Need a new video card but not sure whats safe

[ssmokeyy]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE:month price 500 or less
USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: (gaming Crysis wow sc 2 and games like that.
CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: geforce 7600gt with xfdx 750 black power suppley
OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: I haved orderd a crosshair 4 since my current board is dieing and keeps shuting down for some crazy reason. I have a amd 720 black but im going to order a black x6 soon. i have 4 gigs of 1600 ram coming form gskill, i have a wd black 640 gig hd,
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg or tiger
PARTS PREFERENCES: either i have never used ati and is why im haven a hard time making up my mind.
OVERCLOCKING: yes crossfire maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050 but im getting a bigger screen soon
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
What im looking at right now is the 5870 and the 480 gtx Im not sure witch one is better or witch one is better for me. I have been looking at 5870 from xfx and msi. Is msi a good brand now? The cards i have been looking at by them sound good. Im thinking about the msi 480 gtx or the R5870 Lightning card. I have used xfx and love there warranty but sometimes when a copmany has to put a lifetime warranty on something doesn't mean its the best you can buy.

Does any one know when the 5890 is coming out?
Or when some better updates of the 480gtx with some some better coolers and bigger names?
And are these cards over kill for what i play or want to play?
Has ati fixed there driver problem i used to hear alot that installing drivers with them was like pulling teeth.
I dont like to upgrade every 6 months is why im looking at top end cards.
does any of brands use high grade parts like mil spec?

thanks for reading.

 

[Derbixrace]

for 1680x1050 the 5850 would be the best choice IMO and its a very overclockable card if you know how to overclock if you want to go nvidia route then you should go with the gtx 470 which is a great card too. its better than atis cards in tesselation but probably is more expensive.

 

[Niklas_13]

Seeing your going to upgrade your rez soon i would go for the GTX 480, as it is faster then a HD 5870 and would be a better way to go for crysis and wow.

 

[Derbixrace]

oh yeah stupid me, i didnt read enough so i didnt see that you were going to upgrade your monitor well either a GTX 480 or 5870 should be fine then the GTX 480 is sure better but its more expensive, hotter, louder and noisier than the 5870 :/

 

[Niklas_13]

oh yeah stupid me, i didnt read enough so i didnt see that you were going to upgrade your monitor well either a GTX 480 or 5870 should be fine then the GTX 480 is sure better but its more expensive, hotter, louder and noisier than the 5870 :/

hotter louder uses more powers ( yes ) but will run crysis and wow better

 

[AMW1011]

I might have to recommend the 5870 over the GTX 480, because you can crossfire 2 of them later but you wont be able to SLI 2 GTX 480s. I find this to be a great way to gain more performance for a decent price at a later date.

If you are not worried about it, then I would likely recommend the GTX 480 as it is consistently 20% faster than the 5870 in current titles now thanks to improved drivers, and still has the 10-20% lead with heavy tessellation (the main feature of DX11), meaning better performance in future titles:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gigabyte-gf-gtx400_17.html#sect0

That said, the 5870 provides plenty of power now and 2 5870s should best a single GTX 480 pretty well, even in future titles with heavy tessellation.

 

[ssmokeyy]

So is msi a good brand for the 5870 lighting card or is there a better one out there. I like to get the best parts i can when i get new stuff so it will last a long time. and If i go 480 gtx will xfx or bfg tech be coming out with one? Can you crossfire a 5870 with diff lines ? and how will does it work?

 

[sabot00]

I would get MSI's 5870 lightning.

 

[AMW1011]

The MSI Lightning is one of the, if not the best 5870s out there. It is made with the same quality as the 5770 Hawk. It is the only non-reference design that I have seen to actually do significantly better then the reference design. If you can get it, then I recommend that you do, at least if you are set on a 5870.

XFX has always been my preferred brand for nVidia cards, but they do not carry the GTX 4xx series. I would recommend EVGA as they have a good warranty and a better step-up program than BFG's,