Looking to Spend $250 or less on new Video Card, buy now or wait?

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Ladic

[H]ard|Gawd
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Upgrading from a HD 4870 512mb, and will play in 1920x1200

is the best for the price range the HD 6870, should I buy now is there something new coming out like really soon?
 
If you were gaming at 1920x1080, I would say that the 6870 should suit you perfectly well. I mean you shouldn't have too many issues maxing out games even at 1920x1200 (except for Crysis), but it won't last you for long.

If you're planning on overclocking the GPU, get the 6850 as it has a lot more OCing headroom and is considerably cheaper.
If you're planning on crossfiring in the future though, the 6870 should be a MUCH better buy than anything in the 58xx series or even a 6850, as a 6870 crossfired beats out a 5870x2 setup in many tests, even in Crysis (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_6870_CrossFire/8.html)

EDIT: Wow, apparantly the 6850 crossfired ALSO does better than a 5970. If you have any intention of ever crossfiring, then a 6850 is the best way to go for now.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_6850_CrossFire/8.html
 
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The only other card coming out soon in that range is going to be the GTX 560, but I doubt that will be out until early next year. 6870 is a solid choice today.
 
6870 or GTX 470 is the best card in that price range right now.
If you wait a month you may be able to pick up a GTX 560 in that price range.
 
The problem with questions like these, is there's always something right on the horizon. Technology is moving so fast, there's either a new product coming out next month, or an existing products prices are going to be dropped soon, etc, etc... It's a never ending cycle :(

Pick up a 6870, you'll be happy :)
 
6870 is nice especially for MLAA which is awesome, but the drivers are a bit quirky as with most ATI based cards. If you are one of those people that likes to just install a video card, install drivers once, then forget about it and play games for 6 months, then stick with a GTX 460/470. A while back I didn't change the drivers on my GTX 260 for almost an entire year (191.07). I have never once kept any single ATI driver installed for more than 6 weeks. Ever. Going all the way back to 9700 Pro.... well, 9500 non pro softmod. ;)
 
470 is at a sweet price right now. No reason to wait, as there will just be another reason to wait once the 560 is released.
 
Wait till Black Friday. Monitor the black friday sites as best you can and find the best deal. New Egg will probably have something sweet.
 
You never, ever, buy hardware right before Black Friday and Christmas sales (unless you love wasting money). On top of that, there's a whole bunch of new hardware dropping in the next month: supposedly AMD's 69xx series, NVIDIA's GTX 570/560, among others. You've already waiting awhile with that 4870 512MB, wait a little longer and score a good deal/brand new hardware.
 
Mr. K6 said:
You never, ever, buy hardware right before Black Friday and Christmas sales (unless you love wasting money). On top of that, there's a whole bunch of new hardware dropping in the next month: supposedly AMD's 69xx series, NVIDIA's GTX 570/560, among others. You've already waiting awhile with that 4870 512MB, wait a little longer and score a good deal/brand new hardware.
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+1

I was going say same thing, maybe get 2x 550 GTS SLI would be nice.
 
Waiting till Black Friday might make sense if the 6900 and 570 cards were already released and the 6800 cards were in plentiful stock. Unfortunately, this isn't the case right now. So don't be suprised if we see price gouging and sold out cards instead.

Looks like the prices for the 6850 is going up so the 460 is looking like a better deal right now. The 6870 might be hard to find for under $250 and the 470 runs too hot and loud. I was able to pick up an ASUS 6850 but that was before prices went up by $30, so now I would recommend a 1gb GTX 460 instead.
 
I've finally settled on the EVGA GTX460 FTW, the prices on the 6870 are still north of $260 while the FTW is $220...
 
Hostile said:
I've finally settled on the EVGA GTX460 FTW, the prices on the 6870 are still north of $260 while the FTW is $220...
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I ended up going GTX 460 as well. I plan on overclocking and it can outperform a 6870 overclocked. Sure you can overclock a 6870, but since it is reference it is going to be at the cost of heat and noise output. I ended up going with the Gigabyte GTX 460 Super Overclock Series. The MSI Hawk Talon is a very good card as well.
 
Siryak said:
I ended up going GTX 460 as well. I plan on overclocking and it can outperform a 6870 overclocked. Sure you can overclock a 6870, but since it is reference it is going to be at the cost of heat and noise output. I ended up going with the Gigabyte GTX 460 Super Overclock Series. The MSI Hawk Talon is a very good card as well.
Click to expand...

good choice. I think when I upgrade my cpu / mobo to one with sli I'll get a 2nd gigabtye 460 1gb... not sure though...
 
Hostile said:
Useless post is useless.
If you have anything that is actually helpful to post please feel free, I'd like to hear opinions.
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There's nothing I can do now that you made the mistake of ordering that, I would be wasting my breathe.
Have fun!
 
Oh that's too bad, cuz IMO, the best way is to go for gtx 460 SLI or 5770 crossfire. They appear to be the best bang for the buck. If you are going for ATI, wait til the 6950/6970 comes out then I bet those 5XXX cards would go for really cheap like 5870. I heard the Bart series (69XX) might not be available until Dec :-(
 
I too went with the EVGA GTX460 FTW @ $219. It overclocks to 900/2100 solid and is very close to the GTX470 in performance without the heat and noise.

I went with Nvidia over ATI simply because of the driver debacle recently and in the past.

-Flake
 
Get the lowest priced 460 you can, the FTW is retarded you can OC any 460 to it's factory clocks and the some.
For STILL less, you could get a card that has enhanced cooling for STILL cheaper!
 
Get the lowest priced 460 you can, the FTW is retarded you can OC any 460 to it's factory clocks and the some.
For STILL less, you could get a 460 1GB that has enhanced cooling for STILL cheaper!
 
Blacklash said:
MSI Cyclone GTX 460 1Gb is 175usd with rebate. TPU got one of those to do 850 on the core with stock voltage. Load temp was 61C.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GeForce_GTX_460_Cyclone_OC_1_GB/34.html

Those are some well made cards IMO. With Afterburner and a bump in volts, I wouldn't be surprised to see it do 900. Even if you don't bother with the rebate, it's 200usd.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7510&cm_re=msi_gtx_460-_-14-127-510-_-Product
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I generally prefer ATI cards (although, awaiting a GTX480 in the mail myself, upgrading from a 5870), but $175 for that GTX460 is a pretty good deal.
 
Especially if you play Crisis, Nvidia Card seems to do well on games like Crisis and if you SLI it I saw it could go over 60 fps which is madness
 
iviyth0s said:
Get the lowest priced 460 you can, the FTW is retarded you can OC any 460 to it's factory clocks and the some.
For STILL less, you could get a 460 1GB that has enhanced cooling for STILL cheaper!
Click to expand...

Trolls like you are annoying.

-Flake
 
PornFlake said:
Trolls like you are annoying.

-Flake
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Why, because he has a different opinion? There's no need to be insulting.
zuwarrior14 said:
Especially if you play Crisis, Nvidia Card seems to do well on games like Crisis and if you SLI it I saw it could go over 60 fps which is madness
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AMD cards are actually faster in Crysis compared to other games. For example, it's one of the few where a 5870 catches or beats a GTX 480.
 
He's annoying because not all 460s will oc like FTW without jacking the voltage. It's very likely nVidia is supplying EVGA with some premium chips.
 
vshin said:
He's annoying because not all 460s will oc like FTW without jacking the voltage. It's very likely nVidia is supplying EVGA with some premium chips.
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True, but that's what happens when you save money. And I just noticed he did call him "retarded," so nevermind. *shakes head* you kids...
 
vshin said:
He's annoying because not all 460s will oc like FTW without jacking the voltage. It's very likely nVidia is supplying EVGA with some premium chips.
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It's very likely EVGA is making a profit on the same chips that they have in their lower models....
Honestly there is better choices than the FTW for what they're asking for it.
 
Well damn iviyth0s, with how adamant you were about me "buying the wrong card" I figured you had a stronger defense than "just overclock a $20 cheaper card..." Seriously? That's all you've got to support your opinion?

Overclocking any part is never guaranteed- it doesn't make sense to rely on the chances of a successful overclock. If I can spend $20 more for a part that is guaranteed to run at significantly higher speeds out of the box with a full warranty that's fine with me.

Thanks for all the opinions everyone.
 
I personally would wait a few weeks and see what the GTX 570 is like with it's 480 shaders.
 
I would definitely pick up the 6870. My friend has one and it plays all games on max settings with 2XAA.
 
I would avoid the 460s. There are tons of problems with them causing crashes/freezes in machines. I have a $200 EVGA 460 GTX paperweight right now and so do tons of other people.
 
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