Guild Wars 2

My GPU Fan just died so I think it’s time I upgrade my Video Card!

Here are my specs:

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor: AMD FX™-8320 Eight-Core Processor (8 CPUs), ~3.5GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8174MB RAM
Video Card: AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series

I think that’s all the main stuff you’ll need to know?

I have DDR3 RAM (if that info might be needed)

Also my fan setup is, 2 front fans blowing in, 1 fan in the back blowing out, and 1 fan up top blowing out.

• I was running at least 35+ FPS in game with medium settings but if I wanted I could have ran on high settings, although it would bring my Framerate down…

So here’s my question:

What Graphics Cards can you suggest?

I’m willing to pay 100-200 $ on a good GPU that I can rely on.. I’d like good framerate (especially for wvw) and good-amazing graphics Please help?

EDIT:

I also forgot to mention I have a GIGABYTE motherboard.

I’m not good with this computer stuff so I usually ask for opinions, take a look into it then talk it though with my stepdad since he knows more about computers than I. But i’d definitely love to know my options!

Well HD 7850 is ok card. I just think that CPU is bottleneck in GW2 so new GPU probably won’t give you huge boost.

Yes for under 200 and taking in mind you might only like ATI (dunno this) the 7850 is the first that come in mind, without taking into consideration anything else.

Any other suggestions for better graphics cards?

I think i’d be willing to extend my price range to 100-250 usd

I know that it is slightly above your price range but GTX 660’s are pretty good value-wise.
Last time I checked they were about 230 USD but you may be able to find a sale.

I build my own desktops, and the rule-of-thumb I follow is AMD/ATI or Intel/Nvida.

Perhaps things have changed so this is not so important anymore, but figure it is better to minimise any potential conflicts. So, my advice is to stay with ATI for your GPU.

Your GPU does make a difference in all games, including GW2. It depends on how you want to experience the game. If you are happy with graphic settings you have been using, then buy for this.

You are much better off buying a good mid-level GPU that performs well than paying more for a so-so higher-end card that doesn’t give you the graphics quality jump you expect.

EDIT: Just to add another rule-of-thumb. Go to any website that lists a hierarchy of GPU’s. Look for your current card, then note the cards 3 levels (or more) above your card. These are the cards that will give you a noticeable improvement. Anything in between these cards and yours will not be worth the up-grade costs.

OP
get radeon 7850 you can easy overclock it to gain even 40% more performance from it
its the best price/performance ratio you can get

bri.2359:

I build my own desktops, and the rule-of-thumb I follow is AMD/ATI or Intel/Nvida.

I run intel core I5 2500 with ATI radeon HD6950 with no problems

GummiBear.2756:

bri.2359:

I build my own desktops, and the rule-of-thumb I follow is AMD/ATI or Intel/Nvida.

I run intel core I5 2500 with ATI radeon HD6950 with no problems

This is good to know …
In the past, this was more of an issue, so glad to see compatibility issues have been resolved.

$200 range = AMD Radeon HD 7850 or Nvidia Geforce GTX 650Ti
$250 range = AMD Radeon HD 7870 or Nvidia Geforce GTX 660

Searches conducted on Newegg website.

I dont get the different between the 660ti and the 660 superclocked… The superclock I understand but I mean, superclock was cheaper than the 660ti? :S

The difference is the amount of CUDA cores that are unlocked.
GTX 660 = 960
GTX 660 Ti = 1340

A CUDA core is basically a graphics processor used exclusively on Nvidia cards. The more cores the better the card is at processing the graphics.

The same is true for AMD graphics cards and their Stream Processors.

So the more cores/processors a graphics card has the higher the price.

The best budget conscious card I’ve seen lately seems to be the GTX 650Ti as it can be had for around $120 if you shop for it.

The newer Nvidia cards use PCIe 3 x16 slots. Guess they’re compatible with 2.0 but no idea how that effects performance just FYI. A while back I replaced my gtx 460 with a 560 non ti (just a slight better version of the 460) running on a AMD Athlon 2 x4 (the cheap 630 one) get 50-60 fps on med (20-30 for big events) So going with something cheap might work for you too.

I just purchased the HD 7870 personally, It was a bit higher than 200 (I think 240?) and it runs the game on max settings at 50-75 fps 1920×1080.

So far a really great card and I’d recommend it.

If you put emphasis on bang for buck go amd. If you want to focus on nvidia realated titles, PhysX, just prefer the nvidia brand more….go nvidia

A stock 660 should edge out a stock 7850, however an OC 7850 should edge out a 660.