Best GPU for This Build

[BjergerKing]

The title says it all really, im currently building a PC for my own, to mostly play Skyrim and in the Future Fallout 4 and TES6 (IF THEY GET REALEASED] but also other Games not just Skyrim, but Mostly Skyrim

i have heard people say Skyrim is a CPU killer but i also heard that BF4 is a CPU killer too and AMD CPUs seem to handle it well since they use 6-8 Cores Depending on the CPU

so im gonna make a list of the Main parts what im basically going for

Writing in Red is what i Already have

Writing in Green is what im speculating.

So.

oh, and the newly built PC specs are

Motherboard = M5A 78l-M

PSU = Corsair 500W Builder Series 80 PLUS Bronze Certified

CPU = AMD FX6300 6-Core 3.5Ghz (can be OC to 4.4 I've Heard)

Memory = x2 Corsair Vengance 4GB

GPU = Sapphire Dual-X R9 270X 2GB OC

HardDrive = WD Blue 500GB (Possibly upgrading to WD Black 1TB)

 

 

As you see The Graphics Card is my Last item other then Windows 7 64bit SP1

I am from UK so im Currency is in £'s so,

Im willing to spend £150 or 254$

so if anyone has a Suggestion on the Graphics card i could use please, Say

 

So, basing it off the Current specs im using can anyone Speculate the Avg FPS ill get with

Vanilla Skyrim - High Preset, 720p with AmidianBorn Textures

Skyrim With 251 ENB - High Preset 720p AmidianBorn Textures

Skyrim 251 ENB - High Preset HD 2k Skyrim Textures 720p AmidianBornTextures

ENB ill be using is Bleak ENB

im not much of a ULTRA GRAPHICS guy i can live with 720p, yeah 1080p is better but it really doesent matter for me

[deathangelDK]

For exactly that price (haven't check prices in like a month) you can get a r9 270x and you will be able to run skyrim just fine. Get the 4gig vram version if you can find one that is at that price, I think there are a couple. But ya I recommend r9 270x. You most likely won't have any fps troubles with what you plan to run and probably will have some more room to improve, get that 1080 ;D. You probably are looking at ~ 70 fps if you don't go crazy with mods. But even with super maxed out mods and everything this dude https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-ULcuf8yYc barely goes under 60. You could even get a 280 if you get a good deal.

[pinky6225]

I'd check the PSU myself as the graphics card you've selected requires 500W and i've always found it best to have a bit more than the requirements (especially if your considering over clocking) so i'd add that to the upgrade list (PSU's aren't expensive tbh and the corsair 650 watt one i have i've had for years on several different PC's) or pick a GPU with a slightly lower power requirement.

 

Also what monitor do you have since you'd require one that can do 1080p to be able to see 1080p so if you've not got one/getting one then you can have ultra at 720p with lower spec stuff

 

[legendarytoyou]

 

The title says it all really, im currently building a PC for my own, to mostly play Skyrim and in the Future Fallout 4 and TES6 (IF THEY GET REALEASED] but also other Games not just Skyrim, but Mostly Skyrim

i have heard people say Skyrim is a CPU killer but i also heard that BF4 is a CPU killer too and AMD CPUs seem to handle it well since they use 6-8 Cores Depending on the CPU

so im gonna make a list of the Main parts what im basically going for

Writing in Red is what i Already have

Writing in Green is what im speculating.

So.

oh, and the newly built PC specs are

Motherboard = M5A 78l-M

PSU = Corsair 500W Builder Series 80 PLUS Bronze Certified

CPU = AMD FX6300 6-Core 3.5Ghz (can be OC to 4.4 I've Heard)

Memory = x2 Corsair Vengance 4GB

GPU = Sapphire Dual-X R9 270X 2GB OC

HardDrive = WD Blue 500GB (Possibly upgrading to WD Black 1TB)

 

 

As you see The Graphics Card is my Last item other then Windows 7 64bit SP1

I am from UK so im Currency is in £'s so,

Im willing to spend £150 or 254$

so if anyone has a Suggestion on the Graphics card i could use please, Say

 

So, basing it off the Current specs im using can anyone Speculate the Avg FPS ill get with

Vanilla Skyrim - High Preset, 720p with AmidianBorn Textures

Skyrim With 251 ENB - High Preset 720p AmidianBorn Textures

Skyrim 251 ENB - High Preset HD 2k Skyrim Textures 720p AmidianBornTextures

ENB ill be using is Bleak ENB

im not much of a ULTRA GRAPHICS guy i can live with 720p, yeah 1080p is better but it really doesent matter for me

 

500w is a little low my friend especially with a x270 R9.  Usually they're energy friendly but you'll want at least a 650w PSU.  Corsair makes some good gaming PSU's so I'd start from there.

 

Also you may want to look into switching to a FX-8350.  A six core is fine but the only thing that beats an 8 Cores raw power is probably Intel's i7 Core but that's just me.  As for your GPU that should function just fine.  The problem people have is that they feel the need to go balls-to-the-wall when it comes to a GPU.  Not necessarily.  You can have an old 6850 and still get the same results from an R9 series depending on the game you're looking to play.  Take for example WoW; you could be sporting a 780Titan but it doesn't really matter because of the age and concept of the game.

 

GPU's are a lot like buying a car; you get what you feel makes you happy.  Take me for example; I'm still using an HD Radeon 7970 384bit.  The latest specs on this monster say that it's actually out-scaling R7-R9 Series in some cases (for the exception of the extreme high end GPU's).  You remember that part from Transformers?  The car picks the driver?  Same thing applies; the GPU picks the PC player.

 

You want my honest opinion on the Sapphire?  Well I like it.  It's not a Titan but it functions just fine.  I say go for it that looks like good rig...except the PSU please replace that xD

[Mygoodness777]

Why does everyone like AMD/ATI? Why bother. Just go Nvidia and you never look back. I've got a GTX 760 and it runs the game at 1440p just fine with 2k and 4k textures.

[Mogie56]

Probably because not everyone has a ton of money to throw out on an over priced piece of hardware. But of course an Nvidia person isn't going to see that. It is a graphics card, nothing more. it won't serve you coffee/soda and quicker then an AMD card will. and if it were "why does everyone like amd/ati" you wouldn't be here asking that question. but this is not a rant nor throw crap on the ati/amd people, it is a thread asking a particular question and feedback on that question. and to answer that question I'll give my 2 cents since I happen to own a R9-270X. It delivers what it says it does and it does it well. I have the XFX R9-270x 2gb. under load it runs a steady 40C with the fan set to 50%. can't even hear it. and it normally runs Skyrim between 55 and 60 fps with "Pure weather and Pure water with Kountervibe ENB.  

[Rayblue]

Besides, sometimes I feel that for the sake of consistency AMD GPUs will work better with processors and/or chipsets of the same brand, and that nVidias are best paired with Intels.

[legendarytoyou]

Why does everyone like AMD/ATI? Why bother. Just go Nvidia and you never look back. I've got a GTX 760 and it runs the game at 1440p just fine with 2k and 4k textures.

Well problem with that is simple; you feel more like you're paying for the name not the actual hardware.  It's like Alienware; a lot of NVidia and Intel products are insanely expensive.  Sure you can get a rig that works for a nominal price but if you want a high end machine you're looking at $3000 worth of hardware and that's just for a bare bones system (mobo, tower, gpu, cpu and HDD).

 

AMD/ATI is more cost effective.  While a good i7 Core will run you upwards of $340 an FX-8350 will only run about $150 or so.  Simply spending more doesn't having the best machine.  If money is not an object (like if I was a millionaire or something) I would love to make an i7 Core PC sporting 3 SLI 780 Titans and 32gigs of ram.  But seeing I work at Walmart (the bottom feeder of the workforce; I BARELY make $10.40 an hour) I have to work within a limited budget.

[Mygoodness777]

Since the build already has an AMD processor, then sure, go for a compatible graphics card, but I do have to disagree that it's more cost effective. This is especially true with the release of the Maxwell architecture and coming higher end graphics cards. Let me explain and use my system as an example because for the whole thing I paid about $1200.

 

I've got an i5-3570k I overclocked to 4.2ghz with a cheap EVO212 cooler. It cost maybe $250 in total. The processor is fast...very fast. I won't need to upgrade it for a few years. In fact, I don't even really think about it. You don't need an i7 for gaming. What we're doing is comparing a cheap AMD processor (with high clock speed and extra cores, not much more) with an i7. If you want to make a fair comparison, you should compare the FX 8350 with my 3570k. Even then, you're looking at a weaker AMD processor. Across almost all the benchmarks, the Intel processor performs better. What's the difference in cost? It's about $50. You're paying $50 for noticeably better performance over a few years.

 

Until Maxwell, things were much closer in the graphics card market. The R270x we're looking at gives performance close to a 660 ti...and the price is very similar too. The drivers for Nvidia are just better. Maxwell will be a game changer and I'm interested to see how the competition matches it. Nvidia cut the power consumption in half and gave a significant boost to performance. The 750ti is hands down the most cost effective card on the market, it's just not quite at this tier.

 

Finally, let's look at a high caliber AMD build, so that we can see how 'overpriced' Intel/Nvidia are. The best reasonable gaming graphics card for Radeon is the 290X. It runs around $600 if you get one that's middle of the road. Its performance is in line with the GTX 780...which happens to be pretty close in price. They're neck in neck. If you really want to go whole hog, get a 780 ti, but it's another 200 so it's not bang for buck.

 

So...expensive? Not really. It's just the sort of comparison you run. People seem to look at clock speed and number of cores and think that means performance. The reality is that you get what you pay for.

 

There's a reason I don't like AMD. The product is inferior. I'm willing to pay a little more for something that will give me better performance.

 

So for this build, the FX8350 is probably the best merely because you chose an AMD processor. Aside from that...it's another story.

[legendarytoyou]

Since the build already has an AMD processor, then sure, go for a compatible graphics card, but I do have to disagree that it's more cost effective. This is especially true with the release of the Maxwell architecture and coming higher end graphics cards. Let me explain and use my system as an example because for the whole thing I paid about $1200.

 

I've got an i5-3570k I overclocked to 4.2ghz with a cheap EVO212 cooler. It cost maybe $250 in total. The processor is fast...very fast. I won't need to upgrade it for a few years. In fact, I don't even really think about it. You don't need an i7 for gaming. What we're doing is comparing a cheap AMD processor (with high clock speed and extra cores, not much more) with an i7. If you want to make a fair comparison, you should compare the FX 8350 with my 3570k. Even then, you're looking at a weaker AMD processor. Across almost all the benchmarks, the Intel processor performs better. What's the difference in cost? It's about $50. You're paying $50 for noticeably better performance over a few years.

 

Until Maxwell, things were much closer in the graphics card market. The R270x we're looking at gives performance close to a 660 ti...and the price is very similar too. The drivers for Nvidia are just better. Maxwell will be a game changer and I'm interested to see how the competition matches it. Nvidia cut the power consumption in half and gave a significant boost to performance. The 750ti is hands down the most cost effective card on the market, it's just not quite at this tier.

 

Finally, let's look at a high caliber AMD build, so that we can see how 'overpriced' Intel/Nvidia are. The best reasonable gaming graphics card for Radeon is the 290X. It runs around $600 if you get one that's middle of the road. Its performance is in line with the GTX 780...which happens to be pretty close in price. They're neck in neck. If you really want to go whole hog, get a 780 ti, but it's another 200 so it's not bang for buck.

 

So...expensive? Not really. It's just the sort of comparison you run. People seem to look at clock speed and number of cores and think that means performance. The reality is that you get what you pay for.

 

There's a reason I don't like AMD. The product is inferior. I'm willing to pay a little more for something that will give me better performance.

 

So for this build, the FX8350 is probably the best merely because you chose an AMD processor. Aside from that...it's another story.

Valid point.  Still when you're at the point of having the AMD Mobo and CPU already you're pretty much at the point of no return especially if you have a limited budget.  Take me for instance; I finally got around to seeing how much it would cost to change my system to a i5 4670k using the new ASUS TUF and appropriate RAM.  I also added an NVidia GeForce 780 SuperClock.  The grand total came to about $1000+...just for the hardware swap.

 

I will admit it is tempting and I might say forget about upgrading my mobo next month and wait until next year to get the package.  Intel is performing better than AMD and while prices are starting to become more streamlined its still a case of commitment; switching to a different hardware scheme can be extremely taxing sometimes.

[BjergerKing]

Since the version I'm currently using the 270x is already overclocked but when I formed this build through that pcpartpicker site it actually told me 400W Average so I'd thought I go the extra mile but I seems everyone tells me 500W is min the CPU itself requires 95w but considering I'm mostly playing games that require a lot from CPUs the extra cores are free and open for basically back up but 500W does seem minmum with 550-600 just perfect and upgrade will be considered'.

Reason for the FULL AMD build is because I wanted something that preformed well and good priced yes there is a 750Ti just dollars below and 760 Dollars above I wanted something in the middle then I came across AMD r9 270x which was PERFECT all I'm saying is that If the build goes well, AMD will be my true love.

In the future upgrades will be eminent when needed but right now all I can see is a higher Wattage PSU

Around early 2015 I will probably go with a 280 or a 290 with AMD fx 8350.

Bug my main goal is for an SSD.

It pains me to see long loading screens or YouTube buffers

And for my monitor is something x900 and typing from my phone but I was never a lover of ULTRA GRAPHICS asking as it looks nice from afar and decent up close and writing is readable I'm more then fine.

I'm a Quantity over Quality when comes to my Games. 720p is perfect asking as I get 70fps infact 60 is the dream. 70 would be heaven.