Advice on a new HD Graphics Card

[Ruslan273]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 2009
USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Our Computer needs to be cable of handling a lot of HD videos. We constantly edit videos(Sony Vegas 10 Pro, Adobe After Effects CS5.5). It needs to support a lot of video processing. We want the best for the price and are willing to pay for the best. On occasion I like to keep up with all the new games so it must support the best games on the market.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, about 896MB of Dedicated Memory. ( Got it 2 years ago). The Power Supply is: Corsair 750W TXW Power Supply
OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: First of we have AZZA Solano 1000 Full Tower Case, AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor, CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800), ASUS Crosshair III Formula Republic of Gamers - motherboard - ATX - Socket AM3 - AMD 790FX - Socket AM3

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: www.Newegg.com
PARTS PREFERENCES: Which ever one works best.
OVERCLOCKING: Never done overclocking

MONITOR RESOLUTION:1920x1200. We use two monitors. Main one is 26' second one is 24'. But we only need one video card that can support both.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Must support HD and preferably have HDMI ports. Support a lot of frame rate.

 

[jyjjy]

I'd stick with Nvidia for CUDA support in your case so a GTX 570 would be your best choice. It's not quite the best but it's close to it. There is the GTX 580 which is better but it's really not worth the extra cost IMO. About 15% faster while costing 50% more.
Looking at newegg this is probably the card I would choose at the moment:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130684
It should be well over twice as fast as your GTX 260.

 

[Ruslan273]

Will this one support a lot of video processing and say BF3 and all these new games?

 

[jyjjy]

Yes

 

[phamhlam]

You can also go with the EVGA GTX 570 Classified which has a performance bump and is just an overall better card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130692

However, you can look at the MSI Lightning 6970. It is an overall better performer than the GTX 570 overall but matches the GTX 570 a lot.
VERY Good card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127581&Tpk=msi%206970

 

[Ruslan273]

Whats your opinion on the SAPPHIRE 100312-3SR Radeon HD 6950. It won the October's best PC for the price. Was just wondering what you thought between the two.
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102945

 

[Ruslan273]

VC* Sorry typo

 

[Ruslan273]

You can also go with the EVGA GTX 570 Classified which has a performance bump and is just an overall better card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130692

However, you can look at the MSI Lightning 6970. It is an overall better performer than the GTX 570 overall but matches the GTX 570 a lot.
VERY Good card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127581&Tpk=msi%206970

Both look like great cards but I think my Dad wants something under $300. Forgot to mention it before sorry.

 

[jyjjy]

I believe both Vegas Pro and CS5 use CUDA GPU acceleration which is why I recommended sticking with Nvidia cards.
The Nvidia equivalent of the HD6950 would be the GTX 560 Ti if you want something cheaper:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565

 

[Ruslan273]

But this one has twice the memory, whats the diffrence? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683

 

[jyjjy]

The difference is... it has twice the memory.
Shouldn't really matter at your resolution.

 

[Ruslan273]

Which one would you take?

 

[jyjjy]

If you plan on moving to a higher resolution or gaming on three monitors then buying the 2gb card and adding a second would make sense. Otherwise, as I said, it doesn't really matter.

 

[Ruslan273]

Best answer selected by Ruslan273.