Video card upgrade

[Budman]

I'm putting together a new PC with and going from AMD over to an I5 Haswell. What would be a good upgrade from an HD6950 to what? I'm trying to keep it below $200.

 

[Araxie]

for that price.. nothing better than this Gigabyte R9 280@180$ AR

 

[raghu78]

If you are ok to mail in rebates this Sapphire R9 280 Tri-X for USD 215 (USD 200 after rebate) is a good buy. otherwise the Sapphire R9 280 for USD 175 (USD 160 after rebate) is a good option.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202099

 

[atp1916]

OP: if you can, i would suggest you stretch your budget a tad to accommodate the $250 R9 290s. I've seen many $200 ceilings that are just short of assuring serious bang for your buck.

In the end, if you can't stretch your budget, you have 2 options. You can go used on Ebay and hunt for sub $200 R9 290s (there are many) or 280Xs (all are well under $200), or you can stay NiB and go with the 280 or the 285 as suggested above.

Personally, i would scrounge up a couple extra bucks for the 290. It's a big jump over the 280 for only 50 bones more. As the resolution increases, the extra ram and bandwidth on the 290 will make that disparity even greater.