Video Card - What To Buy?

[Kalah]

I guess if nobody wants my old card I'll throw it away.
Check it out next to the new one:

[GreatEmerald]

You can probably sell it on ebay or such.

[mr.hackcrag]

Guys, I have this video card: http://www.microcenter.com/product/3878 ... video_card

And when I play Dark Souls 3 and set native resolution of 2560 x 1440 I get a lot of lag and slow down. It runs well on 1920 x 1200 resolution, but I don't like the way it looks. Do I need to buy a new card?

If so, how's this one @ about $100 after rebate: http://www.microcenter.com/product/4263 ... Video_Card

[Pol]

@mr.hackcrag
Whoa, R9 270 is old, although that explains the price.

Logically you should buy R9 380 to continue the line but without discount it's really pricey.

See the table here. I only add that R9 270 is a bit more powerfull than HD7770 but it's just about one steap ahead. The performance advantage therefore should not be the reason to buy it.

The price itself is tempting, though.. - so depends on the future use. I would say no, especially because I was thinking about this card two years ago - but it didn't make it here in the Powercolor Silent version.

[mr.hackcrag]

Wow, that table is really helpful; you guys are the best!

How about these?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4579 ... 20_Cooling

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4518 ... Video_Card

I'm not sure if it's worth throwing in extra $50 for something like this:

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4561 ... -X_Cooling

[Pol]

@mr.hackcrag
Yes, I would throw them in. For OC and 4GB or RAM they are worthy.

I see only 20$ difference. After rebate 179.99 vs 199.99$.

[mr.hackcrag]

Okay, of these three, which should I choose?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4561 ... -X_Cooling

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4508 ... Video_Card

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4583 ... Video_Card

Thanks Pol.

[Pol]

I don't think that you would do a mistake with any of these three.

Sapphire - cheapest and a little overclocked by default. Minus can be simpler coolers but both is marginal.
MSI - probably the best for OC, supported by having MSI Afterburner it also seems to have best coolers
Asus STRIX - really good warranty time, proved cooling - STRIX system

Choice depends on the required graphical outputs and your love to your money. Myself I would be thinking between MSI and Asus one. Where MSI in my country is having 3yrs warranty, so I would pick this one - also it's probably best overall. But in your country is not, so STRIX could give more sense, however, MSI probably can be set as the most silent one of these via Afterburner. That's another good point.

Definitively nothing about performance. It's just the same.

[mr.hackcrag]

Okay, I promise this is last time I will ask; I've narrowed it down to these two. Any preference over Nvidia or AMD or other features between these:

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4583 ... Video_Card

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4469 ... ing_System


As an aside, what makes this card so much more expensive when it looks like it has comparable specs?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4292 ... Video_Card

[Pol]

Why you narrowed it more?

Current Nvidia Maxwell generation is not well prepared for the future so you need to look for perfomance/price/wattage consumption ratio. Which means you start on GTX970 here and that seems to be beyond your expressed money range.

However, GTX960 is very effective card but apart from that it's not a very good investement for the future. It lacks the horses, that is hugely depending on what you are planning to play though.

Prices can be well timed because "shortly" (withing two quartals) there should be new lines from both companies.

R9 290X is very powerfull card (and long) but it's power eater. Apart from that it's a good value for a money. However it's old and I wouldn't recommend it for now, before it was (rarely) much better priced or like a part of AMD contest - return Nvidia GTX970 and get AMD R9 290

I woudln't go here and stay with previous choices.

[mr.hackcrag]

Thanks Pol, I'm going to buy the ASUS mainly for the longer warranty.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4583 ... Video_Card

I couldn't have done it without you.

[mr.hackcrag]

Ahh, I went to buy it and the sale ended today.

Well, that just leaves the MSI one or go even more luxurious. For about a $100 more, I can get an 8GB one. Is it worth?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4511 ... Video_Card

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4518 ... Video_Card

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4519 ... Video_Card

[Pol]

Well, having R9 390 is completely another level, actually similar to that R9 290 but anew. However 8GB RAM is clearly just for VR headset.

So, it depends on your wallet. If you will get R9 390 you are likely to live with it for a long time. Plenty of performance, a GPU Battle Cruiser but not a Battle Ship.

And again it's fight mostly between MSI and Asustek. MSI is better than Asustek but in your country have shorter warranty period. Choose wisely..

See it all here.

The Battle Ship is Fury.

To narrow it see here, pick as you wish.

MSI is still the best overall but Asus is certainly not really staying behind. XFX is having good offer for R9 380X but not for R9 390, it's matter of price. Not performance.

Last two points, be careful about card length - it must fit your case. See the differences between indicated power draw and cords. Like 6+8pin for R9

[mr.hackcrag]

I think I'm going to go with the Asus one because it is cheaper and longer warranty than the MSI. I notice that Asus is longer and has 3 fans instead of two. Gigabyte not trustworthy? My wallet might hurt, but what will be more painful is if there is no time or good games to play that need battle cruiser cards...

[Pol]

It's not about brands. What is decisive is power cascade, OC and cooling.

And Gigabyte is having simplest cooling. Although two or three coolers are good another things which matters are material, shape and bearing. There the Top is: MSI, Sapphire (NITRO/Vapor), HIS (IceQ) and PowerColor. And close to that stay XFX or Asus' STRIX. And then, there follows Gigabyte.

As for cascade I can't say, that require tests - otherwise there doesn't appear to be any universal key. Read some reviews on the chosen model, before you buy.

Ok, let see some comparison picture:


There you have two good offers for 380X and two major offers from 390. It's still just perf/price ratio selection.

[mr.hackcrag]

Sometimes when I play game (or even not playing game) I see around 3 blue, green, or red squares in a random area on my monitor. Is this problem of video card or problem of monitor. I know I might have messed up my monitor when I tried to input HDMI cable in wrong orientation and I heard a high pitch noise, but not sure what is source of the problem.

[Pol]

With which one you ended?

If it's random then it's a problem, most likely, with card. You should run color test for monitor but having it attached to a different card/PC. And second one with the card.

VGA - go with OCCT >> http://www.ocbase.com/
Monitor EIZO - test >> http://www.eizo.cz/pool/support/extras/ ... ortest.zip

[mr.hackcrag]

I haven't bought yet because I am preparing for an exam, but I think I am going to choose http://www.microcenter.com/product/4519 ... Video_Card

I don't have courage to install myself so hopefully store will do it for free.

I will try to take screen shot of the RBG squares next time I see them. I didn't notice them when I ran that eizo program.

The other problem I notice is that under certain circumstances, the screen image appears down and to the right area of the screen with a large part of the image off-screen. For example, this happens when I run program that does desktop recording or view an image using the slideshow function of windows photo editor. Here is screen shot of example: http://imgur.com/toAZM6m

My monitor native resolution is 2560 x 1440 and I have option set to "change the size of text, apps, and other items" to 200%. Do you know why this is happening?

[Pol]

Yes, when recording either driver or recording program is not supporting this resolution and it's interpreting it, like something different.

If you will experiment a bit with both settings, you may see if that can be solved, ideally by creating profile for your recording apps. Assuming that profiles per apps are supported directly by your driver. There probably are around some free utilities doing that.

[mr.hackcrag]

When I went to buy the video card, they said it would cost $50 to install. In the past it was free. I ended up not buying because of that.