Advice on gaming GPU with current hardware?

[Neko_no_Nya]

I hope this is the right place to ask this. I wasn't sure if I should put this in gaming or hardware. I apologize if this isn't the right place.

So I built a budget gaming machine awhile back but one thing I never got around to putting in was a decent graphics card. I just recycled an Nvidia G210 from an HTPC I was retiring. It's really time I get around to putting in a graphics card. I'd like to be able to do some PC gaming again. The problem is I'm really not sure what to get. My budget build isn't that great so I don't want to go overboard with a GPU my hardware won't be able to keep up with anyway but I want to get the most out of my system. I probably won't be building a new machine anytime soon so having a "future proof" card that I can swap into a new build later isn't really concern. I'm mostly living in the moment

First of all, here is my hardware. I have provided links in case you require further specs.
AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-Core 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819113286
Biostar TA970 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138372
8GB (I plan on upgrading to 16GB) DD3 1600 (PC3 12800) G.Skill Sniper Ram with a timing of 9-9-9-24 and a cas latency of 9 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231416
Raidmax Hybrid 2 RX-530SS 530W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V Power Supply (SLI & CrossFire Ready) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817152028
Asus Xonar DSX 7.1 Sound Card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-053-_-Product
Toshiba PH3300U-1I72 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s with 14ms average seek time (I plan on installing an SSD for my OS and games at some point) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-396-_-Product
Xigmatek ASGARD 381 ATX Mid Tower Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811815019

As for the requirements of the card:
1) I'd like to keep the cost of the card under $200 but if there is a clearance or sale going on, I may be willing to go slightly over.

2) Obviously, Linux compatibility is the number one priority (even though I put it in the number two slot lol).

3) I have grown fond of Nvidia because I have had the best of luck with them over the years. I started using their cards because I was running machines that weren't powerful enough to push 1080P on their own and VDPAU worked so well. Times have changed though. I don't need to worry so much about hardware acceleration anymore. So, I am open to ATI but I would like to stick to Nvidia if possible.

4) I am currently running a dual monitor setup but I would like to start running three monitors. I'm not expecting to use them all for gaming at one time. I will likely only use all three for productivity purposes.

5) Kind of related to 4. I am also using this machine as my HTPC. I have an HDMI cable running through the wall from my office to tv room. Right now I'm just using an HDMI splitter to get the signal to my monitor and surround receiver. I have to manually open and close Kodi depending on what I want to do. If at all possible I would like to be able to run a 4th monitor. This would be the HDMI going to my surround receiver so I could just leave Kodi open all the time on that screen. This is if at all possible. I'm assuming I will probably have to go dual cards to do this right? Since I won't have enough ports on one card?

6) Must be able to do 5.1 surround over HDMI.

7) Based on my hardware I'm assuming I will only be gaming at a max of 1920x1080 however, I would like the option to have my main monitor run a higher resolution for productivity and video editing.

8) I am doing some light video editing. Mainly working with 1080p videos for YouTube. Nothing serious but worth noting. Even my current card seems to handle it fine.

Now, there is one way I may be willing to increase my budget for a card and that is if I go SLI or CrossFire. It is something I'm open to however, for the time being I will only buy one card. I am aware there is only so much I can do with my current hardware so I only want to go dual GPUs if it is worth it.

I'm just kind of confused about which graphics cards are better than what. I'm a noob when it comes to this kind of thing. I'm totally lost when it comes to all the GTX, TI, and varioius designations.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Ok, here is an example. http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-D...ce+GTX+760+2GB

It is a GTX 960. It is $210. Yet, I see cards with far lower numbers like in the 700s going for almost twice that. I thought the higher the number, the better the card. This is why I'm lost lol. It does look like a nice card though. People are claiming they play BF4 on ultra settings at 1080p.

[Yellow Pasque]

I thought the higher the number, the better the card.

You can only compare those model numbers within a generation. For example, the GTX 780 has a heck of a lot more 3D hardware (and power) than a GTX 960, even though it's from the previous generation.

[houstonbofh]

Start here... http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...lock,3106.html

Now he is Windows centric, so there are some differences...

Nvidia performs better on Linux then AMD. In some cases the Nvidia on Linux is faster then the Nvidia on Windows. I would avoid ATI. (This is a performance observation. For religious points, please see RMS)

The latest and greatest may not have official drivers for Linux in the ropos. This means you will have to boot and somehow bring up a shell to install drivers from a PPA to even see the screen. It can get ugly. And with the alt-install gone that can mean installing with a different video card and then swapping in your real card.

When all was said and done, I just replaced a 550Ti with a 750Ti. The performance boost was noticeable if not earth shaking. But the power draw was MASSIVELY dropped! The 750Ti is the most powerful card you can get without an add on power connector. It also has three output ports (DVI-D DVI-A and HDMI) and will support 4K resolutions. And after sale and rebate I paid $129.

[Neko_no_Nya]

You can only compare those model numbers within a generation. For example, the GTX 780 has a heck of a lot more 3D hardware (and power) than a GTX 960, even though it's from the previous generation.

How do I know what generation I'm looking at? I don't see anything about the generation when checking stats and usually the date of manufacturer isn't even listed. Even Nvidia's website isn't much help. Is this new Maxwell architecture unique to the latest generation of Nvidia graphics cards? That would at least give me something to go on.

Start here... http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...lock,3106.html

Now he is Windows centric, so there are some differences...

Nvidia performs better on Linux then AMD. In some cases the Nvidia on Linux is faster then the Nvidia on Windows. I would avoid ATI. (This is a performance observation. For religious points, please see RMS)

The latest and greatest may not have official drivers for Linux in the ropos. This means you will have to boot and somehow bring up a shell to install drivers from a PPA to even see the screen. It can get ugly. And with the alt-install gone that can mean installing with a different video card and then swapping in your real card.

When all was said and done, I just replaced a 550Ti with a 750Ti. The performance boost was noticeable if not earth shaking. But the power draw was MASSIVELY dropped! The 750Ti is the most powerful card you can get without an add on power connector. It also has three output ports (DVI-D DVI-A and HDMI) and will support 4K resolutions. And after sale and rebate I paid $129.

So Nvidia is still the way to go huh? That is fine by me. I've kind of grown fond of them

I took a look at the 750Ti. It looks like a good deal and is well priced but I'm willing to spend another $70 or so. I'm really liking the EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SuperSC 02G-P4-2966-KR and the Asus STRIX-GTX 960 DC2OC-2GD5. Both are the same price and seem to have tons of positive feedback. The EVGA has a higher core clock speed but the Asus has a higher memory clock speed. The ASUS has its core clock speed listed in OC mode though. Then it has a gaming mode which is lower. I'm guess the gaming mode is it's normal speed? Then both have boost speeds listed. Is that a little more intense overclocking?

I've been reading the user reviews for the GTX 960 and there are a lot of people claiming to play newer games like BF4 at 1080p with ultra settings. I'm liking the sound of that. It is $209 so just over my initial plan to spend max $200. I can swing the extra $9 lol.

I has support for 4 displays too! That is awesome!

I am wondering if 2GB will be enough, especially when I'll be running four displays. I'm also concerned about the rest of my hardware keeping up. Will I be able to take advantage of the GTX 960? It's great if it can run games at 1080p with ultra settings but if the rest of my hardware can't keep up then it doesn't really do me any good.

EVGA: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-091-_-Product
ASUS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-913-_-Product

Btw, the link you gave me is for the best gaming CPUs, not GPUs. Don't worry though, I found the article I think you were talking about: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...view,3107.html

[MartyBuntu]

I took a look at the 750Ti. It looks like a good deal and is well priced but I'm willing to spend another $70 or so.

The 750ti is a fantastic, lower-power consuming card, but...

...I'd definitely look into a quality power supply.

Many people go cheap, bottom-of-the-barrel with power supplies, because it's a component that doesn't immediately go "whirrr-whirrr-ding-ding" with easily quantifiable benchmarks.

Trust me. The power supply is the "backbone" of any system.

[Neko_no_Nya]

The 750ti is a fantastic, lower-power consuming card, but...

...I'd definitely look into a quality power supply.

Many people go cheap, bottom-of-the-barrel with power supplies, because it's a component that doesn't immediately go "whirrr-whirrr-ding-ding" with easily quantifiable benchmarks.

Trust me. The power supply is the "backbone" of any system.

Do you not think my PSU will suffice? I know it's definitely a budget PSU but it seemed pretty popular on Newegg and the reviews seemed pretty solid for it, aside from the DOA reviews.

I'm leaning toward the GTX 960 which uses more power than the 750ti. The GTX 960 requires 400 watts system power and itself uses 120W. I have a 530W PSU. I used the calculator at http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine and the recommended PSU requirements was 376 (326 min). They didn't have the GTX 960 listed for some reason so I just selected the 970 but I would think that would use more power. I was thinking I had enough wiggle room but I'm no expert. That's why I'm asking for advice here.

I bought my PSU when I built my machine so I would hate to replace it already but I would if I really have to.

[houstonbofh]

The rest of your system is fine if it is undamaged. Overworked power supplies that are not regularly cleaned to not last that long, however. I would not replace it, but I would keep an eye on it. Also remember that power is heat. I liked low power because it kepts my case temps down. Now handbreak does not set of CPU alerts at midnight.

[Yellow Pasque]

Really, the best card that fits your requirements is the GTX 960. It was the first thing that came to mind when I read the requirements, and you basically came to the same conclusion.
If you consider AMD cards, the R9 285 can be had for a similar price, but they also consume more power: http://techreport.com/review/27702/n...rd-reviewed/11

How do I know what generation I'm looking at? I don't see anything about the generation when checking stats and usually the date of manufacturer isn't even listed.

The model names used to be a somewhat reliable indicator, but Nvidia's marketing drones have made them confusing and pointless. The best way is to look at the names of the cores: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ocessing_units
For example, the GTX 960 is a GM206 core (second-generation Maxwell).
TR also has a table and some analysis here that might clear things up: http://techreport.com/review/27702/n...-card-reviewed

I am wondering if 2GB will be enough, especially when I'll be running four displays. I'm also concerned about the rest of my hardware keeping up. Will I be able to take advantage of the GTX 960? It's great if it can run games at 1080p with ultra settings but if the rest of my hardware can't keep up then it doesn't really do me any good.

For gaming at 1080p resolutions, 2GB will be fine. Even if you wanted more than 2GB of video RAM, you're talking about a significant step up in price, especially in Nvidia's current lineup.
It's possible 4GB models of GTX 960 will be available, but who knows what the price premium will be: http://techreport.com/news/27726/rep...x-960-in-march
The rest of your hardware is good too. 8GB of RAM is plenty and I don't foresee an FX-6300 bottle-necking the GPU at all, even if there are some faster CPU's on the market today.

I bought my PSU when I built my machine so I would hate to replace it already but I would if I really have to.

It should be fine. See the first link I gave in this post for "real world" power numbers.