Graphics card upgrade opinion

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Psykro

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Hi all

Currently have the following gaming rig

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 - Black Edition CPU - 3.4Ghz Socket AM3
EVGA nVidia GeForce Graphics Card GTX460 Super Clocked - 768MB 192Bit GDDR5
Gigabyte 880GM-D2H – Socket AM3 Motherboard
Mushkin PC3-12800 DDR3 8GB Silverline Low-Voltage 2x4GB

Looking to upgrade the graphics card

In my price range the following two cards are available (I usually only buy from Takealot online)

http://www.takealot.com/computers/c...d-7770-gddr5-graphics-card-pci-e-3-0,12804083

http://www.takealot.com/computers/c...-650-gddr5-pci-e-3-0-graphics-ca-etc,27188590

Would appreciated comments/suggestions of the two.
 
NomNom said:
Would you be able to stretch for this? http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=20&products_id=10225

Also to consider: http://www.wootware.co.za/powercolo...cludes-1-free-game-amd-bronze-tier-12791.html
Click to expand...

Wouldnt get Rebeltech product, purely because I prefer to buy from local suppliers (live in CT).

Wootware one looks good and is in price range. (nice find)

Thanks, I wasnt sure if nvidia had won back the mid range market yet, last I checked AMD still had a firm hold....

I am assuming the fact that I have an AMD chip is also a good reason to get an AMD gfx card, or is this not the case ?
 
Last edited:
Psykro said:
Wouldnt get Rebeltech product, purely because I prefer to buy from local suppliers (live in CT).

Wootware one looks good and is in price range. (nice find)
Click to expand...

Here is the HD 7790 from Wootware: http://www.wootware.co.za/powercolo...ard-includes-1-free-game-amd-bronze-tier.html

Psykro said:
Thanks, I wasnt sure if nvidia had won back the mid range market yet, last I checked AMD still had a firm hold....

I am assuming the fact that I have an AMD chip is also a good reason to get an AMD gfx card, or is this not the case ?
Click to expand...

Yeah AMD still has the mid range market, though that could change soon with the 7 series.

No the pairing of AMD with AMD for extra speed is just a myth.
 
Last edited:
Cool, based on my current card, it looks like the 7770 wouldnt be much of an upgrade, only really the extra ram, but the 7790 would be better. Might go that route. thanks
 
Psykro said:
Hi all

Currently have the following gaming rig

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 - Black Edition CPU - 3.4Ghz Socket AM3
EVGA nVidia GeForce Graphics Card GTX460 Super Clocked - 768MB 192Bit GDDR5
Gigabyte 880GM-D2H – Socket AM3 Motherboard
Mushkin PC3-12800 DDR3 8GB Silverline Low-Voltage 2x4GB

Looking to upgrade the graphics card

In my price range the following two cards are available (I usually only buy from Takealot online)

http://www.takealot.com/computers/c...d-7770-gddr5-graphics-card-pci-e-3-0,12804083

http://www.takealot.com/computers/c...-650-gddr5-pci-e-3-0-graphics-ca-etc,27188590

Would appreciated comments/suggestions of the two.
Click to expand...

Rather get:
http://www.wootware.co.za/powercolo...ard-includes-1-free-game-amd-bronze-tier.html
 
As above itf you can stretch the cash the 7790 is a good buy. Otherwise the 7770 is a good match to your rig.
 
Thanks, my budget is limited to not much more than 1500 so I could probably stretch to the 7790.
 
Chiming in here, the HD7790 is definitely recommended, its a much better card than the HD7770.

Psykro said:
I am assuming the fact that I have an AMD chip is also a good reason to get an AMD gfx card, or is this not the case ?
Click to expand...

Not really. The only benefit you get is a warm feeling in that part that us OCD PC guys get when things match and the fact that driver updates for both your board and GPU will be available inside a single file from a single company.
 
NAG - Wesley said:
Chiming in here, the HD7790 is definitely recommended, its a much better card than the HD7770.



Not really. The only benefit you get is a warm feeling in that part that us OCD PC guys get when things match and the fact that driver updates for both your board and GPU will be available inside a single file from a single company.
Click to expand...

lol, nice one.

Thanks for the advice, however it would appear that I wont be able to upgrade, as my mobo might not support the card.......
 
Psykro said:
lol, nice one.

Thanks for the advice, however it would appear that I wont be able to upgrade, as my mobo might not support the card.......
Click to expand...

It does support it. PCI-E 3.0 graphics cards are backward compatible with PCI-E 2.0 slots. You won't notice a difference as graphics cards don't fully utilize the bandwidth of PCI-E 3.0, especially since the HD 7790 is a mid range card.
 
NomNom said:
It does support it. PCI-E 3.0 graphics cards are backward compatible with PCI-E 2.0 slots. You won't notice a difference as graphics cards don't fully utilize the bandwidth of PCI-E 3.0, especially since the HD 7790 is a mid range card.
Click to expand...

According to the support staff at Wootware

however the main issue might be whether your motherboard is compatible with the newer UEFI Bios of the Powercolor card. Some motherboards require a bios update before the graphics card will work. If the motherboard is too old though, and there hasn't been a new bios released in the last 1.5-2 years, then the motherboard mostly likely won't be compatible.
Click to expand...

I checked my board and it hasn't had a bios update since 2010
 
Psykro said:
According to the support staff at Wootware
I checked my board and it hasn't had a bios update since 2010
Click to expand...

I just checked now if there is a BIOS update or not for your board and there is one but it's not GPU related, strange I was under the impression that it would be compatible as long as you updated the BIOS if it needed an update.

It could also mean that your board doesn't need a BIOS update to run the card.

Maybe you should contact Gigabyte and ask if there will be a problem, also contact Wootware and ask what they think.
 
Psykro said:
lol, nice one.

Thanks for the advice, however it would appear that I wont be able to upgrade, as my mobo might not support the card.......
Click to expand...

What you smoking?

Anything that can support the 460 can support the 7790.
 
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