A good video card?

[Dell Honne]

Sup guys, not sure if this is the exactly right section for this but hey at least I tried.

So I'm looking for a new video card for my desktop PC so I can play games better since my current ATI Radeon 5450 isn't being so great anymore. My budget minimum is $250 and maximum is $500.

Here is my desktop specs in case that is needed:

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I've never had a GeForce card before so I was thinking of getting one of those but if there is something better then yeah.

 

[Alfons]

Which PSU do you have ?

 

[AxedMS]

Get a radeon 5570

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Shouldn't cost too much, your CPU will most likely be a bottleneck with better cards.

 

[Dawson]

Pick up an nvidia card... seriously, you're using intel chipset anyway, keep it matched. Plus nvidia cards are better anyway.

Try the GTX series. 460 is pretty good at a budget price.

 

[Rishwin]

Get a radeon 5570

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Shouldn't cost too much, your CPU will most likely be a bottleneck with better cards.

Why would he possibly want that piece of trash card when he has a $250 minimum budget?

Mega fail.

Pick up an nvidia card... seriously, you're using intel chipset anyway, keep it matched. Plus nvidia cards are better anyway.

Try the GTX series. 460 is pretty good at a budget price.

Intel/Nvidia AMD/Ati CPU/GPU pairing hasn't been in existence for the past 5 years at least, at one stage there were performance gains to be had but not anymore.

@ Dell: I've always been a diehard ATI fan, but even i cannot deny that the GeForce GTX 580 is the fastest and best single-GPU card in existence today. If you want it to last you a while, this is the one to get and at ~$450 it should be within your budget.

However as Alfons pointed out, it all depends on what PSU you have and if it will even handle it. Alternatively, i can VERY strongly suggest getting a cheaper Ati 2GB 6950 (SPECIFICALLY the 6950, they are in fact 6970 boards with a 6950 BIOS) for closer to ~$250 and you'll even have money left over to get a better PSU if you need it.

 

[Dell Honne]

Get a radeon 5570

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Shouldn't cost too much, your CPU will most likely be a bottleneck with better cards.

I plan on slowly making my computer into a monster.

Which PSU do you have ?

No clue right now. If I need to upgrade my PSU to have a good video card then I will.

Why would he possibly want that piece of trash card when he has a $250 minimum budget?

Mega fail.


Intel/Nvidia AMD/Ati CPU/GPU pairing hasn't been in existence for the past 5 years at least, at one stage there were performance gains to be had but not anymore.

@ Dell: I've always been a diehard ATI fan, but even i cannot deny that the GeForce GTX 580 is the fastest and best single-GPU card in existence today. If you want it to last you a while, this is the one to get and at ~$450 it should be within your budget.

However as Alfons pointed out, it all depends on what PSU you have and if it will even handle it. Alternatively, i can VERY strongly suggest getting a cheaper Ati 2GB 6950 (SPECIFICALLY the 6950, they are in fact 6970 boards with a 6950 BIOS) for closer to ~$250 and you'll even have money left over to get a better PSU if you need it.

Yeah I was looking at that GeForce GTX 580. That Radeon looks nice too. If anyone has any more suggestions please post them. I have till next week to order one.

 

[Rishwin]

Yeah I was looking at that GeForce GTX 580. That Radeon looks nice too. If anyone has any more suggestions please post them. I have till next week to order one.

I made a typo in my post which i will reiterate - You want to specifically get the 2GB version of the 6950, as only those are the ones made with the 6970 board.

I would personally get that and then spend another $150 on a very good PSU (i wold recommend the 750W Corsair

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)

That along with

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would only cost you $420, and you'd still have $50 worth of mail-in rebates.

Now from there if you want to only upgrade your CPU and keep your existing motherboard, then the

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is your best upgrade option at $209 and it is an EXCELLENT quad-core processor which will still last you quite a while.

So all-up you're looking at less than $600 for the entire thing (after rebates) so if you can wait a little while and save up a bit more, you can buy them all at once. I would imagine your motherboard would be sufficient for the time being and your RAM is more than enough for gaming or even multitasking so there's no need in adding more unless you're upgrading the mobo too.