Help me find a good Nvidia GPU

[LevelUp_]

Hello Guys,
I am currently building a PC for a little bit of Gaming and a bit of Video Editing, I have all the components I need to start my build but I still need to find a graphics card. My motherboard supports SLI so I would like to use Nvidia cards. What's a good Nvidia card around $100 that would fit my needs and could be SLI'd in the future?

 

[Gman450]

For $100, maybe a GTS450?
Honestly, I don't see a good mid range GPU from NVIDIA right now.
Here's one for $70.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127606
At what resolution will you be playing games at?
Also, you could try for a HD 6770 or so for now.

HD 6770 for $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150560

 

[LevelUp_]

I found a GTX 550Ti for $109 is that better than the GTS 450 or the HD 6770?

 

[LevelUp_]

I live in Canada, so I found that off Tigerdirect.

 

[Gman450]

I found a GTX 550Ti for $109 is that better than the GTS 450 or the HD 6770?

The GTX550Ti is better than the 450, but not as good as the HD 6770.

 

[LevelUp_]

http://www.hwcompare.com/9712/geforce-gtx-550-ti-vs-radeon-hd-6770/
The texel rate is the most important measure?

 

[Gman450]

Don't judge by the GPU's clocks alone. You've got to take into consideration the benchmarks for the those cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-550-ti-gf116-radeon-hd-5770,2892.html

 

[Gate9er]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814134130

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Superclocked-Mini-HDMI-Graphics-01G-P3-1557-KR/dp/B004TGJJV2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1343231719&sr=8-2&keywords=EVGA+1GB+GeForce+GTX+550+Ti+Superclocked

This are very good choices for your budget, though I would go for the second one.

Hope this helps!

 

[LevelUp_]

Don't judge by the GPU's clocks alone. You've got to take into consideration the benchmarks for the those cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-550-ti-gf116-radeon-hd-5770,2892.html

I don't really understand, HWcompare is not a benchmark? Since you said the 6670 has a better performance than the GTX 550Ti, are the in game fps better in the 6670?

 

[DarkOutlaw]

I have the EVGA 550 ti, not the superclocked. I doubt that little bit of clocking would mean more than 1-3 extra fps. It is a good card, and you could SLI it with another 5xx card down the road, like the 560/570.

 

[LevelUp_]

You can SLI different model cards?

 

[DarkOutlaw]

I don't really understand, HWcompare is not a benchmark? Since you said the 6670 has a better performance than the GTX 550Ti, are the in game fps better in the 6670?

550 ti and 6670 are both in the same performance bracket. Here look at this:

GPU Hierarchy

 

[DarkOutlaw]

You can SLI different model cards?

You can SLI 5xx with 5xx, 6xx with 6xx. You cannot SLI 5xx with 6xx.

 

[Mousemonkey]

No, DarkOutlaw is wrong. A GTX550Ti can only be SLi'd with a GTX550Ti.

 

[DarkOutlaw]

No, DarkOutlaw is wrong. A GTX550Ti can only be SLi'd with a GTX550Ti.

Is this something exclusive to the 550Ti?

 

[LevelUp_]

So just to be clear, I cannot SLI a GTX 550Ti with any other card.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Is this something exclusive to the 550Ti?

No, it's the same for all Nvidia cards. There are one or two that seem to be exceptions but they're not really as they are the same card.

 

[DarkOutlaw]

Mousemonkey knows alot more then me, if he says that is how it is then I am wrong.

 

[Gate9er]

So just to be clear, I cannot SLI a GTX 550Ti with any other card.

No you cannot.

Thanks

 

[LevelUp_]

Alright guys, so to make sure this is a good choice I will now post what I will probably get; which is a GTX 550Ti and I might SLI down the road

 

[Gman450]

Sorry I was out for a while.
But no, you can't SLI two different cards. You can only SLI the same cards.

 

[DarkOutlaw]

I dont think it is really worth putting two 550 ti's into an SLI either. I guess it just depends on what you need. I dont really play BF3 and other online FPS because a new one comes out every other month. I have Diablo 3, Skyrim, Fallout NV on my PC right now and I am running them all on Ultra. If something comes out that I want that I can't set to Ultra I would probably have to debate on getting another 550 ti or just upgrading to a better card all together.

 

[Mousemonkey]

So just to be clear, I cannot SLI a GTX 550Ti with any other card.

Correct.

 

[LevelUp_]

OK. So what I should do is buy a GTX 550Ti, then when it gets too slow I will buy a 480/570.

 

[outlw6669]

Jup, you should only plan to SLI a card with one of the same model.
Something else to keep in mind, nearly every motherboard with dual PCIe 16x slots for the past 6+ years supports AMD CrossFire.
There is just as much incentive for you to buy an AMD GPU as an nVidia one then

Working with your budget and Newegg.ca (where you can actually order from, unlike Newegg.com...), I found these to be your best options in the $100 CAD range:

Asus 7750: $100 (after $10 MIR)
Asus 6770 Silent: $90 (after ($30 MIR)

Both have similar performance and are in your price range after the MIR.
Additionally, they perform on a similar level to the more expensive GTX 550 Ti, of which the Least Expensive is $115 after a $10 MIR.

If you can strech your budget a little further, I would recommend one of the following:

EVGA 560 SE: $110 (after $10 MIR)
MSI 7770: $125

Both of these should also perform on a similar level; about 20-25% faster than the other cards.

Personally, if I where choosing from this assortment, I would get either the 7750 or 7770.
While they share similar gaming performance with their counterparts, they use much lower power and have much better direct compute performance.
Additionally, they are the newest cards of the bunch, which will help if you ever decide to CrossFire in the future.