Best card for my setup (2560x1600)

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stevedave

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I always save as much money as possible, so I have been watching 30" monitors for over a year now and Finally found a 305T refurbished for $500.

So this is the setup

P5n-D SLI with Q6700 @ 3..2
2X 9600GT in sli
Antec EA650 power supply.


So I don't want to spend more than 200 bucks for my video card, I'm fine with waiting for a price drop. But what I want to know is should I go for a 5850 when I can find one for $200 or go for a GTX 470 for $200 when I can find one leaving the option for SLI open.

Can my power supply even handle 2 gtx470's?

Is there a chart or site that shows how GTX470, GTX480, 5850, 5870 all handle 2560x1600?
 
For those wondering, a 5770 1GB will be slower than 9600GT SLI, so that option's out.

5850 or GTX 470 for $200? Unless you buy used, expect a very long wait, as they are currently $300 and $350, respectively, and they are very popular cards.

I wouldn't run GTX 470 SLI on any 650W PSU, even a good one like yours.

Just about every HardOCP video card or game review in the past few months includes 2560x1600 resolutions for those cards.
 
evilsofa said:
For those wondering, a 5770 1GB will be slower than 9600GT SLI, so that option's out.

5850 or GTX 470 for $200? Unless you buy used, expect a very long wait, as they are currently $300 and $350, respectively, and they are very popular cards.

I wouldn't run GTX 470 SLI on any 650W PSU, even a good one like yours.

Just about every HardOCP video card or game review in the past few months includes 2560x1600 resolutions for those cards.
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Thanks for the link.

I have plenty of time to wait most graphically demanding game I play now is L4D2 and Dragon age and the 9600gt's handles them ok enough.

based on what I'm seeing the 5850 or 5870 are the best since I don't have enough power for SLi.

I go refurbished or open box on everything, luck seems to be on my side. I mean got a 30" monitor for $500 and for all I can tell the monitor is brand new.

I'm guessing 3 months for the 5850 to be sub 200 for openbox and referbs and 6 months for the 5870.
 
stevedave said:
Thanks for the link.

I have plenty of time to wait most graphically demanding game I play now is L4D2 and Dragon age and the 9600gt's handles them ok enough.

based on what I'm seeing the 5850 or 5870 are the best since I don't have enough power for SLi.

I go refurbished or open box on everything, luck seems to be on my side. I mean got a 30" monitor for $500 and for all I can tell the monitor is brand new.

I'm guessing 3 months for the 5850 to be sub 200 for openbox and referbs and 6 months for the 5870.
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um, maybe? more like its been at MSRP for more then 6 months. Nvidia has fallen on its face here and can't really do anything to drive down that price. they have been seen for around 260 though (the 5850 that is). as you have a 4mp I would wait til you could pony up.

I really can't recommend the 470 for any reason. The GTX480 yes but there is no point to the GTX470. not unless they slash the hell out of the prices.

so if that just totally out of the price range then I would go here
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5210080&CatId=3669 4890

your gong to miss out on DX11 but that not a real big issue at this time. and it will OC well to boot.
 
I own a 30" as well and I just came from a 4870X2. Was a decent card but still struggled to play certain games. If you can handle 30-50 fps in most newer games I would just snag one up.

But a GTX 480 single ran most my games 60+ smooth as butter. If I were you I would just save my money for a few months and pick one up. Plays Dragon Age 60 fps+ with everything maxed out. Pretty much the GC laughs at that resolution and you can still add AA maxed out in most games
 
Your most realistic option is to get a 5850 and overclock it. If you sell your 9600GT's, you should get enough to bring the actual cost of the 5850 below $200. I'm playing games on a single 5850 at 2560x1600, and it handles everything I throw at it fine.
 
I know this will get flamed by the haters, but If you want it at 200 bucks or less I think you would be waiting 6-8 months for a 5850. But you can snag a 5830 openbox for sub 200 on newegg openbox. Currently there is a gigabyte 5830 for 180 (I paid 195 for a MSI hawk a few weeks ago). But for sub 200 a 5830 is a great buy. & For 181 thats the cost of a higher end 5770 at retail.
 
You're going to be waiting a LONG time for the 5850s or 470s to drop to $200.

Your best bet is probably to get two 4870 1gbs from ebay or craig's list and crossfire them.

Or if sticking with a single card, try to find a 4870x2, although I've heard they run annoyingly loud.
 
bastage said:
I know this will get flamed by the haters, but If you want it at 200 bucks or less I think you would be waiting 6-8 months for a 5850. But you can snag a 5830 openbox for sub 200 on newegg openbox. Currently there is a gigabyte 5830 for 180 (I paid 195 for a MSI hawk a few weeks ago). But for sub 200 a 5830 is a great buy. & For 181 thats the cost of a higher end 5770 at retail.
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But since 9600GT SLI is faster than a 5770, then it must be somewhere near 5830 performance.
 
evilsofa said:
But since 9600GT SLI is faster than a 5770, then it must be somewhere near 5830 performance.
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Except your assuming that the SLI scales the same across the board in all games. Although the 9600 SLI setup would have more horsepower then the 5770 it lacks alot of features of the more modern cards.. Also the 5770 being almost as fast as a 5830 is a Myth (See the [H] review here) Keep in mind as well when looking at those bench marks that the 5770 was turned to a lower resolution more then once just to be able to run the games on high settings. & Since the op is talking about a even Higher resolution that margin would be even wider.

Also keep in mind that most 5830's will overclock to par a 5850 with ease. Not to mention that as time & upgrades happened a 5830 will buy alot more time before replacement then a 5770 will especially if crossfire was added later as the margin of difference would virtually double again.
 
ar09 said:
why not the 470??:mad:
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I just consider it a non issue card. its hot (and power hungry), expensive for what it is, and compared it to a 5850 provides about the same experience. and when you hold it to that light there is no reason to pay more for a GTX470 then a 5850. I have seen the 5850 go for 270 shipped less with rebate /bing. googling the GTX470 your can get a palil GTX470 from Mwave (if your a club member) for 340 shipped. So There really isn't anything to really distinguish the GTX470 over a unless you have to have Nvidia only features in that price range.

Now the GTX480 is a different story in that if you want the absolute fastest regardless (and there is always a market for that) Then this is your card. fastest single card solution, and dual card solution as well. That is rational I deal with. it might well be worth having all that extra heat and such then. But for what amounts to a mid-high end card it doesn't hold water. put it another way. If I want a dodge challenger and am willing to pay through the ass for it fine. and I am not going to bitch about 12 miles to the gallon. I am not going to tolerate a grand prix that gets the same mileage
 
Valset said:
I just consider it a non issue card. its hot (and power hungry), expensive for what it is, and compared it to a 5850 provides about the same experience. and when you hold it to that light there is no reason to pay more for a GTX470 then a 5850. I have seen the 5850 go for 270 shipped less with rebate /bing. googling the GTX470 your can get a palil GTX470 from Mwave (if your a club member) for 340 shipped. So There really isn't anything to really distinguish the GTX470 over a unless you have to have Nvidia only features in that price range.

Now the GTX480 is a different story in that if you want the absolute fastest regardless (and there is always a market for that) Then this is your card. fastest single card solution, and dual card solution as well. That is rational I deal with. it might well be worth having all that extra heat and such then. But for what amounts to a mid-high end card it doesn't hold water. put it another way. If I want a dodge challenger and am willing to pay through the ass for it fine. and I am not going to bitch about 12 miles to the gallon. I am not going to tolerate a grand prix that gets the same mileage
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I agree the 5850 is such a better deal in the end , until they lower prices on the 470 its really quite over priced. When you account for the increased cost and heat output /power requirement than the 5850 truly looks better and better.
 
Can't go X-fire on my SLi board.

Not going to sell the 9600gt's. 1 is going in my HTPC the other is going to give my wifes computer a 9600gt sli setup.

I think the 4890 and 5830's will leave me wanting a bit more, and since there aren't any new games close to release I can just wait and watch for a good deal on a 5850 or 5870.
 
stevedave said:
Can't go X-fire on my SLi board.

Not going to sell the 9600gt's. 1 is going in my HTPC the other is going to give my wifes computer a 9600gt sli setup.

I think the 4890 and 5830's will leave me wanting a bit more, and since there aren't any new games close to release I can just wait and watch for a good deal on a 5850 or 5870.
Click to expand...

When I said crossfire it was assuming that the 5830 would outlive your current rig. I wouldn't go for a 4890 at this point due to it being last gen & it was a big gen jump. Also with most 5830's Over clocking to a 5850's performance your getting a big bang for a small buck when you find them sub 200. But if you can wait eventually you will be able to pickup a 5970 for 200.
 
I got my 4870X2 for $210? Took the stock cooler off, redid the thermal paste and slapped two 80MM fans to the heatsinks. Almost silent running. The 4870X2 will run 40-60fps with 4XAA at pretty high settings at my 1920X1200 resolution.

However, it is an old card. If I was you, I would try for a used 5850. That is the bang for the buck for your resolution level. You really need two of them but at least it will run it ok until then.
 
look for a used 280gtx bfg if possible for the dual lifetime warranties ( or am I mistaken? )
 
Omegas said:
look for a used 280gtx bfg if possible for the dual lifetime warranties ( or am I mistaken? )
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solid advice, but wouldn't a 285gtx be easier to find at about the same price?

Off hand do you know about power usage? could it be sli'd on a EA650 powersupply?
 
stevedave said:
solid advice, but wouldn't a 285gtx be easier to find at about the same price?

Off hand do you know about power usage? could it be sli'd on a EA650 powersupply?
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it can and its an options for you (that is all I would push on it though). the catch is they go for used what you can get a new 4890 (just as fast when OCed) that is for around 200 to 225 used. the new ones still sell for around 325 to 370 for the people that have them (remember Nvidia EOLed the early to stop the bleeding on the line and not loose the margins they had, the price for them has actually gone up in response)

another possibility is that if you can find a pair of GTX260 / 275 they may be much less. for instance you can still get a new GTX260 off new egg for around 170. and its still pretty good SLIed. you can find them used for around 125 a piece, hell even on fleabay they are not getting all that much, here is a guy selling them in a lot of 3 for 300 right now (I think it will hit higher of course, 7 hours left.) http://cgi.ebay.com/3-x-EVGA-Corpor...tem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item4aa1d0a69f

keep in mind though that the GTX260 ~ 4870. so a pair of 260 is going to be around a 4870X2
 
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To the OP: game at non-native resolution or pony up more for for a graphics card.

The end.
 
actually the looking for a pair of 2xxGTX series cards is probably really sound advice. If you watch your deals You should be able to find a pair (maybe not at once) of 260's for probably 250ish which would be a HUGE improvement over your 9600's. May even be able to find 275's for that.
 
true what you guys said about the 470. i dont play games all the time but when i do i like to know i can. and i wanted a 400 series and couldn't afford the 480 at the time.
 
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look for a used 280gtx bfg if possible for the dual lifetime warranties ( or am I mistaken? )
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You are mistaken, that's XFX. BFG isn't going to remain in the graphics card market for long right now, not exactly a brand I would want to buy from at the moment.

As for the 470 relevance debate...I dunno, I honestly think it's the only current generation Nvidia card worth buying right now. The 480 doesn't give a whole lot extra over it or the 5870, and the less said about the GTX 465 the better. Then again, I am going by power numbers from places like TPU which give significantly lower power consumption figures for the 470, which is actually a bit unreliable given that apparently Nvidia is assigning GPU voltages on a per-chip basis for for the 400 series.
 
I also game at 2560x1600 resolution.. I'm using a i7-920 overclocked to 3.8ghz but have an ATi 4870x2 video card.. Would upgrading to an geforce480 make a big difference in gaming? Considering I would be going from a dual-gpu solution to a single?

What would the noise/heat differences be between the two cards? Right now when I game my 4870 spools up and is loud as heck, also puts out extreme heat,i would imagine the 480 puts out a lot of heat as well, what about noise?
 
roper512 said:
I also game at 2560x1600 resolution.. I'm using a i7-920 overclocked to 3.8ghz but have an ATi 4870x2 video card.. Would upgrading to an geforce480 make a big difference in gaming? Considering I would be going from a dual-gpu solution to a single?

What would the noise/heat differences be between the two cards? Right now when I game my 4870 spools up and is loud as heck, also puts out extreme heat,i would imagine the 480 puts out a lot of heat as well, what about noise?
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more or less both are going to be noisy (comparatively speaking). if you want a quieter card go with a 5870. Or third party cooling. they have AM coolers for yours that you can pick up fairly cheap. if your not needing a gpu upgrade look into that. but if your wanting more power and less noise go with a pair of 5850 or a 5870.
 
roper512 said:
I also game at 2560x1600 resolution.. I'm using a i7-920 overclocked to 3.8ghz but have an ATi 4870x2 video card.. Would upgrading to an geforce480 make a big difference in gaming? Considering I would be going from a dual-gpu solution to a single?

What would the noise/heat differences be between the two cards? Right now when I game my 4870 spools up and is loud as heck, also puts out extreme heat,i would imagine the 480 puts out a lot of heat as well, what about noise?
Click to expand...

that 4870 is old. people say the 480 is almost in pair with the 5970.
 
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