Best PCIe Card For ~£290
Radeon HD 7970
Great 2560x1600 performance
| Radeon HD 7970 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Tahiti |
| Process: | 28 nm |
| Unified Shaders: | 2048 |
| Texture Units: | 128 |
| ROPs: | 32 |
| Memory Bus: | 384-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 925 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1,375 (5,500 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11.1/SM 5 |
| Max TDP: | 250 W |
The Radeon HD 7970 started its life as a £450+ flagship. Hammered all the way down to £290 over time, this powerful product is now our value pick for high-resolution gaming. It's easily able to handle 1920x1080, and is typically still playable at 2560x1440 and higher if you're using a three-screen Eyefinity setup.
Best PCIe Card For ~£330:
GeForce GTX 770
Great 2560x1600 performance
| GeForce GTX 770 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | GK104 |
| Process: | 28 nm |
| Unified Shaders: | 1536 |
| Texture Units: | 128 |
| ROPs: | 32 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed (Turbo) MHz: | 1046 (1085) |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1752 (7008 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5 |
| Max TDP: | 230 W |
The 770 might be a new model, but it's basically a GeForce GTX 680 with higher clock rates, improved cooling, and a lower price tag. We're not big fans of re-spinning existing hardware with fresh nomenclature, but the GeForce GTX 770 earns our respect for delivering very high performance at a reasonable price point (in this case, £330). What you'll spend over a HD 7970 is justified, we think.
Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 770 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
Wonder when prices will come down to Earth.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=1914&subid=2294
(Really hope this doesn't get me the bannhammer)
Proposed system:
AMD X4 740 (four cores and 65 watts for only $80!)
Motherboard (is there much difference in power draw between brands?)
8GB Corsair Ballistix Memory
Samsung 840 SSD 500GB
Asus GTX650-E-2GD5 (only about 65 watts!)
Rosewell 80 plus Gold PSU
All told this system will max out at 200 watts, or so that is the estimate. Any recommendations?
Thanks,
Newbie Eric