PC Gaming & graphics card advice

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Tajmaster

Tajmaster

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Hi all,

Im not a PC gamer anymore (Star Trek Voyager Elite Force was big last time I was into PC Gaming! :lol: ) but recently Ive been asked to build gaming rigs. I dont keep up with the graphics card side of things so find all the models confusing.
Can anyone tell me if this is an OK "entry level" gaming card (and I really mean entry level, so I can dip my toes in the water):

Asus NVIDIA GeForce GT 630 2GB Graphics Card

http://www.cclonline.com/product/12...idia-GeForce-GT630-2GB-PCIE-DVI-HDMI/VGA1838/

And is that card better than an AMD Radeon 6450 1GB?

Is there a good website that compares graphics cards?

Also, I understand this thing called Steam is how a lot of people get their games. Last I heard this was a system hog. Is that still the case? Can you switch it off completely when you are not playing games?

Im not sure yet as to whether I will get back into PC gaming but I would like to know answers to the above questions to help make a decision :)
 
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Hiya,

My personal opinion is that no matter which series of cards you go for (and since you mentioned the GT 630; in Nvidia's case, the series would be 500/600/700), I always go for at least the mid range of the cards, as the low ends never work out as good value when looking at their performance.

Therefore the best advice I would give is to always try and hit something midrange, like the 650/660 which shouldn't set you back an astronomical amount more but will offer much more noticeable bang for buck when gaming. The 630 will certainly run some games, but will struggle with anything that becomes even slightly demanding. I've been doing this ever since the Geforce 2 and can honestly say it's always worked out well, getting many years of gaming out of the card before being forced to upgrade by the games requirements. Nowadays I'm in a better position to go for the top end cards, but if budget was an issue I'd go back to my mantra of mid-high range card buying, even if it meant saving.

Secondly, relating to Steam; I'm not a massive fan of Steam for the very reasons you mentioned - it used to be old and clunky and annoying, but I have to say it's a lot better now... the games install easier and run smoothly with the right kit. You'll struggle to turn it off totally, as some of the games integrate with it heavily, but it doesn't seem to hog the resources in the background anymore... the most annoying thing I experience is simply the In-Game Steam control/achievements bar that sometimes pops up in the game.

I cannot comment with much authority on the Radeons, since I always avoid them due to always getting annoyed at their drivers issues... the Nvidia cards always install smoothly in my experience, so even when AMD pull ahead slightly for a while in like for like cards, I stick with Nvidia. To be fair though other PC gamers have great experiences with the AMD cards and on review sites, many times the Radeon will outperform the equivalent Nvidia card on certain games (there are a few games that AMD always seem to score better on).

I would recommend looking at the reviews on Hexus and other technology sites, and google "x card vs x card" to find where some have directly compared cards against each other.
 
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i would say the 660 760 too i have both and work great with any game out there the 660 is cheaper now though
nvidia

http://www.ebuyer.com/487041-msi-nv...b-192-bit-ddr5-fan-dl-dvi-i-hdmi-n660-2gd5-oc

or amd

http://www.ebuyer.com/390924-sapphi...-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-11200-06-20g

also make sure you have at least a500w decent brand psu

non modular

http://www.ebuyer.com/278634-corsair-500w-cx-v2-psu-cmpsu-500cxv2uk

modular means you can remove the wires you dont need :)

http://www.ebuyer.com/429986-corsair-cx-series-cx500m-atx-power-supply-cp-9020059-uk
 
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Hi,

presently AMD offers the better price/value relationship it seems.

A lot of fanboy discussion arounf that, you can replace AMD and nVidia with Commodore/Atari, Apple/IBM, SCSI/IDE, ... you name it.

Been a long term nVidia user, and switched to AMD with my last build.

So that's my impression here.

As a start, i consider tomshardware.com (e.g. http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/graphics-cards,1.html) o.k. to begin with.

Cheers,
McT
 
Thanks for all your help guys, interesting reading.

My main reason for asking specifically about the 630 is that its cheap enough for me to buy and try out a few games, from what you guys have said I think it might be worth buying one.

Theres a version with 128bit memory bandwidth for £48, I guess I would be better going for that?
 
johnim said:
hi taj what games will they be playing
Click to expand...

Its for my girlfriends son, I think he said Battlefield? He asked about a gaming PC a couple of weeks ago and its gone quiet since (which is how she wants it!LOL), but I wanted to ask out of interest and in case he asks again.

---------- Post added at 11:14 ---------- Previous post was at 11:11 ----------

She doesnt want to get him a gaming PC as its one of those "my mates are getting one, I want one" things :roll: So I thought that if I got the lowest card that can play games (albeit with settings turned down), then at least if he asks again I can make her one without breaking the bank for him to try. If he then likes it then I can upgrade the card.
I guess from the info above that the 630 will just about be good enough with a few graphics settings turned down?
He has the AMD 6450 installed at the moment.
 
i really like ati cards.
they work best for me and i gave up on nvidia a long time ago,

but i dont think id buy one that wasnt a x7xx card.
probably aim for x770 as a target.
i had a look but even the 5770 is expensive compared to the 6450. but the preformance diference is night and day. i would not say the 5770 is ground breaking preformance wise either, but it does run games comfortably. and you can run them with some bells and whistles too.

for a gaming pc i really wold have to try and get a 5770 or 5750 if even second hand rather than a 6450
the 6xxx and 5xxx cards are almost identical, so geting a older 5xxx card vs getting the newer 6xxx isnt much of a problem, but i really would recomend trying to get a 5770 within budget.
theres no reason to even think about the 4xxx or older though.

so just my thoughts on the ati cards when it comes to ati cards "specifically the 5 or 6 seriese" the 1st number can be ignored, the second and 3rd digits are what your trying worry about.
and anything lower than a 7 for the second digit is not going to be great..

its a basic rule of thumb of.
1st digit is the sereise.
second digit is the performance
3rd digit is memory (or if you look at it like i do the higer the resolution you can use)
so a 5580 is going to be better than a 6470.

there are a few 5770's on line for about £50 buy it now. and some 5750's for about £10-15 less buy it now. however the new pricese for 5770's is a bit rediculous if you consider the price of the 7870 listed in an above post.
if your coughing up the for new price, then you realy need to get the 7870 instead.

for the £10 difference in second hand price between the 5770 and 5750 I would probably opt for the 1gb vs the 512Mb ram. as it really does help with the resolutions you can play at.

p.s
the 5770 will out preform the 630, but if you can get a 650 instead then its a matter of which is the most expensive.

just so happens..
https://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=52180

and as i had a few spare mins.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Palit-1GB...raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item2c77dd3824

palit isnt what i consider to be the best brand in the world but that card is about the right money "considering its ebay" dont remember if they accepted offers but maybe they do. prety sure its just BIN though..

I think those are within the budget? I know they are second hand but its not like they have to unwrap each component individually..
The 650 is probably going to be the better choice given the lower power consumption and physx..
but i do like the 5770..

any way just food for thought.
 
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Be aware that amd were a bit naughty with their numbering, and at least for the 5870, this was significantly faster than the 6870, which is closer to 5770. Nvidia - series 6 or 7, and at least x40, though I would go x50 or x60
 
I saw this one on Amibay and have just paid for it http://www.palit.biz/palit/vgapro.php?id=1373

According to the list on Acid's link, its better than the 630 I have in my first post. What do you guys think? Good card for entry level gaming?
Im going to stick it in one of my PCs and test out a few fames when I get it :D
 
I think you're better off getting a second hand GTX 560 or Radeon 6870. GDDR3 for a graphics card today (even a budget one) is appaling and will bottleneck like a b*tch.

Anything GDDR4 and above is what you want (GDDR5 ideally).
 
I would recommend a 6950. The 7950 has now superseded it but for performance the older card is great value for money.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
 
I wouldn't go below an nvidia GTX 650 Ti Boost or AMD Radeon 7790 (or equivalents) for modern day gaming... The GT 630 and GTS 450 are terrible cards for gaming unless you don't mind running in low/medium detail? They should be ok for running older games though.
 
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Oh - I'm sure you already know this but I'll say beings as your asking about the gaming cards, is your psu decent and does it have the requisite power connectors ( 6 or 8 pin pcie power ) native, not via adapters from molex.
 
Powerpie5000 said:
I wouldn't go below an nvidia GTX 650 Ti Boost or AMD Radeon 7790 (or equivalents) for modern day gaming... The GT 630 and GTS 450 are terrible cards for gaming unless you don't mind running in low/medium detail? They should be ok for running older games though.
Click to expand...

Im just wanting an entry level card, nothing OTT yet. Its just to try it out and see if I want to invest in a whole new machine etc. I will also let my gfs son try it out to to see if he gets into PC gaming too and build them a new machine if he likes it too.
I dont mind putting the details settings to low/medium for now :)

---------- Post added at 13:34 ---------- Previous post was at 13:33 ----------
musojon74 said:
Oh - I'm sure you already know this but I'll say beings as your asking about the gaming cards, is your psu decent and does it have the requisite power connectors ( 6 or 8 pin pcie power ) native, not via adapters from molex.
Click to expand...

Yep :thumbsup: I currently have a 500W Coolermaster with the PCI-E power connectors.
 
im still gonna say 650 or 5770 or better i wouldnt really want anything less for gaming "personally"
they really are what i would consider entry level for pc gaming. id opt for one of those over a 4870x2 even though the 4870x2 is a beast. it just dosent have the hardware capablities needed for games now, "unless your in xp running dx9"
and id probably be thinking "medium" settings at a "medium resolution" for optimal performance/speed even with those.
and im not talking super modern games either, new vegas for instance would play best medium-high/medium-high.
but you would have head room to change some settings higher for a better experience, "distance, level of detail and so on, so you can actually see what your suposed to be trying to kill before it gets you 1st."

the 650 would be a tiny bit better than the 5770. and woudl come with physx "if you find anything that uses it" but if you fold at home when you arent gaming then the 650 is definatly the one for you..

second hand they are decent budget cards even from feebay at buy it now prices.
I did post a link to a 650 the other day but unsurprisingly it sold pretty fast.
if we are talking games "which we are" then the difference in price extra equates to a LOT more bang for your money. which may sound un needed but the step down you take when you go for anything less than the above mentioned is quite drastic.
 
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What spec is the PC you will be putting the card into? I ask because depending on spec it might bottleneck the graphics card, so it can't perform fully. For example I used to run a 4870 on a Q6600, but I then purchased my 6950 and instantly knew testing it that I wasn't getting the most from the card. Upgraded my system to an i7 and it made a huge difference.
 
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