Graphics Card Upgrade Advice

CommMatt

CommMatt

Posting Mad!
I'm looking to upgrade my desktop's graphics card, and I've come up with the GTX 960. It seems to suit my needs (which can be read in a spoiler at the bottom of this thread. A TL;DR can also be found in case you don't want to read a ton.)

The problem is, I used GPUBoss to find it. And well... I can't really trust it. If you've ever used GPUBoss (And investigated further than it) you'll know of it's horrid bias against AMD cards (or just general favor of Nvidia).

The two cards I've come up with are the GTX 960, and the R9 270X.

More specifically, the EVGA GTX 960 and the Sapphire R9 270X.
Looking at the specs of each card (ignoring GPUBoss), it seems the 960 is still right for me. Higher clock, enough VRAM (I have two monitors, one 1080p and one 1024 x 768), DX12 compatibility. Not to mention the slightly lower TDP.

Furthermore, Tom's Hardware benchmarks show it outperforming the 290x.

Though one of my conflicts here is that I'm coming across a lot of articles/forums saying that the 960 doesn't have DX12, but then there's pcpartpicker's specs (and newegg's specs) saying that it does.

Another concern is that my 6870 has 256-bit memory, while the 960 has 128-bit. Does this really make a difference???

TL;DR is the GTX 960 right for me, with a $200 budget? Also, does the 960 really support DX12? Is it worth upgrading to from a 6870?

Graphics card upgrade needs:
  1. Needs an HDMI port and a VGA OR DVI-I
  2. Needs 2 GB of VRAM
  3. Needs to be DX12 compatible
  4. Needs to be somewhat future proof
  5. Prefer it to be quiet/cool, but not really a need.
  6. Prefer it to be good/okay at rendering (doesn't have to be nvidia, I just need it to support my CPU in rendering my videos).
 
It depends what games you looking to play. GTX are nvidia cards and are going to be able to support games that are new and will perform better due to better updates. AMD typical works fine but certain games you could suffer major issues may even be unplayable (latest batman for example was unplayable on any AMD card but still ran on "ok" on higher end GTx's) and considering you are the 30% with a AMD card you will get your fixes last from game devs. Nvidia will always run better for newer games because most games are created on Nvidia platforms considering it's the biggest market share. If you're not interested in playing brand new games and want a better value then AMD is fine.
 
I like GTX, i have an older one from a couple years back, but its still good enough. It does depend on what games you want, but I think the 960 will be fine.
 
I use a 970 myself and it's stellar. My roommate uses like a 660 or something and he's able to play Wolfenstein Old Blood on high settings at 1080p. They're excellent cards.
 
Foxum said:
It depends what games you looking to play. GTX are nvidia cards and are going to be able to support games that are new and will perform better due to better updates. AMD typical works fine but certain games you could suffer major issues may even be unplayable (latest batman for example was unplayable on any AMD card but still ran on "ok" on higher end GTx's) and considering you are the 30% with a AMD card you will get your fixes last from game devs. Nvidia will always run better for newer games because most games are created on Nvidia platforms considering it's the biggest market share. If you're not interested in playing brand new games and want a better value then AMD is fine.
Click to expand...
I have to disagree about nvidia being better for newer games than AMD; it depends on too many variables.
As for the latest batman being unplayable (or low-performance) on solely AMD cards, that's incorrect, as it plays on the Xbox One and PS4 (at 60 FPS), which both have AMD hardware in them.
While I can't agree with or disagree with that most games are created on nvidia platforms, it seems like more of a bias to me (I may be wrong). I mean, if a game is specifically made with one company's features (e.g., Mirror's Edge with PhysX) and you try to run that specific feature on the other's card (I attempted PhysX on my AMD card, and the game nearly crashed XD) yeah it won't work. But if the game isn't made for a specific side, it'll run fine on both card types.
Furthermore, my 6870 can run ARK: Survival Evolved with more than 30 FPS with fairly high settings, disproving that AMD cards as a whole don't work for newer games.
I'm not sure where your information is coming from - is it from just personal experience?

CallofBooty said:
I like GTX, i have an older one from a couple years back, but its still good enough. It does depend on what games you want, but I think the 960 will be fine.
Click to expand...
Can you elaborate on why it depends?

SomeGuyDude said:
I use a 970 myself and it's stellar. My roommate uses like a 660 or something and he's able to play Wolfenstein Old Blood on high settings at 1080p. They're excellent cards.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that 660 is a powerful card.
 
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