$100 Video Card

[Met-AL]

Looking for a video card upgrade for my son's PC. He is a COD player and wants Black Ops 2 for Christmas.

Current Specs:
E8400 at 3GHZ
4GB RAM
Radeon X1950XTX

I am considering something in the Radeon 7770 range of performance. I came across this GTX 460 1GB card at NewEgg for $99.
Zotac GTX 460 1Gb

How is Zotac for a brand? Says it's a lifetime warranty? This card would be slightly less expensive than a 7770 and as a bonus, no rebates.

I am open to suggestions, my price ranges is ~100 bucks

 

[Bees]

Zotec is not great, honestly.

I would suggest looking into a HD 7750 or GTX650. They're at around 100 bucks and will give similar performance to a GTX460. The HD 7750 will not need external power however, so if your son's power supply does not have options for PCI-e power cables, the 7750 would be the way to go. Both are good options, though.

 

[Met-AL]

Thanks for the reply, scratching the Zotac then.

Reading this makes me think I should shoot for a 7770.....

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/call-of-duty-black-ops-ii-performance-benchmark,3357-3.html

XFX Double D Black Edition $139.99 w/ $30 rebate = $109.99 and it comes with FarCry 3 coupon
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150599

Minor benefit of XFX is that it allows to me to keep all my GPU's under one warranty system and he will like the Far Cry 3 game when it comes out.

 

[ebduncan]

Thanks for the reply, scratching the Zotac then.

Reading this makes me think I should shoot for a 7770.....

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...rk,3357-3.html

XFX Double D Black Edition $139.99 w/ $30 rebate = $109.99 and it comes with FarCry 3 coupon
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150599

Minor benefit of XFX is that it allows to me to keep all my GPU's under one warranty system and he will like the Far Cry 3 game when it comes out.

yes the 7770 is a good bit faster than the 7750. Its worth the extra $$. Either card will run Black ops 2 though.

with that system, there is not much life left in with out a extensive upgrade. (cpu,mobo,ram,gpu) The 7750 or the 7770 would be the best bet for the gpu upgrade right now and extend the life of the rig a little longer, but ulimately the next upgrade will have to be the cpu/ram/motherboard.

 

[Met-AL]

yes the 7770 is a good bit faster than the 7750. Its worth the extra $$. Either card will run Black ops 2 though.

with that system, there is not much life left in with out a extensive upgrade. (cpu,mobo,ram,gpu) The 7750 or the 7770 would be the best bet for the gpu upgrade right now and extend the life of the rig a little longer, but ulimately the next upgrade will have to be the cpu/ram/motherboard.

Yep, agreed. Normally, how it works at our house.... my stuff becomes his stuff and I get new stuff. Sometime next fall... my i7 4.9ghz / 16GB / Crossfire 6850 rig will become his and I will get whatever.

I was hoping to have upgraded my 6850's to a single card system by now and have one of them in his PC, but I have spent too much money on Kindles and stuff and have depleted my tech fund.

Oh, and now this card has caught my attention... EVGA 650Ti $139.99 no rebate It's the same initial price as the 7770, just no rebate down the road.

http://www.techspot.com/review/603-best-graphics-cards/page12.html http://www.techspot.com/review/603-best-graphics-cards/page5.html

 

[LigTasm]

Zotec is not great, honestly.

I would suggest looking into a HD 7750 or GTX650. They're at around 100 bucks and will give similar performance to a GTX460. The HD 7750 will not need external power however, so if your son's power supply does not have options for PCI-e power cables, the 7750 would be the way to go. Both are good options, though.

There is nothing wrong with Zotac, their customer support is good and they pretty much only sell reference cards with orange stickers. My best graphics card RMA experience ever was with those guys.

I agree with the 7750 assessment though, although the 7770 would be good if you can find it on sale or discounted.

 

[Slystealth]

Have u tried local deals or anything first AKA Craigslist or anything before buying retail? I see alot of people sometimes selling highend video cards like 6950/6970-570/580gtx for 100-120$ which is a good deal if it works correctly.They will play COD and BF3 on pretty high settings (depending on resolution) Just test em before buying though always!

 

[Galaxy]

Before I put down $100 on a GTX 460, I'd consider going with a newer card like our GTX 650 GC. It's right at the same price and has roughly equal performance overall, but uses less than half the power, runs much cooler/quieter, and includes Assassin's Creed III for free right now. That's the route I'd go if I was looking for a ~$100 card capable of playing Black Ops 2 smoothly on high settings.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162124

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4368409&CatId=7387

I can't speak for the other brands, but our 650 GC is one of the quietest fan-cooled cards on the market. As a bonus, if you have a Galaxy card and ever need help with anything at all just shoot me a pm and I'll get it taken care of.