Best graphics card choices under $250

[dluxking]

Hi, I am building my first gaming rig and have so far gotten most of my parts except my graphics card and maybe a ssd/hdd.
I am not sure which graphics card to buy. I was looking at a Radeon 7870 or Gtx 660. I heard the Radeon 7870 was faster than the 660 but was also looking into a Ti version. I know they are a little more expensive but I wasn't sure if it was worth the extra cash. If there is a card that is better or certain Sli / Crossfire configurations that would be better please let me now. I'm not really worried about power heat etc. I'm just interested in performance and price. I also would like to know if there are any reasons why I should go with Amd over Nvidia or vice versa.

specs (so far).

processor: phenom 2 x4 955 at 3.2 ghz
ram: pny 4 gb 1333
power supply: 650 watt ultra
case: rosewill challenger u3 with 5 fans
motherboard: asrock extreme 3 770 am3

Thanks in advanced.

 

[LagerLV]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418

beast 3 fans 2gb 256 bit gddr5

 

[dluxking]

any special reason why i should get this over the 660. the 660 has 2gb gddr5 but its 192 bit. will that make much of a difference?

 

[LagerLV]

bits make much sense trust me and this is faster in GHZ which means faster GPU proccesor if you want so go with nvidia

 

[LagerLV]

Its gona run bf3 on ultra at 1920xi forgot xD at stable 80 fps

 

[dluxking]

would an 660 ti be considered an upgrade to a 7870? if so how much of a difference would it make?

 

[LagerLV]

Well as i see 660TI is expensiver than 7870 ghz edition definetly go with 7870
1.Its cheaper
2.it has more bits
3.More GPU proccesor speed

 

[dluxking]

thanks it seems like the 7870 is the way to go.

 

[dluxking]

Best answer selected by dluxking.

 

[antherion]

A higher bit doesn't necessarily mean faster GPU. It's true that the memory will run faster, but that's not the whole story. Just an example, a Radeon 7850 (256bit DDR5) is still slower compared to GTX 660 Ti.
That said, a GTX 660 Ti has about the same performance with the Radeon 7870 (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/548?vs=647). It's just a matter of price and preference. Power consumption wise, the GTX 660 Ti consumes lot less power than the Radeon 7870, and it has PhysX and CUDA. On the other hand, the Radeon 7870 has a great GPGPU capabilities compared to the GTX.
My thoughts -- if I'm playing at a resolution of 1920x1200 or below, I'll go with the GTX. If above, the 7870.

+edit -- and processor speed isn't anything either. My GTX 560 Ti runs at 822MHz, and yet it's still slower compared to the 576MHz GTX 295. The number of cores and architecture type also counts. For example, a Pentium 4 3.0GHz is slower than an ultrabook's Core i5, even when it runs at 1.0GHz. That's because of a newer architecture and more cores.

 

[dluxking]

what is gpgpu

2. i will be playing at 1920 x 1080 so i should go with the 660 ti? if i choose to go with the 7870 because of price how much difference would it make?