Approx purchase date: 1-2 months
Budget range: $200 after rebates (of course wouldn't mind paying less
)
Usage: Games. Play some FPS like CoD and BF2: Bad Company. Most other games I play are less 3d demanding, like NWN2 or Fallout 3.
Current GPU and PSU: 2x 9800gtx in SLI, 1000w Coolmaster Pro
Other System Specs: Quad Q9450 @ 2.66 Ghz - liquid cooled,
4G DDR2 PC6400 RAM,
EVGA nForce 780i SLI mobo,
Vista Home Premium x64,
Case is quite large with great airflow, multiple fans. Do live in a warm climate with 2nd floor office that gets hot. 2 current cards get up to 70 degrees with card fans running about 40-50%.
Preferred site: Newegg
Parts pref: ATI only. This was my first system with nvida cards. Very unhappy. Both cards have already been replaced once and now another one is dead. Previous ATI card was used by me for over 5 years. Gave the PC away 2 years ago and the card is still going. Yes, I know some have had that kind of bad experience with ATI, but I only know for sure what happens to me. ATI = Good, nVidia = Bad
Even when the cards were working I had a lot of problems with the drivers failing to initialize or exit games properly. Even if I pay same for a slower card from ATI vs. nVidia, I'm going back to where I was happy.
Overclocking: No. Never have and probably never will.
SLI/Crossfire No. This was the first time I used a multiple card setup. Its not for me. I will go back to just getting one good card. I understand I can't crossfire unless I changed mobos anyway, which I don't want to have to do.
Monitor res: 1680x1050. That is the max I have now and likely for quite awhile. If the games run good in this res, I'm happy.
Other comments:
Been looking at the 5770. I went through one of the comparison chart things here and was confused to see it slower than some of the 4000 generation ones. I guess I thought it was as simple as higher number, 5000 vs 4000, equals faster, but it's clearly more complicated than that. I see the difference between 256 bit and 128 bit as one factor.
I am still leaning to the 5770 or another 5000 card because I want to be happy with the card for at least 3 years, maybe 4 even. DX11 support caught my eye as something I might miss in a year or two if I went with a 4000 card. I also like to buy the latest card I can because in my experience, as time goes by and your card ages, the drivers just don't work as well as the company is focused on making their newest cards work best.
I see these cards say PCI Express 2.1. Is my mobo PCI Express 2.0? I tried finding out but its not clear. Does that version difference matter to me?
Is my ATI card going to perform good on this EVGA nForce mobo? I understand I won't be able to crossfire cards, but I'm fine with that. Any other reason its a bad idea?
Is it wise to get the DX11 card since I want to use it for 3-4 years or is that not as important as I think?
What am I looking for in performance? I don't know how to quantify that beyond what I've already said regarding the games I play and resolution I run. The most I can say is I don't need it to be the 'best evah dude!', but I certainly want it to be 'good' and 'not suck'. I know I'll probably have to turn down some settings on newer games as I reach 3-4 years from now and that's OK.
Should I go with a faster 4000 series card? Is the 5770 right where I should be looking? Should I wait for some 58xx to come down in price and tuff it out with my one remaining 9800 for 3 or more months? I don't know anything about the different ATI manufacturers. Who do people like? After going through these RMA's with EVGA, I am mainly concerned with something that is known to last vs. being the fastest. Any advice is welcome.
Budget range: $200 after rebates (of course wouldn't mind paying less
)Usage: Games. Play some FPS like CoD and BF2: Bad Company. Most other games I play are less 3d demanding, like NWN2 or Fallout 3.
Current GPU and PSU: 2x 9800gtx in SLI, 1000w Coolmaster Pro
Other System Specs: Quad Q9450 @ 2.66 Ghz - liquid cooled,
4G DDR2 PC6400 RAM,
EVGA nForce 780i SLI mobo,
Vista Home Premium x64,
Case is quite large with great airflow, multiple fans. Do live in a warm climate with 2nd floor office that gets hot. 2 current cards get up to 70 degrees with card fans running about 40-50%.
Preferred site: Newegg
Parts pref: ATI only. This was my first system with nvida cards. Very unhappy. Both cards have already been replaced once and now another one is dead. Previous ATI card was used by me for over 5 years. Gave the PC away 2 years ago and the card is still going. Yes, I know some have had that kind of bad experience with ATI, but I only know for sure what happens to me. ATI = Good, nVidia = Bad
Even when the cards were working I had a lot of problems with the drivers failing to initialize or exit games properly. Even if I pay same for a slower card from ATI vs. nVidia, I'm going back to where I was happy.
Overclocking: No. Never have and probably never will.
SLI/Crossfire No. This was the first time I used a multiple card setup. Its not for me. I will go back to just getting one good card. I understand I can't crossfire unless I changed mobos anyway, which I don't want to have to do.
Monitor res: 1680x1050. That is the max I have now and likely for quite awhile. If the games run good in this res, I'm happy.
Other comments:
Been looking at the 5770. I went through one of the comparison chart things here and was confused to see it slower than some of the 4000 generation ones. I guess I thought it was as simple as higher number, 5000 vs 4000, equals faster, but it's clearly more complicated than that. I see the difference between 256 bit and 128 bit as one factor.
I am still leaning to the 5770 or another 5000 card because I want to be happy with the card for at least 3 years, maybe 4 even. DX11 support caught my eye as something I might miss in a year or two if I went with a 4000 card. I also like to buy the latest card I can because in my experience, as time goes by and your card ages, the drivers just don't work as well as the company is focused on making their newest cards work best.
I see these cards say PCI Express 2.1. Is my mobo PCI Express 2.0? I tried finding out but its not clear. Does that version difference matter to me?
Is my ATI card going to perform good on this EVGA nForce mobo? I understand I won't be able to crossfire cards, but I'm fine with that. Any other reason its a bad idea?
Is it wise to get the DX11 card since I want to use it for 3-4 years or is that not as important as I think?
What am I looking for in performance? I don't know how to quantify that beyond what I've already said regarding the games I play and resolution I run. The most I can say is I don't need it to be the 'best evah dude!', but I certainly want it to be 'good' and 'not suck'. I know I'll probably have to turn down some settings on newer games as I reach 3-4 years from now and that's OK.
Should I go with a faster 4000 series card? Is the 5770 right where I should be looking? Should I wait for some 58xx to come down in price and tuff it out with my one remaining 9800 for 3 or more months? I don't know anything about the different ATI manufacturers. Who do people like? After going through these RMA's with EVGA, I am mainly concerned with something that is known to last vs. being the fastest. Any advice is welcome.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram