GTX 560 vs HD 6870 and other variants.

[Sir Gregory]

Greetings.

Ever since the new generation games came out (Prime example would be Battlefield 3) I was thinking of upgrading my current system. First things first, heres my system;

Video Card : ATI Radeon HD 5770
Processor : Intel Core i5 650 @ 3200MHz
Physical Memory : 2048MB DDR-3
PSU: 500W

That's basically it, heres hoping I didn't forget something.

Now, let's come to the real matter. As you probably noticed my system is not the best there is. I was thinking of upgrading my 5770 to a more reasonable card like 6870 or GTX 560 or maybe 5870 since some people said it's better than 6870. Now please keep in mind that I have no knowledge about either Crossfire or SLI whatsoever.

I don't quite believe my CPU is bottlenecking my system, though of course I'd like to hear your opinions as well. And yes, I am aware that 2GB RAM is not quite good for a gaming system.

So basically, if you could give me an idea about one of these cards above or of course recommend me any other card slightly better than these without going to like, let's say GTX 580 degree, I'd be grateful.

Thanks for your time.

 

[amuffin]

560ti or 6950? Actually what is your total budget?

 

[Sir Gregory]

My budget is around 200-400$ depending on the card's performance gape between my current one.

 

[amuffin]

Msi twinfrozr iii 6950 or msi hawk 560ti. Take your pick.

 

[shoot you]

I agree with amuffin's decision. But if you are still willing to wait, why not check out what AMD and Nvidia are cooking up. The new cards may give better performance (ex. HD7970 vs HD6970). But for your budget you could get a HD6970 or GTX570 but your PSU may not be able to handle it. Overall for me its a toss up between a 560Ti and HD 6950 (either 1GB or 2GB).

May I know what resolution you are gaming at?

The 560 Ti and HD 6950 (1GB or 2GB) can easily handle high graphic settings up to 1920x1200

 

[Sir Gregory]

My resolution at the moment is 1280x768.

Are there any significant differences between 560 Ti and HD 6950? Personally, I'm thinking to go with 560 Ti at the moment just because of it being nVidia. I believe new generation games these days are giving a lot more support to nVidia cards.

 

[DelroyMonjo]

I'd go with the 560TI or if you have an extra $60 or so you might consider a 560TI 448 core.
Like you say, I think games like Nvidia better.

 

[shoot you]

Go for the 560 Ti it runs everything greatly on my system. I usually game using a 1920x1080 TV