Need Graphics Card

[salanalani]

Hi,

My system is as below:
- Intel Core i3 540 3.06 GHz (OCed to 3.2 GHz)
- ASUS P7H55-M PRO LGA 1156
- Mushkin 4GB (2 X 2GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz (with OCing)
- ASUS nVidia GeForce GTS 450 DirectCU TOP 1GD5 (Factory OCed)
- Thermaltake Litepower 700W

I can run almost all AAA games with good FPS (30-60) on:
- High Settings and some games on Medium settings (not Ultra/Extreme settings)
- No AA
- 1920x1080 single monitor
- DX9 (not DX10/11)

I have significant decrease in FPS if I use DX11 or if I enable AA on my games, so which Graphics Card will be OK on my system so I could run my games smooth on:
- Ultra/Extreme Settings
- AA (high)
- 1920x1080 single monitor
- DX11

I am thinking of below cards:
- nVidia 660
- nVidia 660 TI
- nVidia 670
- AMD 7950
- AMD 7970

The cheaper the card that will achieve my goal, the better choice for me. I mean, if for example, nVidia 660 will make my games run smooth with the settings I mentioned above, then I will go for it.

I never owned AMD card before but I can see a lot of discussions saying that AMD is now better with the new drivers, is that correct?

Please advice if you think there is another bottleneck on my system.

Here are my favorite games:
- Batman: AC
- NFS: Most Wanted
- Skyrim
- AC3
- Darksiders II
- Max Payne 3
- Far Cry 3
- Sleeping Dogs
- Borderlands 2
- Diablo III
- StarCraft II
- CoD: MW3

 

[Dnx]

if you can go for the 7970 and o'c it, it will perform better than a gtx 680, what im not sure its if your i3 would maybe bottleneck such a powerful gpu.

 

[larrym]

Any of those cards will do. Get a budget and buy the best card you can. Keep in mind some games play better on AMD and some on NIVIDA. The 660 is abit less powerful than the 7950. Then 670 is not as good as the 7970 but better than the rest. I don't think the cost per performance of the 660 ti is worth it.. If you go nvida, either 660 or 670, skip the 660 ti.

 

[salanalani]

Hi larrym,

I don't have budget in my mind, I mean, I will go for the cheapest card that will achieve my goal to do more saving.

Do you really think that 660 will do the job?

670 has the same price range as 7970, so do you think I should go for 7970 in this case? Do you think my CPU will be a bottleneck here (as suspected by "Dnx")?

What about nVidia Adaptive Sync feature, which seems interesting, is it really a working and worthy feature? Notice I have 60Hz monitor.

If I go for AMD, will I lose the Physics feature in some games, like Batman AC and Borderlands 2 (nVidia titles)?

 

[Dnx]

in any case if it causes a little bottleneck, that is also not very likely to happen with the i-x intel processors, you would see a dramatically huge performance increase from the gpu that you have right now.

and if the 670 and 7970 are in the same price range, get the 7970 like i said overclocked will kick a gtx 680 in performance.

 

[larrym]

i have a EVGA SC 660 and can play all games on high at 60 FPS and it is very smooth and quite. I would have went 670, but needed to save money. Now that AMD put out new drivers for the 7970, I would buy that over the 670 or 680. But that is just me.

 

[Eli5core]

660 TI all day!

I play BF3/ dayZ/ Assassins creed 3 @ 40 -80 fps.

 

[Dnx]

i have a EVGA SC 660 and can play all games on high at 60 FPS and it is very smooth and quite. I would have went 670, but needed to save money. Now that AMD put out new drivers for the 7970, I would buy that over the 670 or 680. But that is just me.

i second larry on that one, i got myself a 670 gtx. i would have go for the 7970 but was just to much money, would have been at least 70=80+ , and to be honest when i was at the register paying for the 670 i was sweating overthinking, and since im on california i had to pay taxes so was over 400dlls.... thats a lot of money for a upgrade, but well im not tkinling on upgrading again in at least 2 years and by that time ill have to get a entire new system cuz im sure my i7 920 will be so tired by then.