Best GPU upgrade for ~£150?

[Allen]

Current system specs:

Intel® Core™ i5-2500K @ 4.3GHz
MSI Z68A-GD55-B3
Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
128GB Samsung 830 SSD
MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti TWIN FROZR II 1GB
XFX P1-650X-NLG9 XXX 650W Modular
Fractal Design Define R4
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
23" Dell U2311H

A little while back, my PC got rained on (long story), I managed to dry everything out and replaced the PSU just to be sure, but the fan on my GPU has gradually become worse and worse, becoming louder and louder. Obviously, replacing the fan is an option, but as I just got a nice pay rise and bonus, I thought I would look at a replacement. Although my GTX 560 Ti can play almost all games at 1080p, it's struggling with AAA titles that were released this year, and can't handle high res textures or all the other pretty things that cards can do these days.

I had a quick look around, the R9 270X was recommended at around £130-150 and the GTX 760 at around £150-170. Are they the best in this price range? Any pros/cons for each I should be aware of? Any deals, discounts or Xmas specials? Worth waiting for sales after Xmas?

New cards are PCIe 3.0 and my motherboard has a PCIe 2.0 slot, I know they are backwards compatible but will it be a bottleneck? Will anything else in my system struggle to keep up?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00I...AC_SX110_SY165

[kalniel]

No bottlenecks at all. The R9 270X is good value, but only a relatively small step up from the 560ti and will only just cope with recent AAA titles. The GTX 760 is better and still good value.

edit: cats link is a great bargain!

[Dooms]

+1 to the 280 that Cat has linked

[Allen]

Yeah, damn, that's bloody good performance for the price! Almost comparable with £230 cards!

Seriously tempted by that, cheers Cat!

[Ulti]

If you prefer Nvidia for whatever reason then there's the GTX760 for £140:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-Nvidia-...eywords=gtx760

The R9 280 will be better in terms of raw performance though.

[deejayburnout]

Wow.

Cats link is an awesome purchase. Wish i had the cash.

[MrJim]

If you can wait a month, the GTX 960 should be around the £160 mark?

[Allen]

If you prefer Nvidia for whatever reason then there's the GTX760 for £140:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-Nvidia-...eywords=gtx760

The R9 280 will be better in terms of raw performance though.

I don't mind either way, I've had products from both and they all have their pros and cons. I've gone for this one purely due to the price in comparison with other products in it's range.

If you can wait a month, the GTX 960 should be around the £160 mark?

I can never wait that long for a new product that hasn't even been tested yet (AFAIK). I am happy with this purchase.

[MrRockliffe]

More like 190.

[Domestic_Ginger]

ocuk have refurbed 7950s for £85(?). Don't get the stock cooler ones with the radial fan as they were released to have the cooler replaced.

EDIT: is the GPU fan running faster or is it falling apart? The stock NV heat sink's fans can be lubed afaik. if the fan is just needing to run faster than a good dusting may be an idea.

[Allen]

ocuk have refurbed 7950s for £85(?). Don't get the stock cooler ones with the radial fan as they were released to have the cooler replaced.

EDIT: is the GPU fan running faster or is it falling apart? The stock NV heat sink's fans can be lubed afaik. if the fan is just needing to run faster than a good dusting may be an idea.

Thanks, but I generally avoid second hand/refurb items if I can. Plus aren't the 7950's almost as old as my current GPU?

TBH, I don't know exactly what's causing it, but this GPU has been burnt by an exploding mobo and rained on, I'm surprised it's still functioning! Hence the purchase of a new card. I had the old for one around 3 years (also purchased it for around £150), so this new one should keep from needing a full hardware refresh for another few years at least.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Here is a review of the card:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/sapphi...iew-33025.html

I suggested it for a mates build - its a monster but it runs WoW and the like fine. I know you play with Wo0tz - its aidualc if you have seen them on WoW.

The R9 280 and HD7950 are using the same GPUs BTW.

[george1979]

That is a great deal. I'm sorely tempted to treat myself
It's a hell of a lot of card for £135, nice find.

[MrRockliffe]

Linus just used the card for 4K gaming machine - counterstrike in very decent settings reported 80 ish fps if I remember correctly...

[CustardInc]

For around £150 you can get a reference R9 290 (maybe X if you're lucky) on ebay, if you can live with the cooler