8 replies to this topic

[Spheroid]

After years of reliable service my motherboard and videocard were both bricked over the weekend. Don't know if one killed the other or if it might have been weather related. I honestly don't know.

Previous card was a R9 270 2 GB.

My considerations are another 270, a R7 370 or perhaps a GTX 950. Feel to suggest anything else.

It seems Nvidia ramps up in price quickly beyond the 950 and AMD ramps up in power consumption(fan noise?) on 280s and above.

Processor still works, an old Phenom II X4 965 BE.
Monitor resolution is 1920x1080 up to 144 Hz.
Power supply is 700 watts.
MWO is my main game. Preferred price range is under $160.

This was an unexpected expense. I need something to last me a year before upgrading. I will upgrade my CPU sometime in 2017, just need a replacement videocard right now.

Edited by Spheroid, 16 June 2016 - 08:07 AM.

[Brixx]

You should go for used cards... a used 390 probably, or even a used 970 (970 if you only play MW:O due to crippled VRAM).

Or... you buy a trash card and wait for the upcoming (2 weeks?) AMD RX 480, which should be faster than both these cards with a lower consumption for rougly 250$.
Not that you would gain much performance, because your CPU is probably bottlenecking in MW:O, but if you play other games, it is an option to consider.

At least here in Germany, the market right now is littered with cheap R9 380s/390s and 960s/970s/980s due to the anticipation of the 480 and the release of the 1070/1080.

Edit: However, I do not know the US prices. Maybe a 390 or 970 are out of the reach, then go for a used 960 with 4GB VRAM, which you should get for 160 bucks. In your case that would be better than an R9 380. The R9 380 is theoretically stronger, but the DX11-overhead causes it to underperform with weaker CPUs such as yours.

Edited by Brixx, 15 June 2016 - 11:45 PM.

[Quinn Allard]

For $160 you could get a GTX960 2GB. If your lucky and patient, get on Ebay and snipe a used powerhouse like the R9 290 4GB, just be prepared for high temps. I run a XFX R9 290 Refrence 4GB with an i5 4690, neither OC'ed, and I see 90-140 FPS in MWO depending on map.

Edited by Quinn Allard, 16 June 2016 - 05:22 PM.

[Lord Letto]

Brand new you could go for a 380 (2 or 4GB) or a 2GB 960. of those 2 I'd say Go for the 380 unless you have 2 extra Monitors & None of your Monitors have Displayport to Run Triples then go for the 960 as Nvidia Surround Don't Require DP to run Triples & if triples are Possible, It might help Reduce the Bottleneck from the CPU however 2GB VRAM isn't a lot for Triples.

Looking on Ebay, a 290 is the best Option from AMD or a 780 or 980 (if Very Lucky) from Nvidia, would likely have a better chance getting a 770 though:
Gigabyte Windforce OC R9 290, 1 Bid for $109.99, 3 Days 10 Hours left: http://www.ebay.com/...T0AAOSwzJ5XYVIB

ASUS Direct CU II GTX 780, 4 Bids, Currently at $132.50, 1 Day 22 Hours Remaining: http://www.ebay.com/...G4AAOSwnFZXXKtc

EVGA Dual Classified w/ ACX Cooler GTX 770, Starting bid of $150, Buy it now of $200, 4 Days 10 Hours Left: http://www.ebay.com/...vcAAOSwM4xXX~wj

EVGA FTW Gaming w/ ACX 2.0+ Cooler GTX 970, 1 Bid of $158, 3 Days 13 Hours Remaining: http://www.ebay.com/...cIAAOSwmtJXWiqn

MSI GTX 980, 12 Bids, Currently at $152.50 Reserve not Met, Buy it now of $350, 4 Days Remaining: http://www.ebay.com/...psAAOSwrhlXT6HB

EVGA Superclocked with Titan Style Cooler with LED Logo GTX 770, Starting bid of $75, 4 Days 2 Hours Remaining: http://www.ebay.com/...eIAAOSwuhhXVIli

Edited by Lord Letto, 16 June 2016 - 06:21 PM.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

used GTX680/770 or better,2gb models should be around 100 usd,performance wise its somewhat tied to GTX960,only slightly slower,which makes it reasonably good value

[Spheroid]

Went with a EVGA GTX 950. The after rebate price was simply too good to pass up. The reviews said it was a big board that might cause SATA cabling interference problems. I am not really worried about that though.

Hopefully I can be up and running before the end of the event. I chose three day shipping from New Egg. The replacement motherboard is already here and working.

Thank you for all suggestions. I did read and consider them.


(Fixed Typo)

Edited by Spheroid, 17 June 2016 - 07:51 PM.

[Lord Letto]

Spheroid, on 16 June 2016 - 09:23 PM, said:

Went with a EVGA GTX 250. The after rebate price was simply too good to pass up. The reviews said it was a big board that might cause SATA cabling interference problems. I am not really worried about that though.

Hopefully I can be up and running before the end of the event. I chose three day shipping from New Egg. The replacement motherboard is already here and working.

Thank you for all suggestions. I did read and consider them.

Me thinks that's a Typo, no such thing as a GTX 250 (Unless the typo is the X not the 2, the GTS 250), I Think you mean GTX 950, The X50 Cards joined the GTX Range with the 500 Series, the GTX 550 Ti, the GTX 650 was the 1st non Ti X50 in the GTX Range.

[Flapdrol]

If mobo and gpu died at the same time maybe the psu killed them?

Never had that happen to me, not sure how likely it is.

[Catamount]

The odds of two independent events happening concurrently is the product of their probabilities. If you figure the odds of these things dying on a given weekend is one in a thousand (not unreasonable, would mean random failure every 5.5 years), then the odds of both failing on the same weekend is literally one in a million - in short, remote.

Flapdrol is right, OP. You definitely might want to take a close look at that PSU.

Edited by Catamount, 19 June 2016 - 05:46 AM.