Looking to upgrade from GTX 280. What's the best card now for around $200?

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stop!theradio

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Specs in the sig. Upgrading from a GTX 280 (1Gb GDDR3, 600MHz core). Obviously my board is "ATI friendly" as it's an AMD system with triple crossfire capability. With that said - I'm not exactly up to speed as to who's the boss in the graphics department right now. What is the absolute best card (whether ATI or NVIDIA) I can get for $170-$200? Thanks a ton in advance!
 
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I have a 280 in my backup rig and it really still is a pretty decent card, but your money best spent if you are trying to stay under $200 if probably a radeon 6870 at the $170 mark.

If you want to go right up to $200 there is the gtx 560. Both are good cards, the 560 probably has more overclocking potential.
 
what resolution do you play at? 1080p/1200p i'd say the 6870 or GTX 560TI are good choices.. under 1080p the GTX 460 can be found for 100 bucks or even less used, the HD6850 would work, or even the older 5850.
 
I play at 1920x1080 and run a second monitor at 1600x1050. My gtx280 does a great job but its starting to show its age. For example I can run high settings on bf3 but have to turn off AA to keep things smooth. I have to use 8xaf in new games as opposed to 16xaf. Framerates are generally good but can get choppy on occasion. Totally willing to pay up to $200 before tax for a card that can improve my experience
 
My neighbor went from a 285GTX to a dual fan xfx 6870 and is quite happy. You could wait until the 7850 come out or try to nab a 6950 for around $200. Otherwise the 6870 $140-180 is best bang in my opinion. especially since they scale quite well in crossfire
 
I went from two 280GTX's to a 570 and I'm laughing at everything cranked @ 1080p. Yes the 570 is a bit overkill for 1080p but pfft there's no such thing as overkill on [H] right? :D
 
I just bought 6970 on forums for 225 and almost bought 6950 unlocked for 200. Those two cards would be my suggestions. I'm upgrading from a gtx 285
 
Some great info in this thread guys, really it's helped me a ton! Spinejam, ygpm. My tax return will be here within a week and around $200 is my budget. Without the wife, my budget would probably have been $1000 and consisted of an entirely new build and I would have been regretting it somehow afterward. Gotta love the wife :p

Thanks again gents, you've been 2[H] and I appreciate it :D
 
JLangevin said:
Sell your 280GTX for $75 and add that to your $200 and get a GTX 570.
Click to expand...

This. I had no problem selling my 280s at that price a few months ago.

Also I would not say one 570 is overkill at 1080p if you play games like Metro and BF3.

Alternately you could look at a 6950 or 6970.
 
Thanks for the input! I think I've got this settled now. Looks like I'll be getting a 2Gb 6950@6970 from spinejam for $220 shipped. Heatware and 3dmark checks out and looks like I'll be upgrading in a week! I haven't had an ATI card for years now so it's kind of exciting :)
 
Exciting to have driver issues...

Just kidding. :p Should be a great upgrade for you. :cool:
 
What I would have suggested as well, Should be a good card especially when you decide to crossfire 'er... ive got two 6870's running at 2560x1440 and I need a little more horsepower now, might go this route as well...
 
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