Upgrade from Power Color 1GB Radeon HD 6850 (~$250 budget)

MrZombieAndMe

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Sep 6, 2014
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Howdy,

Was looking for an upgrade to my video card. I'm running a fairly old system, just wanted to upgrade the graphics for now and see how it holds up with newer games. The system specs are as follows:

GPU: PowerColor Radeon HD 6850 1GB
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83 GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P5Q Deluxe
RAM: 8GB PC2-6400

I'm looking to spend around 250 including everything, I'll try and be a little loose with this cap depending on how much my university books might rack me up. The video card is definitely straining with newer games now. I know a lot of people are pushing for 4GB cards lately but it's probably going to be out of my price range. I've been looking at this MSI 270x:

http://http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127761

I just felt a little extra insight would be nice in a decision like this, it's always fun times trying to pick a new card to play some fancy graphics with ;) Keep in mind that with the MSI card, I am willing to invest in an aftermarket cooler to ensure some longevity.
 

MrZombieAndMe

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Sep 6, 2014
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4,510


Oh ho my friend, that is quite a tasty find you have there. So now i'm basically looking more at either a 270x vs 280. The 280 is definitely looking like the winner out of the two so far, assuming no one else pops in with a different selection first.