the GTX 970 line for a month now, watching reviews and prices, so this works out great. While most of them are out of stock, that shouldn't be a problem as I do check in daily, and I do not need the card today. The two I'm looking at now are the ASUS STRIX GTX 970, for with I want to pair with my RM750 for near-silent operation, and because its' aesthetic is very subtle and enjoyable. (Plus I hear there is a white LED on it that I personally would like, as I am going for a white LED design in my case.) The other option is the MSi 4G model. The only reason I'd not go with the STRIX is that I've heard that is doesn't have coil whine, and that it also has horrible coil whine, so it seems very.. inconsistent. Overclocking is not a concern of mine, though I will push what power out I can without pushing voltages. They appear to be the same price - what's the better choice? 

[Jovis]

Your PC parts are pretty basic, so I would suggest you going with something decent.

I would suggest you to buy the 

MSI Gaming N760 TF 2GD5/OC G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 760 2GB

It goes for around $230, heres the NewEgg link: 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127745

[WildChickenNutz]

Hey folks!

 

With the Holiday Season fast approaching, so too is the Steam Winter Sale. Unfortunately for me, I haven't a GPU strong enough for most modern titles at comfortable settings. I've been upgrading my rig (albeit fairly slowly) over this past year, and have decided that I need to focus my attention toward a GPU now. My Sapphire Radeon 6870 died back in August, though luckily I managed to borrow one of my older brother's MSi HAWK 6870's. (From his old rig which ran two in CorssFire, his new rig runs a single 290x) Though it was more than pleasant being able to be back up and running on the same day without any performance decrease, it's still unfortunate that I am stuck in the new of 2010. 

This is not the first "New GPU" thread I've made. Before I was able to look toward a new GPU, I needed to upgrade my case and PSU first. Both of which are now suitable for even the most highest-end GPUs. 

(Corsair RM750 + NZXT Phantom 530) Space, nor power should no longer be an issue for a single-card setup. At least, power where the Power Supply is concerned. 

 

I've currently running an ASUS M5a97 R2.0 motherboard, with 8GB of Kingston HyperX Black 1600mhz RAM, and an FX-6300 Chip from AMD cooled by a Hyper 212+ from CoolerMaster (Soon to be replaced by an NZXT Kraken x61 so as to free up space and RAM slots.) Would this be enough to run an R9 290x, GTX 970 / 980 at Ultra with today's games (solely 1080p)? This question leads into the main question of the topic:

 

With a budget cap of $350, which would be the best GPU I can purchase? I am not stuck to Red Team or Green Team. Do note that aside from gaming, I do a lot of image editing in GIMP (which is why I bought an IPS panel recently) and Video Editing in Sony Vegas Pro 12, and Adobe After Effects CS6. With all of that in mind, what is the best GPU I should purchase? 

970 i just bought one today as well lol 

[WildChickenNutz]

Alright, so taking into consideration the heavy bias toward the GTX 970 the answers I've been given, the GTX 970 seems to be the best bet! -- I've actually been eyeing the GTX 970 line for a month now, watching reviews and prices, so this works out great. While most of them are out of stock, that shouldn't be a problem as I do check in daily, and I do not need the card today. The two I'm looking at now are the ASUS STRIX GTX 970, for with I want to pair with my RM750 for near-silent operation, and because its' aesthetic is very subtle and enjoyable. (Plus I hear there is a white LED on it that I personally would like, as I am going for a white LED design in my case.) The other option is the MSi 4G model. The only reason I'd not go with the STRIX is that I've heard that is doesn't have coil whine, and that it also has horrible coil whine, so it seems very.. inconsistent. Overclocking is not a concern of mine, though I will push what power out I can without pushing voltages. They appear to be the same price - what's the better choice? 

the msi is the model i picked up today its got a white light in the front that lights MSI

[WildChickenNutz]

Alright, so taking into consideration the heavy bias toward the GTX 970 the answers I've been given, the GTX 970 seems to be the best bet! -- I've actually been eyeing the GTX 970 line for a month now, watching reviews and prices, so this works out great. While most of them are out of stock, that shouldn't be a problem as I do check in daily, and I do not need the card today. The two I'm looking at now are the ASUS STRIX GTX 970, for with I want to pair with my RM750 for near-silent operation, and because its' aesthetic is very subtle and enjoyable. (Plus I hear there is a white LED on it that I personally would like, as I am going for a white LED design in my case.) The other option is the MSi 4G model. The only reason I'd not go with the STRIX is that I've heard that is doesn't have coil whine, and that it also has horrible coil whine, so it seems very.. inconsistent. Overclocking is not a concern of mine, though I will push what power out I can without pushing voltages. They appear to be the same price - what's the better choice? 

i went with msi because it had the best rate of ppl having the best luck with no coil wine.

[Fate]

Overclock that CPU or else you'll likely be seeing bottlenecks in a lot of games with a 970. 

The 970 would be a very solid choice though, unless you can find a 290 for ~$80+ cheaper and don't need G-Sync, Cuda, etc. 

[wyattzx]

BUMP!

 

Right, so rather than create a new thread, I figured I'd BUMP this one instead, as everything still applies. I did OC my FX-6300 to 4ghz (can go to 4.3ghz but causes a weird issue with HWMonitor.) 

 

With Tax Return coming up, and a new litter of puppies, now is looking like the best time for buying a new GPU. That, and my 6870 is literally on its last leg now. I'm getting driver issues, the card has started to whine, and it gets a lot louder now than it used to. The budget still sits at around $300, with some wiggle room of course. I will be gaming at 1080p, and at most will be adding more 1080p Panels to my setup. (I.E: I won't be going 4K for some time.) I am looking at NVIDIA, because it appears to work well with Adobe products, as well as Sony Vegas. However, I am not constricting myself to NVIDIA cards. 

 

I am the card that is going to give me the absolute best performance for the money. I am running an RM750, so a card like the STRIX cards would be best for silent idle, but not a demand. 

[Hieb]

AFAIK Sony Vegas can utilize Radeon cards really well, but yeah I think Adobe premiere and such use CUDA.

You can probably find an R9 290X at around $300 which would be really good for encoding anything that supports OpenCL. But a GTX 970 generally performs better at 1080P in games, though not by a large margin.

[Cheddle]

BUMP!

 

Right, so rather than create a new thread, I figured I'd BUMP this one instead, as everything still applies. I did OC my FX-6300 to 4ghz (can go to 4.3ghz but causes a weird issue with HWMonitor.) 

 

With Tax Return coming up, and a new litter of puppies, now is looking like the best time for buying a new GPU. That, and my 6870 is literally on its last leg now. I'm getting driver issues, the card has started to whine, and it gets a lot louder now than it used to. The budget still sits at around $300, with some wiggle room of course. I will be gaming at 1080p, and at most will be adding more 1080p Panels to my setup. (I.E: I won't be going 4K for some time.) I am looking at NVIDIA, because it appears to work well with Adobe products, as well as Sony Vegas. However, I am not constricting myself to NVIDIA cards. 

 

I am the card that is going to give me the absolute best performance for the money. I am running an RM750, so a card like the STRIX cards would be best for silent idle, but not a demand. 

 

a 970 is really the best choice here... I wouldn't suggest a 960 though at 1080 you will likely have a great time with it - it just depends on what you would prefer:

 

to keep the $150 difference in price and settle for a 960, never look at those dreamy benchmarks and render times that the 970 provides over the 960

 

or get the 970 and appreciate the additional performance over a 960 and relish in the smugness that is not owning a budget card.

 

personally I never upgrade my whole system at once, I do gpu separate to mobo/cpu and upgrade other components adhoc as required. So I would buy the best GPU I could afford and then a year later buy the best cpu/mobo I could afford - keeping in mind that sweet spot for performance/price.

 

If I was in your position I would get a 970, then soon after upgrade my cpu/mobo

[wyattzx]

Alright. Decision time. The card is going to likely be dead in the next few weeks. I'm no longer playing games on it, because if it dies, I have nothing. 

 

GTX 970, or AMD 290x? Which model for each?

 

$330 max spending. 

 

Help!

[dragoon20005]

Alright. Decision time. The card is going to likely be dead in the next few weeks. I'm no longer playing games on it, because if it dies, I have nothing. 

 

GTX 970, or AMD 290x? Which model for each?

 

$330 max spending. 

 

Help!

for the price of 270 dollars

 

the 290X is a great buy now

[wyattzx]

Well, I was able to buy an EVGA SSC GTX 970 from Best Buy. So far so good! It's my first foray into the NVIDIA cards, so.. I was wondering.. Are there any steps I am supposed to take to "optimize" NVIDIA cards? Tweaks in the software people recommend, settings, options, etc? I uninstalled my AMD Catalyst Suite, turned my PC off, installed the card, turned it on, and install the driver software. What's next?

[Starrbuck]

I like to change the power settings to "Prefer Maximum Performance" and change it to single monitor mode if you only have one monitor.  I also use Adaptive sync often.