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  1. #1

    Need a new video card

    So I am looking for a new video card. I currently have an AMD Radeon 7870. My budget is around $300 CAN. I can't decide on whether I should get AMD or Nvidia. Also, which specific video cards I need to choose, like for example, a GTX 1060 or a RX equivalent?

    EDIT: I forgot to mention what games I would play with the new card. I want to play WoW, SC2, D3, Minecraft and SWTOR on it on maxed settings and hopefully 60 fps on vsync. I don't like to play without vsync 'cause the FPS jumps up and down too much.
    Also, hopefully I can get an answer by tonight 'cause I have to order a SSD that's really cheap and its price will stay at the low price until tonight (Getting the Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB for $149.99 CAN).
    Last edited by Gaebryel Quintyne; 2017-07-05 at 04:34 PM.

  2. #2
    How long is this GPU supposed to last you? A month? 10 years?

    What're the rest of your specs?

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Blueobelisk View Post
    How long is this GPU supposed to last you? A month? 10 years?

    What're the rest of your specs?
    I would prefer the GPU last me for at least 3 years since it's 3 years or more now I have had the current video card. I think that's the amount of time most people change their video card, right?

    Here are my computer specs:

    Computer Case: -
    Corsair Carbide Series 500R Mid-Tower Gaming Case ATX 4X5.25 6X3.5INT USB 1394 No PS Black

    Motherboard: -
    ASRock Z77 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI SATA3 DVI HDMI USB3.0 Motherboard

    Processor: -
    Intel Core i5 3570K Unlocked Quad Core Processor LGA1155 3.4GHZ Ivy Bridge 6MB Retail

    Memory: -
    Corsair XMS3 CMX8GX3M2B1600C9 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit

    PSU: -
    Corsair Professional HX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply Active PFC 120mm Fan

    Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo Direct Touch 4 Heatpipe Heatsink AM2 AM3 LGA1366/1155/1156/2011 120MM
    http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=64385&promoid=1030

    Operating System: -
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT SP1 DVD OEM

    Optical Drive: -
    ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer OEM Black

    SSD Drive: -
    Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5in SATA3 MCX Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD

    SATA Drive: -
    Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

    Graphics Card: -
    Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 OC 1100MHZ 2GB 4.8GHZ GDDR5 DVI HDMI 2XMINIDP PCI-E Video Card

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Gaebryel Quintyne View Post
    I would prefer the GPU last me for at least 3 years since it's 3 years or more now I have had the current video card. I think that's the amount of time most people change their video card, right?
    It really depends on the person. I know some who upgrade every 2 years and some who upgrade closer to 6 years. Obviously, if you buy a 1080ti now, you'll keep it longer than if you bought a 1060 now, because in 3-4 years the 1080ti will still be playing stuff well and the 1060 will be struggling. That said, how long you intend to keep it and your current specs don't matter much. You have a $300CAD budget, so you get the best you can with that and then upgrade it when it starts to struggle. At that budget level your options are pretty much just the 3GB 1060 or the RX 580. Even at that though, they are pretty much right at your budget. I'd say go for the 580 if you can find one, but due to Etherium mining being a thing now, the RX cards can be pretty hard to find. If you can stretch your budget and get a 6GB 1060 that would probably be your best bet, but you should be fine for a few years on the 3GB 1060. Since those are pretty much right at your budget anyway, you could also step down to a 1050ti and will still be more than enough for the games you listed. I play all those games except WoW, at max settings, with my GTX960 and the 1050ti is more powerful than that, so you'll be fine.

  5. #5
    I just made a switch from a 7870 which died on me to a 1060 (3GB) and I've been very pleased. I can't speak to whether or not it will produce the framerates w/ vsync you're looking for but it is a noticeable upgrade from the 7870. It's also significantly cheaper than your budget which might let you look into upgrading the CPU which honestly could be holding you back in CPU heavy environments like WOW.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by kreationkin View Post
    I just made a switch from a 7870 which died on me to a 1060 (3GB) and I've been very pleased. I can't speak to whether or not it will produce the framerates w/ vsync you're looking for but it is a noticeable upgrade from the 7870. It's also significantly cheaper than your budget which might let you look into upgrading the CPU which honestly could be holding you back in CPU heavy environments like WOW.
    You must have missed the CAD part. The 3GB 1060 is pretty much right at or slightly over his budget in Canadian dollars.

  7. #7
    CAD are trading pretty even w/ USD at the moment so I take it that it's a matter of cost in Canada rather than his budget. I got my 1060 a month ago for $180 US which is ~230 CAD leaving him w/ some extra.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by kreationkin View Post
    CAD are trading pretty even w/ USD at the moment so I take it that it's a matter of cost in Canada rather than his budget. I got my 1060 a month ago for $180 US which is ~230 CAD leaving him w/ some extra.
    It's not even close to even at the moment. It's 1:1.3(Google USD to CAD if you do not believe me). I don't know what world you live in where a 30% difference is pretty even. Remind me to never take financial advice from you.

    In addition, yeah, they have more expensive shipping costs to get things to the stores there and I think they have a higher tax rate on electronic components. It's real easy though, just go to PCPartPicker and look at Canadian Prices like I did. You'll see the cheapest 3GB 1060 is $299.99.

    So as I said, it is right at his budget, for the cheapest one. Over his budget slightly if he goes with a better one.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by kreationkin View Post
    I got my 1060 a month ago for $180 US
    Damn yo. I got my 1060 3 GB for $241 (with tax) 2 weeks ago. And that's with a $30 rebate and a $30 discount for buying a MOBO, included into that price. Where'd you buy yours?

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Gaebryel Quintyne View Post
    So I am looking for a new video card. I currently have an AMD Radeon 7870. My budget is around $300 CAN. I can't decide on whether I should get AMD or Nvidia. Also, which specific video cards I need to choose, like for example, a GTX 1060 or a RX equivalent?

    EDIT: I forgot to mention what games I would play with the new card. I want to play WoW, SC2, D3, Minecraft and SWTOR on it on maxed settings and hopefully 60 fps on vsync. I don't like to play without vsync 'cause the FPS jumps up and down too much.
    Also, hopefully I can get an answer by tonight 'cause I have to order a SSD that's really cheap and its price will stay at the low price until tonight (Getting the Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB for $149.99 CAN).
    You will NOT get to to play max settings in wow with a $300 Gfx card. Even on the 2 rigs in my sig i cant play at full Max settings and always keep 60+ FPS. Wow is poorly optimized.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Moozart View Post
    You will NOT get to to play max settings in wow with a $300 Gfx card. Even on the 2 rigs in my sig i cant play at full Max settings and always keep 60+ FPS. Wow is poorly optimized.
    You can play at Max Setting with a 750ti. Yes, there are certain situations where anyone, no matter how good their PC, will drop below 60FPS. That's on your CPU though and really, unless you have a monitor that can display the frames past 60FPS, there will be no real noticeable difference in WoW between a 750ti and a 1080ti. However you look at it, cards within his budget like the 1050ti and the 3GB 1060 will be quite a bit better than his 7870.

  12. #12
    Scarab Lord Triggered Fridgekin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kreationkin View Post
    CAD are trading pretty even w/ USD at the moment so I take it that it's a matter of cost in Canada rather than his budget. I got my 1060 a month ago for $180 US which is ~230 CAD leaving him w/ some extra.
    I'd like to know where it's trading pretty even. As it stands the Canadian Dollar is only worth 77 American Cents and to further compound the issue the availability of mainstream graphics cards are spartan at best and significantly overpriced at worse. A 3GB 1060 carries a price of what a 6GB 1060 cost on release and 6GB 1060s are now either pushing or north of $400 CAD. Even the Zotac SFF models are $400 on Newegg.

    If you're in the market for a mainstream graphics card right now you're royally fucked because even if you decide to buy used on ebay, guess what, they've gone up as well. I could literally sell my 290x for more than I paid for it a year ago but then I'd be SoL in regards to the current market where even 1070s are reacting to the shift of the mainstream segment and are pushing $600.
    A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Gaebryel Quintyne View Post
    (Getting the Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB for $149.99 CAN).
    Isn't a $115 for a 250 GB SSD a lot? I paid $95 (with tax) for a 240 GB. (Which is $124.11 CAN.) Where are you buying your parts from?

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Blueobelisk View Post
    Isn't a $115 for a 250 GB SSD a lot? I paid $95 (with tax) for a 240 GB. (Which is $124.11 CAN.) Where are you buying your parts from?
    That's actually a great price for Canada. Looking at PCPartPicker and changing it to Canada, the cheapest 850 EVO I see is $138.75 from Vuugo.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Triggered Fridgekin View Post
    I'd like to know where it's trading pretty even. As it stands the Canadian Dollar is only worth 77 American Cents and to further compound the issue the availability of mainstream graphics cards are spartan at best and significantly overpriced at worse. A 3GB 1060 carries a price of what a 6GB 1060 cost on release and 6GB 1060s are now either pushing or north of $400 CAD. Even the Zotac SFF models are $400 on Newegg.

    If you're in the market for a mainstream graphics card right now you're royally fucked because even if you decide to buy used on ebay, guess what, they've gone up as well. I could literally sell my 290x for more than I paid for it a year ago but then I'd be SoL in regards to the current market where even 1070s are reacting to the shift of the mainstream segment and are pushing $600.
    Go directly to the manufacturers. EVGA still hasn't jacked their prices on cards up and have most of them in stock

    https://www.evga.com/products/produc...t=GTX+1060+3GB

  16. #16
    Scarab Lord Triggered Fridgekin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lathais View Post
    That's actually a great price for Canada. Looking at PCPartPicker and changing it to Canada, the cheapest 850 EVO I see is $138.75 from Vuugo.
    Vuugo is a truly awful site since pcparts doesn't take in to account that it'll backload much of the upfront savings on shipping costs. The 850 Evo will often drop down to $110 - $115 where most other SSDs of the same size will fall in to $90 - 100.
    A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Triggered Fridgekin View Post
    Vuugo is a truly awful site since pcparts doesn't take in to account that it'll backload much of the upfront savings on shipping costs. The 850 Evo will often drop down to $110 - $115 where most other SSDs of the same size will fall in to $90 - 100.
    Yeah, but my point still stands, $115 CAD for an SSD is not a lot, like the guy I quoted was trying to say.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Lathais View Post
    You can play at Max Setting with a 750ti. Yes, there are certain situations where anyone, no matter how good their PC, will drop below 60FPS. That's on your CPU though and really, unless you have a monitor that can display the frames past 60FPS, there will be no real noticeable difference in WoW between a 750ti and a 1080ti. However you look at it, cards within his budget like the 1050ti and the 3GB 1060 will be quite a bit better than his 7870.
    As someone who ALSO has a machine in the house with a 750ti in it I can attest that you are not going to get 60 FPS with ultra settings. I actually just walked into the living room where its hooked up and loaded wow to check. Thats also with a I7 4790k in that rig.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Lathais View Post
    Yeah, but my point still stands, $115 CAD for an SSD is not a lot, like the guy I quoted was trying to say.
    It's $115 in US for his SSD. He's paying 150 CAD.

  20. #20
    Scarab Lord Triggered Fridgekin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Moozart View Post
    Go directly to the manufacturers. EVGA still hasn't jacked their prices on cards up and have most of them in stock

    https://www.evga.com/products/produc...t=GTX+1060+3GB
    The problem with this is that it's an American retailer and, if it's anything like bhphotovideo which will ship to Canada, we're talking additional money sunk in to customs clearance which can cancel out any savings there may be while buying direct. The second problem is that they're out of stock.

    For Americans it's certainly a better option if even availability returns but us Canadians have to suffer a little especially when sites like NCIX impose their own special kind of asshole tax which further increases the end product markup.
    Last edited by Triggered Fridgekin; 2017-07-05 at 07:35 PM.
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