What to look for when buying a GPU

my_pie

Hi all,
I have been looking to upgrade my GPU for my build, What i have currently is a
NVIDIA Geforce GTS 250.

I believe this is an oldish model.
I'm not looking for something brand new, maybe last years model would suffice. can someone give me a pointer, I find buying graphics cards very hard to navigate commercially.

My PC is an Intel Core I5 3570K (Ivy Bridge) with 8 Gigs of RAM.
Could potentially create a bottleneck if using a newer graphics card?

Many thanks for any information.

glynf

If its for gaming, what kind of games do you play and at what resolution? Best start with what your requirements are and checkout the min spec required for the games/programs you plan to run and go from there.

A 3570K & 8 Gb RAM will not bottle neck pretty much anything, maybe if you go for tri-xfire /SLI

TerrorFirmer

That's a very old card so even a 100 euro GTX750 would be a huge upgrade.

It really depends on what your budget is, the sky's the limit otherwise as your CPU is more than powerful enough for any single card setup.

my_pie

so ive done some research myself here... thanks for the replies.
I have the Witcher 2 installed via Steam and it has never run great, so with the help of google ive found the website systemrequirementslab (dot)com and their "can I run it" feature.

So it tells me i would need a geforce 8800. so they seem oldish still, so lets go a bit newer again. i have no issues with spending 100 euros or even a few quid more.

what brand is good? i see so many.
Gainward, XFX and EVGA.
this is where i get confused.

Lets say i wanted to buy a Geforce gtx 750..

TerrorFirmer

I'd go with this. Works out at about 137 delivered.

Huge upgrade and very economical on the wallet and power supply!

my_pie

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Works out at about 137 delivered.

Huge upgrade and very economical on the wallet and power supply!

Cool.

that looks great.

I have a voucher for CEX in dundalk, they have a few cards, im going to check what they have and use voucher there if possible, cause they have sod all else for me. I hear they are overpriced and underpowered though, but it is a 300 euro voucher.,

but this is all great information.

I might post tomorrow what cards they have plus prices and go from there.
Although i may still go for the one linked.

TerrorFirmer

Virtually unheard of for CEX, they actually sell the GTX750Ti for 125.

You can buy online using your voucher as well.

It is an excellent price for CEX. They have cards have the speed of the 750Ti selling for the same price.

If you want to use up the voucher, check out various models. CEX have decent prices on a few models considering it's retail and they offer 12 months warranty - 7950 is 175, R9 280X is 220, r9 270x is 155, etc.

Meanwhile some of the models are totally out of sync with reality so have a good root

my_pie

yeah i saw that on the website, but didn't think the picture looked genuine, so i'll go in store to see first.

TerrorFirmer

The online shop shows what stock is available in different stores, it's usually accurate enough.

my_pie

So according to the website here is what is in dundalk:

any thoughts?

ATI Radeon Cypress HD 5870 1GB DX11 for €150.00
Nvidia GeForce Fermi GTX 560 Ti 1GB DX11 €175.00
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB DX11.1 for €195.00
ATI Radeon Tahiti XT HD 7970 3GB DX11.1 for €220.00

im working on the assumption that big numbers mean something.

the picture that is listed for the 750Ti is that legit or just stock photo?

TerrorFirmer

It's a stock photo.

all those cards are bad value except the 7970 which is OK value. Not great, but it is a very good performer and if you have vouchers to spend and considering you have a 12 month return-to-shop warranty...you could do a lot worse.

wotzgoingon

You can buy from CEX online using a voucher. Just enter the details, I done it this week and they were very quick to ship to me. I ordered at night and they shipped next day and received the following day. So ordered Monday night and received Wednesday morning.

my_pie

Cool,
I see how it works now, pretty good,
I ordered the GTX750 for €125

Many thanks for all your assistance.

thenightrider

I seen that cex in Dundalk has a gtx 970 if you have nothing else to buy in their I would use your vocher to buy that. You would have to put 50 cash with your vocher but it's a great card.

SterlingArcher

thenightrider wrote: »

I seen that cex in Dundalk has a gtx 970 if you have nothing else to buy in their I would use your vocher to buy that. You would have to put 50 cash with your vocher but it's a great card.

What's the price on the 970 and what model. This would be a good idea.

thenightrider

SterlingArcher wrote: »

What's the price on the 970 and what model. This would be a good idea.

€350 not a bad price but a great way to spend a €300 voucher as far as i remember it was a MSI GeForce but i was not taking note at the time

SterlingArcher

thenightrider wrote: »

€350 not a bad price but a great way to spend a €300 voucher as far as i remember it was a MSI GeForce but i was not taking note at the time

I agree.