Quick Video Card Question

By Gotenks98
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Gotenks98

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If anyone can give me an answer ASAP that would help me a ton. I am currently thinking of going from an NVidia gtx 260 to a gtx 650 TI that's currently on sale. I had a situation where I tried to upgrade my card a few months ago to something amd/ati had and it was much worse than my current card. I am just trying to make sure from a FPS standpoint this is a good trade off? Games I am playing are Aion, SWTOR, Rift, Tera and Skyrim.

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a1ien

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It sounds like you wait awhile before upgrading. Now the GTX 650 Ti will be only a small step up - in some cases it may even be equal. IMO if you get a GTX 650 Ti you're throwing your money away. Graphics card lineups often have a cliff in performance at some point, and the GTX 650 / 650 Ti are at the bottom side of that cliff. The cheapest card at the top of the cliff is the GTX 660. Get that one - you won't regret it! It's only a few dollars more.

If you're actually playing those games, the gtx 660 is the minimum card you should get. I stick with Nvidia because I love the exclusive driver features. The Gtx 650 Ti and below are cards for only occasional / light gaming.

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Slammers

Posted
Posted

It's a good jump, but those games are not particularly taxing, I don't know if the difference will be HUGELY noticeable. I would try save abit more for a 660 ti if I could.

If you're actually playing those games, the gtx 660 is the minimum card you should get. I stick with Nvidia because I love the exclusive driver features. The Gtx 650 Ti and below are cards for only occasional / light gaming.

The 650 should be more then enough for all of those games, although I would have thought your 260 would have run them pretty ok on high settings. If you want to be able to play games on high for the next 1-2 years then go for the 66 range. A 650 should do you on low-high depending on game for at least a year or two. Depends on your resolution too i guess.

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a1ien

Posted
Posted

650Ti is basically a 560 which is basically a 470. Not literally, but approximately

And you would know the difference between 470 and 260.

Yes, it is a good jump.

You're like, totally wrong. Lineups have a cliff below which your 650 -> 560 -> 470 -> 280 theory does not hold. It falls apart at the first step in this case.

GTX 560 >> GTX 650 Ti.

Since it is hard to find a review comparing these cards, and unreliable to chain together many reviews, just consider the specs of a GTX 260 and GTX 650 Ti. These specs are the foundation of a graphics card:

-------------Pixel Fillrate----Memory Bandwidth

GTX 260 -----16.1 GP/s---------112 GB/s

GTX 550 Ti---14.8 GP/s---------86.4 GB/s

The GTX 260 > GTX 650 Ti actually. Of course you get DirectX 11 with the 650 - just know that it will cost you performance. And your games are not going to improve because of it.

Grand Master

Muhammad Farrukh

Posted
Posted

You're like, totally wrong. Lineups have a cliff below which your 650 -> 560 -> 470 -> 280 theory does not hold. It falls apart at the first step in this case.

GTX 560 >> GTX 650 Ti.

I already wrote that they are not actually equal, but you can compare them. Just like you can compare 650Ti and 7770 or 7850

  • 2 months later...
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Colin.B

Posted
Posted

After all the research I ended up going with the GTX 660. Everything I read suggests it's some of the best bang for the buck right now without going the ATi route. I almost spent the extra on a 7870 but all the issues I read with the ATi drivers leave me still, after years, skeptical of using ATi drivers. Figured I'd go with the 660 as my past few cards have been nVidia and I quite enjoy their product. (ATi makes a great product as well.)

Having said that, I'd try and swing for the GTX 660 if you can. You can overclock it to 660ti speeds and it will last longer than the 650 Ti. However, the 650Ti isn't a horrible card by any means. I just feel the difference in performance between the 260 and that isn't worth it. You could spend 159 or 169 on a GTX 650 or spend 219 on a GTX 660 and have such better performance. Or, if you're not against ATi, you could pick up a 7850 for a relatively moderate price.

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