Good upgrade from OC'd GTX 460?

[MaZa]

I am bored with my GTX 460, especially because it is starting to choke in Witcher 2 if I push the settings up.

I have cancelled my original intention of upgrading to Sandy Bridge rig (got a new car instead and bulldozers are around the corned) and SLI's GTX460, so I guess that card needs to go.

I have two choices. ASUS DirectCU II HD 6950 2GB for 245€. I could get another brand for 20-30€ cheaper but that model is quaranteed to overclock like mad (VRM shouldnt give in in early) and the cooler seems to have potential for silence. Would save me from buying expensive 3rd party coolers.


Other is add more money and get some reference design GTX 570 for roughly 270€. I would of course overclock it like mad, but for silence I would propably need 3rd party cooler and that adds 50€ to the price.


My GTX 460 OC'd is not a bad card, OCCT stable 815mhz core (could be more if it werent for Palits sucky cheapass VRM chips) and all, but is 6950 2gb a worthy upgrade (can I play Witcher 2, 1080p and maxed out minus ubersampling) or do I need to go for GTX 570 that the upgrade would make any sense even though it is a lot of money.

Or should I just bite my lip and wait for next generation. Not likely though, upgraditis itch is too strong...

 

[TomGreen321]

I think your processor would be a limitation in TW2m to be honest. It's just as CPU hungry as it is GPU. You might not even get the performance you're looking for without upgrading the CPU for that game.

 

[MaZa]

I have heard exactly opposite, that Witcher2 is very GPU bound. If it would be CPU bound changing the graphics settings shouldnt have very dramatic effect on FPS due to CPU bottlenecking everything, no? Q9550 @ 3,4ghz is not that old yet? Anyway, my FPS is good and stable on medium no matter what is happening or where I am, I just want to push it high.

-edit- Oh, and I am not staying Q9550 forever. I am merely waiting what Bulldozer has to offer before doing the big switch. I want to upgrade piece by piece anyway. GPU and PSU,that are futureproof are now in my shopping list.