Best Graphic card for my buck?

Computer Hardware
#1

Hello gents, i tryed using the search function to no avail and i think this question is something that doesnt stay the same. so i was wondering…im putting together a pc for myself within the next 2 weeks. i have basically everything else chosen except the video card which is the most important as it is for gaming and this is the hardest part.

im looking for something around $150-200 that runs quiet and can run starcraft 2 on max settings and is reliable. also need it to last for future games such as The old republic.

#2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125334
You wont find anything faster than that unless you want to break the 200 barrier, that model is also the most quiet card available despite having two fans.
//Danne

#3

The nividia GTX460 is a very nice card for $169.99 at Newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130562

#4

Why would you go for the eVga card that’s inferior to the Gigabyte card?
//Danne

#5

The 460 is still a good choice. ATI will have more video cards in a little while.

Tell us the rest of your PC selections so we can tell you if its a good choice or not. :iagree:

#6

[QUOTE=DiiZzY;2548329]Why would you go for the eVga card that’s inferior to the Gigabyte card?
//Danne[/QUOTE]

Did not know it was.

Just chose one that I actually have in my computer working with everyday.

#7

[QUOTE=bean55;2548466]Did not know it was.[/QUOTE]

Yep the EVGA card is clocked slower than the Gigabyte card is on the GPU and on the Shader Clock
and the Gigabyte card has a longer warranty also.
EVGA:
Core Clock 675MHz
Shader Clock 1350MHz
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts 2 years limited
Labor 2 years limited

Gigabyte:
Core Clock [B]715MHz [/B]
Shader Clock [B]1430MHz [/B]
Manufacturer Warranty
[B]Parts 3 years limited
Labor 3 years limited [/B]

#8

Thanks Getit29

Mine is running:
Core Clock 720MHz
Shader Clock 1440MHz
Memory Clock 1800
Fan Speed at 84

Do you know if it runs cooler also?

The Evga one I have is on my work computer, I also run FAH 24/7 on it and it stays around 43C with the GPU running from 84 to 99 percent.

#9

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102855

how does this one hold up? i was thinking about getting 2 of them and sli/crossfire ing them together.

any thoughts would be appreciated. graphics card is the only thing really holding me up from buying my new rig.

#10

[QUOTE=Deioces;2549706]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102855

how does this one hold up? i was thinking about getting 2 of them and sli/crossfire ing them together.

any thoughts would be appreciated. graphics card is the only thing really holding me up from buying my new rig.[/QUOTE]

IMO that would be a big waste of money to buy 2 of them because that video card
is very outdated and if you are building a completely new system why put old and
outdated stuff in it? :confused:

Just 1 GTX460 video card by itself would pretty much out preform 2 of those cards
in a crossfire setup and 2 of those outdated 4670 cards is going to cost as much as
you can get the GTX460 for but if you want to go with a crossfire set up why not just
buy yourself something like 2 ATi 5770 cards or at least a couple of ATi 4850 or 4870
cards. :iagree:

Here is a couple of suggestions for you to think about.

XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100273L Radeon HD 4850

SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770

This is going to be my next card on my next upgrade. :iagree:
Palit NE5X460HF1102 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Sonic Platinum Overclocking Edition

#11

[QUOTE=getit29;2549728]IMO that would be a big waste of money to buy 2 of them because that video card
is very outdated and if you are building a completely new system why put old and
outdated stuff in it? :confused:

Just 1 GTX460 video card by itself would pretty much out preform 2 of those cards
in a crossfire setup and 2 of those outdated 4670 cards is going to cost as much as
you can get the GTX460 for but if you want to go with a crossfire set up why not just
buy yourself something like 2 ATi 5770 cards or at least a couple of ATi 4850 or 4870
cards. :iagree:

Here is a couple of suggestions for you to think about.

XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100273L Radeon HD 4850

SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770

This is going to be my next card on my next upgrade. :iagree:
Palit NE5X460HF1102 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Sonic Platinum Overclocking Edition[/QUOTE]

wow awesome thanks so much! between the 3 you recomended and not giving a damn about price what would you choose? i like the 5770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102858&cm_re=ati_5770--14-102-858--Product

also this is the other stuff im getting:

mobo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130236

ram- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

processor- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

case- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811162042

how does it look?

#12

Well… It all depends in total how much you want to spend…

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194059
ENERMAX PRO82+ II EPR525AWT_II 525W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146740
Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model

MSI H55-GD65 LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130268

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750

Adds up as 541.95 without 55$ mail in rebate and you get a ~5-15% faster CPU and one that doesn’t works as a radiator which means less noise and a much better chipset.

If you still want to go AMD switch the motherboard to this which pretty much is the same thing although much cheaper and doesn’t have a crappy nVidia chipset.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128445&cm_re=UD2H--13-128-445--Product

For compatibility reasons you should also get 1.5V RAM instead of non stock such as the Ripjaws which runs at 1.65V. You won’t notice a difference in performance either…

The current case you have listed will probably fry your components instantly due to poor PSU.

Regarding the video card I would either go for a Geforce 460 GTX which gives you quite a performance boost compared to 5770.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125334&cm_re=gigabyte_460--14-125-334--Product (Probably the most silent card despite having 2 fans available)

If you still want a 5770 get this one instead which doesn’t sound like a lawn mower.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131327&cm_re=5770_pcs--14-131-327--Product

//Danne

#13

I couldn’t agree more on what diiZzY said about the power supply that is in that case.
I wouldn’t trust that PS as far as I could pick my car up and throw it. :eek:

DiiZzY has given you some good ideals for choices on hardware but if money isn’t really
a major factor for you then here is some of my suggestions.

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Black RC-932-KWN3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case with Side window
Can you say air flow, air flow, air flow and more air flow. :bigsmile:

Or this one here with even more air flow :bigsmile: :eek:
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 1.5v

GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
This is the same mobo that I’m running in my system right now if you’re not going to do CrossFire then it is a great mobo.

GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
If you plan on doing CrossFire

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core

and either one of the video cards DiiZzY suggested and as you can see I’m no fan of Intel at all so no
suggestions from me on anything from Intel. :disagree:

#14

wow thanks for all the info, curious if i go Geforce 460 GTX shouldnt i get a 1gb card?

#15

[QUOTE=Deioces;2549864]wow thanks for all the info, curious if i go Geforce 460 GTX shouldnt i get a 1gb card?[/QUOTE]

Definitly yes get the 1GB don’t go 2GB that cost way to much…I have Paliat GTX sonic plat 460GTX and well I have a game I want to try but one of my older GPU intensive game works great with it. The fan speed increase as game play increases but when there is no game play it idles down. That is something I like about this card.

#16

You don’t really get any advantage getting a 1Gb except for a few fps at best.
Pretty much any video card now days have thermal control which means that the fan will spin up and down depending on how hot the card is.

All Ripjaw memory uses non stock voltage despite what Newegg claims, go to G.Skill’s site and look for yourself.

//Danne

#17

[QUOTE=DiiZzY;2549908]You don’t really get any advantage getting a 1Gb except for a few fps at best.

//Danne[/QUOTE]

Those fps can make a high difference depending on lcd size and game play as well. So don’t just discount the memory size just like the more computer memory the better. And least not forget the price for a 1GB is close enought to 798 or 890 GB version doesn’t make sense to get a cheaper when spending a few more will get a larger memory GPU. So the price does factor as well when the 1GB is not that much from the 798 or 890 GB version.

#18

I agree, get the 1 gig card. Newer games are using close to a gig at higher resolutions and quality settings now so why buy a lesser card that will not cut the mustard for sure by this time next year.

BTW I picked up a EVGA 01G-P3-1365-TR GTX 460 for my new i7 build and I just love it. It was an impulse buy and if I had the time I would have picked a different model or brand. Has a sub D connector should have looked closer. It runs 720/1440/1800 stock. It easily OC’s to 829/1658/1999 using Afterburner. Still runs cool and may go higher but have not tried yet. May not as it runs every game I play smooth at stock speeds. Its cool running and near silent even when playing Crysis Warhead or Dirt2. It idles around 33C and never hits 80C running Furmark. It’s the coolest running card I have ever owned by far. For around $200 bucks a 1 gig GTX 460 can’t be beat.

#19

A 50$ raise for 256Mb isn’t worth it (and please try to be reasonable, 3 fps doesn’t make any difference…)
Get your facts straight thanks
//Danne

#20

I would have to agree with DiiZzy on this one
$50.00 for 3 fps is not worth it.

Check out all the Models/Brands though , because that does seem to make a difference.