how do you know what gpu to get ?

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ryu

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I dont usually play graphic intensive games on my desktop but want to buy Mortal Kombat X for the pc as well as dark souls 2 (also want to try dark souls 1) but dont think my current little gpu will handle those games. i have an old 9500gt but also have a new gt210 i bought just for media.

how do you guys go about buying graphics cards ? i just want something to handle those games but dont need anything fancy as I'm not a full time gamer i just want to try those games. i dont wanna spend over 1k if possible.

what do you guys suggest ?
 
The answer depends on a lot of things.

With graphics cards you get sweet spots and areas of diminishing returns. The answer also depends on how much you wanna spend and if your power supply can handle it.

So you're gonna have to tell us what power supply you have.

Regardless though, I'd recommend this for value for money:
http://www.wootware.co.za/powercolo...dr5-pci-express-3-0-256bit-graphics-card.html

You'll be able to use it for years and keep the games you mentioned at high settings depending on your CPU.

If you don't mind dropping the settings a bit you could look at:
http://www.wootware.co.za/powercolo...50x-pci-express-3-0-128bit-graphics-card.html

That's a lot more affordable.
 
holy cr@p thats expensive :wtf:

i have a 550w true power psu iirc

the second link looks a little more reasonable, I'm not a hard core gamer so spending 1k plus would be excessive
maybe i should just stick to the ps4 :p i though i could save a few bucks by going pc (games) with a cheap gpu but looks like that's not the case.
 
Tbh if your max budget is only 1k then don't even bother. Rather get the games on console (if you have one). If you want to get a decent card that's actually going to be running games in 6 months you need to aim for R1700 and higher (probably closer to 2k considering how weak the rand is vs the dollar). I have spent between R1600 and R1800 on all my graphics cards, and they usually play games for about 3-4 years (obviously not at the highest settings).

Currently have a HD7770 (spent about R1600 on it) that's only now starting to show its age. Had a 4850 before that (spent about R1800 on it). Can't remember what I had before that but I also spent about R1800 on it. Before that I had a baby nvidia that I spent R900 on and I was so bleak when games came out less than a year later that the card could barely run (even on low/medium settings).
 
You'll need a quad core or duo core that score close to 4000 on passmark.
Q8600 or G3258, early i5, gen3 and up i3.

Graphics card with 1Gig Ram that scores 2000+ on passmark
GTX550ti and HD6790

although you'll find most games aiming for recommended specs of a GTX660, in which case a GTX560 will also suffice.
With your budget I would look @ secondhand for GTX550ti or GTX560ti since those are 3 year old cards and thus more affordable.

Huge leaps can be made with another R1k though, I paid R1700 for my R9 270x secondhand, although you could get it for R2300 new.
 
I usually buy the 2nd best card available on the market at the time, that gives me a good few years of gaming.
 
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ryu said:
holy cr@p thats expensive :wtf:

i have a 550w true power psu iirc

the second link looks a little more reasonable, I'm not a hard core gamer so spending 1k plus would be excessive
maybe i should just stick to the ps4 :p i though i could save a few bucks by going pc (games) with a cheap gpu but looks like that's not the case.
Click to expand...

Of course you can save cash going pc games. Ever heard of Steam sales?

After just 3 or 4 games you've already made your money back.
 
PS4 games expensive as hell.
Then again I'm unable to afford any new game anymore.
 
Recommend specs for the games you listed is a gtx 660 so something in that neighbourhood is gonna be more than R1k UNLESS you go look on Carbonite and maybe strecth your budget a wee bit.
 
Just a question, isn't the on-board graphics of Intel HD 4600 and higher better than the GT210?
What processor are you running?

EDIT: Checking up on the GT210. Was released in October 2009. That card is nearing 6 years. Was never high-end to begin with as well.
 
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If you stick to 720p with medium settings, a Geforce GT730 with 1GB of GDDR5 RAM would be just enough for playable performance with most games. 1080p and medium settings requires, at least, a Geforce GTX 750 or Radeon R7 260X 1GB for the majority of titles. The GT210 card is still based on the Tesla architecture, so there haven't been performance improvements on that front for at least five years now, and the memory bandwidth is atrociously low.

The 9500GT is the faster card out of the two and the Intel HD4600 graphics is way faster than both.
 
The only reason to have those slow dedicated cards above the on-board would be for the HDMI.
But I tested the HD4600, and it's not enough for MK 9 nor Injustice (Game will be in slow motion). They run way too slow, and you have to run most games in windowed mode and on low.
 
I've seen 800 x 600 on Low work just fine for Injustice and it doesn't look half bad either. There's a very specific resolution limit at which point the game drops down to 30fps and that makes me think its engine-based and coming off the Xbox 360 port, not the Xbox One.
 
CataclysmZA said:
I've seen 800 x 600 on Low work just fine for Injustice and it doesn't look half bad either. There's a very specific resolution limit at which point the game drops down to 30fps and that makes me think its engine-based and coming off the Xbox 360 port, not the Xbox One.
Click to expand...

SVGA is so 80's :p

I can't see anyone wanting to play anything at that resolution (even as a nostalgic Amiga fan).
 
A very decent guide for me when shopping is Toms Hardwares Best Gaming Graphics for your money. Have a look at it, gives you pro's and cons of most cards with benchmarks and broken down into price brackets.
 
ryu said:
holy cr@p thats expensive :wtf:

i have a 550w true power psu iirc

the second link looks a little more reasonable, I'm not a hard core gamer so spending 1k plus would be excessive
maybe i should just stick to the ps4 :p i though i could save a few bucks by going pc (games) with a cheap gpu but looks like that's not the case.
Click to expand...

The 270X is a pretty ordinary card, and not expensive at all compared to other options. You can score crazy deals on Carbonite if you don't mind buying secondhand.

I spent around R3k on my graphics card when I joined PC gaming and within a month my disposable income felt increased. Console gaming is just crazy expensive.

Don't forget that most PC gamers don't upgrade their PC in one go. We usually upgrade individual components as we can.
 
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