Guild Wars 2

I currently have an AMD R9 280x, with an i5 processor, both about 3 years old. I wasn’t planning on upgrading but it looks like my graphics card might be dead. I haven’t completely given up on getting it fixed but it’s looking unlikely so I thought I’d start considering other options.

I don’t want to buy a new CPU or motherboard unless I absolutely have to and I don’t want to spend over £300. But I’m not sure if I should go for another R9 280x (which was fine for everything I was doing) or get something newer.

Any thoughts?

P.S. I have no strong feelings on AMD vs. Nvidia. I got this one because it was the best combination of performance and value for money I could find at the time, I’ve had Nvidia cards before and probably will do again at some point. I care about quality, performance and value for money not the brand name.

The usual advice would usually be get the best card for the budget you are prepared to spend. If you only play gw2, and the 280 does everything you need then you should be able to get some pretty sweet deals for one on ebay. However for some future proofing the latest cards from both mfs are well worth a look. Id suggest the Nvidia 1050 or 1060 range. I picked up an evga 1060 6gb a while ago and it handles everything I’ve thrown at it on ultra at 1280 (doom, witcher 3 etc)

Hth

I don’t only play GW2, but I know this community is generally helpful and people have gotten good advice on hardware on this forum before, so it seemed like the logical place to come. Witcher 3 is probably the most graphically demanding game we have right now.

Future proofing might be a good idea, but staying within the budget is more important because I didn’t plan for this (and would prefer to not buy a new card at all) so I can’t afford to spend more.

For your budget, I think the 1060 6Gb is probably the best balance between current performance and future-proofing. The 3Gb version has a cut-down GPU (despite the name implying the difference is just the VRAM) so it’s better in the long term to spend a bit more for the 6Gb

RX 480 is the AMD alternative. AMD’s cards are potentially better than their Nvidia counterparts for future DX12/Vulkan games, but that is still far from certain. Nvidia’s cards are still better for most current and past games.

The main reason to get AMD right now is if you want a variable refresh rate monitor… a Freesync monitor is USD100-200 less than an equivalent G-sync one, plus the resolutions and price options are more varied.

That’s a good point, my monitor does use Freesync so I’ll probably get the RX 480. But I’ll look into both that and the 1060.

Thanks.

The RX 480 comes in 2 flavors, 4Gb and 8Gb. Unlike the Nvidia 1060, this card uses the same GPU for both and the only difference is VRAM. The gaming reviews don’t show a significant increase in performance in most games (I don’t think there’s any difference in Witcher 3, and you’ll have to research other games in a case by case basis) so you’ll likely be ok with the 4Gb version.

As a side note, rumor is the RX 490 (or whatever the name’s gonna be) will debut in January 2017. Probably doesn’t affect you though. Best case scenario is that it drives down Nvidia’s 1070 into your price range, but there will be an early-adopter tax and initial supplies will be limited… so I doubt it.

These two links provide a lot of useful information, comparing different graphics cards.

The first groups different cards into categories, the better quality, higher up the list. It also makes a direct comparison between AMD and NVIDIA which is very useful.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

The second does a similar job but in a different way.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU15/1248

If I may suggest, stick with the brand you know.

As you already own a Freesync monitor, there is little point going for a Nvidia card.

RX 480 8GB is a very solid option. It is quite well priced in UK.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xfx-radeon-rx-480-gtr-xxx-edition-8192mb-gddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-with-backplate-gx-23i-xf.html

RX 470 is a cheaper option with also very good performance.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigabyte-radeon-rx-470-g1-gaming-4096mb-gddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-18h-gi.html

I´m very satisfied with my GTX1060 if that helps. but as others said, you don´t need a cannon for the gunfight that is GW2. instead make sure the CPU is proper.

As for the comments that 480 is better than 1060, that´s purely circumstancial.
I doubt many people here play the games that make the difference clear, and tbh, I have much better experiences with nvidia

480 8GB is a better buy then a 6GB 1060 now. They’re basically the same at 1080P but 480s are better at 1440P should you choose to go that route.

Especially if you have a freesync monitor, go for a 480 over a 1060.

Fermi.2409:

480 8GB is a better buy then a 6GB 1060 now. They’re basically the same at 1080P but 480s are better at 1440P should you choose to go that route.

Especially if you have a freesync monitor, go for a 480 over a 1060.

Exactly, at 1440p 480 is better, but the 1060 is much more reliable, especially since no one games at 1440p yet

Amaimon.7823:

Fermi.2409:

480 8GB is a better buy then a 6GB 1060 now. They’re basically the same at 1080P but 480s are better at 1440P should you choose to go that route.

Especially if you have a freesync monitor, go for a 480 over a 1060.

Exactly, at 1440p 480 is better, but the 1060 is much more reliable

What does that even mean? They’re both perfectly reliable cards, it just so happens that a 480 is a smarter purchase at this point in time.

especially since no one games at 1440p yet

Loads of people game at 1440P these days, especially with how affordable 1440P 144Hz is getting

Amaimon.7823:

As for the comments that 480 is better than 1060, that´s purely circumstancial.
I doubt many people here play the games that make the difference clear, and tbh, I have much better experiences with nvidia

I would like to point out that up to the point OP mentioned owning a Freesync monitor, the recommendations were all leaning towards the 1060. That included my own. However, as all good recommendations go, you got to weigh up your recommendations against the pros and cons of the alternative option.

In case you missed it, my own statement about AMD’s performance in future DX12/Vulkan games was laced with a good dose uncertainty.

Fermi.2409:

Loads of people game at 1440P these days, especially with how affordable 1440P 144Hz is getting

The maths aren’t perfect… but viewed simplistically:

From the most recent Steam Survey, 1.8% use 1440p. Extrapolating from a daily user peak of 12-13M; you’ve got 200K+ steam users on 1440p daily. I can’t find the actual stats, but I believe 1440p was at 1% last year.

onevstheworld.2419:

In case you missed it, my own statement about AMD’s performance in future DX12/Vulkan games was laced with a good dose uncertainty.

All DX12 games this last year has shown marginal improvements for AMD (like avg 5-10fps) or major performance loss on both AMD and Nvidia (avg 5-25 fps with catastrophic frametime dips compared to DX11). So yeah, a good dose of uncertainty.

Anyway, there’s a good bunch of various cards in the ~250 range now. Even the low end 1060 3gb is just fine for GW2 – you wont notice any difference from the 6gb version there. If it’s a main PC gaming machine I wouldnt recommend either that or any AMD, I’d say go straight for a GTX 1070. It’ll easily last a year or two extra over the GTX 1060, justifying the higher price.

Dawdler.8521:

All DX12 games this last year has shown marginal improvements for AMD (like avg 5-10fps) or major performance loss on both AMD and Nvidia (avg 5-25 fps with catastrophic frametime dips compared to DX11). So yeah, a good dose of uncertainty.

I think a good deal of the confusion comes from lazy ports of current gen APIs (e.g. Rise of the Tomb Raider – DX12) vs purely next gen API games (Ashes of Singularity – DX12) or good ports (Doom – Vulkan). We should get a better picture as developers get more experience in making games with the new APIs.

So the potential is there. But currently it’s not something I’d factor strongly into my buying decision.

Dawdler.8521:

If it’s a main PC gaming machine I wouldnt recommend either that or any AMD, I’d say go straight for a GTX 1070. It’ll easily last a year or two extra over the GTX 1060, justifying the higher price.

Unfortunately, the 1070 is above OP’s stated price limit.