Advice on new Card

[arkons_71]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Buying ASAP and looking to spend around $200 -$250.

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, dual-monitor display.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: BFGTech 8600 GTS, 600W Coolmax

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: AMD Phenom Black X2, 4GB DDR3, Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com, Amazon.com or anywhere else as long as its cheap.

PARTS PREFERENCES: Love BFGTech's Warranty support (had my old card replaced twice) but I haven't seen that they make any mid-end cards anymore.

OVERCLOCKING: Don't care.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
Looking to upgrade my graphics card for Starcraft 2. I want to be able to run on at least high settings, if not ultra, at a high enough frame rate to be able to play multi-player competitively. I've been using this article: http://www.techspot.com/review/305-starcraft2-performance/ - to look at different cards. I was basically sold on a GeForce 460 GTX, but I saw some reviews that mentioned it played older games poorly.

Specifically, I was looking at this card.

EVGA 01G-P3-1373-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP

Thanks all.

 

[jyjjy]

In case you don't know BFG just went out of business.
The 1gb GTX 460 is indeed what you want at in that price range. The card you are looking at is a good choice but make sure to get the combo with the free game;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.456540
If you are going to be overclocking you also might want to consider a card with better cooling instead like the MSI Cyclone or ASUS DirectCU.
Also have you tried unlocking the other two cores on your processor?

 

[jryan388]

Where did you hear that it played older games poorly? I've never heard that... Anyway, the 460 is totally awesome and all, but for only $50 more, you could have a GTX 470...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=470&x=0&y=0
There are a bunch on that page that are $280... Some of them have some nice coupons like free games or discounts.

 

[arkons_71]

Best answer selected by arkons_71.

 

[arkons_71]

In case you don't know BFG just went out of business.
The 1gb GTX 460 is indeed what you want at in that price range. The card you are looking at is a good choice but make sure to get the combo with the free game;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.456540
If you are going to be overclocking you also might want to consider a card with better cooling instead like the MSI Cyclone or ASUS DirectCU.
Also have you tried unlocking the other two cores on your processor?

Thanks. I originally intended to try to unlock the two cores but I've been lazy and haven't looked up how to.
Is that $200 - $250 range pretty much the sweet spot for bang for your buck or am I better off going lower/higher? Anything else you'd recommend? I think I may go with the Cyclone since its only like $10 more for OC'd

Also, do you think the 1GB model is worth the extra $40 or is the 768MB model the way to go?

 

[jyjjy]

Yeah, the 1gb card is worth it. I would only go for the DirectCU myself as it is $10 cheaper. Both have great cooling and the factory OC is insignificant. It's very easy to OC a video card on your own and you will get much, much better results. These cards can OC 30-35% which is huge so the 7% factory OC on the Cyclone is insignificant really. Both are a good choice though and I think the Cyclone has the combo for the free game as well.
BTW it is also very easy to unlock the cores. It is just a setting in the BIOS of the motherboard. It isn't guaranteed to work but the odds are good(70-80%)

 

[arkons_71]

Yea, I just saw the Asus was cheaper. I'm actually getting ready to flash my bios now too. Thanks for your help and making me get off my butt and unlock those cores.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey