Upgrade from a 260M, looking at 560GTX

magruder13

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: within the next month

BUDGET RANGE: around 200

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: This is going to be put into my HTPC so I need it to be quiet and easily run dual-boxing WoW. Other than that, I usually just watch hd movies and blu-ray

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Corsair 400W, has 30A on the 12v rail and I have one free PCIE 6 pin plug, and a whole bunch of other connectors free. I only have power going to one Green HDD, blu-ray drive, motherboard, and 3 silent fans.

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: First gen core i3, 4gb ddr3, 1.5tb hdd, Blu-ray drive.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I usually buy from newegg

PARTS PREFERENCES: I have always been a really big Nvidia fan because no one has ever convinced me otherwise. If an AMD card is greatly better I have no problem as long as its a good brand. I want to stay with a reliable brand, to me, that would mean, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, the bigger companies makes me feel safe at night. ABSOLUTLY NO XFX, I had 1 and I had to ship it in 3 times!

OVERCLOCKING: not likely

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 720P TV or a resolution close to that.

Important aspects: QUIET! I once had a 9800GTX and that thing was so loud I hated it! I currently have an Asus G72GX notebook with a 260m and core2 duo, it likes to heat up and then drop my frames to 3-4 until I shut it off and let it cool down. Usually get a solid hour of gaming in before it gets too hot. My case is a HTPC but I have plenty of room around the PCIE slot for the card, doesn't need to be half height or anything, also I have 2 fans on one side and 1 on the other drawing air through the case so it stays pretty cool inside.
 

magruder13

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I'm leaning towards the 6870 because TH gave it a great rating for noise but you say the 560ti is better? Any idea how loud the zotac is?

Also, I was always interested in Zotac, they looked like a newer great brand but last time I went shopping they were only available in England, glad to see they moved overseas.
 

phishy714

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I would advise looking up reviews on that particular zodiac model.. From the quick search, I see that it can get a bit noisy, but it really depends on you and what noise level you are comfortable with.. The 560 ti is anywhere from 10-20% faster than the 6870 at stock, however the msi one is overclocked and comes with very high quality parts, where as the 560 I linked is basically stock.

I then end, they probably have about the same performance, though the 560ti has potentially more of you decide to try to overclock.
 

magruder13

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I have never noticed any improvements when I have overclocked in the past.

I was looking at getting the MSI 560ti but that is quite a bit more than the other cards.
Would the 6870 run dual boxing wow without a problem?
 

phishy714

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Oh yeah it definitely would, though I am guessing you mean one monitor for the game and another monitor to be able to look stuff up on right? I dont think the game would look good spread across 2 monitors since you will have the break of the screen right in the middle. You probably wouldn't be able to see your character lol. If you want to run the game across multiple screens, buy another screen (total of 3) and yes, the 6870 comes with eyefinity. It will be able to run 3, or 2 if you really want to, screens without much problem. Though, if you are going with 3 screens, you will need to buy an active display port to connect the third screen to, but that's another subject for another time.

If you are running WoW across 2 screens (not recommended) or if you run it on one screen with the other used for web browsing, the 6870 should be able to handle it without much problem at all. It is one of the best cards, price per performance wise. Also, WoW is not that demanding of a game graphically, though I can see it being tough in a raid situation.
 

magruder13

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When I say multi box what I mean is that I play two characters at the same time. I once did this with 4 characters all at the same time on a 8800GTX but that was before the last two expansions where the graphical demands for the game went up. They will all be on the same screen at the same time. Basically it's just doubling the demand for power. I have a friend that is able to do this on just a core i3 gpu but it runs at 10 frames and one of the screens is minimized so small it cannot be seen or read. I think the 6870 should be enough for that, only question left is, is my psu powerful enough?