Best Graphics Card? (under $200)

[pqs]

I'm working on building a new gaming PC on a budget.

I cant afford to spend more than £130 (or about $200)

Main game I'm worried about is Guild Wars 2 as I really want to experience the massive WvW pvp fights with crazy sh*t flying everywhere.
I don't care about small graphical differences such as anti-alising and will turn them off if it means even +5fps in big fights with many players.

I'm down to these two cards:

Radeon HD 7850 dual-x
SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 7850 Dual-X - 1 GB GDDR5 - PCI-Express 3.0 (11200-16-21G) - WAE+

GTX 650 2gb (brands price vary by up to £10 msi, zotac, palit, evga, gainward, gigabyte)
2GB MSI GTX 650 OC, 28nm, PCIe 3.0 (x16), 5000MHz GDDR5, GPU 1071MHz, Cores 384, | eBay

Thanks in advance for your input!

[Smoogels]

The AMD is better in almost all areas.

AnandTech - Bench - GPU12

[pqs]

The AMD is better in almost all areas.

AnandTech - Bench - GPU12

Yes but it's not a fair comparison. The AMD you linked is 2gb compared to the 1gb GTX 650 version.

I'm suggesting the other way round; a 1gb (dual-x) 7850 vs a 2gb gtx 650.

[Smoogels]

Yes but it's not a fair comparison. The AMD you linked is 2gb compared to the 1gb GTX 650 version.

I'm suggesting the other way round; a 1gb (dual-x) 7850 vs a 2gb gtx 650.

Most games don't use 1GB... Far Cry 3 uses like 800MB. Things like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3 use like 1.2-1.6GB.

I very much doubt Guild Wars 2 would use a whole 1GB =/ You would see better performance with the 7850 in most games.

[pqs]

Most games don't use 1GB... Far Cry 3 uses like 800MB. Things like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3 use like 1.2-1.6GB.

I very much doubt Guild Wars 2 would use a whole 1GB =/ You would see better performance with the 7850 in most games.

What about in big siege fights where you can have 50-100 or more people all casting spells in one spot?

[Smoogels]

What about in big siege fights where you can have 50-100 or more people all casting spells in one spot?

Still doubt it. A MMORPG is not likely to take up huge amounts of graphics RAM since a lot of the people playing will be on 1GB and/or low end cards.

[nazgul111]

I'm working on building a new gaming PC on a budget.

I cant afford to spend more than £130 (or about $200)

Main game I'm worried about is Guild Wars 2 as I really want to experience the massive WvW pvp fights with crazy sh*t flying everywhere.
I don't care about small graphical differences such as anti-alising and will turn them off if it means even +5fps in big fights with many players.

I'm down to these two cards:

Radeon HD 7850 dual-x
SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 7850 Dual-X - 1 GB GDDR5 - PCI-Express 3.0 (11200-16-21G) - WAE+

GTX 650 2gb (brands price vary by up to £10 msi, zotac, palit, evga, gainward, gigabyte)
2GB MSI GTX 650 OC, 28nm, PCIe 3.0 (x16), 5000MHz GDDR5, GPU 1071MHz, Cores 384, | eBay

Thanks in advance for your input!

it is very unlikely for you atm to see the battles of more than 10-30 ppl in gw2, last i played WvWvW was empty and my character is on so called High Pop server so yeah i would say if gw2 is the only game you are after buy something cheaper

Still doubt it. A MMORPG is not likely to take up huge amounts of graphics RAM since a lot of the people playing will be on 1GB and/or low end cards.

And yeah just as you say i suppose, i played on 20-25 fps with 9800GT when gw2 came out and battles were huge back then

[pqs]

Ok thanks guys. Guess I'm going with the GTX 650 so its somewhat future proof.

2GB MSI GTX 650 OC, 28nm, PCIe 3.0 (x16), 5000MHz GDDR5, GPU 1071MHz, Cores 384, | eBay

MSI isn't a bad brand right?

[Smoogels]

Ok thanks guys. Guess I'm going with the GTX 650 so its somewhat future proof.

2GB MSI GTX 650 OC, 28nm, PCIe 3.0 (x16), 5000MHz GDDR5, GPU 1071MHz, Cores 384, | eBay

MSI isn't a bad brand right?

The 7850 is more future proof than the 650... You would benefit from the faster 7850.

[Miethvnl]

nice one"D

[waltsmith89]

Either the GTX 650 Ti Boost or GTX 660 are going to go for under $200 and will definitely perform better in WoW and Bioshock. I would definitely go with the GTX 660 as they come with a free copy of Metro Last Light, whereas the GTX 650 Ti Boost does not.

[BigJesusMordino]

Definitely nVidia man. They are much better in real life use, do not solely trust the tests!

[Zathan]

Honestly if you want the best performance per dollar, try to look on classified online. Craigslist, etc..
You can score some good stuff for cheap