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Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphics & Displays > Graphics Cards > I need a good video card, what should i pick?

I need a good video card, what should i pick?

Forum Graphics & Displays : Graphics Cards I need a good video card, what should i pick?

I am running a phenom II x4 965 + 4 gig ram + sli motherboard (nvidia chip set).

I am unsure what kind of video card to get. I know if i get a 580, it will be overkill and my processor will bottle neck my GPU. I wanna know what is a good video card for me to use?

nvidia or radeon with motherboard?
gtx 460 or gtx 560 or different?

I need help .... thanks.

Reply to mruschmann

State your intentions clearly. What do you use your PC for? what is your PSU? do you surf, play movies? perhaps light gaming ...than get 6670( no external power needed) or 6850 that will do even for light gaming on 720p if you game at 1080 you need at least 6870 or 6950 or 560Ti and on top of that a good 650W PSU

Reply to maxinexus

We need to see your specs and your PSU brand name and how many watts it is. Then we can help you get the right GPU for your needs.

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Reply to DM186

Ok, my psu is 1000 watts of madness i bought 6 years ago. I tested it like 6-8 months back and it works nearly the same the day i bought it.

I have a amd 965 BE on a msi nf980-g65 .... i think thats the motherboard, it can do 3 way sli.

Anyhow, i want a video card to keep up with my cpu. I once bought a amd 64 and sli with two of the best cards on the market. Bad idea because my buddy bought a lesser video card and saw similar performance.

As stated above i want a video card(s) that are perfect. Something that is not so strong that i waste money on a over powered card, as well as, not being so weak that my cpu is taking a nap.

I play w/e games come out. I just log in, and own nubs. Doesn't really matter the game. COD, far cry, wow, dota, berzerk ball ....... its all about the wrist and reaction time (mouse max speed over xbox controller anyday). I also play mafia ... MoH .... duke nukem. Ill even drop an oldie like duke 3d. A game is like a girl ... 36 hours and its old. Unfortunately wow is like a bad GF and takes 150 hours+. I play anything.

Yea, i gots some moneys and wants a good buy on a video card!! plz help

PS - halo was awsome - love madden

Reply to mruschmann

1080p monitor ... could be important

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Reply to mruschmann

mruschmann wrote :

1080p monitor ... could be important

but if he has a 720p monitor(which isnt at all that bad) then he should consider thinking things through because he might go overkill and actually save a lot of money which he can use later in the future

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------------------------------ | AMD Athlon x4 640 3.01GHz
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| ASUS EAH6770 DC 1GB DDR5
| 2 x 4gb Kingston 1333MHz
Reply to supermanu15

1000W, well that's ridiculous overkill and the manufacturer actually matters as much as the wattage.

Anyhow, whether the CPU or GPU holds back the gaming depends on the game. If you turn all the eye-candy up on Crysis 2 (DX11 Ultra), the GTX 580 will hit some limits. Is your 965 overclocked? What cooler are you using? You should get it to 4.0GHz to minimize bottlenecks. The fact is, your system could handle dual 6950's in the right game, but your CPU is gonna bottleneck other games regardless of what graphics card you get.

It doesn't sound like you play many graphically demanding games (like Metro 2033, Crysis 2, BF3).

I think you should just OC your CPU (start a thread on this if you need tips), pick up a GTX 560 Ti or 6950 for $200 or so, and be done with it...well, then you'll want to OC your GPU.

Or--you could wait until more of the Radeon 7000 series drops and buy something else around the $200 range at the 6950 level or higher. Then add a second if you find a game you can't play on "high" at 1080p.

Reply to dalauder

supermanu15 wrote :

I'm confused--didn't he just say he had a 1080p monitor? If he has a 720p monitor, he should be looking to upgrade that long before thinking about a GTX 580.

Reply to dalauder

Btw, to counter what I said earlier. The Radeon 6870, when you can find it for $140 after rebate is almost certainly the most bang-for-your-buck. However, it doesn't do well in crossfire (microstuttering), so you'd want a GeForce at that price range if you plan for a dual-card configuration. Alternately, a Radeon 6950 does VERY well in dual card configurations. Tri-6870's don't have micro-stuttering, btw.

Reply to dalauder

... with a psu, buy a good one once and use it. I went thru 2 pus in one year. Both cheap-o. Get a good psu, you will OC better and crash less. Remember a psu at 1000w is most efficient at 500w.

I dont think my motherboard can do crossfie .... I guess i should buy a could nvidia's at 120ish then my computer will be better at crisis 2 than urs.....

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Reply to mruschmann

Your cpu will not bottleneck a 580 with a modest overclock.
depends on.how much you are willing to spend and brand.of psu

------------------------------ "The kids can call you Ho-Ju"
Reply to FlintIronStagg

mruschmann wrote :

... with a psu, buy a good one once and use it. I went thru 2 pus in one year. Both cheap-o. Get a good psu, you will OC better and crash less. Remember a psu at 1000w is most efficient at 500w.

I dont think my motherboard can do crossfie .... I guess i should buy a could nvidia's at 120ish then my computer will be better at crisis 2 than urs.....

A PSU is typically most efficient within the 20%-80% load. So with a 1000W PSU, that's going to be 200W-800W (so not when you're idling unless it's a heavily overclocked x58). The point where it's most efficient can be anywhere in that range, depending on the PSU.

Nope, it' can't do crossfire.

Depending on your price range, I'd either go for a $100 GTX 460 1GB, or jump up to a GTX 560 Ti. This guy sells GTX 460 1GB's them at $108 on ebay w/ Best Offer, so you could probably one at $90: http://www.ebay.com/sch/gfsi/m.htm [...] ksid=p3686
Don't get the OEM version as it requires another OEM to SLI.

Message edited by dalauder on 02-24-2012 at 07:08:29 AM

Reply to dalauder

6950 ftw

------------------------------ gigabyte 6850 OC edition, asrock extreme3 970, amd phenom II x4 960T @ 3.0 ghz, coolmaster haf 912, 8gb ripjaws ram @ 1600mhz
Reply to bobochez

I agree with all the answers given obove. Go the 580 way. Or maybe it is time to build a new rig. Keep this one for a spear or use some of the hardwear in your new build. This is just a suggestion and good luck to ya.

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DM186 wrote :

I agree with all the answers given obove. Go the 580 way.

I just can't get past the significant price premium for the small jump to the flagship card. I'd go with a GTX 560 Ti, says the guy with a GTX 570.

Reply to dalauder

I dont think the 580 is worth the price either. The 448 core 560ti is right down the middle of the reg.ti and.the 570 and doesnt cost above 300

------------------------------ "The kids can call you Ho-Ju"
Reply to FlintIronStagg

The only thing that worries me about the 560Ti 448 is finding another to SLI down the line.

Reply to dalauder

You don't have to SLI the same cards...Down the road you can get 570 to accompany your 560Ti 448...they perform very close enough. to say almost identically in games like c2, metro etc...

Anyway I Would go with 1GB 6950 it is cheaper and has more horses than regular 560Ti

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Reply to maxinexus

get the hd 6870 its an good card performs very well in gaming of 1080p and its cheaper in price and deeper in perdormance so the cheaper would be better way to go with good performance or if u want more then get the gtx 560ti and overclock it to get more performance or hd 6950 2gb good one so that you can unlock shraders.

i'd go with hd 6870 its really good in price ratio.

there is not a big difference between hd 6950 and hd 6870 only 10% really worth it.

benchmarks:- http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/nvid [...] 102-8.html

crysis 2 benchmark:- http://www.techspot.com/review/367 [...] page4.html

review:- http://www.guru3d.com/article/rade [...] -review/13

Reply to sunnk

maxinexus wrote :

You don't have to SLI the same cards...Down the road you can get 570 to accompany your 560Ti 448...they perform very close enough. to say almost identically in games like c2, metro etc...

Anyway I Would go with 1GB 6950 it is cheaper and has more horses than regular 560Ti

I agree with the 6950, but I must ask you for a source on the SLI'ing of a GTX 560Ti w/ GTX 570. It is my understanding that only Crossfire allows non-symmetrical pairing.

Nothing tops the 6870 on price/performance.

Message edited by dalauder on 02-26-2012 at 11:32:24 PM

Reply to dalauder

maxinexus wrote :

OP do not listen to this he is wrong
You cannot sli a 570 and a 560ti.
Amd allows those with.the same gpu family to be xfired but it has to be 6850/6870 or 6950/6970 those types of half steps are ok

------------------------------ "The kids can call you Ho-Ju"
Reply to FlintIronStagg

Ya who ever told you that you can SLI thoes two cards doesn't know what he is talking about. Are you sure that he said SLI or did he say you can use both cards for different monitors? Because you can do that just not in SLI.

As said above on the AMD side the easy way to remember which cards can be cross fired is the first two numbers of the card has to be the same. It doesn't matter on the last two numbers.