I need a new graphics card! Help!

[Phoenix]

Hey guys! Long time since I last posted anything on the forums, but now I'm in need of advice, since I've been out of the computer "scene" for a while.

So, I still have my old rig (Q6600 G0, Asus P5N-T Deluxe, 4GB Kingston HyperX 8500), but my GTS8800 crapped out on me the other day, so I need a new one. I don't really know what the reason for the crash was, but I couldn't boot into Windows, it would just halt after POST and give me a beep code (one short, one long). So I replaced it an old GT7800 I had laying around and it worked again.

And now I though it was about time to invest in a new card. What I need is something in the budget category, as I don't use my rig for gaming after I got my Xbox360. I guess any GPU on the market would suffice, as they are newer than the one I had, but I would still like a decent card which can run new games should I turn back to PC-gaming.

Any ideas?

PS: Since I haven't kept myself updated on computerparts these last years I'm no longer a fanboy, so I could go for both ATi or nVidia.

 

[thestepster]

ati's 5770 and nvidia gtx460 are the 2 best bang for bucks on each side of the fence mate

£120+ for the 5770 and £150+ for the gtx460

 

[Phoenix]

How about the GT240 or 5670? Both features 1GB GDDR5 (various models) and is priced from £65 to £100, which is a very nice price imo. How does these perform, and what brand is the best? I think I'll stay clear of Sapphire after a few bad experiences in the past, and I'm starting to doubt XFX too, after both my GTS8800 crapped out on me.

 

[thestepster]

i think the 240 is a rebranded 9600gt so not that good and im not sure the 5670 would be very good either

the gts250 (9800gtx+) is one to look at i have one myself with another one its the pny gts250 xlr8 edition on a good deal from play.com for £43.99

 

[Phoenix]

Okay, I see. The store I'm buying from (Norwegian, komplett.no) doesn't have the GTS250 in stock, so how about 5750 or 5770? Those come quite cheap too.

 

[thestepster]

Okay, I see. The store I'm buying from (Norwegian, komplett.no) doesn't have the GTS250 in stock, so how about 5750 or 5770? Those come quite cheap too.

definitely the 5770 mate its a great wee card

 

[alienware]

780i? So SLI yes?

In which case do not buy a 57xx series card. Whilst they are perfectly good for now neither will hold up against seriously meaty titles in the future and the trick with both is to get them into Crossfire to unleash the animal.

As your board probably only supports SLI then I would get a 460 if you can stretch that far. I only say that because your board probably has SLI and you can add another one somewhen in the future to keep you at the edge of high detail gaming.

Since your last card things have changed quite radically. Cheap cards can now run super high detailed games with the big boys at acceptable framerates. However, you have to bring longevity into question when making a purchase and putting a 57xx Radeon into an SLI board pretty much caps any foreseeable upgrade without chucking it and replacing it.

Crossfire is fantastic now, SLI is much improved. Crossfire scales in everything (sometimes not so well though) and SLI needs a driver, but both companies have now honed their skills to get the scaling really making massive improvements.

For example a pair of 5770s does as well and outshines a 5870 in a lot of things. And rarely performs worse. At the time of release a pair of 5770s would run you £260 and the 5870 was £340+.

A pair of 460s are looking a very likely candidate to give the 480 a bloody good slap. Those cost £300 ish and the 480 costs at least £50 more. As you can see, the value is with ATI, but only when you can strap the bastards and get them thrusting in unison.

 

[alienware]

And stay away from any DX9/10 cards. You need to go DX11 to be completely honest.

 

[Phoenix]

Okay, thanks mate! Do you know which is best, PowerColor or HIS? I heaven't got any experience with either, but these were the cheapest of the 5770 with 1GB. I kinda liked HIS best cause of the cooling solution with a complete cooler covering the whole PCB, instead of PowerColor's small cooler centered over the GPU. Also, HIS is bundeled with BF2:BC, which my friends have been nagging on me to buy.

Or maybe I just answered my own question here?

 

[alienware]

The shroud cooler is the original reference ATI cooler. So with that card you are getting a reference card with a sticker on.

If the other cooler you refer to is the egg shaped thing? avoid, they're not so good.

 

[AMDFTW]

i would say the 460 over a 5770,i have owned both and the 460 eats a 5770

 

[Phoenix]

Hm, okay, maybe. But what's PhysX and CUDA? As far as I can see, the 5770 doesn't support either of these?

But the 5770 can make use of PCIe 2.1, as opposed to the 460 which uses PCIe 2.0. Not that my mobo is using the 2.1-standard, I'm just thinking of, as you said, futureproofing.

Man, I really need to get updated again.

 

[Phoenix]

And also, the 460 features 768MB GDDR5 192bit at 675MHz, as opposed to the 5770's 1GB 128bit at 850MHz?

 

[alienware]

Cuda cores are cores that aid with some processing tasks. They're also excellent for folding.

Physx is a stupid load of crap that is supposed to make games look "ZOMG ORSUM" but is actually in reality pretty spazzy.

Both are things used by Nvidia.

The bit part is the memory, the higher the better.

So as I said earlier, because of your motherboard (SLI) I personally would get a 460. They're faster than the 5770 and perform better. However, the 5770 is cheaper so price to performance they are pretty much equal (in a pound for pound boxer kind of way).