Comparing Video cards for performance. Radeon vs Nvdia

[Hoppa_Joel]

I currently have a AMD a8-3850 processor which has an additional 6550 Radeon HD card crossfired with the integrated 6550.
It preforms nicely for the games I play. ( I think these crossfired 6550's equal a 6750 in power? )

My Tax return will have me looking for a second computer, to play MMO's on I play several but my main game is Lord of the Rings Online.

I am looking at a AMD FX-6100 machine.
This AMD machine comes with a NVIDIA Geforce GT 610 1GB video card.

Performance wise, how will this hold out. Will it be comparible, or better than, or worse than, my current crossfired 6550's?

If it will be lacking I am considering paying up to 100 dollars US for a new video card.
I had looked at a Nvidia GT 640 with 4gb ram on it which fell within those price ranges... however I am looking to go cheap here in cost for best performance.
100 dollars is my "top" list on cost of a new card, but only if the current 610 is really lacking ( in comparison to what I am used to with my 2 6550's crossfired )
Also if there is another Radeon equivelent that benches good for less than 100 dollars I am up for those suggestions too.

If the Nvidia GT 610 is going to handle well in comparison to my current system or better then I won't plan on an immediate card upgrade, which means at a later date I could afford possibly a much nicer card.


My preferences are not to have to buy a replacement card, but I realize the 610 is low end, I am just not sure how low end.

Please let me know your thoughts!

 

[Hoppa_Joel]

Oh sorry, I forgot to add the new system would have a 450watt power supply


system I am looking at is here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883258019

 

[Supernova1138]

Your current system would be better than the FX 6100 machine. The Geforce 610 is a rebadged GT 520, a bottom of the barrel video card from two years ago. Your hybrid Crossfire setup is much more powerful, even when Crossfire isn't working, the 6550 is still faster than the GeForce 610.

The FX 6100 also really isn't a better gaming CPU than your APU. Most games are still very much single threaded, and the 6100's horrible single threaded performance means it would perform poorly in games. You can alleviate this somewhat by getting an aftermarket CPU cooler and putting a heavy overclock on the 6100, but even then, it isn't worth it. If you want a new AMD CPU, look at the newer Piledriver CPUs (FX 4300, 6300, 8320, 8350).

If you want to get the best performance for your money, I would say keep your current system, and swap out your current video card for something better. For around $100 you can get the Radeon HD 7770, which would be a good deal faster than your current graphics configuration. It won't be able to do hybrid Crossfire with the integrated graphics though, but that isn't a big deal when the discrete card is significantly faster than the integrated chip. If you can spare even more money, there are even faster cards available. I wouldn't recommend going past the Radeon HD 7850 or GeForce GTX 660 though, cards faster than those two will likely get held back by your APU.

 

[munjoo238]

If you are really not into fluid FPS and not into 1080p gaming. GT 640 would be ok already..

 

[Hoppa_Joel]

Thank you Supernova
I'll re-think my machine then!
I want a secondary computer, maybe I'll see if I can't find another a8 system. This one works nicely.
I'm hoping for a 500 dollar (ish ) price range for the computer. I could go as high as 700 but I am wanting a new monitor as well and I'd bugeted 200 for that.
I also was looking at the FX 8 cores but if you don't think the 6 core would be much better then I am betting 8 core aint gonna help me do much better.
I have no preference over pemtium or amd though.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

very important article for you to read here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-core-i7-3770k-gaming-bottleneck,3407-9.html

Our benchmark results have long shown that ATI's graphics architectures are more dependent on a strong processor than Nvidia's.

 

[Hoppa_Joel]

Thank you all your input really helped a lot
Here is what I finally decided ( with the money I have available )
My needs for a second computer of course was priority, and price limited.
I went with an AMD a series ( A-10 5700 ) 12gb ram 2 TB HD.
My plans beyond this:
In a few months AMD will release new A series APU's I plan ( hope to ) get the newest A-10 for the current A-8 machine I have now and replace the Processor.
Bench tests that I've looked at all have the A series APU's listed quite well ( they may not be an Intel i7 but they do nicely, for affordability. )

I think having onboard graphics which are good and reliable is much better than the Intel Graphics integrated, which just would force me to buy a video card immediately for the system. and a current model a10 is a 7660D to start with.
And, when time comes, an HD 7770 or higher will more than likely be my video card upgrade.
( not sure what the new a-10's when released, will crossfire at, but I was told they have an integrated 8760 readon inside? )

Anyways, thank you once again for the help.