Graphics card advice?

[chriscool9]

Hello all,

I am back. Okay so I got my PC going. For those of you familiar and assisted me on my previous post, it turns out my MOBO didn't have a speaker, so I managed to borrow one and it turned it it wasn't agreeing with the RAM I had installed. Anyway, purchased some other stuff and all it boots now. I am however getting a fair few BSOD's but thats a different matter.

Anywho, why I am actually here is to ask for advice on a GPU. I cant seem to find a definitive answer myself, so thought Id ask what you chaps think. Im torn between and EVGA 760 for £200 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-228-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914) or a R9 280X for £230 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-225-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1842).

Does anyone have any views on which of these I should purchase?

Thanks

Chris

[DaveLembke]

I havent had good luck with MSI products, so I would avoid MSI. Although the MSI card looks to be the better card spec wise.

[Insanemuch]

I have to agree with Dave, and I would by the EVGA personally, as NVidia are just more reliable.

[Calum]

The 280X is faster, but the 7970 is the same card and can sometimes be found cheaper.  I too would avoid MSI as a brand though.

[chriscool9]

Owwww, this advice about staying away from MSI isn't exactly what I wanted to hear I shall, however, follow your advice and look elsewhere. I did some more research and it turns out the R9 280X is actually comparable to the 770 but for a fraction of the price.
Ill look for other venders of this card.

Meanwhile, if anyone has a solution to magically eradicate BSOD's I would be very grateful if you could let me know

Chris

[Calum]

The 7970/R9 280 is faster than the 770, yes.  There have been offers on the 7970 for as low as £210 recently, keep looking and something will pop up.

[chriscool9]

What do you make of Sapphire?

[Calum]

They've been perfectly fine in my experience, their cards are generally average to good, ditto service and support.

[chriscool9]

Fantastic! Ill get it purchased then! Thanks Calum

[Calum]

No problem shame you weren't in the market a week or so ago, OcUK had the Asus Matrix Platinum 7970 for around £220, bargain of the year IMO!

[chriscool9]

Just missed it! Calum, I'm looking at this card Sapphire card and it appears that it needs an 8 PIN + a 6 PIN power connection, which is fine as I have these, but looking at the images theres no 6 PIN connecter, its just two 8 PINS (http://www.eteknix.com/sapphire-amd-radeon-r9-280x-vapor-x-oc-3gb-graphics-card-review/2/). Third image down.

What do you make of it? Ive read a couple of places that it is two 8 PIN connectors. This would be a problem as I only have one 8 PIN connecter

Chris

[patio]

What do you make of Sapphire?

Probably a ring...or a nice necklace...

[Calum]

The Vapor-X OC does have 2 8 pin connectors, looks like an error on the OcUK listing.  It's plain to see in the review you linked as well as their stock images, they must've made a mistake in the info.
What PSU do you have?  If you don't have two 8 pin connectors, you could use an adapter, but I generally advise against it on principle.  The Vapor-X is unlikely to be *that* much better than their Dual-X model, which does only require an 8 and 6 pin.
I find it irritating that there doesn't seem to be a reference R9 280, or if there is then they're not particularly common, as I always buy reference design cards where possible rather than cards with custom layout boards.