New Gfx card

omfg choices!

gasp!

opinions, gimme.

What card do you have now?

I recently purchased a GTX285 after much research. Fastest single-card unit, period. Only $500 now, too.

I've got the GTX295 and I'm pretty happy. The only let down I've had so far is that fact that it's 2x 896MB GPUs running in SLI (obviously in one card) and games that don't support SLI (cue GTAIV) will cut down settings to suit the sub 1GB of graphics memory it sees. Pissed me off. But apart from that... it canes!

I just bought the Palit version. I didn't see the need to spend any extra on the bigger name branded cards. Not sure if it's got worse cooling than the others... my case does a good enough job anyway...

cheers

currently running a 7800GTX on a 1920x1200 24" and a 17" secondary,

GTX295 great choice. Performance will far exceed that of the 285 in some games (Crysis), but perform considerably worse in others... depends on the engine. But it's "50-$200 more expensive.

For about $50 less than a GTX295, you can get 2x 275's and meet the performance of the 295.

But yeah; I couldn't argue with $475 for a GTX285. Absolute romper of a card.

A nice little upgrade from your card would be a least a 9800GT 1Gb, it'll run most things quite nicely, but if your looking more grunt and can afford a few bucks go with a GTX 260 or ATI 4870, going anything above that is just throwing away money for the sake of a few FPS and nice looking stats.

Don't forget to factor in PSU choice going big.

I completely disagree, Darren. With this card and an i920, 6GB DDR3 I only average 70fps in Street Fighter IV at his resolution, for example. Anything less than 60 would be unacceptable based on the nature of the game.

Likewise, if you care about your shooter performance, anything lower than 50-60 is going to sacrafice opportunity - as well as generally frustrate the hell out of me... the choppiness is clearly visible.

The 4870 is a good bang for buck single card solution, however.

It really just depends if you play for the sake of playing, or play for something more. Single player frames obviously aren't so important.

Oh and he is currently running a 7800GTX... which was the pinacle of technology at the time. You'd imagine that he'd probably replace it with today's equivelant, if he has gone that way in the past.

My 7800GTX was $900 when I bought it.

yeah it cost me $750 I think, but it was cutting edge at the time, and it's lasted about 3 1/2 years so good buy as far as i'm concerned.

I don't think I want to buy cutting edge again.

Also, directx 11?

i bought 4870X2 :)

very powerful card..

why 3dmark scored higher on the 295GTX i have no idea i believe its that it doesnt have the ability to push the ATI card as it was to new for the 3dmark software even tho it was the updated one ? plus 3dmark seems to be more configured for Nvidia cards anyways

i compared the 295GTX VS 4870X2

I set the draw distance down on the 4870X2 to match evenly with the 295 GTX

the 4870X2 had more memory to pump up draw distance.

www.jk-technology.net/benchmark.jpg

Single GTX275 or Radeon 4890 if you don't want cutting edge but still want a kick-arse GPU, imo.

Keeping in mind, cutting edge today is $275 cheaper than cutting edge when you bought your 7800GTX.

Yeah I prolly would recommend the 4890 if you didn't want to go the whole hog...

I still have my old 7800gtx and today I still think it served me well i have since upgraded twice 1st to an 8800gtx great card but then died im going to back it when i get some free time. 2nd GTX280 great card and i dont need to go any higher I play cod 4-5 css supreme commander expansion and heaps of other games I would recommend it for an upgrade

Quote from rec;366123:
I completely disagree, Darren. With this card and an i920, 6GB DDR3 I only average 70fps in Street Fighter IV at his resolution, for example.

I understand where you heading, but how much do you spend for the ultimate benchmark?

I average 60FPS on Street Fighter IV with a Q6600 & a GTX260 and 65FPS OC @ 3.Ghz. What I'm getting at is that high end gear at the moment doesn't represent good value for money unless thats what you wan't. An extra 10FPS isn't worth a couple hundred bucks.

I don't ever benchmark... I haven't even installed 3D Mark since I was in high school.

100fps is my want, in any game. Anything less than 60 I can't happily play - it's just too choppy. I want to be in that super-smooth zone, all the time. Especially when I'm playing competitively.

And your SFIV isn't maxed graphically to get that frame rate with your system.

All settings on max, but only on 22" screen 1680 x 1050

So what you're saying is the difference is actually a lot more than 10fps? ;)

[Attachment 5371]

SCORE: 7429
AVERAGE: 84.30FPS
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Memory: 6142MB
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285
Display Setting: 1680x1050 59Hz C16xQAA

as said above, hd4870 or gtx260 best bang for buck at the moment. had my hd4870 for quite a while now, have never been so happy with a computer purchase.

if you're into sli/crossfire on a single card, i would actually recommend the hd4850X2, which is not too pricey but fecking awesome.

My bad Rec, I didn't factor in screen size, but still, even with a bigger card the frames won't be there unless the CPU is upto the job. But weighing up the cost of your components compared to mine, doesnt sit right with me till the prices drop unless it's a must as in your case.

I thought my PC was a bloody bargain, tbh. $2000 for i7 920, GTX285, 6GB DDR3, mobo, case, PSU, Blu-ray drive, 23" full HD monitor, keyboard, mic, mouse pad etc.

A machine of such high calibre a few years ago could cost twice as much. PC components have fallen so much... it's a buyers paradise.

Can pickup 4870 from hallmark in Darwin for $310 if your interested

couple dollars more then down south but atleast they put up with any warranty issues :)

Harby - in relation to DX11; Kotaku - Get Ready For The Next Generation Of PC Graphics - Nvidia

yeah so i'm thinking i'm going the $300ish cards, 4890 or a gtx275. - Midrange cost, massive performance boost over what I have, not too big an investment that I feel bad about buying a new card for dx11 if I even need it. DX10 had a similar hype up about new cards.

nvidia - costs a bit more, might be useful as physx later

ati - costs less - has dx10.1 - if that even means anything, and I have an x48 board with full speed crossfire, but I doubt i'll ever do that, i'm not a fan of power or heat.

as for performance comparisons, who do you beleive really. Lies, damned lies, and GPU benchmarks.

Quote from Harbinger;366200:
as for performance comparisons, who do you beleive really. Lies, damned lies, and GPU benchmarks.

I always use Tom's Hardware. Is that bad?

ATI products are a great option if you like shithouse drivers :)

This is a no brainer unless you want to spend more or less.

The 4890 is a beast. Price, performance, new tech, serious power. Nvidia killer.

The 4890 is the budget single card solution I'd go for... but as Jimmy mentioned, support can be flakey.

Although even the Nvidia drivers are flakey (in Win 7) right now.

ATI is flakey drivers ?

i havent had any problems ?

and ive installed Ati cards and Nvidia cards in the same pc on a weekly basis for testing ? never had a problem with the drivers even if the video card is faulty

I suppose you also see no problems with yourself? Case closed.

I dont know, past experience tells me ATi drivers are flaky when it comes to small things like HDMI working properly (I say small as in at least it still functions in 3D otherwise) whereas nVidia drivers are known to just outright crash spontaneously.

I ended up getting an evga GTX 275 for more than i should have paid...

but lifetime warranty apparently.
Originally ordered the gigabyte, but it went on backorder for so long that the evga card dropped below the price i'd already paid woo.

on the other hand, the msy prices are now about $40 cheaper than they were when i started :P

Are you happy with the performance?

Well I can play prototype at full settings now, but I suspect that's not an awfully good indicator.

I'm pretty happy, but I'll give it a bit more punishment and then I'll get back to you

Surpisingly enough, SFIV with everything on max, is quite taxing in the graphics dept.