Which card should i buy..

[anee1712]

i'm a absolute noob about all these things.. so please help me out here!
I'm buying a new pc &
I've been suggested 2 gpu's buy my pc guy..
Nvidia geforce gt 550 1 GB or the ati radeon hd 5970 2GB ?

the rest of my pc config is
3.1 ghz i5 processor
4 gb ddr3 ram
500 gb hdd
help me out here..

 

[jeffredo]

The HD 5970 is better, but exactly what are your needs? Light or heavy gaming? What is your monitor resolution and what is your power supply specs? Pretty much need those to give a recommendation that's worth anything.

 

[anee1712]

im not a heavy gamer.. but i do love to play a occasional game like COD or GTA.. my screen res is 1920x1080
other needs include watching movies, net streaming, light photo n video editing

 

[anee1712]

my current pc config is core 2 duo processor, 2 gb ram, 200 gb hdd and nvidia 9400GT gpu... which doesn't play ***!

i wanna upgrade all the way...

 

[SkyWalker1726]

Get a
CPU 2500K Intel
GPU 6870 ATi Or nVidia 560Ti 448
Mobo P67Fatal1ty Professional AsRock Or Asus P67 Deluxe
RAM 8G Gskill RipJaws Cl 8

and u should be able to get ur games running @30~35 FPS

 

[Memnarchon]

Hello.

First, what's your PSU?

Second, 4 GB of RAM is good now but it will be not in the future. Even today some games are limited by 4GB RAM. Grabbin 8GB RAM is like $15 difference from 4GB.

Third, the two cards cannot be compared because 5970 is a dual GPU and it has 2-3 times better performance than 550ti. But that might be the same on the price and the power consumpion too.

Generally if you can buy the 5970 (I suppose it will be around $350) you should better go for a 6970 or a GTX570. They are single gpus, offer 80% performance of 5970, but they might be cheaper, consume less power, have no problem with drivers, both offer more VRAM (2GB is a lie on 5970 since it uses 2x1GB in order to maximize performance, so its like a high performance 1GB) and you will not have microstuttering.
If you can't then GTX550ti is good for its price, but 7750 is better (as performance / price ratio) .
Now since you will go from Conroe (1st gen core) to Sandybridge, you will need also a motherboard. (I said that cause you (anee1712) said that you dont know much about pcs.)

 

[esrever]

then 5970 is like 4x as powerful as the 550.

 

[anee1712]

this is what my pc guy gave me...
Intel P4 Core. I-5 -2500 (3.1 GHZ)
Intel GIGABYTE 61 WW B3 Mother Board
4GB Ddr III Ram (Kingston)
500 GB Sata Hdd (Seagate)
DVD Drive (Samsung)
Keyboard /Mouse (MICROSOFT)
P4 Atx Cabinet with Smps 400W (VIP)

and he gave a choice about the GPU i want... suggest something good to go with this whole setup!
casual gaming, movies, photo editing internet streaming those are my needs

 

[Memnarchon]

then 5970 is like 4x as powerful as the 550.

2,36 times to be more accurate than my (2-3 times) previous comment...

 

[anee1712]

this whole setup costs $350...
i'm ready to spend about $200-250 more for the GPU...
if something better is available at a lesser price i'll go for that...

 

[Memnarchon]

this is what my pc guy gave me...
Intel P4 Core. I-5 -2500 (3.1 GHZ)
Intel GIGABYTE 61 WW B3 Mother Board
4GB Ddr III Ram (Kingston)
500 GB Sata Hdd (Seagate)
DVD Drive (Samsung)
Keyboard /Mouse (MICROSOFT)
P4 Atx Cabinet with Smps 400W (VIP)

and he gave a choice about the GPU i want...

With 400watt PSU, I am not sure if you will have no problem powering a dual GPU. From the reviews I read you might be able to power it, but the system will be very tight on the power consumption. Heavy gpu + cpu programs should demand more than 400watt from this system.
But if you want a clear answer which is has the best from those two, then HD5970 is your answer. Is by far more powerful (2,36 times more ).

 

[anee1712]

ok so maybe the HD5970 is not a good idea...
what should i go for then??

 

[anee1712]

Also you (Memnarchon) did suggest i go for more RAM right?
8GB ought to be enough ?

 

[Memnarchon]

ok so maybe the HD5970 is not a good idea...
what should i go for then??

Well I am not sure what to suggest you since I dont know much for your psu. Its 400watt but does it have 2x6pin? Is it 80plus?
Depends on your PSU and your money. tom's hardware Best GPU for the money will help you

Also you (Memnarchon) did suggest i go for more RAM right?
8GB ought to be enough ?

Well last days I checked newegg the 4GB (2x2) 1600mhz DDR3 was about $25 and 8GB (2x4) was for $40. I think since some games nowadays (like SWTOR) can use more than 4GB of RAM it should be nice to have more for a few bucks.

 

[anee1712]

Thanks a Ton for your help !

even i don't know about the psu details u asked for.. i'll try n find out n get back!!

 

[anee1712]

Best answer selected by anee1712.