Best possible Graphics card for a Core i3

[NationsAnarchy]

Those are quite bold, and perhaps unsupported statements. For example "28 FPS average" at what settings? Which game? At what resolution? My old ATI laptop GPU could do 300FPS on something like Garry's Mod, but that old ATI GPU is outperformed even now by a HD 7750. It would be nice for some context, maybe some links to the websites your getting information from, so a better conclusion can be made. I'm a guy that prefers price to performance, and I think budget options can often be perfect for a large variety of people. I'm perfectly fine with just High rather than Ultra.

Layton

He said clearly that: "They won't be able to handle Ultra Settings/1080P preset"

 

[Constantine Yevseyev]

Unfortunately I don't have the luxury to get that good price, usually it's more expensive than that.
Probably I'll include both R7 265/GTX 660 as well. Thanks anyway !

Come on, don't get upset, the less cash you have, the more fun you can put into planning your possible PC configuration. When you have tons of money, you just go and put anything pricey than 400 USD into your machine and prey for textures to be as good as screenshots told you, LOL.

Those are quite bold, and perhaps unsupported statements. For example "28 FPS average" at what settings? Which game? At what resolution? My old ATI laptop GPU could do 300FPS on something like Garry's Mod, but that old ATI GPU is outperformed even now by a HD 7750. It would be nice for some context, maybe some links to the websites your getting information from, so a better conclusion can be made. I'm a guy that prefers price to performance, and I think budget options can often be perfect for a large variety of people. I'm perfectly fine with just High rather than Ultra.

I think I stated that pretty clear for anyone who's familiar with TechPowerUp reviews. "~28 FPS" means that the card I'm talking about renders the average of 28 FPS in these titles: Titanfall, Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4 at Ultra Preset on 1920 x 1080 display. And I also use Anandtech's "Bench" page as my source for comparison (they use i7/i7 Extreme for measurements, just like TPU does).

 

[NationsAnarchy]

Come on, don't get upset, the lower price is, the more fun you can put into planning your possible PC configuration. When you have tons of money, you just go and put anything pricey than 400 USD into your machine and prey for textures to be as good as screenshots told you, LOL.

Hope so man, hope so. Can't wait till I can earn my own money and build any sh*t I ever wanted.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Futureproofing is understanding what your current needs are, assessing what money is available, working out how much to spend for the here and now (if any money at all), and then leaving the rest of the money to upgrade in the future when you really need it.

Do you really need the extra performance? Do you play games often enough for it to be worth it? Could you live with not having the highest settings when you play the odd game now and again?

Layton

some what irrelevant - enthusiasts gonna enthusiast. my own system would almost be any crunchers, folders or coin miners wet dream - swap out my GPUs for 290s, 780s or Titans and this machine can have some serious output, not to mention the fact that it crushes quite a lot of systems here on TPU when it comes to benchmarks.

full RRP of my system would probably be in the region of £2000 ($3300) give or take a few hundred.

What do you suppose i do with such a machine...?

I surf the net, watch youtube and play LoL, occasionally battlefield 3 or 4 and some DayZ standalone or ARMA III when i have time. Unfortunately i dont really have time for much else given the hours i work and i can only play for an hour or 2 when i get home from work before bed.

Either Way, Its a £2000 system doing mundane tasks that any 2500k could do without even breaking a sweat.


Did i need the extra performance? no i didnt

do i play games often enough for it to be worth it? Probably not

could i live with not having the highest settings when I play the odd game? no i cant - ultra settings or gtfo.

Is my PC futureproof? most definitely! I can certainly say that apart from a GPU upgrade somewhere down the road that my PC will last another 2-3years before i even need to worry about needing a complete overhaul.


Normally i wouldnt of forked out the cash for such a system, its just way beyond my standard budget, but i was given a once in a million chance to trade up to my 3930k from a 2500k and i took it.

 

[LaytonJnr]

Come on, don't get upset, the less cash you have, the more fun you can put into planning your possible PC configuration. When you have tons of money, you just go and put anything pricey than 400 USD into your machine and prey for textures to be as good as screenshots told you, LOL.

I think I stated that pretty clear for anyone who's familiar with TechPowerUp reviews. "~28 FPS" means that the card I'm talking about renders the average of 28 FPS in these titles: Titanfall, Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4 at Ultra Preset on 1920 x 1080 display. And I also use Anandtech as my source for comparison.

Okay, good to know for future reference. I wasn't having a go, but sometimes people overhype the benefits of having an expensive graphics card that can play at Ultra settings at 60FPS constant. I guess I've come from a background where I was used to playing at medium settings on my old PC and being happy with just that. But I understand this is an enthusiast website too, and I've become more of a computer enthusiast now.

Layton

 

[NationsAnarchy]

The concept "futureproof" gets so many opinions around. Always interesting to see what people really thinks about it. I would say it's like the most ridiculous term to really call it out correctly in the tech world lol

 

[NationsAnarchy]

Okay, good to know for future reference. I wasn't having a go, but sometimes people overhype the benefits of having an expensive graphics card that can play at Ultra settings at 60FPS constant. I guess I've come from a background where I was used to playing at medium settings on my old PC and being happy with just that. But I understand this is an enthusiast website too, and I've become more of a computer enthusiast now.

Layton

Welcome to the Internet's most enthusiastic PC forum mate ! Dang I miss my times here asking about upgrading my old crappy Pentium 4 PC back in 2010-11

 

[Subhojit Dey]

Will an gtx 750ti+i3 4330+8gb ram,run any game for the next 5 years max in medium settings atleast?i need to know...i have a h81m-s motherboard... It would be very helpful if someone can reassure her about the gpu compatibility with the motherboard.. I am a newbie so...

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Will an gtx 750ti+i3 4330+8gb ram,run any game for the next 5 years max in medium settings atleast?i need to know...i have a h81m-s motherboard... It would be very helpful if someone can reassure her about the gpu compatibility with the motherboard.. I am a newbie so...

No not at all, you'd probably need at least a 960/70 if you're talking about 5 years! though it will do you fine for the next 2 years with a 750ti save up $50 a year for the next 3 then upgrade the 750ti to whatever the current mid-range card is at that time...

 

[Kanan]

Hello, I need some expert opinion about which graphics card to buy.

My current CPU is a Core i3 4330 @ 3.5GHz, I've 16GB of RAM and a 1920x1200 screen.

I know that mine is a mainstream CPU, so I would like to know which is the most powerful graphics card I can use with my system which doesn't get bottlenecked by my weak CPU.

My guess is a R7 260X, but I'm not sure. Is there any formula to calculate it?

Many thanks.

I'd go with a R9 380 or 380X / 280X / GTX 770 / 680 or if you can find a cheap 290 for 200 take that. But this cards are the best suited for about 200$. CPU is okay, isn't the fastest, but it will run most games fine. i5 / i7 users just have more stable FPS and in some games that need more cores a straight edge over a i3, but you are fine for now.

 

[[Ion]]

I'm running my i3 3240 with a GTX260...seven years old, in a similar price bracket to the 750TI, and still doing solid

 

[Chanki]

i owned a 4150 it performs pretty well with a HD7870, obviously you can't maxout all games, but for 1080p gaming it will do very well if you dont want to waste much money

IMO GTX750/TI/760/770/960 R9 270/X/280/x will do the job, more than that is an overkill

 

[Filip Georgievski]

Haha, you and your newer i3s.
I run an i5 750, and just did a GPU upgrade to a R9 280x.
Playing Witcher 3, Dying Light, BF3 and 4 on High to Ultra settings as of now.
Get the most powerfull GPU you can, it will help you in the future.

 

[Chanki]

Haha, you and your newer i3s.
I run an i5 750, and just did a GPU upgrade to a R9 280x.
Playing Witcher 3, Dying Light, BF3 and 4 on High to Ultra settings as of now.
Get the most powerfull GPU you can, it will help you in the future.

that's right, i changed the 4th gen i3 for a 2dn gen i5 2550k, but he has already the i3..

 

[trog100]

Haha, you and your newer i3s.
I run an i5 750, and just did a GPU upgrade to a R9 280x.
Playing Witcher 3, Dying Light, BF3 and 4 on High to Ultra settings as of now.
Get the most powerfull GPU you can, it will help you in the future.

and more importantly it will help you in the present.. he he

trog

 

[Artas1984]

Hello, I need some expert opinion about which graphics card to buy.

My current CPU is a Core i3 4330 @ 3.5GHz, I've 16GB of RAM and a 1920x1200 screen.

I know that mine is a mainstream CPU, so I would like to know which is the most powerful graphics card I can use with my system which doesn't get bottlenecked by my weak CPU.

My guess is a R7 260X, but I'm not sure. Is there any formula to calculate it?

Many thanks.

I am here to confirm that Core i3 is an excellent gaming CPU. I have compared a Core i3 3250 with a Core i5 3570 extensively in game benchmarks at 1080P, and Core i3 3250 was only 10 % slower on average FPS in 22 games. This is a very strong result, since FX-6300 was about 20 % slower than Core i5 3570 at 1080P when i tested those several years ago.. I think you get the point.

 

[RCoon]

Will an gtx 750ti+i3 4330+8gb ram,run any game for the next 5 years max in medium settings atleast?i need to know...i have a h81m-s motherboard... It would be very helpful if someone can reassure her about the gpu compatibility with the motherboard.. I am a newbie so...

Might I recommend making your own thread next time? I understand your question is in some way similar, but members are easily confused and end up replying to somebody (OP) who hasn't visited in 2 years.