Recently, I've been having some major issues with my Radeon 7870 graphics card and have decided its time to invest in a new card. I am very out of the loop with Nvidia's technology but I don't want that to stop me from buying a good card should an Nvidia one prove better. I had been looking at the difference's between a GTX 770 and the AMD R9 280X but I am by no means settled on any one card in particular just yet.
I really only play FFXIV right now but I want this game to run on MAX, and look great! I would like to stay in the $300 price range if possible, if you could share your experiences with some higher end cards in that range I'd appreciate it!
My current specs are:
Windows 7 64-bit
i5-3570K CPU
8GB DDR3 RAM
Radeon 7870 GPU (on the fritz)
{Help me out!} graphics card debate...
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06-30-2014, 08:09 AMVespar{Help me out!} graphics card debate...
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06-30-2014, 08:14 AMRosy
I just bought (a couple of months ago) a computer with a GTX 770...it's awesome, runs much better than my GTX 690 EVER did, max on everything, even in raids, smooth as silk, cool as a cucumber, in fact my computer is like an air conditioner now and this one doesn't even have water cooling like the last one which used to keep the whole house heated. So yeah, I'm very impressed with the GTX 770.
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06-30-2014, 08:19 AMRaist
Don't use XIV as a determining factor for your purchase... until it moves away from DX9 and into DX11, it won't matter too much once you reach a certain level of hardware. You may have already plateaued somewhat. With it's current engine, people can get acceptable results out of 5 year old hardware... just saying, you may be going into overkill if you use the current XIV as a deciding factor for a new GPU.
Google for benchmark comparisons on the other games you are interested in, or at least compare scores for something like Crysis 3 and such. Something like this article perhaps:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ming,3451.html
Passmark posts scores from their benchmarks as well that can help you narrow down the field a bit too:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ -
06-30-2014, 08:31 AMskaterger
I personally use a Gigabyte Windforce R9 280X. It comes OC out of the box so you don't have to do it if you're not into that kind of thing. So far it works great but can get a little noisy at times if working at full load. That was 6 months ago so many new cards might have come out during that time. I also heard the R9 290 that came out shortly after 280X is a better value for its buck. You might want to look into that.
Also, consider that the general consensus seems to be that Nvidia seems to give better performance than AMD while AMD is priced more competitively. You might want to take that into account. Good luck! -
06-30-2014, 08:45 AMVesparFFXIV isnt the only game I will be playing, its just the one I'm playing the most right now so I want it to look good. Thanks for posting this chart I had seen it before the last time I was in the market for a card but couldn't remember where I'd seen it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raist
After reading through the charts and weighing price options, I'm starting to look a little more closely at the GTX 770. Is a 2GB card enough @ 1080p or should I spend the extra money and get a 4GB version? -
06-30-2014, 10:35 AMNaraku_Diabolos
I can run the game on max on my GeForce 760 GTX Ti card. Of course it came with the Alienware when I bought it, so it's an OEM card. I would probably upgrade it in several years but there isn't any need right now since I only play this game. Either the 760 card would be good for you or even the 770. My card runs the game flawlessly and I have no issues. I only had an issue in Gridania today, but that was because there were so many people in the city lol
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06-30-2014, 10:46 AMscarebearz
I recently went from a 560TI to a R9 280x, for this game I notice no difference at all playing with almost everything maxed at 1080p
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06-30-2014, 11:10 AMOoshimaFor FFXIV wise there is quite a few complaints on Nvidia drivers not working properly with FFXIV thou.Quote:
Originally Posted by skaterger
The R9 290 received a lot of attention it is on the same league as the GTX 780 but costing much lesser. I owned the Gigabyte Windforce R9 290 OC. Runs smoothly on 1440p resolution at max settings. -
06-30-2014, 11:43 AMJudge_Xero
You wont get much better performance from a card higher than your 7870 if you are running 1080p.
Might be worth sorting out what's going on with your card before spending some $$$
Could be as simple as changing a setting or swapping drivers.
Haven't heard of many issues with 7870 cards other than XFX. But they have a lifetime warranty anyways. -
06-30-2014, 11:54 AMskatergerYeah I remember the r9 290 coming out a few days after I bought the 280x. It seemed to hit a sweet spot between price point versus performance on benchmark tests. Was pretty bummed about it. But I guess that's how it goes with technology, always something new to replace the old, kinda like chasing the carrot in mmos really :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Ooshima
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06-30-2014, 12:56 PMOoshimaWell indeed there are a lot of new releases these days and how things get replaces are getting faster and faster, but price point versus performance is something more and more people are going to look at. Just like Titan Black and Titan Z. High benchmark scores, but when you look at the price and do the math about performance/bucks... you know the answer :pQuote:
Originally Posted by skaterger
Things like R9 290 are gems that happened once in a while imo :p -
06-30-2014, 01:21 PMskatergerOkay I swear now you're purposely tempting me to upgrade or crossfire. Need....to.... control....Quote:
Originally Posted by Ooshima
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06-30-2014, 01:24 PMDestinova
What kind of problems are you having? I would first try to roll back my drivers if you havent. The GeForce drivers was causing the game to black out for 2-5 seconds for me till I took them back. That card should be good enough to run at full. If the drivers roll back doesn't work check your ram. Remove all but one then swap them out. It could even.be your psu that's causing the problems. I want to but refuse to waste money on anything new till the dx11 version comes out and who knows when that's going to be :-(.
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06-30-2014, 03:46 PMtOnni3
Since it is about 7870, may I ask some question here.
I also using 7870, I can set graphic to maximum and run 60 fps just fine in dungoen.
But when in crowd or in open map, fps drop to 20-40 fps.
Just change to SSD recently, it helps to load map in open map smoothly but still not improve fps.
My spec is
CPU : FX4100
VGA : HD7870
Ram : 4GB DDR
SSD : Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB
PS, I am using 40" LED TV as a monitor, not sure if it is effect on performance of VGA.
I am guessing I should upgrade CPU, will it help ? -
06-30-2014, 03:50 PMOoshimaLOL I'm tempted to crossfire myself since I am running on 3 monitors, 1x 1440p and 2x 1080p. Single 290 seems sufficient for now but might want some future buffer in case I drop the 2 1080p for the same model of 1440p and do some eyefinity :pQuote:
Originally Posted by skaterger
Too bad FFXIV doesn't support crossfire/SLI as of now. -
06-30-2014, 03:56 PMOoshimaYeap, FFXIV uses a fair bit of CPU performace, your current CPU based on Passmark scores is lower than the first generation i7 intel processor, so you might want to upgrade them.Quote:
Originally Posted by tOnni3
8GB of RAM might be good too.
The size of your monitor doesn't matter. 40" 1080p makes no difference from 24'' 1080p -
06-30-2014, 05:06 PMtOnni3
eh..sry, RAM is 8GB actually, but I think it is because CPU as you said.
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06-30-2014, 05:08 PMJaykosI'm using 2 7950's with 3 1080p monitors for FF14 and I can tell you I get 100% usage for both cards and much higher performance when I enable crossfire.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ooshima
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06-30-2014, 05:14 PMSove92
I'm using GTX 660 and can run the game 1080p, the CPU is more the bottleneck here, but changing it requires a new motherboard as well.
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06-30-2014, 08:23 PMJudge_XeroYou can try overclocking that CPU if you haven't yet. All the AMD FX CPUs are unlocked. 4.5Ghz would be good.Quote:
Originally Posted by tOnni3
The 8320 would be a good upgrade though as FFXIV will use all 8 Cores -
07-01-2014, 12:05 AMraelgun
right, to the OP, those cards are actually roughly the same in performance, they really go back and forth by like 5% at best, however if your from NA, the 770, reason, nvidia should be cheaper for you in NA then the equivalent AMD cards due to the bitcoin mining causing AMD prices to go up. If they are the same price, well imo doesnt matter though the 770 does run cooler so that should keep your system quieter.
To tOnni3, looking at your specs, you say you get 60 FPS in dungeons and less else where like 20-30 FPS in crowded areas, well this is normal, and nothing can be done about it until they develop the game to utilise 2 + cores better, people with 6 core intel extremes dont get any better FPS.
My system specs
I5 3570 K at 4.4 GHz, and 8 GB of ram and a Nvidia 780, in CT I can keep 60 FPS, in peak times in rev toll, drops to around 40 FPS give or take 5 FPS, this is normal.
some parts
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-S...rds=nvidia+770
if thats too much, then the next model down
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperCloc...4141249&sr=1-2
from AMD camp
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-C...4141270&sr=1-6
personally go for nvidia at this price range, cos EVGA have a very good warranty. -
07-01-2014, 12:31 AMMachaMaeve
I have 2x GTX 760 FTW's in SLI and they run great at 2560x1080 on max settings. They are quiet too for being two cards.
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07-01-2014, 12:51 AMKyanaJust check your CPU load while playing.Quote:
Originally Posted by tOnni3
If your CPU runs at constant ~80% load, a new CPU might improve your performance.
You can also check your GPU load. If it hits 95-100% this is your limiting factor.
@ OP
I'm running the game on a Palit Jetstream GTX 660TI and on a backup machine on a MSI Hawk R9 270X.
Both cards perform very well without any noticaple fps loss in any fights (70-90fps is normal).
The only areas where fps rate drops to ~40-50 is in very crowded places like near marketplace boards in Limsa.
I'm not a fan of getting the newest GPUs anymore. Their price of high end cards doesn't reflect the increased performance compared to mid range cards.
GPU generations change quite fast.
I find it alot cheaper to stay in the mid range class and upgrade with every new generation, than spending double or even tripple the money on an actual high end card.
My opinion. -
07-01-2014, 01:05 AMraelgun
tOnni3 wont get any more performance in crowded areas, this is something everyone experiences and its by coding, crowded areas will always dip the performance no matter what cpu you have or rather, no matter how powerful the CPU is, the only way to get any more gains is more clock speeds from this point, rendering the data fast as possible, but we are talking about speeds that arent reachable by conventional means.
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07-01-2014, 04:35 AMOoshimaWhat you are doing is enabling the 2nd GPU for enough VRAM for your 3 monitor eyeinfinity?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaykos
If single monitor, crossfire or not doesn't make a diff. -
07-01-2014, 05:20 AMVespar
For those of you that were curious, Ive been having a lot of artifacts start showing up in some games, and in XIV specifically I've been having scenery and monsters not load which either lags me out or crashes the game. Its been an ongoing issue for about 1.5 months but I noticed it is getting worse. I've tried different drivers, rolling back to old ones, new ones and even beta ones to no avail. I even reinstalled XIV and other games and when that didn't fix it I reinstalled windows just to test it out as well.
Last night I swapped my husband's Radeon 7950 card in and tried out a few games and it seems to work just fine. So, Im thinking the real issue here is my card.
After some research, I've decided to order a Nvidia 770. It may not boost performance as much as I'd like to go right now, but its one of the few cards I can afford right now.