What temp card for my price range/current setup?

E

element4life3

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See my system specs in my sig.

I plan on doing a rebuild some time at the end of this year. Most likely an i5 2500k with compatible motherboard and memory, maybe NVIDIA or AMD's next-gen cards or just get the previous gen cards for significantly less $. Maybe even an SSD! :cool:

But, for now I want a temporary card to replace my aging 8800 GTX. I mostly play Bad Company 2 and Crysis (on medium to low settings) and plan on getting BF3 and Skyrim this fall. What card would be ideal for around $100 to $150, maybe even a bit more? It doesn't have to necessarily play BF3 or Skyrim beautifully ( I know, we still don't know their requirements) but I just really need something to replace my 8800 GTX, but not something I spend so much on where I feel it is a waste. (I have a buddy I can sell/give it to who is going to build a beginner's rig around the same time as me).

If you do know of a good card and deal, please link me to it! The cheaper the better! :D
 
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I'd consider a 460GTX or 560ti.

Also HD6850 might be a good fit.
 
ok you have 2 choices. Either a 6850 or a 6870. They are able to run bad company (on medium to low settings like you want) and are cheap. On the Nvidia side i would have to say the GTS 450. I'm not sure on the Nvidia side as i'm an ATI fan :D

Enjoy
 
I have been looking around a bit and the GTX 460 and HD 6850 do seem to be around my price range.

I see you guys recommended the 6870 and 560ti but both those are around $200 but I am looking for closer to $100. I would deffinately prefer those however! ;)

So between the HD 6850 and GTX 460, fanboyism aside, which one outperforms the other?
 
reaper_1994 said:
I have had a look at a couple of reviews and the 6870 comes out on top if your able to afford $200. I'm still looking but from what i have found the 6850 is coming out on top (no "fanboyism" included)

This may or may not help:
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/his_vs_evga_midrange_gaming_face_off_review/14

:D
Click to expand...

Thanks! I will wait till I get home from work to watch the vid (no speakers on this pos comp! :mad:). I would deffinately preffer the 6870, but I am only going to be using this card for a relatively short time, and will replace it when I do my rebuild.

If I were to go with the 6850, any suggestions on a particular one? The cheaper the better! :p

Also, is my cpu going to throttle these cards at all? I know my cpu is dated, but it is still a quad core, and is slightly overclocked (can't remember what it is clocked at off the top of my head.) My roomate runs a dual core Intel Core 2 Duo, and struggles on Bad Co 2 with a 4870, but my cpu and 8800GTX runs it so much better.
 
Try clock your CPU to about 3.2Ghz if it isn't already. I have found my Q9400 running at 3.4Ghz is deffinently a step up from the stock clocks (2.66Ghz) especially on the graphics side.

as for brands on GPU's... it's really personal preference. If you want a little more performance than i would say either the ASUS DirectCU or the Gigabyte overclocked. Not sure on the specifics on the two.
 
reaper_1994 said:
Try clock your CPU to about 3.2Ghz if it isn't already. I have found my Q9400 running at 3.4Ghz is deffinently a step up from the stock clocks (2.66Ghz) especially on the graphics side.

as for brands on GPU's... it's really personal preference. If you want a little more performance than i would say either the ASUS DirectCU or the Gigabyte overclocked. Not sure on the specifics on the two.
Click to expand...

I will figure out my clock when I get home and report back. I realize my sig says 2.66 GHz, but that may not be right. If I need to overclock, well...shit, I don't even know if I remember how any more! I have been rocking this setup for a while!

I will shop around for a bit and wait and see what catches my eye. I am really looking for cheap cheap since this card will only be in my machine for maybe half a year, less if I end up doing my complete upgrade sooner.
 
Ok, something doesn't seem right with my clock speed....or maybe I am just too tired...

JATnT.jpg
 
if you are running an overclock you shouldn't have speedstep on. It can cause your overclock to fail under full load. but nice CPU anyways :)
 
reaper_1994 said:
if you are running an overclock you shouldn't have speedstep on. It can cause your overclock to fail under full load. but nice CPU anyways :)
Click to expand...

Generally perhaps, but not always. It depends on how carefully you've set everything and the motherboard you run. I have a Q6600 (2.4Ghz stock) overclocked to 3.5Ghz and I have ALL power saving features turned on including speedstep. I've been running stable with this overclock since 2008 and I am not running excessive voltage through the chip.
 
I guess i should probably reword and clarify what i said. Depending on the overclock (light, moderate, heavy) you can have it on (e.g. light to moderate) but once you start pushing more power through then it's not best to have it on as it can cause the overclock to fail and failing hardware.

Sound better??? :D

Anyways, updates??? Got the actual clock speed???
 
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