New graphics card

ScumLord

I'm looking to replace my current GTX 460 with something better. My budget is roughly €200.

I'll be gaming on it and using it for photoshop/after effects. The adobe software is what made me choose Nvidia as after effects makes use of cuda for rendering effects.

I assumed that bigger numbers are better with Nvidia but I thought I also read somewhere that some 700 cards are cut down version of some 600 cards and got thoroughly confused. Is there much of a difference between the cards?

I haven't gone near ATI in years so don't know anything about they're cards.

Has anyone any recommendations on the current batch of cards?

Luck100

GTX 760 is the current generation card around your price level. The GTX 670 would be slightly stronger, but they're hard to find new at this point since they're not in production anymore. You might pick up a used one on adverts for a bit under 200.

The 8 series (Maxwell) is due out next year, but nobody seems to have solid information on what to expect.

ScumLord

I'm looking at hardwareversand and they seem to have 670/680 series cards around the same price as the 760.

Is it worth getting an Overclocked card, or a superclocked, or Ti? I've read that you get something like a 7% boost which doesn't seem like a huge amount.

Luck100

That doesn't seem right.

The cheapest 760 on that site is a GainWard for 214.17:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/2048+MB/82648/Gainward+GeForce+GTX+760%2C+2GB+DDR5.article

I don't see any 670's or 680's anywhere near that price. The closest is a Gainward gtx 670 for 293.48:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/2048+MB/113104/Special+item%3A+Gainward+GeForce+GTX+670%2C+2GB+GDDR5%2C+2x+DVI%2C+HDMI%2C+DisplayPort.article

I wouldn't bother with a new 670 or 680 at those prices, they're much too high. If you want to spend that much you can buy a gtx 770, which is definitely stronger than the 680.

Most of these cards are overclocked to some degree, but you'll have to scour the specs to get the details. Look for the 'boost clock' rating, that's what you can compare between cards. You can also do additional overclocking on top of that, but it's hard to say exactly how much you'll get.

The other distinguishing feature is the cooling solution. Generally the ones with multiple fans sticking out will run cooler, but they can take more room and will make your case hotter. The ones with a single recessed fan are reference design, which tries to pump all the hot exhaust out the back port.

There is no 'ti' model in this range. Only the 780ti which is far stronger and way more expensive.

Luck100

Forgot to say, you should check out Amazon UK too, they have some good prices there and I think you can get free shipping.

If you get the 760, don't bother paying extra for the 4GB model. Not worth it IMO, as the memory bandwidth is not high enough for it to be useful.

ScumLord

What do ye think of this card? Reviews seemed ok.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?agid=2271&adp=0&aid=127899&basket.changed=1

Luck100

ScumLord wrote: »

What do ye think of this card? Reviews seemed ok.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?agid=2271&adp=0&aid=127899&basket.changed=1

Not good. That's a 660, much weaker than the 760 but asking the same price!

Luck100

Well, nearly the same price. The cheapest 760 on that site is the Zotac for 209 euros.

The 760 is roughly 20% faster than a 660 (comparing reference models).
http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?page=2&itemid=1183

Luck100

If you want a non-reference cooler, I'd take the EVGA 760 ACX version for 223 euros:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/2048+MB/127877/EVGA+GeForce+GTX+760+ACX+Cooler%2C+2GB+GDDR5%2C+2x+DVI%2C+HDMI%2C+DisplayPort.article

That will overclock better than the Zotac and it's a much more effective cooler.

marco_polo

Not an expert oon adobe products by any means, but most features of After Effects work on AMD GPUs as well so I wouldn't discount them off hand. It also seems that photoshop CS6 has completely ditched CUDA as well now?

So you could certainly consider a decent R9 270X which would be alot cheaper and a bit faster than a that GTX660. I can't find NVidia CS6 benchmark but it doesn't look like an AMD card shouldn't be a problem in [URL="[url]http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/photoshop-cs6-gimp-aftershot-pro,3208-13.html[/url]"]CS6 [/URL]at least. The GCN architecture has much stronger OpenCL performance than NVidia cards, which makes sense because of NVidias CUDA focus in the past.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-280x-r9-270x-r7-260x,3635-16.html

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7503/the-amd-radeon-r9-270x-270-review-feat-asus-his/15

The GTX460 is in this Luxmark OpenCL benchmark, along with the HD7850 and HD7950 two cards that the R9270x sits somewhere in between.

http://openbenchmarking.org/result/1306304-SO-FEDORALIN07

Do you do any gaming at all? If not I'd say the R9 270X might be a better bet from what I can see? (Presuming you are on the newer versions of Adobe)

ScumLord

marco_polo wrote: »

Do you do any gaming at all? If not I'd say the R9 270X might be a better bet from what I can see? (Presuming you are on the newer versions of Adobe)

It's more or less completely for gaming purposes I just want to make sure I'm not losing out in other areas.

I want it specifically for Assetto Corsa and to be able to deal with GTA V when that comes out.

marco_polo

ScumLord wrote: »

It's more or less completely for gaming purposes I just want to make sure I'm not losing out in other areas.

I want it specifically for Assetto Corsa and to be able to deal with GTA V when that comes out.

In that case I'd probably stretch to the GTX760 if you can find the extra few quid, but if you really want to stay under €200 the R9270X would be a very decent jump from where you are now.

ScumLord

My budget went up, I can almost afford something in the €300 price range (inc. shipping), well I can't really but who needs food and heating. :pac:

I can just break into the 770 bracket at that price. Is it worth stretching to these cards?

Luck100

The gtx 770 is roughly 25% faster than the 760, and prices are about 25-30% more so roughly equally good value at current prices. Just make sure to shop around, no point in buying the lesser card and getting a bad price .

People here seem to like geizhals for finding best prices, though I haven't tried it myself.

SterlingArcher

Luck100 wrote: »

The gtx 770 is roughly 25% faster than the 760, and prices are about 25-30% more so roughly equally good value at current prices. Just make sure to shop around, no point in buying the lesser card and getting a bad price .

People here seem to like geizhals for finding best prices, though I haven't tried it myself.

This. use gehizals find a 770 on hwvs.

ScumLord

I've got a choice between an MSI, a PNY, a Palit and a gainward.

The only difference I can see is the Palit card has more GFLOPS but I've never heard of the brand. I haven't found anyone making major complaints about them anyway.

Luck100

The Palit has the fastest factory overclock out of the box (Boost: 1137MHz). The cooler looks fine. The MSI has a reference-style cooler, which won't be as effective (but it may keep temps a bit lower in your case).

I can't really give any feedback on reliability of any of those manufacturers, but I've certainly heard of all of them.

ScumLord

I think I'll go for the Palit so, there' doesn't seem to be a lot between them.

SterlingArcher

ScumLord wrote: »

I think I'll go for the Palit so, there' doesn't seem to be a lot between them.

There was the twin froz 770 and Asus one , might be 270-280. But good cooling quiet.

But one you said be fine too.

ScumLord

SterlingArcher wrote: »

There was the twin froz 770 and Asus one , might be 270-280. But good cooling quiet.

Stop, I'm already €70 over what I planned on spending at the start of the thread.

uncle_sam_ie

This link might help you decide which company to go with. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18231329