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What Graphics Card??

worf105

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What Graphics Card??
« on: November 26, 2010, 08:29:00 pm »
Hi all,

First post here and a new Gigabyte user (came from MSI)..

What would you recommend for a new graphics card for the new system and would the PSU stand up OK with the new card?

Kind Regards,

worf105
Windows 10 pro 64-bit
GA-990FXA-UD3 rev 4.0
AMD (Piledriver) FX-8370 4.00GHz 8-Core Processor
Corsair H110i GTX
Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 16GB (2x8GB)
Samsung 840 SSD 256GB Drive + 2 SATA Drives
Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC 4096MB GDDR5 Graphics

Dark Mantis

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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2010, 08:35:30 pm »
Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte UK Forum. We won't hold it against you that you used to own an MSI board. ;)

If you can let us know a bit more about your system. Can you list the makes and models of your hardware and we should be able to give you better advice.
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

worf105

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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2010, 08:40:08 pm »
Hi Dark Mantis,

LOL, What would you like to know about my system?

Windows 10 pro 64-bit
GA-990FXA-UD3 rev 4.0
AMD (Piledriver) FX-8370 4.00GHz 8-Core Processor
Corsair H110i GTX
Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 16GB (2x8GB)
Samsung 840 SSD 256GB Drive + 2 SATA Drives
Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC 4096MB GDDR5 Graphics

Dark Mantis

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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2010, 08:56:27 pm »
Perfect!  ;)

Well as you are running an AMD platform you would definitely be better off sticking with and ATI designed card. Obviously it depends on what you want to use your system for and your budget as to what to recommend.
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

worf105

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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #4 on: November 26, 2010, 09:09:30 pm »
Thanks for the quick reply,

I use my system for about everything..  My old system
(Windows 7 Pro 32-bit, MSI K8N DIAMOND nForce4 SLi, AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+, 2GB (2 x 1024) DDR OCZ Platinum (2-3-2-5-1T), XFX GeForce 8800 GTS, Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer, Xaser Armor Case, Enermax Noisetaker 485W EG495AX-VE, (+3.3V = 32A, +5V = 32A, +12V1 = 18A, +12V2 = 18A)) served me well for gaming until" Call of Duty Black Opps" came out.
My CPU was the let down and when I bought the new system the game ran great. so now I would like to upgrade my Graphics card and my budget would be £200 - £300. 
Windows 10 pro 64-bit
GA-990FXA-UD3 rev 4.0
AMD (Piledriver) FX-8370 4.00GHz 8-Core Processor
Corsair H110i GTX
Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 16GB (2x8GB)
Samsung 840 SSD 256GB Drive + 2 SATA Drives
Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC 4096MB GDDR5 Graphics

Dark Mantis

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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #5 on: November 26, 2010, 09:31:06 pm »
OK that makes things a mite more understandable. A man after my own heart - COD and Black OPs etc.

The first thing to realise is that your PSU isn't going to be big enough. What you will need it a single 12V rail of about 650W minimum. I would recommend a Corsair or something like that. Decent make, good 5 year or more warranty depending on model. Check them out but expect to pay around £100 for anything decent. Try Ebuyer for some of the best deals.

Next graphics card. Well lets say you have roughly £200 to play with. That will buy you a 6850 or maybe even a 6870 if you are lucky. Definitely the cards to go for as a gamer. They actually use less power than the previous generation and give a better output.

Hope that helps a little and if there's any other questions you know where we are.

Check out this website for info in general as I believe they are going to be selling Gigabyte products along with other things at a good price soon:
AZCS         http://www.azcs.co.uk/
« Last Edit: November 26, 2010, 09:36:41 pm by Dark Mantis »
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

worf105

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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #6 on: November 26, 2010, 09:41:35 pm »
Thanks Dark Mantis will let you know what I do, Cheers
Windows 10 pro 64-bit
GA-990FXA-UD3 rev 4.0
AMD (Piledriver) FX-8370 4.00GHz 8-Core Processor
Corsair H110i GTX
Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 16GB (2x8GB)
Samsung 840 SSD 256GB Drive + 2 SATA Drives
Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC 4096MB GDDR5 Graphics

Dark Mantis

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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2010, 09:47:41 pm »
You are very welcome. ;)
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

worf105

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Windows 10 pro 64-bit
GA-990FXA-UD3 rev 4.0
AMD (Piledriver) FX-8370 4.00GHz 8-Core Processor
Corsair H110i GTX
Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 16GB (2x8GB)
Samsung 840 SSD 256GB Drive + 2 SATA Drives
Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC 4096MB GDDR5 Graphics

Dark Mantis

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  • 10typesofpeopleoneswhoknow binaryandoneswhodont
    • Dark Mantis
Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #9 on: November 26, 2010, 10:16:16 pm »
Personally I am not a great fan of Aria but that aside the components would be about right. As long as you don't intend to start adding more GPUs or other power hungry devices the PSU should be fine. If you want to think about running a Crossfire setup later then up it to at least a 750W.

I don't know what the XFX cards are like to be honest but that is the model that I was recommending for you. There are several Gigabyte ones too.
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

worf105

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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #10 on: November 26, 2010, 10:25:46 pm »
Windows 10 pro 64-bit
GA-990FXA-UD3 rev 4.0
AMD (Piledriver) FX-8370 4.00GHz 8-Core Processor
Corsair H110i GTX
Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 16GB (2x8GB)
Samsung 840 SSD 256GB Drive + 2 SATA Drives
Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC 4096MB GDDR5 Graphics

Dark Mantis

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  • 10typesofpeopleoneswhoknow binaryandoneswhodont
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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #11 on: November 26, 2010, 10:33:57 pm »
Yes I would have to say an excellent choice! Couldn't have done better myself  ;)
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

absic

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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #12 on: November 27, 2010, 08:22:13 am »
Yes, both items also seem good to me just ought to point out though that XFX recommend a PSU of 850 Watts (Minimum 500 Watt) and the one you're looking at is 750Watts which might be a problem later on.
Remember, when all else fails a cup of tea and a good swear will often help! It won't solve the problem but it will make you feel better.

worf105

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Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #13 on: February 08, 2011, 09:24:57 pm »
Hi,

Just bought and installed the following: Saphire HD6950 which has just been flashed to a 6970  ;D and a TX850 PSU.

Cheers

worf105
Windows 10 pro 64-bit
GA-990FXA-UD3 rev 4.0
AMD (Piledriver) FX-8370 4.00GHz 8-Core Processor
Corsair H110i GTX
Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 16GB (2x8GB)
Samsung 840 SSD 256GB Drive + 2 SATA Drives
Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC 4096MB GDDR5 Graphics

Dark Mantis

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  • 10typesofpeopleoneswhoknow binaryandoneswhodont
    • Dark Mantis
Re: What Graphics Card??
« Reply #14 on: February 08, 2011, 09:44:02 pm »
Clever move that worf getting the 6950 and flashing it to the 6970 as basically they are the same card with the 6950 having been hobbled in the firmware. I don't know how long before they start manufacturing them with the fuses instead which will stop that but great for now and a good saving.

Nice PSU too. ;)
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy