Video Card Suggestions

I

Im Not Emo

New Member
Hello there. I'm looking to replace my old Video Card, but when it comes to those I'm not well informed...

First, my Computer Specs:
Intel i7 950
4gb Ram
Windows 7 (64bit)
Zotac Geforce GT 220
Monitor running at native 1366 x 768

Yes, I'm aware that the GT220 is a bit... Lackluster. I haven't minded it though, but lately with the new games either completely lacking support (Crysis 2) or not running very well on it (Just Cause 2) I'm looking to up that. I'm not looking for a "top of the line card" as I'm a student, but wouldn't mind spending up to $150 for a card.

Oh and my motherboard is Crossfire enabled, so two cheaper cards would also be a possibility (I would have done that with the GT220, but again lack of support). DX11 isn't mandatory (especially considering my price range), but would not be unwelcomed.

Thank you for any help and suggestions!!
 
What model power supply do you have? Depending on what you have an upgrade in that department might be in order first.

Assuming you have a respectable power supply, a 5770 is probably your best bet in the price bracket (Something to the tune of this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102898 ). If you're willing to bend your budget a little bit, a 6850 can be had for about $170 and will also provide great bang for your buck, but I understand that lack of extra cash as a student all too well so I'll let you be the judge of that. Again though, I must stress that an upgrade won't really be feasible if your PSU isn't up to scratch.
 
My PSU is a OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W, which isn't bad imo.

The 6850 looks great (and can fit inside my midsized tower), so I wouldn't mind spending a bit extra for it. Just means I'd have to go without coffee for a week to compensate ;) I'm definitely loving the price on the 5570 though, and during the summer I could easily save enough to Crossfire that without feeling like my wallet took a hit. Would my options open or lessen with my current power supply?

Both are great suggestions, thank you! Glad someone understands a student's pain haha...
 
Isn't the 6850 closer to the 5850 than the 5830? I'm not sure any more, but I remember the 5830 was a pretty lackluster card at release, although that may have had more to do with its cost than performance. Your power supply is perfectly ok, and would be more than enough for any single card on the market. Even still, no matter what you choose you'll be getting a massive upgrade, and any of these suggested cards will play your resolution quite well with respectable settings.
 
CardboardSword said:
Isn't the 6850 closer to the 5850 than the 5830? I'm not sure any more, but I remember the 5830 was a pretty lackluster card at release, although that may have had more to do with its cost than performance. Your power supply is perfectly ok, and would be more than enough for any single card on the market. Even still, no matter what you choose you'll be getting a massive upgrade, and any of these suggested cards will play your resolution quite well with respectable settings.
Click to expand...

Yeah, HD5830 is leaning a bit more toward HD5770 in performance than HD5850. Now its a good deal, its just the $200 release price was hard to swallow.

+1
 
fastdude said:
Yeah, HD5830 is leaning a bit more toward HD5770 in performance than HD5850. Now its a good deal, its just the $200 release price was hard to swallow.

+1
Click to expand...

Oh ok, cool then. If a 5830 can be had for about the same or less than a 5770 then it's definitely the better option. My vote definitely still goes towards the 6850 though, mostly just because the 6XXX series has MUCH better xfire scaling than the 5XXX series, and you seem like you like the idea of getting another card down the line.
 
I'm leaning towards http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150497&cm_re=5830-_-14-150-497-_-Product

I forgot to mention that since I'm Canadian, I'm looking for Canadian prices. The 6xxx series looks great, but the pricing puts it a bit below $200 dollars, and from what I could tell there is no rebate. The 5830 costs $170 CDN, but has a $30 USD rebate and is Crossfire enabled if I feel like adding another one along the line. A friend said to wait for a month and the 6850 would be a bit cheaper but he likes to make up stuff so I'm taking that with a grain of salt.
 
Easily OC'd and at a great price? I'm sold, this looks like a viable option for me as of now. Thanks for all the great advice that you've both given me, you've spared me the headache of picking a crappy Video Card!

(Btw, why is the GT220 THAT bad? I mean I can understand to a degree, but it's been able to run ME2 at mostly maxed out settings without a serious dip in Frame rates...)
 
Well you game at a fairly low resolution for modern games, so that helps a lot. But the biggest difference is clock speed, memory bus (128-bit etc.) core clock and so on. The GT220 is a pretty slow card all over all, whereas the GTX 460 is definitely not all over all. VRAM makes very little difference except at very high res or on poorly optimized games (GTAIV etc). The reason that ME2 runs fairly well is that it's not a crappy console port and that you're playing it at a low res. With the new card you'll probably double your FPS.
 
I decided to leave a message so those who helped can know by how much, and for those who decide to use this as a reference for their own decisions.

I bought the card a week ago, and it works great.. I OC'd it a bit and am definitely impressed, running games like Crysis on Hardcore settings smoothly without any trouble. I'm able to enjoy Just Cause 2 the way it was meant to be played (never ending as far as the eye can see) and my older games have certainly had their FPS jacked way up. I was pleasantly surprised, considering the price.

Definitely worth the buy, and I don't regret it. Thanks to fastdude and Cardboardsword for all your help, I appreciate it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top