Help me choose a video card

[szuturon]

I'm planning on building a new computer and it has been a while. I'm not quite sure I understand all these numbers listed on parts anymore. Here is what I have selected so far.

New computer parts list

As far as I know, I plan on playing Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, and whatever hot new mmorpg that may rise to take over for WoW. These are bare minimums I'll need the new computer to be capable of. You'll see I have Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5750 listed for my video card. This is a suggestion from my friend... now I turn to this community for more suggestions. My budget for the video card, I would say 150-200 CAD.

My questions are...

1) The power supply I selected (after reading Overclock3d's review of course) says it's SLI ready... Does that mean I'm now limited to nVidia cards? or will Crossfire work the same if I choose ATI?

2) I I plan to SLI or crossfire at a later time, what video card should I be picking up now (just 1) and then another at a later time?

3) Are there any changes you might suggest that won't take me way over budget? (1100 after tax)

 

[AMDFTW]

the PSU will work for both fella,it just means its been tested under SLI

the gtx 460 is the best way to go fella (1gb)

 

[szuturon]

the PSU will work for both fella,it just means its been tested under SLI

the gtx 460 is the best way to go fella (1gb)

Ok I've looked up the gtx 460 and the price looks acceptable.

Sapphire HD 5750

GV-N460OC-768I

Is the difference in memory clock something I should be concerned about? The gigabyte card is less by 1gHz compared to the sapphire card.

 

[AMDFTW]

the 460 (1gb) destroys the 5750,5770 at stock,mine is about on par with a 5850 as its heavely overclocked

the giga's are good 460's as are the asus 1gbs

 

[szuturon]

Care to explain why the 460s destroy the other cards? I'm just trying to get a grasp on which specs are important when comparing cards...

 

[alienware]

the 460 (1gb) destroys the 5750,5770 at stock,mine is about on par with a 5850 as its heavely overclocked

the giga's are good 460's as are the asus 1gbs

It may well be, but the 5850 is now only $10 more expensive and then has the headroom to be overclocked.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125318&cm_re=5850-_-14-125-318-_-Product

 

[alienware]

Care to explain why the 460s destroy the other cards? I'm just trying to get a grasp on which specs are important when comparing cards...

Then what he has said will be of utterly no use to you at all.

What he means is if you take a stock (standard) Geforce 460 and overclock its nuts off (increasing the voltages ETC) that it is almost as fast as a 5850. (ED. What I mean is you really should know what you're doing before you took on something like that. AMDFTW does)

If you're only just getting a grasp on what the specs mean then please, don't spend $10 less on a 460. You will need to quite frankly risk blowing it up to make it perform close to a 5850 will at its standard native speeds.

Also, please don't bother to spend ages researching the clock speeds, core counts, shaders ETC as it means nothing. Raw over all results are what counts, and the 5850 is a better (and only $10 more expensive) card.

I hadn't noticed ATI had dropped the prices on the 5850 but I knew it was coming.

ED2. Nachos I bloody did it again. Sorry Tom

 

[AMDFTW]

if a decent branded 5850 is only 10-20 USD more then,get one of them as like ALX said they can be overclcocked to way past a 460,plus with you only playing starcraft 2 and them types of games a 5850 is overkill

 

[tinytomlogan]

At stock the 5850 is better, overclocked is where it changes massively. The 460 goes way ahead with some OC magic.

 

[SnW]

At stock the 5850 is better, overclocked is where it changes massively. The 460 goes way ahead with some OC magic.

Exactly ON the point

the GTX460 (ones overclocked) is a `beast` of a card

and seriously most of them just clock like crazy "!

and if it doesn´t just add some voltage ....

 

[szuturon]

Well my problem is I've never overclocked anything. I'm willing to learn of course but would rather keep settings to default. In all likelihood I wouldn't OC my vid card from the get go. I'd be shocked if I had to just to run SC2 on max. It may become a different story when Diablo3 comes out but again, OC is a last resort. If it were even practical to do so now I might've considered just OCing the crap out of my current computer which is still running on Pentium 4.

I'll definitely take a look at this 5850 you guys are talking about though. How does it compare to the 460s though when OC'd. The word "destroys" has been used but I'm wondering in terms of a numerical value here... the upsides to both these cards when OC'd to the max, what are the speeds?

EDIT: ok I've looked up the 5850 and I simply cannot afford to get a $300+tax vid card right now... are there any suggestions?

 

[alienware]

and seriously most of them just clock like crazy "!

and if it doesn´t just add some voltage ....

Sorry, I should maybe have explained what needs to be done a bit better. Of course overclocking a video card doesnt just add voltage.. The voltage is there to stablise the core when you start cranking the speed.

Szuturon.

The 460 will be more than good enough out of the box. As would, say, a Radeon 5830. You need to remember mate these are performance overclocking forums. Thus, pretty much every one here is into overkill big time. Fact is if you can find a card that can put out a good average frame rate in games and try to get one that never dips below 30FPS? you're laughing mate

I personally run Crossfire 5770s. I found a single one was great, but I like to max out my settings in games and add some FSAA and a single one wouldn't cut it.

 

[szuturon]

Ok. Thanks for the advice. I think I'll settle with the 460. It sounds like the most popular choice for my budget.

 

[AMDFTW]

yep,they rock

you should go the asus one tho for voltage tweaks if you wann OC if not then any will do aslong as it 1gb