I'm trying to choose a video card...

[Frizankie]

So I'm trying to choose a video card. Problem is, there are a million out there, and I'm not exactly sure what to look for. I'm looking to spend in the range of $100-150, and of course, I want to get the most bang for my buck. So I have a couple questions; if you have a card that you'd recommend please do so too! Please keep in mind that I'm primarily using this for gaming (Arkham Asylum, Mass Effect 2, and so on) and I want to be as sure as possible that the games will run super smoothly. Here goes:

First, is there a reason I should get Nvidia over ATI, or visa versa? I know directx 11 is only currently on the ATI cards, but does that choosing one that has it?

What core clock speed should I be looking for? 625? 700? 800?

When I look at the GDDR3 cards, most of them say the effective memory clock is between 1800 and 2200 MHz, but the GDDR5 cards usually have an effective memory clock of between 1000 and 1200MHz. That seems funky to me, because I thought GDDR5 was supposed to be faster?

Again, please suggest a card if you know of one that will work for what I'm after, and thanks so much for your help!!

 

[Guest]

ok asumming you have a decent psu 450w to 500w

now for HD cards i recomend a Ati 5750 or if you put 20 more bucks in from 150$ then you can get a Ati Hd 5770 DDr5 1gb Direct x 11 a decent card

now for Geforce counter a more cheaper Geforce GTS 250 1gb DDr3!! at or around 140$ but only capable of direct x 10 and not as powerfull as da 5770

now how the video ram works

Geforce uses a higher speed of ram to power there cards but they also have physx

ati counts on high shader counts and Stream for there cards so ram is a little downclocked

plus ati likes to offer cards that are good on psu so ram would suck it all up if they maxed it out

 

[Frizankie]

Hmm. well I'm looking at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102858&cm_re=hd_5770-_-14-102-858-_-Product&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

What is physx? I know its for games, but is it work going Nvidia for it?

 

[Guest]

that depends on your tastes. and the games you play.
physx acts as a PPU heres a diagram
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=244

it offers better physx for a lower costs on the cpu but can take a toll on the Gpu

your choice and heres a list of games that use physx
http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_physxgames_home.html

Firestone855

 

[4745454b]

Geforce uses a higher speed of ram to power there cards but they also have physx

ati counts on high shader counts and Stream for there cards so ram is a little downclocked

plus ati likes to offer cards that are good on psu so ram would suck it all up if they maxed it out

What? None of that makes any sense. If you don't know, say so.

OP, GTS250 or 5750/5770. Because you play Batman you might be better off with the GTS250. Same with the mass effect two, but I'm not sure about that. The 5750 would be faster overall, but Batman likes Nvidia.

I would get the most powerful card you can with the money you have. Don't worry if its Nvidia or AMD. It really won't matter.

Clock speed doesn't matter. Its used to compare cards in the same family. Just like we aren't saying to get a 3GHz+ CPU, its pointless to say you need a 650MHz core clock. I could point out a high clocked lower end card that gets beat by a slower clocked higher end card. IT DOESN'T MATTER. Buy the card, not the clock speeds.

When I look at the GDDR3 cards, most of them say the effective memory clock is between 1800 and 2200 MHz, but the GDDR5 cards usually have an effective memory clock of between 1000 and 1200MHz. That seems funky to me, because I thought GDDR5 was supposed to be faster?

I haven't seen this. GDDR3 has an actual clock of around 1GHz, with an effective speed of 2GHz. (around, 2.2GHz is possible.) GDDR5 has an actual clock of 900-1200MHz, with an effective of 3.6-4.8 effective. I've never seen a GDDR5 card with a 1.2GHz effective clock rate.