Upgrading my video card

[Nothing Here]

So I'm upgrading my video card and was wondering if this card would be a good purchase. If not could someone recommend a good one under the $200 range?

Thanx.

Edit:

Dang it! Any card I get needs to be PCI-E 2.0 or 2.1.

[spikey_richie]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/pci-express-2.0,review-30726.html

[Nothing Here]

Yea, I saw that. But those are old cards. I have a GTX 550 ti right now.

[Detection]

Yea, I saw that. But those are old cards. I have a GTX 550 ti right now.

7870 if you can push to $209

http://www.tigerdire...6882&CatId=7387

EDIT -Sorry thats the 7850 - came up in the 7870 results

$219 for the 7870

http://www.tigerdire...9672&CatId=7387

I have the 7870 and its a beast of a card

[Nothing Here]

7870 if you can push to $209

http://www.tigerdire...6882&CatId=7387

I never even considered Radeon. But I can't run a PCI-E 3.0 on my Asus M5A97 mobo. That's why I scratched out that card in my OP.

1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (blue)

1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black)

2 x PCIe 2.0 x1

2 x PCI

Edit:

Guess 2.1 is also out. Doesn't leave me many choices on upgrade. :(

[notuptome2004]

PCI E 3.0 is backwards comapatble with 2.0 and 2.1 and 1.0 slots

[Detection]

I never even considered Radeon. But I can't run a PCI-E 3.0 on my Asus M5A97 mobo. That's why I scratched out that card in my OP.

1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (blue)

1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black)

2 x PCIe 2.0 x1

2 x PCI

Edit:

Guess 2.1 is also out. Doesn't leave me many choices on upgrade. :(

You can run a PCI-E 3.0 card in a 2.1 or 2,0 machine, just runs at the speed your board supports

My machine has 2.0 running the 7870 3.0 card, not much will even max out 2.1 yet so your not bottlenecking the card running it in a 2.1 or 2.0 machine

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Check my edit in last post with link

[Nothing Here]

You can run a PCI-E 3.0 card in a 2.1 or 2,0 machine, just runs at the speed your board supports

My machine has 2.0 running the 7870 3.0 card, not much will even max out 2.1 yet so your not bottlenecking the card running it in a 2.1 or 2.0 machine

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Check my edit in last post with link

Hmm, if that's the case, then an extra few bucks won't even matter. But why Radeon over nVidia? Is there a benefit that I'm overlooking?

[Detection]

Hmm, if that's the case, then an extra few bucks won't even matter. But why Radeon over nVidia? Is there a benefit that I'm overlooking?

Not really, AMD is cheaper than nVidia, nVidia do have better performing cards but you have to pay the price for them

My brother paid ?263 for a 670

I paid ?200 for a 7870 (Could have gotten it for ?160 online but wanted it that day from local store)

He gets about 30-40% better performance than me so far with the tests we've tried, but drivers are still young for both cards so performance should only get better

Comparison between my old 6850 and new 7870

[abysal]

The GTX 660 seems to be the card to get these days... but it's about $100 over your budget :( So the AMD 7870 would be the next best bet.

[Nothing Here]

So then just out of curiosity, since they are backward compatible. Which of these two would be better:

http://www.tigerdire...6347&CatId=7387

http://www.tigerdire...190094&csid=_61

Because I have always ran nVidia.

[Detection]

So then just out of curiosity, since they are backward compatible. Which of these two would be better:

http://www.tigerdire...6347&CatId=7387

http://www.tigerdire...190094&csid=_61

Because I have always ran nVidia.

The 650Ti would out perform the normal 650 - Bear in mind, those cards only have a 128bit memory bus width vs the 7870 with 265bit and a whole load better specs all round

[spikey_richie]

Ti is marginally better, http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti

[Nothing Here]

The 650Ti would out perform the normal 650 - Bear in mind, those cards only have a 128bit memory bus width vs the 7870 with 265bit

Then I think I've made my decision. I will get the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti.

Thanx everyone.

Edit:

Wait, what's the diff on the bit memory?

[Detection]

Then I think I've made my decision. I will get the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti.

Thanx everyone.

:) enjoy your new card

[Nothing Here]

:) enjoy your new card

Thanx. But can you take a look at my edit above please?

[Detection]

Bandwidth is the difference on the memory

128bit vs 256bit = half the bandwidth

[Nothing Here]

Bandwidth is the difference on the memory

128bit vs 256bit = half the bandwidth

So, the memory is used more efficiently on the Radeon, then on the nVidia? Not sure I understand.

[Detection]

So, the memory is used more efficiently on the Radeon, then on the nVidia? Not sure I understand.

From a quick google, the 650Ti has 86.4GB/s memory bandwidth

My 7870 has 160GB/s, so almost doubling the 128bit memory

So from what I understand, VRAM intensive games will suffer from the 128bit bandwidth (Trying to find some real life benchmarks)

[Nothing Here]

From a quick google, the 650Ti has 86.4GB/s memory bandwidth

My 7860 has 160GB/s, so almost doubling the 128bit memory

So from what I understand, VRAM intensive games will suffer from the 128bit bandwidth

Grrr, you can make decisions hard can't you? I guess my choice is spending a little extra and getting the Radeon. Thanx again Brother.

[Detection]

Grrr, you can make decisions hard can't you? I guess my choice is spending a little extra and getting the Radeon. Thanx again Brother.

lol

I would spend the extra, I've had this card a few weeks now and it eats and spits out just about everything I've thrown at it

Crysis 2 @ Ultra & HD Textures @ 1080p = Perfectly Smooth

Here's some benchmarks and a review for the 650Ti if you want to convince or un-convince yourself :p

http://uk.kotaku.com/5950643/nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-review

[Nothing Here]

lol

I would spend the extra, I've had this card a few weeks now and it eats and spits out just about everything I've thrown at it

Crysis 2 @ Ultra & HD Textures @ 1080p = Perfectly Smooth

Here's some benchmarks and a review for the 650Ti if you want to convince or un-convince yourself :p

http://uk.kotaku.com...x-650-ti-review

Well, I guess if my GTX 550ti works good on my two new games, Afterfall: InSanity and Singularity. Then this Radeon will be awesome.

[Detection]

Well, I guess if my GTX 550ti works good on my two new games, Afterfall: InSanity and Singularity. Then this Radeon will be awesome.

Ah most definitely, my brother used to have the 560Ti iirc, and I whipped him with 2 x 6850s, and this 7870 laughs at them in everything so far, drivers are almost at release (Beta 11) and each release is improving performance quite a bit

So those review benchmarks above will be completely different with the latest drivers

If you want to try before you buy, run 3DMark11 right now, and I`ll do the same and post the results to compare

[Nothing Here]

Ah most definitely, my brother used to have the 560Ti iirc, and I whipped him with 2 x 6850s, and this 7870 laughs at them in everything so far, drivers are almost at release (Beta 11) and each release is improving performance quite a bit

So those review benchmarks above will be completely different with the latest drivers

If you want to try before you buy, run 3DMark11 right now, and I`ll do the same and post the results to compare

Will be a few mins. I have to dl it first. LOL!

[Detection]

Will be a few mins. I have to dl it first. LOL!

lol I just realised I have to install it, I reinstalled 7 not long ago