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PC Video Card Qustion

Discussion in 'Gaming Forum' started by Tone_E, Oct 3, 2013.

  1. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I am looking into a new video card. Still using by 560ti, but time for an upgrade. I am considering going for balance between performance and value, but EVGA only. I am considering a 4 GB 770 FTW but there are a few models with difference clock speeds;


    EVGA GeForce GTX770 Classified 4GB GDDR5 7010MHZ 1150MHZ HDMI DP 2xDVI SLI Graphics Card


    EVGA GeForce GTX 770 Classified ACX Cooler 4GB GDDR5 7010MHZ 1185MHZ HDMI DP 2xDVI SLI Graphics Card


    The lower variant with the 1185 MHZ clock speed is on average $120 - $150 more than the same card with the 1150 MHZ clock speed. That appears to be the only difference between the 770 FTW and FTW Classified variants. My question is if the extra money is justified?

    And, how are some 680s still more expensive than 770s?

    Any help would be appreciated.
     
  2. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Wait for benchmarks of AMD's new cards before restricting yourself to just Nvidia. NDA lifts October 15.
     
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  3. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Won't touch AMD. Had bad experiences with AMD and Radeons. I will only buy Nvidia cards, and I like EVGA because of their excellent warranty, regardless if you overclock the cards. In fact, they've encouraged it in the past.
     
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  4. gilv13

    gilv13 Well-Known Member

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    I'd get the cheaper card. You won't be able to notice the difference with minimal clock speed difference.
     
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  5. Zeke0123

    Zeke0123 message board ******* Club Member

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    I'm with you on amd...it was a long time ago but that was the most frustrated I have ever been with a PC..I should probably let it go at this point but nvidia has never given me a problem so it's hard not to stay loyal even if it cost me some performance or money.
     
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  6. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Thanks man. That's what I thought.

    Exactly. I know what I'm getting with nvidia. I won't go back to AMD unless my hand is forced. I don't see nvidia forcing my hand. I don't mind paying a slight premium for nvidia and or EVGA.
     
  7. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    I've only had AMD (two cards), and I've not had any issue at all. In fact, I never could have guessed upgrading would be as easy as it proved to be.
     
  8. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    My issues were a while back. I can't really comment on their products since because I haven't used them in a long time. I just prefer nvidia since I've moved to their gpus, I haven't had issues. I am not saying one is better than the other. The value for the money is definitely with AMD at the moment, but I've only had great experiences with nvidia.
     
  9. Clipse

    Clipse mediocrity sucks

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    I loved my crossfire 5850s. One died a year later and they sent me a 6870 too. That was XFX. I have an EVGA 770 now and love it.

    I would recommend the 680. Great card. Under $300.

    Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk
     
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  10. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Given that AMD's silicon is now in every console, you're really going to be better off not ruling them out. Bad experiences in the past don't mean much going forward.
     
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  11. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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  12. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Thanks for the link. I am going to go with a min. 4 GB card though. I hear everyone about the AMD cards, and they surely have their own fans. I am going to go with nvidia though. Trying to determine which to get. I have a new rig as well, i7-3770k, 16GB ram, etc. so something that will last a good amount of time. Thinking a 770 will do the job nice, while 780s and Titans are overkill. Can always SLI the 770 I get when they drop in price too in the future.
     
  13. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    I believe Nvidia only sells cards with 2GB or 3GB of VRAM, not 4GB. To get 3GB you need to get a Titan or a 700 series.
     
  14. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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  15. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Interesting. That's an EVGA customization then.
     
  16. Clipse

    Clipse mediocrity sucks

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    I have a 4GB 770 and 4GB 675M
     
  17. Clipse

    Clipse mediocrity sucks

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    Looking on Amazon, Gigabyte, MSI, PNY, Galaxy all have 4GB 770s as well.
     
  18. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Then those are pretty new or revisions. GTX 770 at launch only went up to 3 GB, IIRC. And I stopped paying attention after launch, obviously. :lol:
     
  19. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    Looking for a new card to get after Christmas to go with my new build. If I'm looking to spend ~$300 what series cards should I be looking at?
     
  20. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    GTX 970 prices are a little inflated, but that's the best bang for the buck right now. You should be able to find something closer to $300 after Christmas. MSRP is $300, but prices are closer to $400 at the moment.
     
  21. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    Well I realized I have a Micro Center around me now that I live in Houston, so that helped me get a great deal on CPU/Mobo. I'll have to check what they are selling GTX790s for.
     
  22. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Looks like the 970s are selling for about $350+ at Micro Center.
     
  23. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Make sure you get one with 4GB Vram though - it will definitely help with the longevity of the card. I've seen 2GB 970s out there.

    EDIT: I'm wrong, they all appear to be 4GB.
     
  24. MikeHoncho

    MikeHoncho -=| Censored |=-

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    Bro get the cheaper one.


    You can always make it faster by just leaving it in the fridge overnight.

    True story.
     
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  25. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    True story. Pulled from lmeister's facebook page.

    [​IMG]
     
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  26. MikeHoncho

    MikeHoncho -=| Censored |=-

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    Wasn't that cold
     
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  27. finattic79

    finattic79 Season Ticket Holder

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    I got the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX970 from newegg. Thing overclocks like a beast, I'm having some driver issues, but the card itself is great. I've got it overlocked to nearly stock gtx 980 benchmarks and barely gets close to 50C underload. Its a very pretty card to, the backplate and the LED on the side go well with my case.
     
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  28. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    Got a new power supply and computer case/tower from my wife for Christmas (she also got me a Logitech headset) and some money from Parents and In-laws. Found out I could get $20 off Samsung EVO 840 SSD at Micro Center because I bought a Mobo/CPU there. Now I just have to wait for my other components to come in from Newegg that I ordered today (I did end up getting a GTX 970).

    I also have to figure out which free game I want. Probably choosing between AC: Unity and Far Cry 4.
     
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  29. finattic79

    finattic79 Season Ticket Holder

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    The GTX 970 is so much bang for your buck. Which brand did you end up going with?
     
  30. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    MSI (gaming 4g or whatever it is called) That's the brand MoBo I got, plus my previous two GPUs were MSI as well. This is my first Nvidia card though.
     
  31. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    You'll love Shadowplay then.
     
  32. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Shadowplay is awesome. You have to install the Geforce Experience application to use it, though. It's separate from the actual Nvidia driver control panel.

    I say get AC Unity as your free game. Far Cry 4 is basically the exact same as Far Cry 3.
     
  33. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    Hope I don't have to redo my thermal paste application. I accidently forgot to take the little plastic protector off my heat sink when I went to put in on my cpu so a bit of paste got pulled off, although I put a little bit more on. I had about the size of a pea before my mistake, so hope I didn't wind up using too much either.
     
  34. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    If you're really worried about it, you probably want to alcohol wipe the existing application off and then do a new application.
     
  35. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    Yea, idle temps looking good so far.

    The only problem I am experiencing at the moment is the Power LED on my case is not working. All the buttons work, including the lights on my case fan speed (high and low), and reset, just not the light around the power button itself. Maybe I have + and - backwards? :confused2:
     
  36. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    That's easy enough to fix, just flip the connector.

    There's always a chance the LED has gone out, too.
     
  37. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    Still running good, got almost everything updated now. The power LED was a matter of the + and - being reversed. I followed the Mobo manual though... whatever, works now.

    I changed my bios to work at my ram frequency of 1866, not sure how much a difference it will make.

    My GPU and Cooler look so cool together, and my case. :drool:

    Have to figure out if I need to do anything else to set up my hot-swappable HDD drive bay that is a part of the case.
     
  38. Dolphin1184

    Dolphin1184 Member

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    I am currently building a Haswell-E overkill computer. Currently have a 780 ti, I will probably sell it while I can get value for it.
     
  39. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Is the RAM rated for 1866 MHz, or are you overclocking? If the latter, you probably won't notice a difference, though some games may be more stable.

    Pics or it never happened.

    If you can get $300 for the 780Ti, take the money and run. The 780 series' value really dropped off a cliff thanks to the 970.
     
  40. Dolphin1184

    Dolphin1184 Member

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    Thats the vicious cycle for video cards. They depreciate so fast. You buy one to SLI it later, and by the time that happens the next series comes out.
     

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