Which video card should i get?

J

Johnysmoke

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Apr 27, 2009
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Can anybody recommend the best bang for the buck graphics card for around $200. I'm not a gamer, but that could change.
My current board only has one PCI Express slot and i need something better for two 22" monitors at 1680x1050 resolution.
I'm a Photographer and do a lot of graphic and video editing and the EVGA 9500GT just isn't cutting it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
What exactly isn't the 9500GT doing that you think a new card will help with? Given your purposes I see no reason a 9500GT shouldn't be sufficient. Video and photo editing support shouldn't be substantially different, assuming you have sufficient CPU power.

It's a different situation if you'd like the option to game, though. A 9500GT is not a strong card when it comes to 3D performance, so replacing it in that case is practically a requirement.

EDIT: Nevermind, I can't read. Looked at your sig. A quad should be plenty for your purposes, plenty for video editing, the card does not need to be picking up the slack. So again, what is it not doing / not doing well enough for you? Please be specific.
 
ok wow the 5870 really went down in price, had my eye on the 6870, but damn 5870 looks like a great deal. The 6870 does do better with tesselation, other than that the 5870 beats it majority of the time in performance.
 
Isn't the 6XXX line better than the Geforce GTX line in terms of power efficiency but closer performance using one 6 pin PCI-Express power connector?
 
alienate said:
Hopefully not for crossfire they're performance does not scale like the 6xxx line. As a one card solution its a great deal though.
Click to expand...
6870CF isn't faster than 5870CF, and $219 (or $199) is lower than 6870 prices.
 
The OP said they aren't a gamer. They also said they have a 9500GT, which is plenty for video editing / photoshop / whatever. Yet everyone is still looking at gaming cards, just because they said they have a $200 budget? Rather than go "what's the most omgwtfbbqsauce GPU I can get for $200" how about we focus on the actual issue at hand... like why the OP's sig rig, which should be tearing through his intended tasks like a superheated razor through cotton candy, isn't?
 
Probably better off selling off your current setup and getting another platform while it's still worth a decent amount. Then use that $200 budget towards the new platform. You'd probably see decent gains.
 
I'd say the Radeon 6850 since you are not a serious gamer and even if you do game later that video card should do as far as price/performance. You may want to also think about if the Power supply you have will support a new video card as anything below a 500 watt is stretching it as far as power needed for these video cards.
 
Even though he is not a gamer, he use 2x 22 inch 1680x1050. GTX460 is quite weak to run game at full setting I think, it would have just enough though.
If you don't plan to upgrade your monitor to full hd resolution single 460 would just enough, just make sure you get the 1GB version.

Since he said around $200, why don't just go directly to 5870 :)
 
I agree with those who say don't upgrade. If you aren't gaming or doing anything that requires a fast video card, a 9500GT should be sufficient.
 
I would go with the 1GB version of the 460 or the 6850. Price is real sweet right now and under $200. Or you can go w/ the 5870 like everyone is stating, great card.
 
For your tasks I'd suggest a virus scan since it really should be enough for what you're doing.
 
Great cards people are suggesting, but I do believe I agree that they are overkill. The 9500GT should be totally sufficient, wouldn't you say? :confused:

I run SolidWorks, Rhino, Rivet, Catia and other CAD on my workstation in the shop and it has not problems at all. Specs on that are: E6850 @ 3GHz, 4GB, 9500GT.
 
Yeah, a lot of CAD apps are more CPU dependent than GPU dependent on your typical "home" PC, mostly because they refuse to accelerate much of anything unless you're running a Quadro / FireGL card... which most of us clearly don't have. "Live View" windows aren't the most difficult thing to render, either -- my Radeon 9700 Pro was doing just fine with very complex objects in Softimage XSI, 3DS Max, and Lightwave years ago. (Wow, couple minutes of searching and I find Autodesk bought up Maya and Softimage since I used them last? Nom nom nom, let's make us a corporate juggernaut...)
 
i would say go with 6 series, you can grap 6850 for $140 at ebay
or SSD will make lot of improvement.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
and dont change your rig till the revised sandy bridge chipset is released
Posted via Mobile Device
 
Thank You all VERY much for all of your recommendations and suggestions. I have learned a lot from many of your very helpful posts. For some strange reason i was thinking that if i upgraded the GPU i would see a major difference in speed while encoding very large video files with Handbrake or working with CS5.

My current system and the 9500GT does very well for the most part. I tried to play the demo version of Dirt 2 and the 9500GT didn't seem to like it very much at all. I could play a little but the card got so hot that i thought it was going to melt or something Ha. For my needs maybe what i need to get instead of a new video card is an SSD or two.

If i ever get enough free time to get into gaming i'm thinking about going with either an MSI N460GTX Hawk or one of the HD 5870's.

Thanks again for your time and suggestions.
 
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