Upgrading my XFX GeForce 8600 GT for ME3

[gambit2110]

With the launch of ME3 coming up I am looking to upgrade my old video card. The GeForce 8600GT has worked great for a long time but with ME2 I noticed quite a difference in game play look and smoothness between my desktop and laptop (which has a slightly better graphics card and 1600 x 900 screen res)
I have been looking at several cards to replace my old one. Among them are:

EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 192-bit GDDR5
EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
XFX Radeon HD 6790 1024MB 256-bit GDDR5


What I'm wondering is how much of a difference does 192 v 256 bit's make? With 192bit is it even worth having 2GB of GDDR5?
And what is more important, a faster clock speed or 256-bit?

I will also be upgrading my monitor since 1440x900 is just sad in this day and age.

System Specs:
Win7 64bit
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
XFX GeForce 8600GT 256MB PCI
Corsair TWINX 4GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz
Ultra X-Finity 600-Watt
Main Monitor: Samsung 1440 x 900

 

[edubkn]

The HD 6850 seems to be the better choice for you. The GTX 550Ti does not benefit much from the 2GB in terms of performance, and the HD 6790 is not so good in pixel rating as the HD 6850 is.

 

[ricardois]

With the launch of ME3 coming up I am looking to upgrade my old video card. The GeForce 8600GT has worked great for a long time but with ME2 I noticed quite a difference in game play look and smoothness between my desktop and laptop (which has a slightly better graphics card and 1600 x 900 screen res)
I have been looking at several cards to replace my old one. Among them are:

EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 192-bit GDDR5
EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
XFX Radeon HD 6790 1024MB 256-bit GDDR5


What I'm wondering is how much of a difference does 192 v 256 bit's make? With 192bit is it even worth having 2GB of GDDR5?
And what is more important, a faster clock speed or 256-bit?

I will also be upgrading my monitor since 1440x900 is just sad in this day and age.

System Specs:
Win7 64bit
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
XFX GeForce 8600GT 256MB PCI
Corsair TWINX 4GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz
Ultra X-Finity 600-Watt
Main Monitor: Samsung 1440 x 900

if you are planning 1920x1080 resolution you will not need anything higher than 1gb of VRAM, you will only use that memory if you start using multi monitor or 2k resolutions.

you can see in that relative performance graphics:
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_550_Ti_Amp_Edition/images/perfrel_1920.gif

that 6850 is 19% better than 550ti and since you are not using 256bit you will not need it;

well i would say that if you keep a little more bucks you could go for a 6870 that is 41% better than the 550ti and worth the extra money.