Budget gaming video cards?

[DeeBye]

Google sucks for this sort of search. I value Lurker opinion more.

I'm looking at the ~$100ish range. The card it would be replacing is an AMD HD 6770. A short card would be a double-plus.

[LavCat]

I don't plan on another video card until someone makes a substantial die shrink. I'm hoping for this fall.

[Lissa]

If you're willing to pay about $130 CA after shipping, best I can come up with is:

R7770

Everything else up to that range is worse that what you have or only a very slight increase (maybe 1% to 2% faster than what you have).

[DeeBye]

If you're willing to pay about $130 CA after shipping, best I can come up with is:

R7770

Everything else up to that range is worse that what you have or only a very slight increase (maybe 1% to 2% faster than what you have).

Hmm, that's not a huge increase in performance. I suppose at the ~$100 price point I shouldn't be surprised. What would you suggest for a more sizable upgrade if I expanded the budget? I was also looking at the GTX 960 (too expensive, I think), and the GTX 750 Ti (more within the budget). I don't follow video card heirarchy like I used to, so I just don't know.

[Lissa]

How high are you willing to go, $150 CA? And does that include shipping?

[Belix]

If you go with the GTX 750 Ti, I would recommend the Gigabyte version which comes with their dual-fan Windforce cooler (hrmm, that name sounds familiar). I have a Gigabyte GTX 660 with this cooler on it and the card is amazingly cool and quiet, and I didn't have to hassle installing a cooler on it myself.

I didn't look through all the cards available in your price point, but if you're willing to spend up around there, the 750 looks like the only short card with a great price to performance mark at that price, and the option for Gigabyte's 750 Ti with that cooler already installed is just icing on the cake, imo.

Price point for the Gigabyte GeForce 750 Ti looks like $150 total right now.

[Thenryb]

I like the DeeBye threads since they always generate information I find useful as well. My rig is embarrassingly old, out of date and needs to be replaced. I currently use a GTX 650. I wonder if the GTX 750i would be a reasonable upgrade while I continue to dawdle about a replacement rig?

[DeeBye]

How high are you willing to go, $150 CA? And does that include shipping?

I guess it depends more on cost/performance upgrade than just cost. The absolute highest I would go might be $200, but that would be stretching it. If you could suggest something at the $150 and $200 points, that would be awesome. It would have to include tax+shipping.

If you go with the GTX 750 Ti, I would recommend the Gigabyte version which comes with their dual-fan Windforce cooler

I've heard very good things about the Gigabyte Windforce cards.

I like the DeeBye threads since they always generate information I find useful as well.

Aww, thanks for the compliment

[Thenryb]

Why the Gigabyte vs the 2GB?

[Belix]

Why the Gigabyte vs the 2GB?

Just to mitigate any potential confusion, Gigabyte is a brand name. Most of the GTX 750's and all of the GTX 750 Ti's I've seen so far have 2gb of video memory.

There is, however, a Gigabyte 1gb GTX 750 (no Ti) if you want to save about $30. Unless you intend to play some recent high end games at resolutions like 1920x1080, 1gb of video memory should be plenty for most games. The extra $30 for the 2gb Ti gets you slightly better performance, but for anyone intending to replace the whole system soon, that $30 is probably better spent towards the new computer later.

I think as a general rule I'd never pay more than $200 for a video card in recent years. At some point you're just paying twice as much for something only fractionally better than its half-priced alternatives.

[Lissa]

Here's a good choice for around $200. I don't know if Newegg Canada charges sales tax or not, but after shipping (without sales tax) it's ~$205 CA with a $20 rebate.

[Belix]

Since Gigabyte's Windforce cooler may be of potential interest to DeeBye, I'd like to offer this alternative in stock at Amazon.com:

Gigabyte Radeon R9 270, $159.99 & Free Shipping

[DeeBye]

Here's a good choice for around $200. I don't know if Newegg Canada charges sales tax or not, but after shipping (without sales tax) it's ~$205 CA with a $20 rebate.

Yeah, newegg.ca charges tax. That kind of kills it for me. It bumps the price up to over $230. I appreciate the effort you through to look for something, but I guess my son will have to stick with the HD 6770 for now.

Since Gigabyte's Windforce cooler may be of potential interest to DeeBye, I'd like to offer this alternative in stock at Amazon.com:

Gigabyte Radeon R9 270, $159.99 & Free Shipping

That's a great deal, but I live in Canada. The same card on Amazon.ca is $220 before tax.

[LennyLen]

That's a great deal, but I live in Canada. The same card on Amazon.ca is $220 before tax.

What about if you use a service like this: http://www.borderlinx.com/CA/en

[Aahzmadius]

I like the DeeBye threads since they always generate information I find useful as well. My rig is embarrassingly old, out of date and needs to be replaced. I currently use a GTX 650. I wonder if the GTX 750i would be a reasonable upgrade while I continue to dawdle about a replacement rig?

Once you get updated, look me up and we'll play some D3 hardcore-just like the old days of D2!

[DeeBye]

That's a great deal, but I live in Canada. The same card on Amazon.ca is $220 before tax.

What about if you use a service like this: http://www.borderlinx.com/CA/en

I could, but that just looks like too much effort. Plus, I still have to deal with the exchange rate - which right now is terrible. I think I'll just wait and lurk RedFlagDeals for something to pop up. The video card is for my son's computer, and I think he's okay with the 6770 for now. It runs the games he wants to play at a pretty decent framerate.

[Taem]

Hehe, did same with my boys... they always got the leftovers, but now that they both work, they have rigs that put mine to shame, but when you're a kid and have a couple thousand saved up, whats a $600+ dollar video card? Kids...

[LavCat]

Well, my frame rates in WoW have been hadal, even with no AA, so I could not wait any longer. I just ordered a Sapphire Radeon R9 Nano. The Sapphire Nano is listed as a pre-order on amazon. However I am most hopeful the card will actually ship tomorrow, 9/10, which is the official AMD release date.

This is to replace my current 6970 from 2010.

Admittedly the Nano is above DeeBye's $100 limit. But at least I am not paying over list -- unlike the poor people who want a Fury X.

[DeeBye]

I ended up buying a EVGA GTX 950 SC. Obviously it was way over my $100 CAD budget (it was about $230 CAD), but I like the benchmarks on review websites vs other budget cards. Certain AMD cards might be in the same ballpark, but I honestly hate the AMD Catalyst software so I wanted nVidia. It was tempting to just spend a few bucks more and get a GTX 960, but then you start on a downward slope that just leads to more money. You have to draw the line somewhere.

My initial views on the 950 are fairly positive. It's really quiet, but that might be due to the EVGA 2.0 ACX cooler and not a universal 950 thing. I literally can't hear it above the ambient noise.

My son is super happy with his new gaming machine, and that makes me happy.

[LavCat]

My new card should be delivered tomorrow, but not from amazon. They could not quote me delivery so I cancelled and purchased from newegg (where the price was higher).