What GPU should I get?

[Constipated Crow]

Hi there,

 

I would like to purchase a new graphics card for myself, for gaming only, as my one isn't doing the job (it constantly causes games to crash - although, that's only what I THINK causes the crashing). My current setup is below:

 

-XFX FX-777A-ZNF4 Radeon HD 7000 Series; AMD; Radeon HD 7770; 1000 MHz; CrossFire; 2048 x 1536 pixels; 2560 x 1600 pixels (FX-777A-ZNF4)

-Intel Core i3-3220 3300GHz 3MB Cache Socket LGA1155 Desktop CPU

-Corsair CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 XMS3 8GB (1x4GB) DDR3 1333 Mhz CL9 Performance Desktop Memory Module

-MSI LGA1155 u-ATX Motherboard (Intel H61, 2x DDR3, GBE, LAN)

-500 WATT ATX POWER SUPPLY QUIET 20-24 PIN with SATA

-LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x SATA Half Height Internal DVDRW Drive

-Seagate Barracuda 3.5 inch 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB 6GB/S Internal SATA Drive

 

I don't know what graphics card to get though. I thought about getting an Nvidia GTX 970, but that's far beyond my price range. I would like something that will be very reliable, very good for gaming, and for a budget gaming build (I want to spend approximately £100 on it. That's about $160). Also, keep in mind that I've only had this build for about 6 months or so now, so it's relatively new, but my games keep crashing (my only thought on that is that the GPU causes it). It would be great if you could put your thoughts in.

 

Cheers!

 

[Wander Away]

You could consider the 750Ti. Might not be a substantial upgrade though. Anything higher might give you a bottleneck on the cpu. 

[martward]

I don't think the GPU is causing the crashes. I play games with my 6850 without crashes...

Which games do you play and on what settings do you play and want to play?

[Constipated Crow]

You could consider the 750Ti. Might not be a substantial upgrade though. Anything higher might give you a bottleneck on the cpu. 

Thanks, yeah that seems really good, and within the budget too. I am also going to upgrade my CPU within a few months. Do you think I should upgrade my CPU too? It was around £100 itself.

 

Cheers!

[Constipated Crow]

I don't think the GPU is causing the crashes. I play games with my 6850 without crashes...

Which games do you play and on what settings do you play and want to play?

Hi there,

 

Firstly, thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. I mostly play Minecraft, but I haven't experienced a single crash since I built the computer. Other than that, I mostly play Cities Skylines, Battlefield 4, RISK Factions, Counter Strike GO. I mostly experience crashes with Battlefield 4 and Cities Skylines (sometimes within 30 seconds of starting the gameplay). I'm not sure if it's the GPU though, since my only pirated utorrent games Battlefield and Cities Skylines, so maybe it's because they're pirated. The others don't really crash that much (although CSGO and RISK did at first, until I exited full screen and went into windowed mode, at which point, they ceased to crash). 

 

The only reason I suspected that it was the GPU that caused the crashes was because Minecraft never crashed on me, but Minecraft is also a CPU/RAM intensive game, and barely uses the GPU (Minecraft doesn't even crash in fullscreen). So maybe it's not the GPU, but even when I turn the settings down to medium-low setting, without AA, or anisotropic filtering on Cities Skylines, it still crashes. I have checked, and all my drivers are up to date.

 

I also thought that maybe my operating system was causing the crashes, because I had a not genuine Windows 7 OS. I upgraded to windows 8.1 (it's genuine, I bought it on the Microsoft website) yesterday, but the problem persists.

 

I really don't know what to do now. I underclocked my GPU and memory on MSI Afterburner, and when I played Cities Skylines after that, I was able to squeeze about 5-10 minutes of gameplay, rather than just 10 seconds to a minute. So that further supports the theory that my GPU/RAM causes the crashes.

 

Cheers!

[martward]

Hi there,

 

Firstly, thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. I mostly play Minecraft, but I haven't experienced a single crash since I built the computer. Other than that, I mostly play Cities Skylines, Battlefield 4, RISK Factions, Counter Strike GO. I mostly experience crashes with Battlefield 4 and Cities Skylines (sometimes within 30 seconds of starting the gameplay). I'm not sure if it's the GPU though, since my only pirated utorrent games Battlefield and Cities Skylines, so maybe it's because they're pirated. The others don't really crash that much (although CSGO and RISK did at first, until I exited full screen and went into windowed mode, at which point, they ceased to crash). 

 

The only reason I suspected that it was the GPU that caused the crashes was because Minecraft never crashed on me, but Minecraft is also a CPU/RAM intensive game, and barely uses the GPU (Minecraft doesn't even crash in fullscreen). So maybe it's not the GPU, but even when I turn the settings down to medium-low setting, without AA, or anisotropic filtering on Cities Skylines, it still crashes. I have checked, and all my drivers are up to date.

 

I also thought that maybe my operating system was causing the crashes, because I had a not genuine Windows 7 OS. I upgraded to windows 8.1 (it's genuine, I bought it on the Microsoft website) yesterday, but the problem persists.

 

I really don't know what to do now. I underclocked my GPU and memory on MSI Afterburner, and when I played Cities Skylines after that, I was able to squeeze about 5-10 minutes of gameplay, rather than just 10 seconds to a minute. So that further supports the theory that my GPU/RAM causes the crashes.

 

Cheers!

Do you run crossfire or just one gpu?

[Constipated Crow]

Do you run crossfire or just one gpu?

Only one GPU.

[don_svetlio]

Have you tried removing all the drivers and installing the latest ones from AMD's site? The stock drivers included on the disc are utter crap and should be treated as such. If that does not solve the issues, you could call the vendor/manufacturer and file in for an RMA as it is possible that you got unlucky. Be it Nvidia or AMD, faulty cards are a thing and every now and again someone gets unlucky and gets sent a faulty card. I sincerely doubt it's because the games were pirated unless they were specifically rigged to crash if not pinging to the server or something. I myself have been running AMD cards for about 10 years now and have never had my gpus acting up (used mobility 3000 series, 5000 desktop series, 6000 series and R# 200 seires)

[martward]

Well for your budget you could get a  280 or a 280x if you find a deal somewhere. I'm having a hard time believing the problem is with the GPU though, or at least that the problem is the power of the GPU. You should be able to run all those games on medium settings. 

I would recommend to try some non-pirated games first, just to see if the problem persists before spending money on a product you might not really need. If you don't want to spend a lot of money on games, there are some sites where you can buy CD-keys for steam and origin for a couple of bucks, a quick google search should help you find them .

[Constipated Crow]

Have you tried removing all the drivers and installing the latest ones from AMD's site? The stock drivers included on the disc are utter crap and should be treated as such. If that does not solve the issues, you could call the vendor/manufacturer and file in for an RMA as it is possible that you got unlucky. Be it Nvidia or AMD, faulty cards are a thing and every now and again someone gets unlucky and gets sent a faulty card. I sincerely doubt it's because the games were pirated unless they were specifically rigged to crash if not pinging to the server or something. I myself have been running AMD cards for about 10 years now and have never had my gpus acting up (used mobility 3000 series, 5000 desktop series, 6000 series and R# 200 seires)

Hi there, thanks for the reply.

 

I have already downloaded the latest drivers from their site, and I downloaded and paid for an automatic drivers updater, so it's 100% not the drivers. I'll definitely call them up to ask. Do you have any other ideas on what it might be? Because it's extremely frustrating now.

 

Cheers!

[Constipated Crow]

Well for your budget you could get a  280 or a 280x if you find a deal somewhere. I'm having a hard time believing the problem is with the GPU though, or at least that the problem is the power of the GPU. You should be able to run all those games on medium settings. 

I would recommend to try some non-pirated games first, just to see if the problem persists before spending money on a product you might not really need. If you don't want to spend a lot of money on games, there are some sites where you can buy CD-keys for steam and origin for a couple of bucks, a quick google search should help you find them .

Yeah, I am aware of G2A, CDKeys and a few other websites (that's where I usually get my games). I'll definitely try out the other games, and let you know if the problem persists. Other than this, do you have any ideas on what it may be?

 

Cheers!

[Guest trucker2]

Bitorrents are notorious for having nasty infections. Many have speculated(but never proved) that software companies put there own games with really nasty infections just discourage piracy. I would hate to see you blow cash if your card is good

[Constipated Crow]

Bitorrents are notorious for having nasty infections. Many have speculated(but never proved) that software companies put there own games with really nasty infections just discourage piracy. I would hate to see you blow cash if your card is good

Hi there, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it immensely!

 

Yes, that does make sense. I still haven't fully played my other genuine games to see if they crash, so I will do that and write back on here. 

 

Cheers!