$150.00 video card

[discboy321]

I currently have a "SAPPHIRE 100287L Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit DDR5" and would like to upgrade but keep it under $150.00. Prefer to use newegg for parts. I have a "GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard" and "Rosewill Xtreme Series RX750-D-B 750W Psu". I would like to upgrade my video card to play games mostly and I am just asking for some ideas. Any help is greatly appreciated. I do not understand all of the jargon like "Core Clock","Stream Processors","Effective Memory Clock" and a few other ones. Is there a web site that would explain more in detail. But on with my main question is what would any one here recommend for a upgrade for a video card ? I am running a 1920 x 1080 on a 32 inch video screen.

 

[wiinippongamer]

or a 6870 if you're willing to go $20 over your budget, it's totally worth it for the performance difference

 

[wa1]

May I know your current CPU? Stock speed? Overclocking?
Your PSU will run HD68750 or HD6870 just fine as long as it's a single card...
Remember, going from HD5670 to HD6870 is like riding a bicycle and a Racing Car. You'll see a HUGE performance boost.

 

[discboy321]

Currently it is this "CPU Type TripleCore AMD Athlon II X3 450, 3200 MHz (16 x 200)"-- no over clocking ,though I plan to upgrade to this ( AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727 ) just after Christmas.

 

[wiinippongamer]

Try unlocking the cores on your athlon first, if it's stable there would be no benefit by going with a phenom IIx4.

Also if you do get the phenom, get the 955 instead, it's a little cheaper and has 15% off promo, and you can easily crank it to 3.4ghz to match a 965, or 3.6ghz and match a 980.

That CPU (the x3) would be a fine match for a 6870, it won't bottleneck it or anything.

 

[Mid-highgfx]

I have and unlocked 440 rana (ithink) not sure about the number, anyways, its the triple core 3.0 and i unlocked/oc it to a quad core 3.6 proc and works GREAT! runs tf2 with everything AT MAAAAAAAAX all maxed out , AA etc etc @ 1900x1200 with a 4890.

Its' a great cheap little proc! dont upgrade, just unlock and oc and get a 6850 (my motherboard, msi 870 g45 does both with a flip of a switch and THATS IT!)

btw, pick up http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121419 and when you want more, pick up another one for crossfire and destroy every game

 

[wiinippongamer]

^ If it was that easy no one would ever buy the quads, less than 1/4 of processors will manage to unlock a core without becoming unstable.

 

[gnomio]

or the 6850. I would go for the 6870 personally

 

[Mid-highgfx]

^ If it was that easy no one would ever buy the quads, less than 1/4 of processors will manage to unlock a core without becoming unstable.

Not really, On the newegg reviews, pretty much EVERYONE unlocked it and stable...i have NEVER gotten any issue whatsoever out of it. Loved the mobo, just wish it had dual 16x pcie but hey, it cost like 60 bucks.

 

[Mid-highgfx]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872

^ Much more than 1/4 also on my mobo's reviews it was like 3.5/4

 

[wiinippongamer]

I'm talking that not all processors will unlock because some of them cores are actually defective on some of em chips and some are just disbled on purpose to satisfy demand.

 

[king smp]

Why not a GTX 460 1gb?

this one is just a tiny bit over budget
160 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130571
EVGA SuperClocked

or this one if budget is strict

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127518

that is the MSI Hawk GTX 460
130 after mail in rebate
and free shipping

This is Toms Video Card guide just to back up my choice
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-gaming-performance,3042-3.html

Dont get me wrong
those ATI cards the other members picked are good and on the TOms list
but I just wanted to represent Nvidia in this thread
(and I am a ATI HD 5670 owner LOL)

 

[Mid-highgfx]

I'm talking that not all processors will unlock because some of them cores are actually defective on some of em chips and some are just disbled on purpose to satisfy demand.

Guess I had some great luck ^_^ but i played it safe with the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872 instead of trying out my luck on a cheaper 6950 unlock :/

 

[wiinippongamer]

Why not a GTX 460 1gb?

this one is just a tiny bit over budget
160 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130571
EVGA SuperClocked

or this one if budget is strict

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127518

that is the MSI Hawk GTX 460
130 after mail in rebate
and free shipping

This is Toms Video Card guide just to back up my choice
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-gaming-performance,3042-3.html

Dont get me wrong
those ATI cards the other members picked are good and on the TOms list
but I just wanted to represent Nvidia in this thread
(and I am a ATI HD 5670 owner LOL)

Because it doesn't perform any better than a 6850 for the price of a 6870, and use more power than both of 'em.

 

[king smp]

it is a good battle

"With the release of the HD 6800 series, many predicted hard times for NVIDIA’s GF104-based solutions but through steep price cuts and a large stable of pre-overclocked cards, board partners seem well placed to take on AMD’s onslaught.

What makes things interesting is the GTX 460’s overclocking capability allowing partners to release unique products that pack a ton if improvements over the reference designs. This is where the EVGA GTX 460 FTW can be written into the equation since it provides a performance increase over the reference card that is simply astounding. Even when a HD 6870 is overclocked to 1GHz, the battle between it and the FTW flip flops from one card to the other depending on the game – there simply is no clear-cut winner until you get to ultra high resolutions. With a price of just $229 USD (and even less when you factor in the $10 - $15 mail in rebates being offered) this EVGA card is well within the financial reach of many gamers. This also makes it simply untouchable from a price / performance viewpoint.

These high clock speeds do act like a double edged sword though. While a reference GTX 460 may overclock like no one’s business, the EVGA FTW has very little headroom for further increasing performance. This particular GTX 460 should also be considered a “best case scenario” since it is the highest clocked GTX 460 currently available in the North American market.

With all of this being said, we think GTX 460 1GB cards –be they overclocked or not- seem to have found a perfect niche between the HD 6850 and HD 6870’s price points. Just be aware these NVIDIA products were never meant for ultra high resolution gaming; that’s the realm of the newly reduced $260 GTX 470 and even more expensive GTX 480.

source - http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/37499-hd-6870-hd-6850-vs-gtx-460-1gb-overclocking-study-15.html

and really if the budget is tight then the OP could get this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500202

can you find a HD 6870 for a $138?

 

[gnomio]

hows the Dell q6600 doing King?

 

[king smp]

these are HD 6870 on Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006662&isNodeId=1&Description=HD+6870&x=0&y=0

price vs performance the GTX 460 1gb wins
the HD 6870 does win performance (barely) but
the GTX 460 1gb is about $40 cheaper

 

[king smp]

hows the Dell q6600 doing King?

actually running an E4500 stock 2.2/800fsb at 2.93/1066fsb
but going to buy cheap Optiplex 755 mobo and add a Q6600
cost under 100 USD and I wll have a Q6600 at 3ghz/1333 FSB

not bad for a Dell

OP sorry to go offtopic

gnomio PM me if you want

 

[gnomio]

done

 

[jyjjy]

The successful unlock rate of Phenom II x2 into a x4 is about 85%. Should be similar for the x3 processors.
As for the card I would recommend the MSI Hawk GTX 460 linked above for $160/130.

 

[jyjjy]

Here is the one on the 550
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?227004-X2-550-Unlocking-amp-Overclocking-Consolidated
Shows 77% with successfully unlocked cores. There was another on the 555 that showed it had slightly better results like I stated but for some reason I can't seem to find it.