What to look for in a video/graphics card?

[arng2005]

I'm looking for a video card with 2.0 PCI Express, that's $180 under, i have been looking at the 550 ti, gtx 460, or gtx 560, but not sure whats the most important for gaming, is it memory speed, memory clock speed, core clock, effective memory clock, also i hear some have a problem over heating, i will have a case fan, also here is my computer specs, also going to buy a 650 watt power supply, this is mainly for playing World Of Warcraft.

MONITOR
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/AOC+-+ [...] &cp=1&lp=1

MOTHERBOARD
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] No=1418809

PROCESSOR
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] No=2372719

Corsair XMS3 4GB PC10666 DDR3 1333MHz 4096MB I HAVE TWO OF THESE SO 8GBs

TOWER/POWER SUPPLY
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] No=7328068

HARD DRIVE
Seagate 1TB Serial ATA HD 7200/64MB/SATA-6G

MONITOR
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/AOC+-+ [...] &cp=1&lp=1

MOTHERBOARD
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] No=1418809

PROCESSOR
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] No=2372719

Corsair XMS3 4GB PC10666 DDR3 1333MHz 4096MB I HAVE TWO OF THESE SO 8GBs

TOWER/POWER SUPPLY
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] No=7328068

HARD DRIVE
Seagate 1TB Serial ATA HD 7200/64MB/SATA-6G

 

[inzone]

None of your links are working , can you just list the cpu and motherboard? The general rule is to buy the most card for the money you have available. The cards that you listed are all Nvidia cards , does that mean you only want Nvidia cards?

MSI N560GTX Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$199.99 and a $20 rebate makes it $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127593

EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1461-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$194.99 and a $30 rebate makes it $164.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130661

Both of these cards are in your budget range and would work with your build. There are more to choose from here;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600030348%204017&IsNodeId=1&name=%24100%20-%20%24200

However!

ZOTAC AMP! ZT-50302-10M GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$209.99 and a $30 rebate makes the final price $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500196

After posting all of the other cards I found this one which is much better than the 560 and would be the best choice , the 560Ti is a much better card and will give you very good performance and after the rebate it fits in your budget.

EVGA 01G-P3-1561-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$229.99 and a $30 rebate makes the final price $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130623

I know it's a little over budget but this is also a very good card and I believe worth the extra $20 over budget.

 

[geekapproved]

Your links don't work. It's easier to just list your parts anyways since we don't want to have to click on all of them.

The first thing most important, is the chipset. Then Coreclock. Also you want a DDR5 card, not a DDR3 card, even if the DDR3 card has twice the memory. The DDR5 card will still be faster.

 

[unoriginal1]

When you say this is mainly for playing WoW. Is that really what you will be doing? This matters because WoW is a processor intensive game, you don't need a crazy powerful graphics card to still get good fps/quality of image. However, if theres the chance you might be playing some of the newer/other titles.. IE: bf3 etc etc. Then that changes what you want to get. For WoW my personal suggestion is stick with Nvidia *tends to work better specifically for that game* and don't get anything better then the GTX 560 *have seen multiple posts/feedback it produces 200 fps in wow*. Anything else would simply be over kill. Why shoot a rabbit with an elephant gun

 

[arng2005]

Yes, it's mostly for playing World of Warcraft (WOW) and here is what my specs are with out links

MOTHERBOARD

ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS AMD 760G Motherboard - Micro ATX, AMD 760G Chipset, 1866MHz DDR3 (O.C.), SATA 3.0 Gb/s, RAID, 8-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, Hybrid CrossFire, AMD FX Ready

PROCESSOR

AMD HDZ965FBK4DGM Phenom II X4 965 Processor - Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 2MB L2 Cache, 3.40GHz, Socket AM3, 125W, No Fan, OEM

MEMORY>>> I HAVE TWO OF THESE ITEMS- So 8GB's of RAM

Corsair CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 XMS3 4GB DDR3 RAM - PC10666, 1333MHz, 4096MB

TOWER/CASE
Thermaltake VM54521N2U V2 ATX Mid Tower Case - ATX, Micro ATX, 450W PSU, 3x Ext 5.25", 1x Ext 3.5", 6x Int 3.5", 2x Front USB 2.0 Ports

HARD DRIVE

Seagate ST1000DM003 Barracuda 1TB Hard Drive - 1TB, 7200RPM, 64MB, SATA 6Gb/s

I just at least want to be able to run it on Good Settings, i may end up playing Diablo lll, later on possibly others, but i'm not worried about ULTRA, OR SUPER HIGH Settings. Thanks, everyone for the info so far, anymore info would be very well appreciated.

 

[arng2005]

Also INZONE i have looked at multiple sites for video/graphics cards and i haven't found any radeon's that are 2.0, i know 2.1's will work with my motherboard, but not at optimal performance, i want something that is gonna work and still do a decent job without me having to upgrade a ton, i could but rather spend money on the kids or something

 

[inzone]

I'm pretty sure that the Pci-e 2.1 is not a big enough of a difference to make you upgrade any parts and will be just fine working in a 2.0 slot. You have to realize that the 2.1 and 2.0 cards will not saturate a Pci-e 2.0 slot and that both will work at optimum performance in that slot. People are buying the new cards that are Pci-e 3.0 and putting them in the 2.1 and 2.0 slots and working just fine. I have a X-58 chipset motherboard and I plan on getting the GTX 680 (maybe two) and putting them in this motherboard and I don't feel the need to upgrade just yet maybe later on if I see a cpu that I like, but I will be happy with the performance.

 

[arng2005]

Thanks for all the info everyone.

 

[arng2005]

Best answer selected by arng2005.