Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
GTX 280? Help me decide.
Hey guys, I'm thinking about getting an Nvidia GTX 280, but I want to know if the problems with the drivers that happened to people back in August or whenever they released that one driver that messed everyone up (very technical details here I know). I've heard about lots of black screens and pixel problems, etc.
Mainly I want to know if the card is viable to play GW2 on now, or if I should just go for a Radeon card. Thanks in advance for the help.
Comments
7850 ~100 euro/ 130$
gtx 560 ~125euro/160$
dont buy a 280 unless its under 60euro/80$
Yeah, I agree. Why would you buy that card?
So let me see if I understand what you mean here. Are you still planning on buying the computer listed on ebay? My main concern is that if it's sporting a GTX280 it's probably also packed with a lot of old hardware you don't really want to throw money at. Do you have a link to it or the other specs on the hardware inside?
That's a big concern. It's generally recommended that you replace a hard drive after five years, which is a big issue if you get a four-year-old hard drive.
The modern equivalent to a GeForce GTX 280 in raw performance is probably a Radeon HD 7770 or GeForce GTX 650 Ti. The newer cards will support newer APIs, though, and use a lot less power (ballpark approximation: 40% of the load power usage and 20% of the idle power usage for the same performance).
Buying a used gaming rig makes sense if it's cheap enough, there's nothing flagrantly wrong with it (e.g., won't boot) other than age, and you can't afford a new one on your budget. Buying a brand new gaming rig with performance equivalent to the one you're looking at would probably run about $600. The new rig also won't come with four years of wear and tear on the parts.
Well I already have a few extra hard drives, and one has Win7 on it already, so that's not a problem, but after reading this, I decided to just build my own. I've basically done everything in the past except screwing the mobo to the case. I already have a power supply and extra RAM as well.
For a card I'm looking more at a Radeon HD 7750 or 7770 now. I don't really want an Nvidia since I've heard there have been issues with GW2 (some of these stories coming directly from friends).
Either of them scored high on http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html
I could even spring for the 7850, but it's doubtful on the budget I'm working with. Then again, I've been looking around and prices can vary wildly on computer parts depending on where you shop.
Ah I didn't know that about the OS. I should have figured it wouldn't be that easy, after all you could just switch them around infinitely otherwise.
I have DDR2, but I just remembered I'm waiting for some bids for DDR3 on ebay. I'm not sure I trust ebay over newegg, etc., but the sellers have high ratings. The PSU is a Rosewill 450w. I'd imagine that's enough, but if I have to buy a new one, they won't break the bank.
But yeah.. I'm thinking more about the 7850 now. Might as well go all out, as it were. I mean I know there are better cards, but the odds of me ever spending upwards of 200 bucks on one aren't likely.
Ah cool, thanks for the suggestion, I'll bookmark it on Amazon as an option.
Radeon 7970 is most bang for the bucks. I bought Gigabyte 7970 3gb. I am very satiesfied.
Before that I got this card I had bought a Gigabyte GTX 670 4gb so I tried bought cards and my computer liked the amd one more since it got better score and better fps than the gtx one for the same money. I am happy I had the chance to return it and get the 7970 insted.
I had to clock my cpu i7 though since it botttlenecked my 7970, got it from 2.66ghz to 3.52ghz. The cpu holds at 54c now thanks to the watercooling I bought for around 50 euro. And the gigabyte graficcards have 3 nice fans, I will never buy a card with 1 fan. The GTX one was on 61c and the Radeon on 65-69c when benchmarked or in game.
Both cards are good, but Radeon 7970 is still bang for the bucks.
Compared to a 7770 they might be power hungry but even a Corsair 520W was more than enough to power my old 460 and a 2500K, both overclocked. It also rarely broached 60C unless benchmarking. If a 256bit 460 (don't buy the 192bit version) with a decent aftermarket cooler such as the MSI 460 Cyclone etc can be found cheap enough then it's a good buy on a budget, they can be hard to find cheap though and often the 7770 makes more sense even though it's slightly slower.
It was the 470 and 480's that were stupidly power hungry and hot, not the 460. It was the only card Nvidia did right with that range.
The 7970 is the top end flagship card and certainly not "bang for the bucks", it's AMD's most expensive card. The real cards with good cost to performance ratios from them right now are 7870 and 7950's.
Your post is like telling someone a ferrari is cost effective for someone who just wants to do a 20min drive to work in the city. I also doubt you saw much if any difference going from a 670 to a 7970 unless you're gaming at say 1600x2560 or multi monitor resolutions, if you're on 1080p then the difference is likely in your head.
Funny, my friends who had issues had ATI cards, I never had any problems with my 480 GTX. In any case problems like that was due to bad early drivers just after launch and really isnt a reason to select your card anymore.
The reason to use a ATI card is instead that they are cheaper for mid performance and you are on a budget.
My advice is still to check if one of your friends arent upgrading soon, with some luck you can get a few years old acceptable card cheap there. A card that is a few years old but was good then still often is as good as a medium price card today, and that would leave you some money to get an SSD instead (if you dont have one already), it cuts the loading time in GW2 fine.
280 ??
Why not at least a 480, or 580 ?
280 is ages old
Secrets of Dragon?s Spine Trailer.. !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwT9cFVQCMw
Best MMOs ever played: Ultima, EvE, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan, The Secret World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2X_SbZCHpc&t=21s
.
.
The Return of ELITE !
Im running a GTX280 at the moment and it runs fine on the most recent NVidia drivers and runs GW2 fine on medium settings.
Had this card 4+ years and never had a problem with it or NVidia drivers. It's old now but still works just fine for most games, it just struggles on max settings generally speaking. It's certainly not future-proof though, it's days are numbered.
Expresso gave me a Hearthstone beta key.....I'm so happy
An i7 is also the greatest processor to own, also costing over $300+ Iv learned that even though if on a budget CPU- most games created require a decent graphics card. Packaged together with some decent RAM to go along with it all. These days most games seem to be GPU ran. A good graphics card can set you off a long way. Even my old E8400 still resides in my office. It suffices greatly today still.
7970 is currently the leading RADEON Card, and it was announced yesterday that they plan on keeping the 7000 series strong in 2013. AKA [Delay in 8000 Series til Q4]
$379.99. USD for 7970 3GB - Excellent card of course, but the price is a bit much~ for the best bang/performance
$249.99. USD for 7870 2GB - The price is good, and the MYST-LE Version is even better. (AKA Crippled 7950 for much Les
$194.99. USD for 7850 2GB - Id highly suggest coughing up more for the 7870.~ +15% more performance.
$114.99. USD for 7770 1GB - Decent card- if you really want one for $110 - you cant go wrong with this.
You get what you pay for in the end.
The 7770 1GB is good for the price, Id highly suggest getting it over the GTX 650. [or any other GT Card] 630/640 which both range to about $100. (Here is what the 7770 tops so you know what you're up against competition/Performance wise.)
Link below to a very nice graphics card REVIEW site for the 7770 (and other RADEON cards such as the 7850/7870/7930)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7770-7750-benchmark,3135-6.html
(Removed picture due to spam/none MMO related.) ( Tomshardware will show you the way. )
Keep in mind the 7850 is far better than the 7770, and the 7870 is much better than the 7850. I ripped my hair out trying to figure out which one to purchase. My advice is to go on Youtube and look up some benchmarks for your desired card, to get a better idea of the FPS you will come to expect in today's games.
If you want the best bang for your buck, Id HIGHLY suggest getting the 7870 MYST. that is if you intend to cough out more $$$ for a 7850/7870 which can pretty much run any game on HIGH/ULTRA settings. Id suggest the Radeon HD 7870 MYST. Edition (Tahiti LE) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5. As it's a 7950 undercover, or rather it's a crippled 7950. AKA. The 7930- which offer's speeds up to a current 7950. for much cheaper. [$240]
Keep in mind if you purchase it on NEWEGG you get BIOSHOCK INFINITE/TOMB RAIDER Bundle or BIOSHOCK INF/CRYSIS 3 Bundle which release in March for FREE. I'm also under the impression you get the boxxed version.
Plop these two baby's up on AMAZON/Ebay and that's $80-$100 since these games will retail $59.99 ea. In the end the card was really only $140-$160 and you got yourself a crippled 7950. aka the 7930 and you basically just cheated the system in all.~ The bundled [FREE} Game coupons are an added bonus.~ honestly without them- your getting quite the steal on the 7870 MYST- as paying $349.99 for a 7950+ just isn't in my personal range for a GFX Card.
If you cannot manage to cough out a little more the 7770 HD will suffice, but remember the 7870 MYST deal. and the games it bundles with it.. THAT IS IF you get the boxxed versions. (Which I'm not to sure about, it may be digital.) The crippled 7950 [7870 MYST-LE] was a steal without the games.~
-Edited for cleaning up my lines-
Indeed, clean install every time, never try and swap and old HDD into a new rig, it's a recipe for disaster.
Expresso gave me a Hearthstone beta key.....I'm so happy
So I have to buy a brand new OS or what?
Anyway, as I said, yeah I was totally in the dark about the GTX 280, mostly because I bit about everything related to PC's but never followed the card market. This thread has helped to enlighten me some.
The ones on New Egg are used, and not that much of a discount as compared to new cards, so I wouldn't buy one.
The whole GeForce 400 line was a complete mess, with only the possible exception of GF108, which was used in the GeForce GT 430 and 440. You don't make the top bin a salvage part just for fun. The GeForce 500 line was basically the fixed version of the 400 line.
The GF100-based cards (GeForce GTX 465, 470, and 480) had markedly worse performance per watt than the rest of the Fermi cards, but the rest of them were pretty bad, too. The reference GTX 470 and 480 came with coolers that couldn't really handle the card even at stock speeds, too, though aftermarket coolers sometimes fixed that.
Regardless, that's not what you want today unless you find it dirt cheap. Radeon HD 7000 and GeForce 600 series cards are so much better.
No, there is no need to buy a new OS. Just call Microsoft, tell them that you upgraded your motherboard and you would like your windows product key re-activated and they will do it for you.
- - "What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?" - -
Unless you have a full retail version of Windows (which is unlikely, as it costs twice as much as the system builder version), the license is tied to the motherboard. If you change the motherboard, you need a new license. You can likely get Microsoft to let you reuse the license if you change the motherboard and nothing else because the old one died, but it's unlikely that they'd buy that claim if you replaced all of the internal hardware in the system.
Oh. Well that'll do just as well. I've still got the code around here...... somewhere.