What is the best GPU for bf3 around $170?

[Maxwh2o]

I have a couple here-

1- SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

2-SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908

3-EVGA 02G-P3-1559-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 192-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130652

4-EVGA 01G-P3-1460-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130660

5-EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625

6-EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1461-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130661

I am open to other ideas these are just some i came up with.

 

[ilysaml]

From those I'd pick the HD 6870.

 

[DM186]

^+1
Here are a few bench marks to help you decide which card to get. The one card I know for a fact not to get is the 550 Ti. You will not be happy with that card. Good luck to you.

6870 vs 560 non Ti
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/540?vs=543

6870 vs 550 Ti
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/540?vs=541

6870 vs 6850
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/540?vs=539

6850 vs 550 Ti
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/539?vs=541

560 vs 550 Ti
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/543?vs=541

 

[bigcyco1]

I'd pick the 6870 as well bud.

 

[fantastik250]

I'd have to agree

 

[phillcollins]

BATTLEFIELD - 3 is the best looking FPS till date surpassing Crysis Series but when talking about performance its not that resource hungry, as per EA DICE any Graphics card above or similar to ATI RADEON 3870 will run it pretty smooth but there are more things than just the Graphics card that you have to keep in mind. Some of them are mentioned below:

1. DICE has used "HAVOK" as the physx engine similar to their past Battlefield games which is more CPU intensive than GPU. Hence in order to run BF3 smooth u need to have a good dual core (quad core most preferable) CPU. I would recommend to go for an AMD Phenom II X2 555 or 560 or 565 which can be further unlocked to quad cores on most am3 motherboards nowadays and price starting from about $80 or else u go for a phenom ii x4 for as cheap as $110.

2. The game performance also depends on the monitor resolution that u are using. If you play on resolutions like 1024x768 you would find it running pretty smooth on a system with lower specs, so in case if you r planning to run it on high resolutions like 1680x1050, 1920x1080 or above then u need to have a better GPU.

3. Battlefield 3 has four default settings for quality level from low, medium, high to ultra settings again their is a custom setting option available to set up your own. But obviously if you want to run it on Ultra high settings u need to have a CPU similar to phenom ii x6 or core i7 (even some high end core i5s) and a GPU equivalent or above GTX 560 ti or similar (these are tried and tested settings keeping in mind the average 30 fps requirement of bf3).

4. The most important thing as per me is your cooling part, You must go for a cabinet which has proper cooling (at least proper air flow) available or else your game experience will start suffering after 20 to 30 minutes of gameplay.

4. A budget combination of phenom ii x2 555 CPU with a Nvidia GTS 450 or similar can run BF3 pretty smooth on medium to high settings with resolutions of about 1920x1080 (forget the Graphic card reviews posted on several websites, the FPS they show is pretty much dependent on the CPU they use... especially when we talk of Battlefield Series.


*some more things that u should keep in mind are :
power supply (smps minn 460 watts), fan arrangement in your cabinet, ram min 2 gb (ddr3 recommended)


Hope u have a nice Battlefield Experience

 

[Maxwh2o]

what about the evga 560 ti fpb?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604

 

[Deemo13]

^ sounds like a great card, but it seems to be $60 over your budget. At $170, I would go for the HD6870 as well.

 

[ilysaml]

what about the evga 560 ti fpb?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604

Nice, the ti version is very close to HD 6950

 

[DM186]

If you are looking at 560 Ti's here is one for $179.99 with the rebate. But my first post stands and What I think.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500196