Best Video Card on the Market Currently

[DigitalEdge]

Hello....Asking for help and feedback from the community on a video card purchase. I have been looking at different cards and really want to get something that will run great with all the max settings and be a good overall card that will last some time. I have looked recently at the GTX Titan cards, The new GTX700 line, and the AMD Radeon HD7990.

Wanting to get the best bang for my buck and if it is the best route to spend $1000 on the Titan or the Radeon I will do it because I have invested a lot of money on my other parts. Help and feedback would be great and would love to be able to make a decision on what will be the best for me.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Fourstaff]

770 or 780 are both very good purchases in the top end of the spectrum, but it really depends on what you game on. If you are only using single screen 1080p, 770 is more than powerful enough for the next year or two. I would avoid 7990, and consider 7970 instead.

 

[Unhooked]

Dunno if many will agree with this but 2 x GTX 760 with a 3rd GTX 650 for Physx would be my suggestion

Best bang for the buck setup.

For highend, either 2x GTX 770 or 2 X 7970's should be enough.

If you are thinking about Titan then you are better of getting the GTX 780

I personally run 2 X 7970s with a GTX 650 for Physx

 

[erocker]

Titan, while an awesome card is on the bottom of the "bang for buck" list.

If you're even considering a Titan, just go for a GTX 780.

 

[the54thvoid]

For multi monitor gaming choose a set up with at least 3gb of VRAM per card/gpu.

For single monitor gaming, for now 3GB is plenty.

Card wise, Nvidia - GTX 780 is not the strongest option (Titan is) but the GTX 780 is the best option. At about 90% the performance of a Titan, it is the best Nvidia option. The GTX 690 is also good but it's 2gb per gpu VRAM is not ideal anymore.

On the AMD side, a HD7970 clocked at 1100MHz is an awesome deal for the price but it is eclipsed by the GTX780. The HD 7990 is twice as fast but driver issues render it not the best option for all situations. When the 7990 drivers work though, it is very fast.

All in all, GTX 780 is the best single GPU option, unless multi-monitor gaming at high resolutions. Even then a single Titan will struggle to run Crysis 3 etc on 3 hi-res screens.

You will likely now get a river of very flameworthy opinions about what is best but the fact is, no single card is better at everything. Choose a card that suits your needs. The HD9xxx series is likely coming this Autumn/Fall, that will make it even more confusing.

Good luck.

 

[newtekie1]

IMO, the best band for the buck card is easily the GTX 770. Once you go past that the diminishing returns on your money are huge. The 780 is only ~15% better than the 770 but costs 60% more, it just isn't worth it. If you are really worried about the standard 770 not having enough vram with only 2GB, then spend the $50 more and get the 4GB version.

 

[Unhooked]

I think 2X GTX 760 = $500 will beat any single card out there and the titan included.

Guess what

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_760_sli_review,1.html

 

[ogharaei]

I would get the EVGA GTX 770 Classified if I were to game at high resolutions, but the MSI Gaming is really the way to go otherwise.

 

[Vario]

780, 770, or a used 680.

7990 is a crossfire 2x7970 and so has all the problems of crossfire plus overheating. The titan is overpriced relative to the 780/680/770.

7970 is probably not powerful enough for you, but I just picked one up for $285 used, which makes it a good bang for buck.

 

[Unhooked]

780, 770, or a used 680.

7990 is a crossfire 2x7970 and so has all the problems of crossfire plus overheating. The titan is overpriced relative to the 780/680/770.

7970 is probably not powerful enough for you, but I just picked one up for $285 used, which makes it a good bang for buck.

7970's used is awesome. I got mine for $300 each a while back and very happy with them. Also I used the single slot bracket from EK and watercooled so essentially I have single slot 7970s No more wasted PCI/PCIe slots

 

[EarthDog]

It all depends on the resolution you are gaming at...I do know one thing, there isn't a snowballs chance in hell I would rock SLI 770's + PhysX for a single monitor and call that the 'best bang for the buck'... wow! I mean yes, more FPS, but at what cost? The same cost as a 780, sure... but more hassle, more heat, more power consumption, and never getting 2x performance. So even though its the same price, the performance ratio can very from terrible (with no to little scaling), to excellent with the average being somewhere in between. I personally do not reccommend an SLI/CFX setup with a single monitor unless you demand 120 FPS vsync or something.

That out of the way up to 2560x1440 I would say a single 780 would be the best choice. If you are on multiple monitors, I would likely go 2x 7970's. I shy away from 2 770/760's there as the bandwidth and but especially vram amount (2GB) is low for that type of resolution and the 4GB versions of those cards are not worth the cost (to me).

 

[DigitalEdge]

I do appreciate everyone's comments and feedback. The monitor I have purchased and will be using is ASUS VG248QE Black 24" 144Hz 1ms (GTG) HDMI Widesc...

I do plan on getting another monitor for a dual screen setup within a few months. I have noticed everyone talking about the different series from Nvidia but no one has really had any comments or mentions of the AMD Radeon HD7990 which is currently their flagship video card.

I know with this card a lot of people complain about the coil whine noise but other than that I was wondering if this card is not a good contender for future use and I know that ATI has claimed this particular card was running the Battlefield 4 gameplay demo that debut about 2 months ago.

How does the GTX780 stack up compared to the GTX Titan and the ATI Radeon HD7990?

Thank you.

 

[shovenose]

The Radeon HD 7990 is a joke. They're going to discontinue it soon anyway. Go for nVidia GTX 7xx series you will not be disappointed.

 

[newtekie1]

How does the GTX780 stack up compared to the GTX Titan and the ATI Radeon HD7990?

Pretty much all you need to know:

Again, I'd go with the GTX770. I just can't justify spending 60% more for 15% gain in performance. And, again, if the 2GB of VRAM scares you then spend $50 more and get a 4GB GTX770.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Current best bang for the buck IMO is GTX760 SLI.

for $500 you can get well beyond Titan performance.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonev...l-269-nvidia-gtx-760s-outperform-a-999-titan/

The only reason now to get a Titan over other cards like the 780 and below is if you need the double precision compute performance, other then that spending $1000 for just gaming is out of this world............but people do it.

 

[DigitalEdge]

Thanks for the feedback on everything. I only mentioned the Radeon HD7990 because in most benchmarks I have read and looked at it scored really high on games like BF3, Tomb Raider, Metro Last Light, and many others.

I may go with a GTX780 if thats the card thats the best and better than Titan. Any particular GTX780 anyone can recommend? I have heard rumors about an upcoming MSI GTX780 Lighting so should I wait on it or does it really not matter?

Any feedback to help me make a decision I would really appreciate it much!

 

[cadaveca]

I only mentioned the Radeon HD7990 because in most benchmarks I have read and looked at it scored really high on games like BF3, Tomb Raider, Metro Last Light, and many others.

The problem with the 7990, as admitted by AMD themselves, is that although FPS is reported in high numbers, many of those frames never get displayed on the screen, making the FPS reading inaccurate.

AMD is supposed to release a driver to fix this July 31st, but myself, I don't believe that they will. They said the same thing back in December, that a driver would come January, and when they failed to deliver, then it was march/april, and then they failed to deliver again...and it became July 31st.


Hard to have faith in them delivering under those circumstances.


MSI sent me a pair of GTX670's a while ago, and when compared to Crossfire, SLI is light-years ahead in the quality of it's rendering. So starting with a 780, and maybe adding a second if one is not enough for your needs, seems like a good plan.


When it comes to getting the most you can out of a GTX780, many "custom" cards rely on other parts to reach their max clocks. MSI gaming cards require an MSI gaming motherboard, ASUS DirectCUII cards plug into select ASUS motherboards, and EVGA cards use EVGA's EVBot. IF you aren't taking advantage of some of these features, then I feel simply buying the card with the highest clock, or buying the highest-clocked stock-cooled card, and watercooling it, are the best options.

NVidia cards automatically overclock themselves based on power consumption and heat, so what is reported in reviews may not be what you get in the end either, and if you look closely at the details of some reviews, you'll see "lower-clocked" cards performing better than higher-clocked ones...because of this automatic overclocking.

 

[WhiteLotus]

Matching card and board with the same manufacturer only good if you want to over clock? I had never heard of any reason to match before now.

 

[radrok]

Wait for the GTX 780 Lightning, you won't be disappointed.

It's gonna wreck the Titan so hard the card will hide itself in shame.

 

[d1nky]

Wait for the GTX 780 Lightning, you won't be disappointed.

It's gonna wreck the Titan so hard the card will hide itself in shame.

ha! and this is coming from a titan owner, legend!

depends how long you want to wait, AMD may have some competition towards the end of the year.

 

[cadaveca]

Matching card and board with the same manufacturer only good if you want to over clock? I had never heard of any reason to match before now.

I usually have a different perspective than most, don't I?



MSI:

MSI VGA Boost is one of MSI's exclusive ways to support gamers to fully engage in their virtual world.

VGA Boost increases the power limitations for MSI GAMING graphics cards when inserted in an MSI GAMING motherboard. It simply upgrades your Power Tuning and current limits allowing your graphics to boost to higher clock speeds when your gaming graphics get more intense and sustain maximum performance for a longer time.

This is all supported because of the power design for the PCI Express slots and the build quality of MSI Graphics cards. Now, matching MSI gaming hardware not only gives your game PC some fiery red dragon looks, your PC gaming experience will benefit from a safe and powerful boost in graphics.

http://game.msi.com/product/graphics-card/gaming-series


ASUS:

VGA Board points:

ASUS has placed three solder points for measuring and voltmodding on the back of the card.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_780_Direct_Cu_II_OC/4.html

Which connects to this board accessory on Z87:

or this area on ASUS ROG boards:

EVGA:

That would be called EVBOT...takes it to the moon

http://kingpincooling.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2347





That said, for advanced users, getting the most out of any card is possible if you have the know-how/experience, but for "average" users, the easiest way to get the most is to take advantage of said technologies.

 

[d1nky]

i like that asus do this hotwire, now that cards are being voltage locked. this looks an easier option than the drastic hardmod for voltage tweaking.

i want to try this on a 7970/CHVF or similar. little waterblock and have some fun.

(if its voltage locked that is)

@dave: edited like a ninja

 

[radrok]

Dave as far as I know you can drive up to 1.35v on the 780 classy without using EVBOT, that's only for going over 1.35v which is Phase/DICE/LN2 etc.

I'm fairly sure the 780 Lightning will get 1.35v too and more with the usual unlocked version of the Afterburner which you know where to get it

That being said 1.35v will be an advantage that will kill the Titan because the 780 already scales more in frequency with 1.212v so I wouldn't be surprised to see atleast 1350MHz overclocks on those cards and 1400+ on lucky binned cards.

 

[cadaveca]

Dave as far as I know you can drive up to 1.35v on the 780 classy without using EVBOT, that's only for going over 1.35v which is Phase/DICE/LN2 etc.

I'm fairly sure the 780 Lightning will get 1.35v too and more with the usual unlocked version of the Afterburner which you know where to get it

That being said 1.35v will be an advantage that will kill the Titan because the 780 already scales more in frequency with 1.212v so I wouldn't be surprised to see atleast 1350MHz overclocks on those cards and 1400+ on lucky binned cards.

Yeah, I am aware(obviously). But software can be nerfed by drivers(Vince indicated it shouldn't be an issue, in the linked thread). Seems that card also have the EVBot header, I'd rather rely on that device than software.

 

[Sempron Guy]

I agree with the the GTX 760s in SLI or if you can wait till the end of the month, AMD's runt frames issue could be fixed. The HD7950( oc'ed a bit ) in crossfire could also be a viable option.