Upgrading Graphics Card for Gaming ($~200 budget [+~$50])

[aweswin]

Hello, there. I'm upgrading my Desktop's graphics card to enable it to play better games (mostly BF3) and need advice. Information below, divided in quotes and main answers bold.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE:

As soon as possible, by the end of the year preferably, but I can wait if it's worth it.

BUDGET RANGE:

USD $0-~$200 (If it is really worth it, I could go to ~$50 extra dollars [preferably not])

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:

Gaming (Battlefield 3 [Ultra preferably]), Skyrim, I would like to be future proof for a few years if possible. [Borderlands 2, GTA 5, Elder Scrolls 6, BF4, etc), work (word, powerpoint, and the such. [Running 3 monitors]), video editing (I have another computer, and this is a bit of a hobby), general uses... **I also would like to run 3 monitors, but this isn't completely necessary)

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY:

ATI Radeon HD 5670 and the stock Dell 525 watt PSU.

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:

It's a stock Dell Studio XPS 9100, with 9 GB of Ram (hopefully upgrading soon [24 GB max]), an Intel Core i7 cpu 930 @2.80GHz processor, etc at Dell Specs Page

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS:

Don't really have one, as long as it's a trusted site. (Newegg, Amazon, etc.)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Me? United States Computer parts? Anywhere.

PARTS PREFERENCES:

I don't really have one, but preferably one that can run 3 monitors (which is ATI, if i'm not mistaken [It's not necessary, though: I'm good with two])

OVERCLOCKING:

Possibly, but I'm not too experienced with overclocking, never tried it.

SLI OR CROSSFIRE:

Same as with overclocking, but probably not. I'm not quite sure if my motherboard can have two GPUs, though.

MONITOR RESOLUTION:

I have 3 monitors that I want to hook up with it: Primary: 1920 x 1080 ; Secondary: 1280 x 1024 ; Tertiary: 1020 x 1024 (I care most about the primary resolution, the secondary and tertiary aren't as important, they can be slightly off)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

I would like it to run 3 monitors (For work) and play modern AAA titles (Probably on one monitor). I don't mind if I have to upgrade something like ram, but changing the PSU is a little harder on preassembled computers. I also don't want a graphics card that will not be used fully in gaming due to bottle-necking somewhere else in my configuration. Cheap upgrades are fine if the computer needs it, but try to keep the GPU on par with the computer as it is.

LOOKING AT:

I have been looking both at the GTX 560 and Radeon 6950. I don't know if I should be more careful with power usage, though, so the Radeon 7850 is on my list, if it is necessary to pay more. I also don't know what the difference between each version of the card is nor the pros and cons of each and would like to know which would suit me better. If any other graphics card would work well for me, I would consider it.

If you need any more information, I will respond.
Thank-you!

 

[Embra]

I think your going to need a larger budget to achieve all that you have listed.
You will need a better gpu and a $200 one to play BF3 on three monitors on ultra.
Your PSU is suspect.
Your will probably need to OC your cpu as well.

 

[stant1rm]

In your price range you won't be to get a $200 or even $250 video card that can play Battlefield 3 on Ultra across 3 displays. But you can still get quite a bit of performance nonetheless. Either the Radeon HD 7850 ($200) or Radeon HD 7870 ($250) are very good choices in this price range. Both will be able to utilize 3 displays and some games will actually play very well across all 3 as well. Both will also give you excellent gaming performance for single display gaming as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202004

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150605

 

[stant1rm]

I think your going to need a larger budget to achieve all that you have listed.
You will need a better gpu and a $200 one to play BF3 on three monitors on ultra.
Your PSU is suspect.
Your will probably need to OC your cpu as well.

Wrong on 1 thing: Dell makes excellent PSU's and the 525W unit in his machine is quite capable.

I doubt he is able to overclock his CPU, and even if he did, it may or may not net him much performance.

 

[egilbe]

I think your going to need a larger budget to achieve all that you have listed.
You will need a better gpu and a $200 one to play BF3 on three monitors on ultra.
Your PSU is suspect.
Your will probably need to OC your cpu as well.

You will definitely need a larger budget.
Dell Pc's being OEM, have a limited BIOS. Overclocking is probably impossible.
Dell PSU's are normally very high quality, I'm pretty sure they are made be Seasonic.

 

[andrewcarr]

Across three monitors you'll need a $500+ budget. Expect to get one monitor ultra on BF3. Some games should work okay with a single and three monitors though. Consider a 7870 as minimum and preferably a 7950 or better.

7870- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127681

7950- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102989

 

[aweswin]

I guess I should have specified a little more on that I want it to run 3 monitors, but not for games like BF3, mostly work and LQ games like Minecraft. (It was behind BF3 in error). It would be nice, but all three monitors are at different resolutions and wouldn't look all too good. I just want it to be able to run 3 monitors while I work, but play high quality games on one.

 

[ohyouknow]

7850 would be good. Just have to pony up for an active displayport adaptor to run 3 monitors on an AMD card. $20 or so. A GTX 660 can run 4 monitors out of the box and would be worth checking out.

If you're heavy into compute performance then AMD would be the way to go. Gaming wise I'd rank 7870-660-7850. They are shaving off a couple bucks this week as well across AMD cards, wait a little.

 

[Ironslice]

EVGA Superclocked GTX 660: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130826 $224

It's actually at a great price, normally overclocked 660's would be in the upper $240's.

 

[stant1rm]

The 7870 is a good deal more powerful then the GTX 660, and priced competitively.

 

[aweswin]

Here come a few questions: So is going from 7850 to 7870 really worth the ~$70 jump? Or is there any 7870 around my budget of ~$200? I'm not sure if I would be using the 7870 to it's full potential, because my CPU is probably going to bottleneck, so would I be good with the 7850 (or 6950)? Also, what's the difference between XFX, Saphire, MSI, etc? There also seem to be a few recommendations for the GTX 660, is it a good card?

 

[seanmcd91]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-geforce-gtx-650-benchmark,3297-7.html

Some bencmarks on the gtx 660. OC'd is almost as powerful as the 660 ti. I think it is the card I'm going to be getting..

 

[aweswin]

So it seems like the 7850 and below don't run BF3 that well compared to the GTX660, but how do they compare with other games? It seems like the GTX660 runs better and is cheaper than the 7850, which barely runs BF3 in comparison.

 

[andrewcarr]

I'd go for the 7870 still. They do have some at the $200 range after rebates but it's currently out of stock.
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=82,110&sort=a5

Yes at some games the 660 does do better but it still takes a higher hit at higher AA settings comparatively to AMD cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-geforce-gtx-650-benchmark,3297-18.html

 

[aweswin]

I'd go for the 7870 still. They do have some at the $200 range after rebates but it's currently out of stock.
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=82,110&sort=a5

Yes at some games the 660 does do better but it still takes a higher hit at higher AA settings comparatively to AMD cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-geforce-gtx-650-benchmark,3297-18.html

I guess the 7870 does seem nicer with the higher AA settings, but I don't know if I would really see the difference between the two with my GPU. Considering my computer, which I didn't buy with gaming in mind, isn't that powerful, should I just go with the cheaper one? Also, which brand should I go with if I do go AMD?

 

[andrewcarr]

The i7 you have really isn't bad. What did you decide on for your budget and did you want to OC or not? You should be able to get a good one for $230 and a OC one for $245-250. As for brands most are good but depending on price I'll post what I'd get.

 

[aweswin]

The i7 you have really isn't bad. What did you decide on for your budget and did you want to OC or not? You should be able to get a good one for $230 and a OC one for $245-250. As for brands most are good but depending on price I'll post what I'd get.

The budget isn't exactly the most I can spend, but I really only want to put around $200 into this, with around $50 that would have went to more RAM, but could be put into the card. I guess the cap is about $300, because I wouldn't consider anything over that, but the closer to $200 (+$50) the better. In short, I want the most performance out of the least money. As for OC, I'm open to the possibility, but I've never had experience with them before. The standard one should be good enough, but I guess I would need to do more research on it. What would be the difference in performance and price? How much hotter would it get? Would I need to go with a powerful cooling system? Thanks for the help by the way.

 

[stant1rm]

For $260, the 7870 is really hard to beat. If you get this Sapphire ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102981 ) it has very good cooling for both overclocking and stock. It's also very quiet.

 

[andrewcarr]

I'm not denying that that sapphire GPU is a bad card but you can get a MSI hawk for about the same price. It has a factory OC so the OP doesn't have to mess with that and if/when he does want more performance it should OC better (would probably get to similar max clock but MSI board would be cooler) than the sapphire.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127681

Then you have some money left over for ram upgrade.
1600- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345
1866- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460
1866- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220692
2133- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220707

 

[aweswin]

The 7870 looks great, and I'll definitely consider it (In fact, it's the one I'm most likely going to get), but I'm wondering how much performance I could get out of a $200 and below card. Any suggestions?

 

[stant1rm]

For $200 or under your options are pretty much either Radeon HD 7850 or the GTX 560 Ti. As you can see in this benchmark, the HD 7850 is quite a bit faster http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=547&i=371.372.373.374.375.376.377.378.379.380.381.382.385.384.383.387.388.389.390.392.393.394.396.397.400.398.401.402.403.404.459.457.456.405.460.391.426.406.424.407.411.410.422.423.409.413.412.414.415.416.417.418.419.420.421

 

[aweswin]

More questions: So considering my situation, is it really worth going over my budget to get the 7870? Also, are all these bechmark comparisons minimums or averages? The 7850 might work just fine for me, but I'm probably going to be looking into a 7870. Also, can the GTX 560 run 3 monitors? Also, is it bad to go to the bare minimum requirements for the PSU?

 

[stant1rm]

I'm not sure if the GTX 560 can run 3 monitors or not, but it's not nearly as powerful as the HD 7850 or 7870. In my opinion, the HD 7870 is worth the extra money, but that's a decision honestly only you can make. You can use the link I posted to compare different cards and the average frame rates they give you.


Also, you have a quality PSU, any of the cards we've discussed will be just fine

 

[aweswin]

Thank you for all of the responses thus far, they're really helping me out. But now for brand: I think the 7870 seems like the card for me, but I'm not quite sure about the differences of each kind. According to the earlier posts, the ones I should look at are:
MSI Hawk
MSI Twin-Frozr
Sapphire
Or perhaps one of XFX's
Et cetera.

I would like to know which would be recommended, and the pros and cons. Right now, I'm leaning towards the MSI Hawk 7870, but I'm wondering which would suit me the best.

 

[stant1rm]

Out of those cards, I would get either the MSI or the Sapphire. The MSI is factory overclocked to 1100MHz where as the Sapphire and XFX cards are running at 1000MHz. But in my opinion, Sapphire and XFX are better brands, and have much better customer support.