Budget Video Card Suggestions

Fendrix

Fendrix

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Jul 9, 2006
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Hope everyone had a Merry C[H]ristmas!

Yeah yeah, another thread on a budget video card. I am going to jump on the SW:TOR bandwagon, but I'd like a little more oomph in the graphics department.

I game at 1650 x1050 (yeah that's right, shut up. :p) with an OC'd Q6600 to 3.2ghz, 4gigs of RAM, and currently an ATI4850. I'm sure my rig can handle SW:TOR fine at modest settings, but I'd like some more wiggle room for the graphics. I am not a heavy gamer, but I'd like a card that can last another 2 years or so playing SC2, WoW, Diablo3, and SW:TOR. I will slowly but surely start upgrading my rig but I wanted to start with the video card first as my Q6600 has been amazing.

My budget is <$200 firm after taxes and shipping. I am not a fan of MIRs or "just paying $270 and getting the way better card." Crossfire is not an option as my motherboard doesn't support it, I don't believe.

Any suggestions? I currently live in Florida and happily shop online at Amazon and Newegg often, but there is a Best Buy nearby.
 
What is your target budget?

NCIX has a powercolor 2gb 6950 for $230, new with full warranty. There is a $20 MIR that takes it down to $210, if you care to try that.

That is the same price as a 2gb 6870, so its a decent deal.

After that you can also get the 6850 for $125, but that will be 1gb only. Which is starting to become the low end vram requirements.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=60103&promoid=1301

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=56240&promoid=1301

If you prefer Nvidia, they have 1gb 460's for $100+. 2gb cost almost $200.
 
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I suggest that you wait at least until the new full line up of AMD cards comes out (maybe even til the Nvidia cards (within your price range) come out also).


But, till them start making a list of potential current gen cards. Prices for videocards have sucked for 6 months or so. You should set target prices for current gen cards (prices so good that it won't bother u much even though next gen is almost here). For example, I just saw a Powercolor 6850 for $105AR. Those are usually (from other brands) $120AR and up. So, maybe if you were to find 6850 under $100 or 6870 under $120 then consider jumping on those.
 
My bro runs with a Zotac GTX 560 with the same resolution as you playing World Of Warcraft and Starcraft II maxed settings and averaging 60 FPS. That set him back $140.

His specs are:

Q9550 @ 3.8GHz CPU
8GB (4x2GB) 1066MHz DDR2 RAM
GTX 560 1GB GPU
650W PSU
 
MSI Radeon 6870 Twin Frozr......best card for under $200 PLAIN AND SIMPLE

I downgraded from a GTX 590 and barely noticed the difference from an 800 dollar card to a 200 dollar card, ive been nothing but happy with this card, I play all games on MAX settings without a hiccup save extremely graphically demanding games like BF3 or crysis which still get like 40ish FPS in bad areas on MAX



Sexy, isin't she?

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Im running a single XFX 5750, i got it brand new for $75 off CL. Running High graphics in BF3 for 40-50fps, and 85-110fps on high in WOW. Ultra is 50-60 all with Vsync Off and 4X on BF3 and 8X on WOW.

Id look into doing a 5770 or dual 5770's, even 5870's are still sub $100. and a good hold over for budget until the new cards hit the field, I really cant complain and i have no bottle necks with my lil i3-2100 either.

But as the HD 7XXX cards come out the 5XXX are harder to find in some online stores but prices are dropping even lower. and the 6XXX cards become even more budget friendly.

Just looking at budget...thats the way i went....
 
I'm running a 6870 and have not had any problems whatsoever with SWTOR (1920x1080). It's not exactly the most graphically demanding game out there, especially at your resolution.

There's plenty of 6870s for $190-200 with $30ish in MIRs. Take your pick! 6870s are one of the best bang-for-your-buck cards out there right now.
 
Xonim said:
I'm running a 6870 and have not had any problems whatsoever with SWTOR (1920x1080). It's not exactly the most graphically demanding game out there, especially at your resolution.

There's plenty of 6870s for $190-200 with $30ish in MIRs. Take your pick! 6870s are one of the best bang-for-your-buck cards out there right now.
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And some 560's are as well, if you favor the Nvidia side. I've seen some brand new 560's go as low as $149 A.R.

I've got my 560 overclocked to within about 125 points of an overclocked Ti in Unigine Heaven 2.5 (all settings maxed). And considering I paid $169 A.R for my Asus DCII, I think the 560's can be an excellent value card as well.
 
+1 for 6850. Usually they can be OC'ed to the same or higher clock speeds as a 6870, and they cost quite a bit less. I got this card for $130 AR ($150 out-of-pocket), flashed the BIOS to this card's BIOS and now it runs stock at 860 core, 4400 memory. I haven't tried, but from what I hear, it OC's quite a bit further. Good deal IMO.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Looks like it'll be a 6850 or 6870 in the near future for me.
 
mazdaboi said:
Id look into doing a 5770 or dual 5770's, even 5870's are still sub $100. and a good hold over for budget until the new cards hit the field, I really cant complain and i have no bottle necks with my lil i3-2100 either.
Click to expand...

Depending on the game a 5770/6770 (same card) is more of a sidegrade from the OP's 4850. Not dissing the 5770 - it's what I've got in my gaming machine, and in some cases is significantly faster than a 4850.

I'd personally wait a couple of months for the 7XXX series to make it to retailers and then either pick up a 6870 (since the price is likely to drop) or grab the 7750/7770 depending on benchmarks. Looks like the 7770 is going to be about $150 and available in February, and is based on the new architecture.
 
At 1680x1050 you can get ultra settings with AA from a 5770/6770. I use on at 1920x1080 for WoW, MW2/3, and various other games and it hardly dips unless I'm 25 raiding or everything around me is exploding. If you plan on upgrading your monitor anytime soon then I would grab what the previous posters had said. If not you can get away with a lot for a 6770 @ 85 after rebate.
 
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