1920X1080 Resolution= graphics card.

umbraus

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Hello everyone,

I've recently been looking at graphics cards and not quite sure what to get. Doing some research some say "this or that graphics card is more than enough for a 1920X1080 set up so you should buy X and save some money."

I'm really looking towards Nvidia since about ALL of my games are Nvidia based and I hear if you team a GPU with a game that is "made" for it than it would work the best and have less problems.

I was looking at a 660, 660 ti, or a 670, honestly I can't bare to think about parting with $350+ for a card but maybe whenever the 700 series comes out it will be less.

The type of games I play the most are FPS or over the shoulder games. A list of games I have are BF3, RE5, RE6, SR3, Metro 2033, Boarderlands, Fable, Dead Space, Deus Ex, L4D2, AC, LoL, Wow, SWTOR and some others. I would like to get Crysis.

I would like to play my games at the highest setting as well like AA.

Specs,

CPU: Intel i5 3570

MB: Asus Maximus V Gene

RAM: GSkill Ripjaw 1866 8GB 2x4GB

HDD: WD 1TB WD 160GB

PSU: Corsair AX750

HS: Coolermaster 212 Plus

Case: Coolermaster Haf 922

Optical: Liteon

Display: 32" Vizio " I'm looking at an ASUS 24" or 27" but that will be far off from now to get."

I will run dual monitors but one main and the other to have skype up or google or something and the screen is a 15". If I get a new monitor before I need to change GPUs I'll run dual with the 32" and 24/27 but just the 24/27 with the game and the 32" with skype or google.

If I can get some advice that would be great :D

Thanks,

 

zink1701

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The 7 series cards are not going to be out for a while yet. If you want to wait for a 7 series then i would suggest a older card while you wait maybe a gtx 480 or something as it not bad priced but if you want the best now then a GTX 670 all the way. Its a great card and with the exception of Metro 2033 you will max out all the games you mentioned at 1920x1080
 

umbraus

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I was hoping the rumors were true that the 7 series would be out by April or May but others say it wont be out till Q3 or something. :/

 

umbraus

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Well i guess I'm not going to get anymore answers. xD

If anyone else runs by this I would like suggestions on what brand to get.
I'm looking at the MSI Twin Evga FTW or FTW Sig 2, and the Asus 670.

I hear Evga is suppose to be the best of them but what bugs me is that they barely provide a twin fan set up. The sig 2 has that at least, and as "stupid" as it may sound it kind of puts me off that white will show since I'm going with a black and red theme. The normal FTW is black but has the one fan design which leaves hot spots and the fan will be louder. I've seen twin fans cooler at a I think 8C difference over the 1 fan set up.

The same goes for the MSI I like the heat pipes and everything except the blue bit but at least people wont see it when they look inside.

Asus I'm looking at mainly because it has the black and red theme I'm after but is at stock specs and I'm a newbie building my first Rig as of Aug 2012 so I know nothing about ocing and if the warranty doesn't cover ocing "which I doubt" than I need to stop thinking about Asus.

I'm not looking at a Gigabyte since it has a blue PCB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600030348%20600315498%20600311820%20600286742%20600007782&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=48%7C14-130-843%5E14-130-843-TS%2C14-127-685%5E14-127-685-TS%2C14-130-787%5E14-130-787-TS%2C14-121-637%5E14-121-637-TS&percm=14-130-843%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-127-685%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-130-787%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-130-782%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-121-637%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24
 

ericjohn004

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I recommend getting an EVGA brand name. They are like pretty much the Nvidia name brand. They are the OEM cards pretty much. They have the best build and quality. And I'm not just saying that because I have one.

I own an EVGA 660Ti 2GB and it can run any game at all MAX settings. I can run Crysis 3 with everything on Very High w/2xSMAA(Which is what Tom's recommends), w/Lense Flares ON, and Motion Blur on HIGH. And I still get anywhere from 30-70FPS. On average I get 50FPS. In games like Borderlands 2, I get anywhere from 70-140FPS even with PhysX on HIGH, 90FPS average. I run CODII Zombies at 100-160FPS. I run Far Cry 3 with Ultra settings and 2XMSAA w/HBAO at 50-60FPS. I also score a 9000 on 3DMark11.

So with the 660Ti you can run any game on Ultra settings I find, as long as I keep my AA reasonable. But that's with all cards. Personally I don't see why you need anything better than a 660Ti when gaming on 1 1920x1080 monitor. I even game in 3D all the time and can run my games on the same settings but with around 10-15FPS lower. So for 3D gaming on 1 1920x1080 monitor I can't see needing anything more than a 660 Ti. And you can pick one up for 269.99 right now.

I also highly recommend Nvidia. As their driver updates come out for almost every new game. Since I got my card at the end of December I had to update my card 3 times. Also, if your into 3D gaming, almost all monitors support Nvidia 3D Vision 2, while hardly any monitors support AMD 3D. I also believe Nvidia to be of higher quality than anything else on the market. But that's just my opinion.

I recommend you get the EVGA 660Ti superclocked version as they probably overclock better and they come overclocked stock so you know they can handle it. My card easily clocks +130Mhz with no voltage increase. I have my boost clock at 1110Mhz when stock I think it comes at 980Mhz. My memory is also clocked at +308.
 

ohyouknow

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I would probably run a GTX 660. I had that and compared to my GTX ASUS 670 TOP, the gaming difference at 1080p really wasn't that big of a deal IMO. Some 660's can be had at the $200 range depending on the vendor. The step up for a 660 TI of 80+ dollars is not worth it. Some 670's can make it at the low 300's with MIR.

660 or 670 is the way to go. Cheers.
 

umbraus

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I didn't feel it was to worth it after looking at this chart.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/598?vs=647

but since I'm a newbie I have not a clue about what affects 1080 would have instead of the 1200. Also people talking about the bit being 192 on the 660s and I have no clue what most of it means other than higher the number is better. xD

I like to hear I wouldn't have to spend so much on a 670, since I've been on newegg the past 4 days the prices you two posted are what they are going for for a 660 and the 660 ti version including the double fan version is 299 after rebate SC is 319 after rebate but its MHz and it's boost clock is lower than the FTW Sig 2.

660 ti
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006662%2050001402&IsNodeId=1&Description=660ti&bop=And&CompareItemList=-1%7C14-130-837%5E14-130-837-TS%2C14-130-812%5E14-130-812-TS%2C14-130-810%5E14-130-810-TS&percm=14-130-837%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-130-812%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-130-810%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

660s with sig 2 660 ti, it appreas the SC 660s is almost the same as the ti except the Cuda cores but isn't that if your just rendering videos? "which I kind of edit and record videos for youtube." and wont it affect PhysX?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006662%2050001402&IsNodeId=1&Description=660%20ti&bop=And&CompareItemList=-1%7C14-130-836%5E14-130-836-TS%2C14-130-834%5E14-130-834-TS%2C14-130-833%5E14-130-833-TS%2C14-130-837%5E14-130-837-TS&percm=14-130-837%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

660 vs 660 ti I'd be losing about 1-6 FPS but I would save 60 bucks if I went with the 660 FTW Sig 2 over the 660 TI FTW Sig 2. Only thing I'm worried about is the CUDA cores, is the 60 more worth the 384 CUDA cores? or should I save 20 more by getting the 660 SC Sig 2? the MHz on core and boost are 26 less than the 660 FTW Sig 2.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006662%2050001402&IsNodeId=1&Description=660%20ti&bop=And&CompareItemList=-1%7C14-130-836%5E14-130-836-TS%2C14-130-834%5E14-130-834-TS%2C14-130-837%5E14-130-837-TS&percm=14-130-837%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/660?vs=647
 

ohyouknow

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No it is not worth agonizing over those CUDA cores. You would seriously have to do a time by time comparison with the exact same hardware to look at mere seconds between rendering. If you were a professional video editor you wouldn't even be looking at those anyway. Agonizing over that is just giving you a headache. Get the 660 enjoy. The memory interface people complain about 192 also exists on the 660 TI and it only takes in affect if you are uncompromising with graphics or with surround gaming.

You can always overclock the cards and get good performance with any card. Don't worry about box clock. Sig 2 would be fine as it has a better cooling system.

Get a 660 and enjoy or if you are willing to spend $300 or so pick up this 670. 3 bills even after MIR.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133452
 

umbraus

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I agonize and give myself a headache over just about anything until I can figure out a straight answer, if it's between a cam shaft to put into my SBC or a GPU to put in my rig I spend weeks or so looking, and since I really don't understand computers that much it's really bad, I at least understand cars lol.

As long as those less CUDAs don't affect the PhysX stuff since it's the reason I'm looking into Nvidia more so than AMD because most of my games are Nvidia favored I'd be in it for the 660 FTW Sig 2 or the 660 SC Sig 2, I really don't want to mess with clocking it myself since I'm like this
tumblr_me0qrvGwDP1r3z80e.jpg


I did see that PNY but I really don't like it because of the 1 fan and the lower clock speeds and since I don't want to be like the dog in the picture and mess something up even though there are directions some people give I'd rather not try it.
 

cdrkeen

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The 660TI is a good card but it's hard to justify the cost if it goes for around 280. I know you're only looking for nvidia but at that price range you can get a 7950 that overclocks like a beast. It can reach and surpass a 670 and compete with the 7970 and 680.

You will not see that much better fps in games just because they are supposedly designed for nvidia or ati apart from the batman game whatever that ones called because of Physx.

Just get whatever deal you can find that gives you the best bang for the buck.

Edit:just saw you don't like to overclock. There are plenty of guides to show you how. It's as easy as sliding a bar over to the desired frequency, usually in 10mhz increments. There are auto shut offs if for some reason it gets to an unreasonable temp, so it's extremely hard to fry a card these days.
 

umbraus

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Thank you :D really happy with that now that I don't have to spend 380-410 of what I was thinking of spending and dropping it down that low. Thanks everyone for the help it is much appreciated now I can probably relax lol. If anyone else wants to chime in they can I wouldn't mind reading more.
 

umbraus

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Oh I know the FPS wouldn't vary really if you lined up a Nvidia with an AMD of the same type but I've read that it's better to use a card geared more towards what games are focused for the brand because they tend to work better. It's hard to explain since I read it days ago. Also watching one of Techoftomorrows videos it sounds like Nvidia is more up to what I'd be doing.

I know it wasn't said about favorting or anything but since I'm new to the field of computer building I'm starting off with a clean slate of both the green and red team. Nvidia just sounds more geared for my applications of what else I'll be doing.
 

cdrkeen

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If that is what you will be happy with then by all means it's your money :). That does make sense somewhat but take that with a grain of salt. There are games for nvidia that ati performs better on and vice versa. For instance Far Cry 3 is designed for ati and nvidia performs better. For Metro 2033 it's designed for nvidia but ATI performs better. I think that article is full of crap but I would be interested in reading it if you can post it.

Here is the ATI beating NVIDIA at it's own game. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-benchmark,3232-13.html

But like I said do whatever gives you peace of mind. The difference between the ati and nvidia is small. Just go with whatever you get the best deal on. If you like crysis and you don't already crysis 3 but plan on getting it. Maybe getting a 7950 is a good idea because it comes with it and bioshock infinite saving you 100 on games most ppl will buy if you're an fps gamer. OR you can sell them to bring price down to what a 660 would be.
 

umbraus

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Yea I've seen things like that happening. I was looking at AMD when I was first looking at cards than someone changed my mind to Nvidia than I just decided well whichever will be better for what I'll be doing.

I would like to find that article for you but I can not tell you how many youtube videos, and forums I've been to, it might have been on here or and overclock forum since those are the two I mostly looked at.

I would be interested in Crysis 3 and Bioshock, I plan on buying them later on but right now I have 29 out of 35 games at the moment I haven't finished and steam just murdered the crap out of my wallet for christmas. xD I did pre order RE6 but it is showing my intel IGPU isn't cutting it even at low with 10 FPS.
 

cdrkeen

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Yeah I was temped to go nvidia this round. I've had ati cards now for the last 3 upgrades. I had an evga awhile ago and seemed really quality. The only reason I went with ati is because it came with 2 free games I was planning on buying anyway so that basically made the videocards cost 300 a piece for me because I sold the other set of games on ebay.
 

umbraus

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Well it works out with Nvidia they have 150 worth of games, none of the 3 I plan on playing so if that was sold I'd really only be spending 95 on the card but I have a hard time selling stuff for some reason but no one seems to want it. I guess I'm just cursed or something. I've had a PS3 for sale for a long time now, a lot of lookers and people wanting to buy it but no actual buyers.
 

cdrkeen

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Didn't realize nvidia had a game deal...nice! That does sound like bad luck but if you put it to auction style you will definitely get those sold for a good price. That's what I did for mine, set it to .99 cents to start and sold at $65
 

umbraus

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I might or might not try that since the 3 offered are FPS games, Hawken, world of tanks, and planetside 2. I'll look them over more and decide.
 

cdrkeen

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Hmmm well that $150 game figure is definitely exaggerated. First off Planetside 2 is a free game on steam, World of tanks goes for $20 and Hawken is supposed to be at a lower price point to start than most.
 

ericjohn004

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I don't understand why some of you are saying that CUDA cores don't matter. This is what determines how many FPS you get. With a 660 you get 900 something cores, maybe 966. And with the 660Ti and 670ftw you get 1344. IDK about you, but 1344 seems like a whole lot more than 900. That's about a 30% increase in processing power.

I'm not ragging on a regular 660. I think they are priced just right. But to say that there is no difference between the two is just being naive. The only difference between the 670ftw and the 660Ti is the memory bandwidth. So as long as you don't use huge amounts of AA, you should get about the same performance out of a 660Ti than a 670. Theres a reason a 660Ti on one of the three flagship GPU's, along with the 670 and 680.

As far as performance goes. Just for a quick benchmark comparison between the two, a 660Ti scores 55FPS in Uningine Heaven 4.0 and a GTX 660 scores 43FPS. An whoel 12fps. A 660Ti scores a 8660 in 3DMark11 while a 660 scores 6720. That's a 2000 point difference. So I'd have to say the difference is rather large. But you do pay 60-80 more dollars for the Ti although I think it's worth it.

If you have the money, go for the 660Ti as you can never really have enough graphics horsepower. And personally I can't find a game that my 660Ti won't run on Ultra settings. Although if I had a regular 660 I probably couldn't say the same.

Edit: BTW, I should mention that if your willing to accept a lower performing card like the 660, then you should just go for the 650Ti Boost Edition, as it's almost on par with the 660. It has the exact same back end(the memory subsystem)so it gets VERY similar performance. Right now the 650Ti Boost Edition is the absolute best bang for your buck because the 2GB version only costs 170$ and the 1GB will be out in April for 150$.

This is the best card for the money right now, and if you need more power later, you can put 2 in SLI.
 

umbraus

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They meant the new 650 that came out 2 or 3 days ago.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130910

Cuda cores are 200 less but speeds are the same.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%2050001402%20600364399&IsNodeId=1&Description=660&bop=And&CompareItemList=48%7C14-130-910%5E14-130-910-TS%2C14-130-833%5E14-130-833-TS%2C14-130-836%5E14-130-836-TS&percm=14-130-833%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-130-836%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

I feel the extra fan on the 660 is worth the heat being lessened by 2 fans instead of just 1. Idk if the other 660 FTW Sig 2 with 3GBs will be needed at least by me, I guess 2 would be enough. I also still wont buy until I hear if the 700 series will be out in April or later, I might can wait till Q3. 660 is also better with the 150 in game coin code if you sell that you are in the clear better than the 650.