Which Nvidia card should I get.

Cally

Limp Gawd
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Jan 27, 2005
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I am trying to decide which Nvidia card I should get for a new build. I currently have a 470 and think I need to upgrade to a card with more than 1 GB of ram.

Price wise I would like to stay less than $400. I would also like a card that is both quieter than the 470 and runs less temps than 91C in a game. I have the fan running at 70% and still get those temps.

I have seen the Galaxy GTX660Ti with 3 GB @ TD for $335. after rebate. I don't know anything about the Galaxy products so I need some info from current users.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...kwCjCV1-CjCE&gclid=CMGXqeyw8rMCFQUFnQodlC8Aag

Also is this a good card for a 3570K, Gigabyte UD3H, 8GB system or is there a better choice? I doubt I would go back to a Radeon board after having the last 6 Nvidia ones. The only game that I play that uses PhyX is Witcher 2 but I don't want to not be able to have that feature in the future. I game at 1920 x 1080P with only one monitor, a 27" HP 2511X.
 
If you go over $300 and are certain you want to stick with Nvidia the MSI gtx 670 Power edition is a solid and quiet card with a factory overclock very close to the 680.

There is a reference galaxy 670 for $320
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2577833&CatId=7387

The 670 reference model isn't too great, some of them have 680 boards and a lot of the custom cooled ones are a lot better then the reference.

At this point the HD 7950 for less then $300 with the 3 free games is a better deal if you aren't concerned about going nvidia and look at price/performance. With a little bump on the clocks it'd match or beat the 670.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite
 
GTX670 FTW

I would second this vote for the EVGA 670 FTW. I have it in my mini-itx build and it gives killer fps, runs cool (and sips the kWh), and very quiet. It even OCs well given the 680 PCB and cooling. That said, if power efficiency is not a big deal to you, or you willing to look at AMD, the 7950 boost GPU looks to meet (or slightly beat) the 670 in performance for cheaper.
 
GTX670 only if you can find one for around $250.
 
I keep looking at the 7950 but honestly I remember the days of their drivers being difficult to install and get running right. That was why I made the move to Nvidia and have not looked back since.

The 670 single cooling fan actually keeps the card cool without going to an aftermarket cooler?
 
SonDa5, where are you finding $250 GTX670 cards and $200 GTX660Ti cards? In that case, I'll take a 660 for $150 please!
 
SonDa5, where are you finding $250 GTX670 cards and $200 GTX660Ti cards? In that case, I'll take a 660 for $150 please!

For that matter, where are the $300 670s?

OP, at 400 bucks a 7970 will be your best friend since right now it comes with 3 free games that you can play or potentially sell. There's a few that you can get closer to the $350 mark and overclock the living hell out of them. The 12.11 beta drivers have apparently resolved many issues people have had of late. AMD's driver team has been pretty decent as of late, I have no qualms with my 7970 DD BE.

But since you're looking nvidia, find a good GTX 670 for a decent price. The 670 is a great, great card.

Here's an mid-overclocked Galaxy with stock fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162107

Slightly OC'd Gigabyte with quieter cooling: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125438

Larger OC'd MSI with quiet cooling: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685

After rebate, those will run you from $350 - $370, and you'll get Assassin's Creed 3 and Borderlands 2 (Newegg promotion).

Whatever you choose here, you'll have a pretty powerful system. Just a thought for down the road though, the 670s here have 2GB of VRAM which is fine, but may not be for some later games. The 4GB versions will run you a decent amount more.
 
SonDa5, where are you finding $250 GTX670 cards and $200 GTX660Ti cards? In that case, I'll take a 660 for $150 please!

Those are the prices that I give them. Everybody values stuff differently. I think NVIDIA cards have been over priced for a long time now.
 
Those are the prices that I give them. Everybody values stuff differently. I think NVIDIA cards have been over priced for a long time now.

IMO You just get what you pay for.. NVIDIA has it's reasons to be more expensive and we all know it.
 
IMO You just get what you pay for.. NVIDIA has it's reasons to be more expensive and we all know it.

The reason seems to be marketing, and a small factor could be physx/3D vision. The price to performance is in AMDs side now, and AMD has the single gpu performance crown too now.
 
buy a pair of 480's and throw them under water for around 350... hell add a third one and have power close to 2 680s for the price of one and watercooled on top of that
 
. That said, if power efficiency is not a big deal to you, or you willing to look at AMD, the 7950 boost GPU looks to meet (or slightly beat) the 670 in performance for cheaper.

no need to advertise AMD cards in this thread.

in terms of power, heat, performance, drivers, and game support i would rather have a Nvidia card anyday over AMD today. If few bucks mean the world to you then go AMD, but dont expect to be happy when new games come out and end up waiting months until AMD releases driver support for them.
 
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If you just THINK you need to upgrade you prob don't need to :) Anyways your current card should run all the latest greatest console ports out nowdays just fine but if you head strong on upgrade then go with a nvidia 670 and should be good for another 5 years.
 
For under $400

If you want to stay nvidia then the 670 is the way to go.

If you are willing to jump ship then the 7970 is a much better deal.
 
For less than 400 you can easily get a HD 7970 OC. nice game bundle (Farcry 3 , Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs)

Sapphire HD 7970 OC (1 Ghz) - 380 (360 after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008

With the latest drivers AMD HD 7970(1 Ghz) is much faster than GTX 680 in the majority of games even at 1080p. HD 7970 Ghz (1.05 Ghz) is 12 - 15% faster than GTX 680 in games like BF3.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/11/12/fall_2012_gpu_driver_comparison_roundup/3
http://www.techspot.com/review/603-best-graphics-cards/page3.html

if you want to buy Nvidia go for MSI GTX 670 Power edition. 390 bucks.with Borderlands 2 and Assassins Creed 3 free.

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685
 
I would purchase a 670 in that price category, i like evga personally due to the support they give seems to be top notch.
 
Another vote for the 670, at your res and being single monitor that card is a great choice.
 
For the price range I would go GTX 670 all the way! :D Have had several and never let me down!
 
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