Overclock.net › Forums › Graphics Cards › Graphics Cards - General › Best GPU under 250 area?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Best GPU under 250 area?

post #1 of 15
8/2/12 at 9:06am
Thread Starter 
I was recently looking at the 6950, then flash it to 6970. But then I thought to myself: Hmm, AMD used to have terrible drivers support, and I don't stay up to date with them and I don't feel like reading about that, and I haven't read anything big on AMD drivers so I think I'll stick to nVidia unless somebody else says otherwise.

I have a 850w PSU so I'm not limited to anything (besides 295 sli lol), I have the Sabertooth Z77, the 3570k, and 8gbs of ram. My current GPU is the GTX 280, OEM unfortunately. Stock clocks, and for me it isn't enough because I want to run everything at max settings, and I want DX11.

My monitor resolution is 1920x1200, and no I will not be using triple monitors, right now I have 2 and the 2nd one is just for looks, and sometimes I'll have task mgr running in it.

SO what I want:

Max settings, 1920x1200, DX11, high fps, quiet, and most important of all, I don't want to be bottle necked.

And do NOT give me any fagboy answers. For example: dude you should definitely get AMD because they are cheaper and better than nVidia because the graphics cards have 4 numbers not 3. Fact.

None of that crap, I'm not an nVidia fanboy but it is my personal preference. Both companies are great.

And I am OK with buying a used card, so if a card normally costs more than 250, but used it costs less I am open to that.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 15
8/2/12 at 9:10am
7870 is very tough to beat at that price. They will beat a 570, compete (and win) against a 580, and are much more power efficient than the AMD 6000 series. They have a good amount of overclock headroom as well, and I have had ZERO issues with the current drivers. (I play BF3, SC2, Diablo 3, ME3... all run 1920 x 1080 at ultra settings)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103208

understand this is not a fanboy answer (although I do currently own an AMD)... but at this pricepoint, Nvidia does not make a card that can compete with the 7870. But if you must get Nvidia, there are plenty of used 570's on the marketplace

http://www.overclock.net/t/1281420/evga-gtx-570
http://www.overclock.net/t/1266058/asus-gtx-570-direct-cuii-for-7xxx-series-price-drop
Edited by dutchgenius - 8/2/12 at 9:18am
Portable Gamer - Lenovo Y400
(14 items)
 
Kiddos' PC
(14 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7-3630QM OEM Lenovo Nvidia GeForce GT650M G.Skill 16GB 1600 MHz 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveOS
Crucial mSata 256GB SSD WD Scorpio Black 500GB OEM DVDRW Win 8 Pro 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardCaseMouse
OEM 14" Glossy OEM Red Backlit Magnesium and Carbon Fiber Finish Plastic Razer Deathadder 2013 
Mouse PadAudio
Corsair Vengeance MM200 Compact OEM Onboard 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core I3-2120 ECS H67H2-I Intel HD Graphics 2000 Corsair XMS 4 GB 1333 MHz 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
WD Scorpio Black 320 GB Lite-On Slim DVDRW Stock Win 7 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
LG 19" Rosewill Black Slim Built-in PSU SilverStone SG05-B 
MouseAudio
MS Optical USB Onboard 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Portable Gamer - Lenovo Y400
(14 items)
 
Kiddos' PC
(14 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7-3630QM OEM Lenovo Nvidia GeForce GT650M G.Skill 16GB 1600 MHz 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveOS
Crucial mSata 256GB SSD WD Scorpio Black 500GB OEM DVDRW Win 8 Pro 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardCaseMouse
OEM 14" Glossy OEM Red Backlit Magnesium and Carbon Fiber Finish Plastic Razer Deathadder 2013 
Mouse PadAudio
Corsair Vengeance MM200 Compact OEM Onboard 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core I3-2120 ECS H67H2-I Intel HD Graphics 2000 Corsair XMS 4 GB 1333 MHz 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
WD Scorpio Black 320 GB Lite-On Slim DVDRW Stock Win 7 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
LG 19" Rosewill Black Slim Built-in PSU SilverStone SG05-B 
MouseAudio
MS Optical USB Onboard 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #3 of 15
8/2/12 at 9:17am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchgenius View Post

7870 is very tough to beat at that price. They will beat a 570, compete (and win) against a 580, and are much more power efficient than the AMD 6000 series. They have a good amount of overclock headroom as well, and I have had ZERO issues with the current drivers. (I play BF3, SC2, Diablo 3, ME3... all run 1920 x 1080 at ultra settings)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103208
understand this is not a fanboy answer (although I do currently own an AMD)... but at this pricepoint, Nvidia does not make a card that can compete with the 7870

Looks good to me, but then other questions come into hand: how are AMD drivers nowadays, like back a few years ago whenever a new game came out you had to wait for new drivers. And on paper the 6950 is better than the 7870 but newer tech is better! I was also thinking about going 460 sli but I don't want 2 cards.

Brand doesn't matter to much because shortly after I purchase the card I choose, I am buying the artic cooler for it.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 15
8/2/12 at 9:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ProChargedLS2 View Post

Looks good to me, but then other questions come into hand: how are AMD drivers nowadays, like back a few years ago whenever a new game came out you had to wait for new drivers. And on paper the 6950 is better than the 7870 but newer tech is better! I was also thinking about going 460 sli but I don't want 2 cards.
Brand doesn't matter to much because shortly after I purchase the card I choose, I am buying the artic cooler for it.

as for drivers, i use the stock AMD driver (not interested in beta drivers, more interested in stability) and check for updates regularly and have had no issue thus far. I have also run 5770's in crossfire in the past and a single 6870 and never had any driver issues as long as I was running the currently released driver.

the 7870 is a better deal than dual 460's because of power usage alone... the 7870 is very efficient and runs cool (even better with an arctic cooler). They overclock so easy with the sliders in CCC, i pushed my clock to 1100 Mhz and Memory to 1300 MHz without even a hiccup... and never runs above mid 60's. the 7870 will beat a 6950/6970, realistically the only AMD cards above a 7870 are the 6990 or 7970.

the AMD 6000 series has some crossfire issues as well, where the 7870 leaves you room to add another later with minimal heat/power draw and less headaches with potential micro-stuttering.
Portable Gamer - Lenovo Y400
(14 items)
 
Kiddos' PC
(14 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7-3630QM OEM Lenovo Nvidia GeForce GT650M G.Skill 16GB 1600 MHz 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveOS
Crucial mSata 256GB SSD WD Scorpio Black 500GB OEM DVDRW Win 8 Pro 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardCaseMouse
OEM 14" Glossy OEM Red Backlit Magnesium and Carbon Fiber Finish Plastic Razer Deathadder 2013 
Mouse PadAudio
Corsair Vengeance MM200 Compact OEM Onboard 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core I3-2120 ECS H67H2-I Intel HD Graphics 2000 Corsair XMS 4 GB 1333 MHz 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
WD Scorpio Black 320 GB Lite-On Slim DVDRW Stock Win 7 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
LG 19" Rosewill Black Slim Built-in PSU SilverStone SG05-B 
MouseAudio
MS Optical USB Onboard 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Portable Gamer - Lenovo Y400
(14 items)
 
Kiddos' PC
(14 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7-3630QM OEM Lenovo Nvidia GeForce GT650M G.Skill 16GB 1600 MHz 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveOS
Crucial mSata 256GB SSD WD Scorpio Black 500GB OEM DVDRW Win 8 Pro 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardCaseMouse
OEM 14" Glossy OEM Red Backlit Magnesium and Carbon Fiber Finish Plastic Razer Deathadder 2013 
Mouse PadAudio
Corsair Vengeance MM200 Compact OEM Onboard 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core I3-2120 ECS H67H2-I Intel HD Graphics 2000 Corsair XMS 4 GB 1333 MHz 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
WD Scorpio Black 320 GB Lite-On Slim DVDRW Stock Win 7 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
LG 19" Rosewill Black Slim Built-in PSU SilverStone SG05-B 
MouseAudio
MS Optical USB Onboard 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #5 of 15
8/2/12 at 9:40am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchgenius View Post

as for drivers, i use the stock AMD driver (not interested in beta drivers, more interested in stability) and check for updates regularly and have had no issue thus far. I have also run 5770's in crossfire in the past and a single 6870 and never had any driver issues as long as I was running the currently released driver.
the 7870 is a better deal than dual 460's because of power usage alone... the 7870 is very efficient and runs cool (even better with an arctic cooler). They overclock so easy with the sliders in CCC, i pushed my clock to 1100 Mhz and Memory to 1300 MHz without even a hiccup... and never runs above mid 60's. the 7870 will beat a 6950/6970, realistically the only AMD cards above a 7870 are the 6990 or 7970.
the AMD 6000 series has some crossfire issues as well, where the 7870 leaves you room to add another later with minimal heat/power draw and less headaches with potential micro-stuttering.

Hmm, but then if I bump my range up to 300 what does that open me up to? I can get a 670 for about 350-400 new, dunno about used. I have never owned anything by AMD before, I prefer Intel, but for graphics card I am a newb on AMD, but a lot of people have them so they must be good tongue.gif

I just want to play games at max and over 1080p res. I might be getting a nice 27 inch monitor soon, a lil upgrade from my dual 24.

I also want to future proof this, so I will need at least 2gb of vram, because I can tell right now that 1gb is almost getting capped.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 15
8/2/12 at 10:03am
sadly $300 -$400 is kind of no man's land for video gards right now as far as Nvidia goes... the 7870's are right around $300 and you can jump to a 7950 at around $350.

the lowest price i have seen a 670 is right around $400, maybe $375

i wouldn't say that one is better than the other as far as Nvidia or AMD goes... i personally go with performance per dollar and in my price range, AMD was the better deal and has performed well thus far.
Portable Gamer - Lenovo Y400
(14 items)
 
Kiddos' PC
(14 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7-3630QM OEM Lenovo Nvidia GeForce GT650M G.Skill 16GB 1600 MHz 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveOS
Crucial mSata 256GB SSD WD Scorpio Black 500GB OEM DVDRW Win 8 Pro 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardCaseMouse
OEM 14" Glossy OEM Red Backlit Magnesium and Carbon Fiber Finish Plastic Razer Deathadder 2013 
Mouse PadAudio
Corsair Vengeance MM200 Compact OEM Onboard 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core I3-2120 ECS H67H2-I Intel HD Graphics 2000 Corsair XMS 4 GB 1333 MHz 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
WD Scorpio Black 320 GB Lite-On Slim DVDRW Stock Win 7 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
LG 19" Rosewill Black Slim Built-in PSU SilverStone SG05-B 
MouseAudio
MS Optical USB Onboard 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Portable Gamer - Lenovo Y400
(14 items)
 
Kiddos' PC
(14 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7-3630QM OEM Lenovo Nvidia GeForce GT650M G.Skill 16GB 1600 MHz 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveOS
Crucial mSata 256GB SSD WD Scorpio Black 500GB OEM DVDRW Win 8 Pro 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardCaseMouse
OEM 14" Glossy OEM Red Backlit Magnesium and Carbon Fiber Finish Plastic Razer Deathadder 2013 
Mouse PadAudio
Corsair Vengeance MM200 Compact OEM Onboard 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core I3-2120 ECS H67H2-I Intel HD Graphics 2000 Corsair XMS 4 GB 1333 MHz 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
WD Scorpio Black 320 GB Lite-On Slim DVDRW Stock Win 7 64 Bit 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
LG 19" Rosewill Black Slim Built-in PSU SilverStone SG05-B 
MouseAudio
MS Optical USB Onboard 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #7 of 15
8/2/12 at 10:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ProChargedLS2 View Post

I don't want to be bottle necked.

What you ask for is impossible to achieve.

Edit: Also I went from a 6950 to a 670. Personally, I liked the functionality of AMD drivers better with an overall better GUI. But nvidia's driver I find to be less tedious to use
Edited by vs17e - 8/2/12 at 10:10am
The Rig
(12 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel i5-2500K @ 4.4 Ghz Gigabyte UD3P Z68XP EVGA GTX 670 Superclocked 16 GB Ripjaws X 
Hard DriveHard DriveCoolingOS
64 GB Samsung 830 SSD 500 GB Seagate Barracuda  H100 Windows 7 Ultimate 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Corsair K90 Seasonic X 750W 500R Corsair M60 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
The Rig
(12 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel i5-2500K @ 4.4 Ghz Gigabyte UD3P Z68XP EVGA GTX 670 Superclocked 16 GB Ripjaws X 
Hard DriveHard DriveCoolingOS
64 GB Samsung 830 SSD 500 GB Seagate Barracuda  H100 Windows 7 Ultimate 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Corsair K90 Seasonic X 750W 500R Corsair M60 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #8 of 15
8/2/12 at 10:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ProChargedLS2 View Post

Hmm, but then if I bump my range up to 300 what does that open me up to? I can get a 670 for about 350-400 new, dunno about used. I have never owned anything by AMD before, I prefer Intel, but for graphics card I am a newb on AMD, but a lot of people have them so they must be good tongue.gif
I just want to play games at max and over 1080p res. I might be getting a nice 27 inch monitor soon, a lil upgrade from my dual 24.
I also want to future proof this, so I will need at least 2gb of vram, because I can tell right now that 1gb is almost getting capped.

If you want a card which is suitable for 1440p resolution get a HD 7950 OC or GTX 670. here is a HD 7950 OC selling for USD 330 after rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127667

HD 7950 OC overclocks to 1 - 1.05 Ghz at stock voltage and 1.15 Ghz with voltage tweaking.

here is a stock voltage overclocked HD 7950
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5476/amd-radeon-7950-review/18

here is a voltage overclocked HD 7950
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/01/xfx_radeon_hd_7950_black_edition_video_card_review/8

If you want GTX 670 get the Gigabyte GTX 670 or EVGA GTX 670 FTW. though they cost around USD 400.
Fragbox
(14 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
Intel Core i5 2400 DH67BL AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series XFX HD 6950 2GB 
RAMRAMHard DriveOptical Drive
Corsair Corsair DDR3 1333 Mhz 2 GB Corsair DDR3 1333 Mhz 2 GB Western Digital Caviar Green SONY DVD-RW AD-7260S 
OSMonitorKeyboardPower
Windows 7 Professional 32 bit BENQ G2420HD Logitech K200 Seasonic VX550 psu 
CaseMouse
ANTEC 200 V2 Logitech mouse 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Fragbox
(14 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
Intel Core i5 2400 DH67BL AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series XFX HD 6950 2GB 
RAMRAMHard DriveOptical Drive
Corsair Corsair DDR3 1333 Mhz 2 GB Corsair DDR3 1333 Mhz 2 GB Western Digital Caviar Green SONY DVD-RW AD-7260S 
OSMonitorKeyboardPower
Windows 7 Professional 32 bit BENQ G2420HD Logitech K200 Seasonic VX550 psu 
CaseMouse
ANTEC 200 V2 Logitech mouse 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #9 of 15
8/2/12 at 1:06pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by raghu78 View Post

If you want a card which is suitable for 1440p resolution get a HD 7950 OC or GTX 670. here is a HD 7950 OC selling for USD 330 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127667
HD 7950 OC overclocks to 1 - 1.05 Ghz at stock voltage and 1.15 Ghz with voltage tweaking.
here is a stock voltage overclocked HD 7950
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5476/amd-radeon-7950-review/18
here is a voltage overclocked HD 7950
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/01/xfx_radeon_hd_7950_black_edition_video_card_review/8
If you want GTX 670 get the Gigabyte GTX 670 or EVGA GTX 670 FTW. though they cost around USD 400.

I think I'll buy a 7870 for now, then once I need moar powa I'll upgrade to a 680. Is there any unlocking I can do to the 7870? I know I can do the 6950->6970 unlock, but is there anything for the 7870?
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 15
8/2/12 at 1:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ProChargedLS2 View Post

I think I'll buy a 7870 for now, then once I need moar powa I'll upgrade to a 680. Is there any unlocking I can do to the 7870? I know I can do the 6950->6970 unlock, but is there anything for the 7870?

Nope no unlocking on a 7870 as far as i know.... but the unlocking for the 6950 to the 6970 only gave you like 5% orso so nothing really super just overclock it.

BTW have my HD6950 now for a year and never had any driver issues ever.
Stuuut's Gaming Rig
(16 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5-2500k @ 4.5GHz ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Sapphire HD 6950 2GB DiRT 3 Edition / Unlocked ... 16 GB Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3-1600 CL9 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB Samsung 830 256GB LG BH10LS30 Thermalright Venomous-X Black Edition 
CoolingOSMonitorKeyboard
2x Noiseblocker S-Series M12-P Windows 7 Ultimate x64 HP 2510i Corsair vengeance K90 
PowerCaseMouse
XFX Black Edition Modular 850W Cooler Master HAF X Razer DeathAdder 3.5G 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Stuuut's Gaming Rig
(16 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5-2500k @ 4.5GHz ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Sapphire HD 6950 2GB DiRT 3 Edition / Unlocked ... 16 GB Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3-1600 CL9 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB Samsung 830 256GB LG BH10LS30 Thermalright Venomous-X Black Edition 
CoolingOSMonitorKeyboard
2x Noiseblocker S-Series M12-P Windows 7 Ultimate x64 HP 2510i Corsair vengeance K90 
PowerCaseMouse
XFX Black Edition Modular 850W Cooler Master HAF X Razer DeathAdder 3.5G 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Graphics Cards - General
Overclock.net › Forums › Graphics Cards › Graphics Cards - General › Best GPU under 250 area?