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im picking up a new PC and have the choice between AMD Radeon R7 240 2GB and NVIDIA GeForce GT720 1GB.
I know that neither of these are high end and are basic starter cards but which of the 2 is better?
do you see them handling games like MechWarrior online and world of tanks on high settings?
I checked them both out and the internet seems to think they're pretty similar so im not sure which to go with.

thanks in advance.

I don't know a lot about AMD cards anymore, but the NVIDIA one is crap. I'm about 99% sure that the AMD one is marginally better crap with a fan. Neither one will likely perform like you want it to.

Most cards nowadays won't really give you much in the way of what you're looking for without a decent size heatsink and a fan that usually occupy two slots in your PC. That's not always a good way to prove a card is good, but it's a good way to prove a card is bad.

Speaking as far as NVIDIA goes, you want at least a x50 card, if not an x60 or higher. I couldn't recommend a decent AMD card at the moment though.

My personal rule of thumb is go with nvidia for cards. They're not always the best, but they tend to have all the deals sewn up with game developers which can lead to faster/better response times when games get released with graphical bugs. I've seen this happen firsthand, although ymmv.

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
im picking up a new PC and have the choice between AMD Radeon R7 240 2GB and NVIDIA GeForce GT720 1GB.
I know that neither of these are high end and are basic starter cards but which of the 2 is better?
do you see them handling games like MechWarrior online and world of tanks on high settings?
I checked them both out and the internet seems to think they're pretty similar so im not sure which to go with.

thanks in advance.

I would consider going to the Build a pc Subreddit, on Reddit. Those guys are REALLY good at optimizing your parts with your budget.

For a few more dollars you can get the 2gb Nvidia card | (amazon).

For MWO I would say no to "high quality", but it should pretty well on medium, depending on what your resolution is. Also MWO is a bit unique in that I think going from medium to the best quality doesn't really improve the graphics an enormous amount in my opinion. Let me take a few screenshots and see.

I can't speak to WoT at all.

Also, I agree with Sasori; go somewhere else for PC advice (I like Tom's Hardware). The advice on Dakka ranges from OK to misinformed to terrible, which is what you'd expect since that is not the focus of this forum.

Typically I use this when designing PC's for people

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/

It's yet to have lead me wrong in terms of the bang to buck ratio.

Did a quick search on Game debate and the AMD is the better of the two.

http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=2404&gid2=2377&compare=radeon-r7-240-2gb-vs-geforce-gt-720-v2

From experience, Nvidia has better driver support but the AMD ones generally have a bit more poke for your money.

If you are thinking about upgrading your card in the future make sure you check the PSU. I got an OEM Dell and have been restricted in what I can do with it. I can't get another PSU due to the mini atx adaptor that Dell put in the machine so was really restricted by what GPU I could change to. I went for a Palit 750 Ti which draws very little power and does pretty boss for a low end card.

I'm looking to build a PC in the future.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-graphics-card-review,review-32899-7.html
That suggests that the R7 240 is between the GT 730 and GT 740. I would not look at anything below a GT 750, and GT 760+ if possible.
That GT 720 is regarded as sub-entry-level, and not much use for games.

I heard some time ago that AMD write in support for the ATI cards, and nVidia work better with Intel CPUs. So, If you have an AMD chip, go ATI.

 Sasori wrote:

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
im picking up a new PC and have the choice between AMD Radeon R7 240 2GB and NVIDIA GeForce GT720 1GB.
I know that neither of these are high end and are basic starter cards but which of the 2 is better?
do you see them handling games like MechWarrior online and world of tanks on high settings?
I checked them both out and the internet seems to think they're pretty similar so im not sure which to go with.

thanks in advance.

I would consider going to the Build a pc Subreddit, on Reddit. Those guys are REALLY good at optimizing your parts with your budget.

I used https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcforme for mine. Much better response than, say, tomshardware, where every single one of the topics I've posted there has been completely ignored--I don't mean only one or two people posted, I mean I have had literally 0 replies to anything I've asked for help with--regardless of what the topic was about.