need advice on upgrades

tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
OK, since you all love to browse and read about hardware all day, I am thinking I am going to upgrade my Monitor and my Video card. I want to start building up my credit again, which my score is still in the 700s, but it never hurts to max it out. So I have a newegg preferred account, and want to use it.

If I spend $500 I get 6 months on it in my preferred account. I want an LED back lit monitor but they don't seem to sell them larger than 24" on Newegg. So I am thinking this monitor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005134

or this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001421

Then I might as well upgrade my GTX 260 with a better video card right? So, I am not sure which card I want to get.....was looking at these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150476

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550

I am not really up on what is the best video card for the dollar and not really sure what exactly constitutes a decent upgrade from my GTX 260? My GTX 260 already maxes almost every game out I play with no issues, but I could always go for more frames per a second.

So my budget is approx $500 but give or take. I mean if I spend say $100 more and get 2x the upgrade then so be it. Open to any suggestions.
 
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I usually lean towards Nvidia, but if it's between the GTX 470 and the Radeon HD 5870, I think the 5870 is a good amount faster and gives you a lot more bang for your buck. I also think the 5870 consumes a lot less power.
 
If you have a board that supports SLI, get two gtx460 1gb's. It's a bit more money, but it's gtx480 performance.

Whats the rest of your setup like?

As for the monitor, either one is good. LG and samsung are both top rated brands.
 
87dtna said:
If you have a board that supports SLI, get two gtx460 1gb's. It's a bit more money, but it's gtx480 performance.

Whats the rest of your setup like?

As for the monitor, either one is good. LG and samsung are both top rated brands.
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Of the cards, I would go with the 5870. If you had the money, rather than going with the idea of 2 460's to get 480 performance, why not just go for a single 480, at ~the exact same price as 2 1GB 460's? That is ~$50 extra though, which isn't exactly a small amount to be adding on

The monitors, they are both pretty much identical in specs, just price, manufacturer and warranty differs, the LG winning the price and warranty parts of the battle. The only reason to get the Samsung I can think of is for asthetics, or because you prefer them as a brand
 
Aastii said:
Of the cards, I would go with the 5870. If you had the money, rather than going with the idea of 2 460's to get 480 performance, why not just go for a single 480, at ~the exact same price as 2 1GB 460's? That is ~$50 extra though, which isn't exactly a small amount to be adding on
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Couple reasons. Two 460's is stronger than a 480 most of the time. 460's run WAY cooler too, and they are much shorter. Yeah there's two 460's instead of just one huge card, but sometimes length is an issue more than filling the slots in certain cases.
Even if he gets two 768mb 460's, it's almost as strong as a 480 for a good bit less cost. They are down to like $170 now, so $340 for close to gtx480 performance...not bad.
 
I don't really want to run xfire or SLI. Not really worth the hassle in my opinion. I'd rather just buy one card that is better. Plus not all games fully support SLI/xfire.

I am thinking I may just hold off and build a whole new rig around the holidays and then just demote this one to my HTPC. For the games I play SLI/Xfire isn't really needed as I said I can already max almost all games I play with my GTX260.
 
tlarkin said:
Though it seems the 480 is the current best card on the market.
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Best single-GPU card, yeah. (HD5970 is better, that's two 5870s @ 5850 speeds on one PCB) If you can't be bothered with xFire/SLI, and have to choose between 5870/470, go for 5870. As said, runs cooler, smaller in most cases and gives similar performance.
 
two gtx460's beats a single gtx480 by a good margin. a gtx470 is comparable to a 5850, so if its between them two ill go with the 5870 personaly.
 
tlarkin said:
Though it seems the 480 is the current best card on the market.
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in terms of single GPU performance, yes.

In terms of heat production, power usage, price (as a single GPU), no, it isn't very good at all

tech savvy said:
The gtx480 holds its ground against the 5970, in a few benchmarks the 480 pulls ahead.review here- http://www.guruht.com/2010/03/geforce-gtx-480-vs-hd5970-benchmark.html . but yes, your right the 5970 is faster, but what you expect with two GPU's vs one.lets put two gtx480 vs 5970.
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Doesn't work like that, 2 x 5850's will outperform a 5970 (in applications that support crossfire) even though a 5970 is just 2 5850's on 1 PCB. The comparison will have to be between whatever multi-gpu card nvidia brings out and the 5970, which will probably end up being 2x460's
 
two gtx460's losses out against a 5970, on average 5-10 fps less(on all resolutions). two gtx470's beat out the 5970 by 5-10 fps(on all resolutions). i wouldent be surprised if it wasnt two gtx470's instead of two gtx460's.
 
if you're satisfied with the 260 then I wouldn't bother with an upgrade. Save that $500 and put it toward a down payment on a house or some type of property or something that you really need at the moment. If your credit score is in the 700 range, that's good enough to get the best financing rates on just about anything, so I don't see how having an additional payment, even if it increased your score a little, would provide you with any real benefits. In a year, your GPU upgrade will depreciate by 30%-50% and there will be something new on the market. That's the primary reason why I've kept my 260.

If your credit score was in the low 600 range then I would understand your strategy here. Those 0% financing deals are great for building credit, when you need to build credit.
 
tech savvy said:
two gtx460's beats a single gtx480 by a good margin. a gtx470 is comparable to a 5850, so if its between them two ill go with the 5870 personaly.
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citations needed. I looked and didn't find any overwhelming evidence benchmark wise that 2x 460s totally blows away 1x 480. It looked marginal at best.
 
mep916 said:
if you're satisfied with the 260 then I wouldn't bother with an upgrade. Save that $500 and put it toward a down payment on a house or some type of property or something that you really need at the moment. If your credit score is in the 700 range, that's good enough to get the best financing rates on just about anything, so I don't see how having an additional payment, even if it increased your score a little, would provide you with any real benefits. In a year, your GPU upgrade will depreciate by 30%-50% and there will be something new on the market. That's the primary reason why I've kept my 260.

If your credit score was in the low 600 range then I would understand your strategy here. Those 0% financing deals are great for building credit, when you need to build credit.
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It is in the 680s to 700 depending on what I spend that month. I want to solidify my credit score over 700. After I paid off my car I wasn't making any monthly loan/credit payments and my credit keeps slipping under 700 (just barely) and I have plenty of money saved up for a house (about $10+k at the moment) but I cannot find a house I like so I am sitting and waiting until one I like is in my price range.

I need something to keep my credit afloat since I no longer have any monthly payments since everything I own is paid for. However, now I am thinking I might just invest it home audio. I need some new speaker and an external preamp still.
 
tech savvy said:
two gtx460's losses out against a 5970, on average 5-10 fps less(on all resolutions). two gtx470's beat out the 5970 by 5-10 fps(on all resolutions). i wouldent be surprised if it wasnt two gtx470's instead of two gtx460's.
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It won't be a 470 because the 470 is on the old core, it uses too much power and produces too much heat to have 2 on 1 board. When they bring out the 475/485, maybe MAYBE they will stick 2 of them on 1 board if they aren't as power hungry
 
tlarkin said:
It is in the 680s to 700 depending on what I spend that month. I want to solidify my credit score over 700. After I paid off my car I wasn't making any monthly loan/credit payments and my credit keeps slipping under 700 (just barely) and I have plenty of money saved up for a house (about $10+k at the moment) but I cannot find a house I like so I am sitting and waiting until one I like is in my price range.

I need something to keep my credit afloat since I no longer have any monthly payments since everything I own is paid for. However, now I am thinking I might just invest it home audio. I need some new speaker and an external preamp still.
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Home audio is never a bad place to put money, Polk makes some exceptional speakers for the money.

As far as displays....if it was me i would probably lean towards an NEC model:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002554

As far as GPU's....whats the rest of your setup look like? The 460's right now are really the best as far as bang for the buck, although it will be interesting to see what comes about with ATi's 6000 series.

Also, the 460 in SLI is very close to performance as far as the 5970, ESPECIALLY with the latest drivers. Some games are scaling up to 95% with the 260.xx drivers.
 
tlarkin said:
I don't really want to run xfire or SLI. Not really worth the hassle in my opinion. I'd rather just buy one card that is better. Plus not all games fully support SLI/xfire.

I am thinking I may just hold off and build a whole new rig around the holidays and then just demote this one to my HTPC. For the games I play SLI/Xfire isn't really needed as I said I can already max almost all games I play with my GTX260.
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If thats the case, just wait for the gtx475 to come out then.
 
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