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Looking for a new graphics card....

Goose

Goose

Limp Gawd
2FA
Joined
Mar 21, 2006
Messages
311
Well, the 8800gt's are now considered long in the tooth. I'm looking at XFX and EVGA for their lifetime warranties as I keep cards for quite a while. I have the opportunity to buy them now, not that the 8800gt's are becoming useless for what is played. ( ut2004, crysis 2, BFBC2, upcoming BF3 and RAGE.)

I'm not particularly worried about the new ones coming out later this year, if they are Really that good, I'll sell what I'm considering now.

Two machines need cards. Both are almost identical. There are 2 24" 1920x1200 monitors (one each). One has a Q9550, the other a Q6600. Both have 8gb ram and both have corsair tx650's psu's. The cases are coolermaster 690's.

So the question is: At the $200-300 range (less is better), which card of these two is best: (or are there better ones I don't see within my guidelines being price and maker?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150527

What about this xfx 2gb: (not needed at my resolution but maybe better resale value?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150548

** I am also looking for the card that performs the best while using the Least amount of power, particularly compared to the 8800gt's, (idle and load.)

** Will either of these cards downclock while not in use? Like to 2d for internet/email etc. so while the card is doing no work, it's using the least amount of power it can. This, to me, is important.

** Can I set precision or afterburner to the cards lowest levels, and have the card only use that amount of power at idle etc?

Also, since both of these machines have had nvidia from the beginning, how much of a pain is it to switch to AMD drivers? Really don't want this to be a hassle.

Thank guys.
 
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210$ AR for a factory overclocked evga gtx560ti is a nice price, I would choose that over a 6950 1gb for 256$ shipped AR easily.

If it were me I would say screw the rebate crap and just grab the Zotac gtx560ti AMP @ 950 core for a straight up 234$. With that factory overclock it will sometimes match a $300+ gtx570 or 325$ 6970 @ 1080p resolution. And yes Zotac also has a lifetime warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500196

If you wanted to go in the upper range of your budget NOTHING beats a PNY gtx570 with a lifetime warranty for 300$ or 275$ AR.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133370&Tpk=gtx570 pny

All modern cards downclock and will use only about 40 or 50 watts at idle, and yes you can downclock them also with Afterburner.
I have seen people have some driver problems when going from Nvidia to AMD (and vise versa) but latley its not as bad.

If your cpu's are not overclocked, I will give you some different options.
 
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happymedium said:
210$ AR for a factory overclocked evga gtx560ti is a nice price, I would choose that over a 6950 1gb for 256$ shipped AR easily.

If it were me I would say screw the rebate crap and just grab the Zotac gtx560ti AMP @ 950 core for a straight up 234$. With that factory overclock it will sometimes match a $300+ gtx570 or 325$ 6970 @ 1080p resolution. And yes Zotac also has a lifetime warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500196

If you wanted to go in the upper range of your budget NOTHING beats a PNY gtx570 with a lifetime warranty for 300$ or 275$ AR.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133370&Tpk=gtx570 pny

All modern cards downclock and will use only about 40 or 50 watts at idle, and yes you can downclock them also with Afterburner.
I have seen people have some driver problems when going from Nvidia to AMD (and vise versa) but latley its not as bad.

If your cpu's are not overclocked, I will give you some different options.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Happy. Neither cpu is overclocked, which is fine by me, it's not necessary. The 8800's are not overclocked past what they came with, and likely the new ones won't be either.

I'd like to stay with EVGA specifically, but willing to try XFX if people have had a good experience with the company. Not looking to branch out any further.

I'm looking for the best price/performance/power consumption between the 560, 6950 and maybe on the very reaches this or similar:
(depending on power consumption)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130621

I assume that the cards are ranked like this for power consumption:
560 ti
hd 6950
gtx 570

I guess I need other opinions then my own about the difference between the 6950 and 570. Does the difference really justify the extra $$? Since I realize the 560ti is the slower of the cards in most cases, that I've gathered.

thanks
 
gtx570 uses about 40 more watts than the 6950 and the gtx560ti.
The gtx570 is about 13% faster than the 6950 and the gtx560 is about 4% slower than the 6950.

Here is the rankings on average with 13 or so games tested..


perfrel_1920.gif
 
Goose said:
blah, blah, blah....


I'm not particularly worried about the new ones coming out later this year, if they are Really that good, I'll sell what I'm considering now.
Click to expand...


I cut out the stuff that is less important.

I think most people would be very happy if they just phrased their question in one of two ways: I have a lot of money, what is the best card? OR I want the best value.

You fall into the 2nd group. For you, a 6850 would be a very good choice. Don't think "This is my budget, what is the best I can get?" You get screwed that way.

Buy the best bang for the buck that works well with your resolution and cpu then save the rest for the next gen which will be really that good.



happymedium said:
All modern cards downclock and will use only about 40 or 50 watts at idle, and yes you can downclock them also with Afterburner.
Click to expand...


All modern videocards downclock (if working properly). 40 or 50 watts at idle sucks. Xbit labs measured the GTX 580 at 26.5W at idle.
 
needmorecarnitine said:
I cut out the stuff that is less important.

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
Click to expand...

I'll stick to what I said, thank you very much. I don't want a 6850 so please, if you've nothing constructive to add to this conversation, find yourself somewhere else. I will phrase my posts however I see fit.
 
needmorecarnitine said:
that was constructive.
Click to expand...

And so was your snarky comment, that's at least the way it came across.

So, lets be more constructive. You opinion on the: 560ti, 6950 and 570 as per my questions in my first post. Best performance/least power draw.

Or as I'm reading around the forum, maybe it's best to wait it out 'till November or around there.........

Thoughts?
 
the reason I suggested the 6850 is because the power draw is very low, it works well at the resolution you posted and you have cpus two generations old and don't want to overclock. I posted "Take a look..." so you think about what you are actually getting for the extra money but if you just want to stick to those choices get the 6950.
 
Yea no overclock = 6850 or gtx4601gb whichever is cheaper. You might consider a slower card for the q6600 at a slow 2.4ghz. A q6600 @ 2.4 = a q9550 at 2.2
 
BFBC2 is going to murder your stock CPU clocks fairly aggressively and hamper your performance with a 560ti/6950.
 
saedrin said:
BFBC2 is going to murder your stock CPU clocks fairly aggressively and hamper your performance with a 560ti/6950.
Click to expand...

I played the entire game with the stock cpu and an 8800gt. I had no ill effects at all.
 
Goose said:
I played the entire game with the stock cpu and an 8800gt. I had no ill effects at all.
Click to expand...

Because your 8800GT is a slow bitch, that's why. You're going to bottleneck the fuck out of a modern card with a Q6600 at stock clocks.
 
You should consider overclocking the Q6600 atleast a little if you can. All those cards you listed are fine buy the cheapest one with the best warranty.
 
saedrin said:
Because your 8800GT is a slow bitch, that's why. You're going to bottleneck the fuck out of a modern card with a Q6600 at stock clocks.
Click to expand...

So what. I'll manage, thank you for your entirely helpful input.
 
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Harry1969 said:
You should consider overclocking the Q6600 atleast a little if you can. All those cards you listed are fine buy the cheapest one with the best warranty.
Click to expand...

Thanks. No, I'm not going to overclock the cpu on either computer. Cheapest with best warranty is on my mind. Or wait until new ones role around.
 
Goose said:
Thanks. No, I'm not going to overclock the cpu on either computer. Cheapest with best warranty is on my mind. Or wait until new ones role around.
Click to expand...

If you aren't going to overclock, then might you consider upgrading your CPU? The previous posts were accurate on the assumption of your CPU bottlenecking a newer card, so upgrading your 8800GT's might be for naught if they can't produce like they should.

Personally, I like the GTX 560Ti option best for you. If you were looking used, I'd suggest trying to find a used HD 5870 for a decent price (seen an XFX go for 225 on fleabay earlier today) but that's not what you're looking for. Just food for thought. :)
 
You will see a noticeable improvement with a modern card, even with the old CPU. Granted, you are not going to get maximum performance, but you will see a difference.
 
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