Best GPU for 1080p Gaming ?

[henrique90]

Hello there,

My question is already on the title. Whats the best GPU for 1080p Gaming ? Cost x Performance matters.


I have a HD5770, my CPU is a Phenom II x4 925 - 2.8 Ghz and my PSU is a Zalman 600W. Due the new games comming i want to upgrade my GPU.

I have some budget limit, and since i won't be playing in anything higher than 1080p, i'm having a hard time to choose the right GPU.

I'll be playing mostly 1080p on my monitor and sometimes 720p on my HDTV.

My goal is to play BF3 , Skyrim and SWTOR with the best graphics possible for those resolutions.


I did some research and the GPUs that come to mind are:

GTX 570 - This is the one i'm almost buying, but if i can get a cheaper GPU with similar performance would be great. (I can get it for $370+- )
HD6970 - more expensive than the GTX570... i dont think i'll be getting this one. Unless you or the internet convince me otherwise.
HD6950 - Maybe this one will be as good as the GTX570 at 1080p... this is the one that gave me doubts (the reason i'm starting this thread. I can get the 1GB model for $280 +-)

If i can save some money it'll be good because i want to change my monitor as well.

Ty for your time....

p.s I'm not from US , thats why the prices may be different from your reality.

 

[FlintIronStagg]

Hello there,

My question is already on the title. Whats the best GPU for 1080p Gaming ? Cost x Performance matters.


I have a HD5770 and my CPU is a Phenom II x4 925 - 2.8 Ghz. Due the new games comming i want to upgrade my GPU.

I have some budget limit, and since i won't be playing in anything higher than 1080p, i'm having a hard time to choose the right GPU.

I'll be playing mostly 1080p on my monitor and sometimes 720p on my HDTV.

My goal is to play BF3 , Skyrim and SWTOR with the best graphics possible for those resolutions.


I did some research and the GPUs that come to mind are:

GTX 570 - This is the one i'm almost buying, but if i can get a cheaper GPU with similar performance would be great. (I can get it for $370+- )
HD6970 - more expensive than the GTX570... i dont think i'll be getting this one. Unless you or the internet convince me otherwise.
HD6950 - Maybe this one will be as good as the GTX570 at 1080p... this is the one that gave me doubts (the reason i'm starting this thread. I can get the 1GB model for $280 +-)

If i can save some money it'll be good because i want to change my monitor as well.

Ty for your time....

p.s I'm not from US , thats why the prices may be different from your reality.

The 570 is better than the 6950; you will be happy with the 570. You will run into a bottleneck as I have the same cpu, but you can easily OC it to 3.3 on stock voltage that will release it a bit. You can get it to 3.6 with tweaks that will help alot with a higher end gpu . Overall you will see marginal increases over the 5770 even without an overclock; I stepped up from the same gpu as well. The 570 is also faster than the 6970. I would only recommend the 6970 if you are playing at resolutions greater than 1920x1080 or multiple monitors

 

[psyxix]

1080p - 720p is just the mainstream way of saying 1920 X [1080] and [1280 x 720] and it will all depend on the monitor/ TV you have. The quality and fluidity of the image will be determined by the graphic card.

With that being said: What resolution will be used will be up to you, know that the better the resolution, the poorer the number of fps produced.
If you want the best price performance get an ati 6950. The difference between an 6950 and a GTX 570 is too little to justify 100$ of difference.

In the end, it will all come to your budget. If you want the best of the two, the gtx 570 is the better one. If you want the best price/performance get the 6950. It's your call.

 

[henrique90]

1080p - 720p is just the mainstream way of saying 1920 X [1080] and [1280 x 720] and it will all depend on the monitor/ TV you have. The quality and fluidity of the image will be determined by the graphic card.

With that being said: What resolution will be used will be up to you, know that the better the resolution, the poorer the number of fps produced.
If you want the best price performance get an ati 6950. The difference between an 6950 and a GTX 570 is too little to justify 100$ of difference.

In the end, it will all come to your budget. If you want the best of the two, the gtx 570 is the better one. If you want the best price/performance get the 6950. It's your call.

Yup, i know that. I'm used to say 1080p and 720p hehe, and those are the resolutions i'll be using. I won't get higher than that. I have a plasma TV, it doest not support 1080p only 1080i. 720p makes better image, at least with my HD5770.

Would you mind building up a little on your opinion ?

I mean... i got the price difference. But about performance, i would not benefit from the GTX 570 at those resolutions ? the 6950 would do the same job ? unless i got at higher resolutions it wont make a difference ?

 

[pckitty4427]

A GTX560 Ti or GTX570 is what you should get for 1080p gaming and good framerates.

If playing in 3D, you should put two of one of those in SLI.

 

[psyxix]

Sure, if you look at the benchmarks in most of the games the 6950 does either better or close to the 570 gtx. Look here in a just cause benchmark http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-14.html.
And here in the BC2 benchmark :
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-18.html
0-7 fps of difference in the 1080p.
It is clear that at a lower resolution the 570 gtx has a better edge but for future games you'll want to play in full HD. I know the 570 gtx has more computing power but I'm pretty sure you won't be using it so it's pretty useless.

Also, if you wanna go crossfire later the 6950 scales better than the 6970 or the gtx 570 making it the better value for a future low cost upgrade.

If I were you, i'd go with the 6950 when it goes on sale and keep the 100$ for yourself or buy a new computer case since the 6950 runs a little bit hotter than the 570 gtx and sometimes makes more noise (depending on the brand). There isn't really a bad choice here but there is a better value here and it's called an ATI 6950. For people who might wanna label me as an ATI fan or something... I'm not, I usually prefer NVIDIA but I know value when I see it.

 

[jerreece]

Yup, i know that. I'm used to say 1080p and 720p hehe, and those are the resolutions i'll be using. I won't get higher than that. I have a plasma TV, it doest not support 1080p only 1080i. 720p makes better image, at least with my HD5770.

Would you mind building up a little on your opinion ?

I mean... i got the price difference. But about performance, i would not benefit from the GTX 570 at those resolutions ? the 6950 would do the same job ? unless i got at higher resolutions it wont make a difference ?

Are you saying that you play on your Plasma TV? And it only goes up to 1080i? If you're playing at 1080i or 720p you don't need anything that substantial. Even the 5770 you're using would probably do well at 720p depending on what you're playing.

The 720p picture could appear better than 1080i because there's a visual difference between Interlaced and Progressive Scan images. Also, if you set the PC for 1920x1080 (1080p) and it is being displayed on a TV that only shows 1080i, what you may not realize is the image will be resized by the television. This results in a lesser image quality.

If you're playing 1080p on a monitor, and wanting to play Skyrim, I'd go with the 570. BF3 will benefit from the 570 as well, but I'm betting the graphics in Skyrim will want a little horsepower to max things out.

 

[henrique90]

Sure, if you look at the benchmarks in most of the games the 6950 does either better or close to the 570 gtx. Look here in a just cause benchmark http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-14.html.
And here in the BC2 benchmark :
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-18.html
0-7 fps of difference in the 1080p.
It is clear that at a lower resolution the 570 gtx has a better edge but for future games you'll want to play in full HD. I know the 570 gtx has more computing power but I'm pretty sure you won't be using it so it's pretty useless.

Also, if you wanna go crossfire later the 6950 scales better than the 6970 or the gtx 570 making it the better value for a future low cost upgrade.

If I were you, i'd go with the 6950 when it goes on sale and keep the 100$ for yourself or buy a new computer case since the 6950 runs a little bit hotter than the 570 gtx and sometimes makes more noise (depending on the brand). There isn't really a bad choice here but there is a better value here and it's called an ATI 6950. For people who might wanna label me as an ATI fan or something... I'm not, I usually prefer NVIDIA but I know value when I see it.

Interesting....

You made a nice point, i'm not very fond of 2 GPUs, but i wanna try it sometime... maybe i'll get a HD6950 and later on when it starts to get dated i'll go for a Crossfire. I was reading about it.... the performance is almost equal to a 6990.

I've been using ATI for quite some time and i have nothing to complain about (I got some problems in only one game... Darkfall that was.) but i have no problem switching over to Nvidia also. ATI is always a good choice because of the prices... they have a great price x performance ratio.

So... anyone who thinks different ?

 

[henrique90]

Are you saying that you play on your Plasma TV? And it only goes up to 1080i? If you're playing at 1080i or 720p you don't need anything that substantial. Even the 5770 you're using would probably do well at 720p depending on what you're playing.

The 720p picture could appear better than 1080i because there's a visual difference between Interlaced and Progressive Scan images. Also, if you set the PC for 1920x1080 (1080p) and it is being displayed on a TV that only shows 1080i, what you may not realize is the image will be resized by the television. This results in a lesser image quality.

I play on both, monitor and TV.

Some games, the ones i must play with Keyboard + mouse i go for the monitor, the ones i can use a joystick i play on the TV.

But Battlefield 3 and the mmorpgs i'll play on the Monitor (i play mmorpgs very often).

Yeah i've noticed that playing Deus EX Human Revolution and Dirt 3 at 720p was better than 1920x1080 on TV...

 

[jerreece]

Yeah i've noticed that playing Deus EX Human Revolution and Dirt 3 at 720p was better than 1920x1080 on TV...

That's because your TV won't display 1080p. When the 1920x1080 resolution is sent to the TV, it automatically resizes the images down to it's 1080i max (which is like 1366x1080, or similar). So lines of detail are actually missing as the image is resized. This creates a distorted image. My brother had this same issue when trying to play 1080p on a 1080i TV using his XBOX. The XBOX wasn't smart enough to realize the TV wouldn't do it so it let him choose that resolution.

He found that 720p worked much better. Until he bought a newer TV.

 

[amirp]

If it is a $100 difference, I really think you should go with the 6950 since it is regarded as approximately in the same class as the gtx 570, since your cpu is holding you back anyways the difference between them won't be as large.

 

[psyxix]

Are you saying that you play on your Plasma TV? And it only goes up to 1080i? If you're playing at 1080i or 720p you don't need anything that substantial. Even the 5770 you're using would probably do well at 720p depending on what you're playing.

The 720p picture could appear better than 1080i because there's a visual difference between Interlaced and Progressive Scan images. Also, if you set the PC for 1920x1080 (1080p) and it is being displayed on a TV that only shows 1080i, what you may not realize is the image will be resized by the television. This results in a lesser image quality.

If you're playing 1080p on a monitor, and wanting to play Skyrim, I'd go with the 570. BF3 will benefit from the 570 as well, but I'm betting the graphics in Skyrim will want a little horsepower to max things out.

For skyrim, it's hard to say really since the textures will probably take so much space... i'd go with a 6950 2gb here . It's clear that a 570 gtx is a nice choice... if the $$ difference between the ATI and NVIDIA solution goes in the favor of the GTX 570 that is. In the end, your decision should come to the price. What are you willing to pay for a 6-8 fps gain in present games??

 

[henrique90]

Skyrim must be Controller friendly so i'll be playing it on my TV for sure....

I own a PS3 as well, some games i rather get for ps3. Thats another factor here.... i play mostly on my PS3 these days.

The pc i use mostly for FPS, MMORPGS and some ocasional game that comes cheaper for PC (as Deus EX HR).

Maybe the 100 USD (160 BRL +-) will make my choice easier. As i have said... for a future Crossfire or SLI the HD6950 seems a better deal.

 

[psyxix]

you haven't posted your motherboard also. This is important since most motherboard don't allow for SLI but most of them do support Crossfire.

 

[FlintIronStagg]

Skyrim must be Controller friendly so i'll be playing it on my TV for sure....

I own a PS3 as well, some games i rather get for ps3. Thats another factor here.... i play mostly on my PS3 these days.

The pc i use mostly for FPS, MMORPGS and some ocasional game that comes cheaper for PC (as Deus EX HR).

Maybe the 100 USD (160 BRL +-) will make my choice easier. As i have said... for a future Crossfire or SLI the HD6950 seems a better deal.

The 570 is the better card, but with that said , if you go with the 6950 then you will be happy. good luck with the build and hope you make a decision that makes you happy. Just make sure to get a non reference model if you choose ATI

 

[henrique90]

The 570 is the better card, but with that said , if you go with the 6950 then you will be happy. good luck with the build and hope you make a decision that makes you happy. Just make sure to get a non reference model if you choose ATI

Ty !

Non Reference model ? i'll search about that


@psyxix

BIOSTAR Group TA790GX A3+

here my MOBO... it does have support to Crossfire... i don't know about SLI though.

 

[FlintIronStagg]

Ty !

Non Reference model ? i'll search about that


@psyxix

BIOSTAR Group TA790GX A3+

here my MOBO... it does have support to Crossfire... i don't know about SLI though.

There you go then. The Asus, msi twin fan models or the gigabyte multi fanodel are the best for cooling if you have good case airflow. And for xfire a dual 6950 will best almost anything affordable ATM

 

[need4speeds]

Adding a second hd-5770 or hd-6770 would give you 1600shaders. (the hd-5770 and hd-6770 are the same card and also crossfire together)

This would be by far the cheapest upgrade.

-The zalman 600 should be ok for a pair of smaller cards like the hd-5770, and they are easier to keep cool than a pair of larger cards.

 

[need4speeds]

http://sites.amd.com/PublishingImages/Public/Graphic_Illustrations/WebBannerJPEG/AMD_CrossfireX_Chart_1618W.jpg

 

[FlintIronStagg]

it doesnt necessarily workt hat way, as 5770x2 is roughly as fast as a single 5870

 

[henrique90]

I wont be getting another 5770.

Its a dated hardware... i rather get a 6950 and make a crossfire later.

But i'm still not sure, how long do you think the GTX570 and the HD6950 will last as top hardware ? i want to play the games in max settings.

 

[FlintIronStagg]

around 6-8 months more than likely., but if you plan to xfire the 6950 later, you wont have to really worry about not being able to max anything for a very long time

 

[psyxix]

Biostar Group TA790GX A3+ is crossfire only. If you buy nvidia, forget about sli, your motherboard will not support it so future expansion will require you to sell your old GPU and buy a new one.

So here are the strategies for future upgrading I would use in those situations :

1) The ATI solution: Buy the 6950 2gb, enjoy it until the new GPU generation comes and buy yourself another 6950 2 gb at half the cost. So considering money. Lets say 6950 costs 250$ now, at liquidation it will cost around 150$. Total cost 400$.

2) The Nvidia solution: buy the 570 gtx 1.3 gb, enjoy it until the new GPU generation comes. Decide which one of the new GPU interests you and buy it. Lets say the 570 gtx costs 300$, you'll have to sell it before the new generation. you'll probably get 150-180$ back leaving you 100$ in the whole. The new generation will probably cost 250-300$ costing you total 420-450$. You'll also have to sell the GPU which is more hassle. On the other end, you'll be on the other generation and probably have very good value.

Hope this helps

 

[henrique90]

I'm almost done with my decision....

the HD6950 is winning. It's cheaper, its a good hardware and will be a very good crossfire if so i choose.

Now... if i get the HD6950, 40 USD + for the 2GB is worth it ? i was reading about those stuff and it seems 2GB is overkill to gaming... you'll never use that much date in your GPU.

I guess i'll go with the 1gb. not sure its the better choice for a xfire though.

 

[psyxix]

Go with the budget you have 1 gb will rock everything nontheless so go for it. If you have 40$ to spare, 2gb could be a good thing for massive games like skyrim or bf3 at max details. This is my prediction based on an educated guess.