Hardware & Technical Graphics card update

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on a graphics card update. I currently use an AMD Radeon HD 5700, but could spend £150-£200 on an upgrade. Things run ok at the moment, but this upgrade may be a way to do a little better than 'ok'.

PC is a 3 year old DELL XPS 8300: i7-2600, 3.4 Ghz, 4 core, 8Gb RAM. Power supply is rated at 460W.

Reading up on the issue people have recommended an HD 7870. What do people think?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Cheers, Phos.
 
Thanks guys, think I'll delay things for a while.
Probably best, as gfx cards tend to drop in price over time. If replacing the PSU is problematic, the nVidia GTX 750Ti might be worth a look, as it's a low-power card. I've no idea how it compares with your current card - one of the experts will know.
 
I have an R9 280X toxic edition with and AMD quad core cpu, and the game is running without problems.
On your cpu this will rock for sure !
 
Get an R9 290. Your PC will make a noise just like a spaceship engine!

lol, sounds like something said all over the net. R9 290 is an amazing GPU. If you are skilled enough with hardware you should be able to run your R9 290 (stock one) smooth and quiet running ArmA 3 on ultra settings.

I had both Nvidia and AMD. My wife got the GTX780, Daughters an HD5870 (still impressive at rendering) ... so I'm more than happy with my R9 290. Whatever people could say, I used to test them a lot and yes, I prefer AMD.

Go for a R9 280 it's a good one.
 
lol, sounds like something said all over the net. R9 290 is an amazing GPU. If you are skilled enough with hardware you should be able to run your R9 290 (stock one) smooth and quiet running ArmA 3 on ultra settings.

I had both Nvidia and AMD. My wife got the GTX780, Daughters an HD5870 (still impressive at rendering) ... so I'm more than happy with my R9 290. Whatever people could say, I used to test them a lot and yes, I prefer AMD.

Go for a R9 280 it's a good one.

I have asus r9280 dc2t and I think its is a very good card and not noisy I haven't seen the fans going above 40% yet a on auto at aroun 74C max (full load).
If I set the fan manual 50% it stays below 65C all the time on full load.

I run ED on max settings 1680x1050 with and "old" AMD Phenom II 965Be(2009 release) with this card every AA AF maxed quality settings from the driver and the game run flawlessly with a capped 60FPS.

I think the AMD R9 280 GPU is a rebranded 7950 and the 280x is a 7970 ghz edition.

About your power supply I think your will need at least a
good quality 650W+ with 2x8PCI-E connection at least.


If you chose r9 280 I can safly say that asus is one of the best choice.
 
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First off as others have said the power supply might be pushing it a bit.

Something like this not to expensive and supposed to be really good for the price.

SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-003-SF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2463

You could get that and go for something like a AMD 280 or a NVidia GTX760 and still be roughly around the £200 mark, but I will give you a few of the graphics card options in your price range as well.

You can get a 280 for around £150 which is a slightly cut down 280x or a full 280X for around £200-£220

280
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-171-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1842

280x
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-322-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1842

Or Nvida GTX760 for around £160 or a gtx770 for around £220

gtx760
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-347-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830

gtx770
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-307-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1750

Personal preference pout of those 4 I would go with the 280x the sapphire cards run pretty cool and are really good over clockers , but performance wise there isn't much in it between the 770 and the 280x some games the 280 is faster others the 770 is faster.
 
Sapphire R9 270X Toxic 2GB GDDR5

Take a look at this GPU: http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/product_index.aspx?pid=2038&lid=2 This GPU is designed in Germany. I ordered mine through Amazon. There are plenty of YouTube videos of this product. Took me awhile to get Catalyst working on Windows 8.1 but I found a nice utility from AMD that will clear all old drivers from your system. I had been running a pair of ATI/AMD Radeon 8250 GPU's in Crossfire. That that setup was running at an average of 12 FPS. By just changing the old GPU's out for a single Sapphire R9 270X Toxic, Elite is now running between 45 and 50 FPS on an old AMD Phenom II X4 2.6 Ghz with 8 Gigabytes of Patriot memory. The Card was @ 240.00. It truly works beautifully. Game is much smoother now and looks even better. I will be purchasing a second to run in Crossfire very soon down the road. In the next six months I will slowly upgrade the rest of my system. At any rate I wish you the best of luck with picking out a GPU. In my opinion this card is the best bang for your buck as an upgrade, Be well and God bless. :)
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Moved to Hardware, Loads of info on card here. have a look a the index. :)
 
On your budget you could get a 550-600 watt PSU and a second hand Radeon HD 7870... I play on the same setup with a slower CPU than you and have no FPS drop at max res and detail.
 
Anyone runs the game with an updated R9-290 (Not stock, but with better coolers so the card can function at full speed)?

What kind of FPS do you get in stations and busy areas?

- Looking at replacing a pair of X-fire 7950's - especially to drive the DK2 - and wondering if its worth it at this time. I'm aiming for minimum 75FPS in stations.

I5-3550, 2X7950's 3GB = Appx 50-60 FPS in busy areas with DK2.
 
the nVidia GTX 750Ti might be worth a look, as it's a low-power card. I've no idea how it compares with your current card -

Apparently the 750TI is equivalent to a GTX 760, and consumes less power. In October, the 880 Maxwell will be released
 
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