Burning question: gtx550ti or hd6790

[nibir2011]

My current Configuration is

Processor: Core 2 Duo E7400 2.8 Ghz
Mother Board: Gigabyte EG45-UD2H
Memory:2 GB
HDD: 500 GB 7200rpm
Monitor: 18.5 at 1368x768 resolution
Graphics Chip: Intel X4500HD
PSU: Standard 400 watt
Pci-Express 2.0 capable

I bought this pc three years ago was able to play crysis, far cry 2 and many other games both at playable frame rates and with a satisfactory quality because of my monitors resolution.

Now i am thinking to buy a gtx 550ti or a hd6790

which one is better, for my resolution. and i saw that crossfire or sli increases the performance to a great level. is that true.

now i think as gtx 550ti has cuda and some other technologies it seems better. on the other hand hd6790 has more memory bandwidth. so which one is better for gaming, if i enable msaa, supersampling, aaa , fxaa . i know tessellation is a option but i am not sure if those card can handle that in my resolution.

i was actually planning to buy gtx560 ti. but everyone here said me that will be a serious overkill because my cpu will bottle neck it. so they suggested me to buy a new cpu and mobo. i said to them i want to wait for ivy bridge mid level cpu's like core i5 2500k. but to something like that to come will take at least two years if we compare it with sandy bridge. until that time i need a gpu.

now please tell me which card will be the best for gaming. many say nvidia cards do better job in games as many games are sponsored by them. is that true?

and i will buy some memory and a good psu so you do not need to think about those.

So please say which one is the best. if you have another card in mind just name it.

i know how helpful you guys are so thanks in advance.

 

[refillable]

6790 is better than GTX 550ti in gaming. And yes that's true, SLI and Crossfire is when you make 2 same cards running together to get extra performance from just only one card.

True, Nvidia does sponsors more developers than AMD does, but my answer to that is not true when it comes like 'nvidia cards do better job in games as many games are sponsored by them'. There is lots of AMD games too such as Alien vs Predator, Crysis, Metro 2033, (mentioning few here). Which is usually better in AMD card than Nvidia in the same price.

But when talking about 6790, it's totally better than GTX 550 ti most of the time.

Some good Memory and Power Supply:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017

 

[nibir2011]

another thing can i overclock my cpu. what tools are needed to do that. giabyte has a easy tune utility should i use that or something else.

and the important question as i have a stock cooler , will i be able to do overclock with it or i will need to buy a new cooler.

 

[dish_moose]

a GTX560Ti may be "bottlenecked" but you can keep that card when/if you upgrade.
-Bruce

 

[nibir2011]

but others said that i can not play games at peace if bottle neck occurs because it will cause shuttering which is very frustrating after buying a card like that.

 

[Tibbs01]

but others said that i can not play games at peace if bottle neck occurs because it will cause shuttering which is very frustrating after buying a card like that.

I think you misunderstand. Any game that would be playable with the combination of your current processor and the 550 will still be just as playable at those same settings with the 560, and in any games that aren't heavily processor bound you will be able to play at a much higher settings/resolution while allowing for a much better upgrade path if you decide to replace your cpu in the next year or so.

 

[nibir2011]

i do not know for sure but they specifically said that at my resolution gtx 560ti would not have to do much work so it will fill the data rate of my cpu before it has processed .

please see these two links these were threads that i made thinking that i would buy a gtx560ti

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/340387-31-processor-suffer

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=33&post=347641&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

 

[Tibbs01]

Outside of the random person with the older athalon 2 and the gts450 comment (of which his problems could have been many things), I see people in those threads stating that a 560 is overkill for your current set up.....and it is.

If you go with the 550 or the 6790 you will have a nicely balanced system for your current needs. Since you stated you are looking at IVY in the future neither the 550 or the 6790 will be very good carry-overs into your new build, so that is just somethign you should consider.

If it helps any I paired a GTX560Ti with my e84000 (all stock) and had it connected to my Sony Bravia TV(1366x768 res.) for several months in a quasi HTPC and gaming set-up before I upgraded to an i5-2500k and a 1900x1200 monitor, and it performed great.

 

[nibir2011]

If it helps any I paired a GTX560Ti with my e84000 (all stock) and had it connected to my Sony Bravia TV(1366x768 res.) for several months in a quasi HTPC and gaming set-up before I upgraded to an i5-2500k and a 1900x1200 monitor, and it performed great.

Are you sure about that i mean did you played any games by it then. It is very big decision for me because i will not be able to change in two or three years so gtx560ti can be better as i can take it to my next cpu upgrade. please help me

 

[Tibbs01]

I was able to play SC2 and Skyrim fluently on high detail default settings. Other games like LoL and BFBC2 I could completely max.

 

[refillable]

Well how about something like 6870? Maybe if you overclock you're totally save from bottlenecks...

 

[nibir2011]

Best answer selected by nibir2011.