Graphics Card Decision

KittyKat8103

Hi everyone,
I'm trying to figure out which dedicated graphics card to get for my computer, I of course would like to play Sims 3 on high settings, and have it run smoothly. My computer is an AMD Quad-Core A10-6700 processor 3.7GHz (with Turbo CORE up to 4.3GHz), AMD Radeon HD 8670D graphics, 8GB RAM (DDR3), 4MB L2 cache, 1TB hard drive with Windows 8.1 64-bit. I currently have 8 EP/SPs installed with the settings pretty high already and the game plays pretty well, I'll experience some lag here and there. I would like to add more EP/SPs to it too. I've been looking at the GeForce GTX 650 Ti, GeForce GTX 750 Ti, and the Radeon R9 270. Can anyone tell me which card would be the better choice? Thank you!

SungFishy

The R9 270 is the strongest out of those three. However if you want to save energy then get the 750 ti, since it only consumes 60 watts. How much watts is your power supply? If you play TS3 on high with the integrated 8670D, you may risk burning the chipset

KittyKat8103

Thank you for the response. That is one thing I'm not sure of. I went to the manufacture website and looked up my model, it says 350W peak, but I'll open it up and look at it tomorrow to be sure.

SungFishy

It is recommended you check the power supply requirement of each card before deciding.

KittyKat8103

Ok, thank you!

chesterbigbird

If you only have 350 watt then you will need to upgrade the power supply.. something like 500 or more watts.
You also have to make sure that a new card will fit in the case.

CodySimstein

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

Thank you for the response. That is one thing I'm not sure of. I went to the manufacture website and looked up my model, it says 350W peak, but I'll open it up and look at it tomorrow to be sure.

I'll await confirmation, but out of all the three you mentioned, I think only the GTX 750 Ti has the power efficiency to work with a 350W power supply (NVIDIA suggests a 300W minimum PSU), but it may be pushing the power supply too far, especially if its not a good manufacturer.

Cody

Garnet_Alexandria

There's generally little reason to consider the GeForce GTX 650 Ti among the other two (unless it's vastly cheaper, and I admittedly haven't watched prices much lately). The Radeon R9 270 is a bit faster than the GeForce GTX 750 Ti, but if you factor in a PSU upgrade, that'll make it more expensive as well. Chances are, the Radeon R9 270 may even work fine on your existing PSU, but the GeForce GTX 750 Ti will for sure, and be about as fast (and for The Sims, you probably won't notice the difference between those three anyhow, but you may in other games). I'd say the GeForce GTX 750 Ti is probably the best bet.

CraziiMiku

I have the r9 270 and it plays fine with minmal lag. I have around 4gb of cc and mods. My processor is an amd fx 4130 3.8ghz, 16 GB ram and windows 8.1.

KittyKat8103

CodySimstein wrote: »

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

Thank you for the response. That is one thing I'm not sure of. I went to the manufacture website and looked up my model, it says 350W peak, but I'll open it up and look at it tomorrow to be sure.

I'll await confirmation, but out of all the three you mentioned, I think only the GTX 750 Ti has the power efficiency to work with a 350W power supply (NVIDIA suggests a 300W minimum PSU), but it may be pushing the power supply too far, especially if its not a good manufacturer.

Cody

It is 350, my manufacturer is Asus. Either way I'm thinking of upgrading it. Are there any brands I should stay away from?

Thank you everyone for the info, I appreciate it!

CodySimstein

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

CodySimstein wrote: »

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

Thank you for the response. That is one thing I'm not sure of. I went to the manufacture website and looked up my model, it says 350W peak, but I'll open it up and look at it tomorrow to be sure.

I'll await confirmation, but out of all the three you mentioned, I think only the GTX 750 Ti has the power efficiency to work with a 350W power supply (NVIDIA suggests a 300W minimum PSU), but it may be pushing the power supply too far, especially if its not a good manufacturer.

Cody

It is 350, my manufacturer is Asus. Either way I'm thinking of upgrading it. Are there any brands I should stay away from?

Thank you everyone for the info, I appreciate it!

Well I know some great brands to choose from - Seasonic, Corsair, XFX, EVGA, Superflower, Enermax. Any of these usually make good PSUs, but even then, not all of their models are consistent, so I would check with me or someone else before buying.

I would suggest getting at least a 500W power supply, so that it can last for multiple builds. Try and get 80+ Bronze as a bare minimum, but I can recommend 80+ Gold if your budget stretches that far. A modular power supply is also suggested to avoid too much cable clutter, but not essential.

I hope this helps,

Cody

KittyKat8103

CodySimstein wrote: »

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

CodySimstein wrote: »

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

Thank you for the response. That is one thing I'm not sure of. I went to the manufacture website and looked up my model, it says 350W peak, but I'll open it up and look at it tomorrow to be sure.

I'll await confirmation, but out of all the three you mentioned, I think only the GTX 750 Ti has the power efficiency to work with a 350W power supply (NVIDIA suggests a 300W minimum PSU), but it may be pushing the power supply too far, especially if its not a good manufacturer.

Cody

It is 350, my manufacturer is Asus. Either way I'm thinking of upgrading it. Are there any brands I should stay away from?

Thank you everyone for the info, I appreciate it!

Well I know some great brands to choose from - Seasonic, Corsair, XFX, EVGA, Superflower, Enermax. Any of these usually make good PSUs, but even then, not all of their models are consistent, so I would check with me or someone else before buying.

I would suggest getting at least a 500W power supply, so that it can last for multiple builds. Try and get 80+ Bronze as a bare minimum, but I can recommend 80+ Gold if your budget stretches that far. A modular power supply is also suggested to avoid too much cable clutter, but not essential.

I hope this helps,

Cody

Huge help! Thank you! Since I have to get a card I will have to go with the bronze, at least for now. I'm looking at the EVGA 500B 80+ Bronze 500W, model # 100-B1-0500-KR.

Edit: Lol it hashtagged

CodySimstein

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

CodySimstein wrote: »

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

CodySimstein wrote: »

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

Thank you for the response. That is one thing I'm not sure of. I went to the manufacture website and looked up my model, it says 350W peak, but I'll open it up and look at it tomorrow to be sure.

I'll await confirmation, but out of all the three you mentioned, I think only the GTX 750 Ti has the power efficiency to work with a 350W power supply (NVIDIA suggests a 300W minimum PSU), but it may be pushing the power supply too far, especially if its not a good manufacturer.

Cody

It is 350, my manufacturer is Asus. Either way I'm thinking of upgrading it. Are there any brands I should stay away from?

Thank you everyone for the info, I appreciate it!

Well I know some great brands to choose from - Seasonic, Corsair, XFX, EVGA, Superflower, Enermax. Any of these usually make good PSUs, but even then, not all of their models are consistent, so I would check with me or someone else before buying.

I would suggest getting at least a 500W power supply, so that it can last for multiple builds. Try and get 80+ Bronze as a bare minimum, but I can recommend 80+ Gold if your budget stretches that far. A modular power supply is also suggested to avoid too much cable clutter, but not essential.

I hope this helps,

Cody

Huge help! Thank you! Since I have to get a card I will have to go with the bronze, at least for now. I'm looking at the EVGA 500B 80+ Bronze 500W, model # 100-B1-0500-KR.

Edit: Lol it hashtagged

That is a pretty good choice, especially considering the price of it. I mean its not top end - it can be pretty noisy, and wouldn't support Haswell sleep states, but maybe this matters less than being able to play Sims 4. I would say go for it.

Any more questions?

Cody

KittyKat8103

Haswell sleep states? Is that just Intel? I'm AMD. Also, how can I tell if it's going to work with my motherboard? Or are they all pretty universal?

chesterbigbird

I'll agree with corsair and seasonic being the top in power supplies.. also expensive lol.
But I will add antec and a few of the coolermasters and Thermaltakes are also good.
I have had 3 antecs.. never had a thing go wrong, has survived upgrades and even a faulty motherboard blow up.
I have the true power antec at the moment and I have heard they are from seasonic.

CodySimstein

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

Haswell sleep states? Is that just Intel? I'm AMD. Also, how can I tell if it's going to work with my motherboard? Or are they all pretty universal?

Just ignore me - I get more interested in techie stuff that's irrelevant for most people. Haswell sleep states is an Intel thing, its just I was thinking about if you upgraded to an Intel CPU in the future (the power supply should last a long time).

A power supply will work with any current motherboard - the computing industry has become standardised now, so that its easier to find good combinations of parts.

Go with the EVGA.

Cody

KittyKat8103

CodySimstein wrote: »

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

Haswell sleep states? Is that just Intel? I'm AMD. Also, how can I tell if it's going to work with my motherboard? Or are they all pretty universal?

Just ignore me - I get more interested in techie stuff that's irrelevant for most people. Haswell sleep states is an Intel thing, its just I was thinking about if you upgraded to an Intel CPU in the future (the power supply should last a long time).

A power supply will work with any current motherboard - the computing industry has become standardised now, so that its easier to find good combinations of parts.

Go with the EVGA.

Cody

Lol, it's all right, it's still good to know . I went with the 600w. Same thing, EVGA 80+ bronze. Now just need to officially decide on the card.

Thank you everyone for the help!

chesterbigbird

May I suggest this card :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125443
It's better than the 750ti.

CodySimstein

chesterbigbird wrote: »

May I suggest this card :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125443
It's better than the 750ti.

A good card. But the GTX 750 Ti can still handle Ultra settings, and is more power efficient. I don't think you'd see much performance difference between the two cards, but the 750 Ti would be a tad cheaper for your power bill... Up to you @KittyKat8103

I hope this helps and keep simming,

Cody

KittyKat8103

I have a couple of weeks before making my final decision, I'll let you know what I go with . Thank you again, you've been such a great help!

Oh what about brands for the card? I've originally been looking at the EVGA.

chesterbigbird

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

I have a couple of weeks before making my final decision, I'll let you know what I go with . Thank you again, you've been such a great help!

Oh what about brands for the card? I've originally been looking at the EVGA.

Gigabyte are great.. mine stays icy cold

CodySimstein

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

I have a couple of weeks before making my final decision, I'll let you know what I go with . Thank you again, you've been such a great help!

Oh what about brands for the card? I've originally been looking at the EVGA.

MSI's Twin Frozr IV cards (often branded 'Gaming Edition') are excellently cool and extremely quiet. However, EVGA tends to be a bit more suited for most rigs due to its stealthy colour scheme, as opposed to MSI's red and black one. The good manufacturers for NVIDIA ones are usually ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte or MSI.

I hope this helps and keep simming,

Cody

KittyKat8103

Thank you guys!

KittyKat8103

Ok, update... I did go with the EVGA. Things ended up taking even longer, I couldn't get it to install. The monitor wouldn't pick up a signal from the card. Went through EVGA tech support, they said it was compatible with both the power supply and my motherboard. Asus said it sounded like something was wrong with my motherboard and wanted me to send it in. Nuh uh... instead we took back both the power supply and the graphics card and exchanged them for new ones. The new one installed with no problems. So obviously one of them was faulty. I'm betting on the graphics card. Anyways, YAY! Finally! Lol... thanks again guys for the help!

CodySimstein

KittyKat8103 wrote: »

Ok, update... I did go with the EVGA. Things ended up taking even longer, I couldn't get it to install. The monitor wouldn't pick up a signal from the card. Went through EVGA tech support, they said it was compatible with both the power supply and my motherboard. Asus said it sounded like something was wrong with my motherboard and wanted me to send it in. Nuh uh... instead we took back both the power supply and the graphics card and exchanged them for new ones. The new one installed with no problems. So obviously one of them was faulty. I'm betting on the graphics card. Anyways, YAY! Finally! Lol... thanks again guys for the help!

I'm glad everything's working now.

Happy simming!

Cody