Video card for older games?

[4eigner]

Heya folks! I was wondering what video card would you guys recommend for some older games I'll be playing. Would like to play Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Dota2 at max settings. Have a 22inch Acer monitor and probably set it to 1680 X 1050 and I think it's only at 720p. Price range around $160 +/- $30.

I won't be playing any newer games other than the ones listed.

The system it's going in has an i5 3570k, 16GB RAM, and ASrock Z77 Extreme 3.

[dave_the_nerd]

Your budget's plenty for a decent midrange card. 7850 would work well. 7770 if you want to save a few bucks and spend it on something else.

Although there's supposedly some new cards coming out in the next couple months.

What are you working with now?

[4eigner]

It's for a new system I'm building for meself.

[KingFatty]

I know for Stracraft 2 it's more important about the CPU performance, so maybe you can save some money now, buy a used 5850 or 6950 to start with. Then, when the new cards come out shortly, you can probably sell the 5850 or 6950 for close to what you paid (they've likely depreciated all they could have before you bought them) and then get a nice new card. Same argument whether you go with AMD or Nvidia.

I don't think any of those games at max settings will stress out a used video card, and you are set with the CPU it seems, so I'd say play it safe and try used then new shortly later.

[Eureka]

You could actually try playing with the HD4000 (on-board chip), if you want to wait for the new cards.

If not, 7850/7870/660 are in your range.

[atomheart]

I would recommend a gtx460 or a HD6870, HD6950 if you find it cheap. Though for what it's worth I have trouble telling the difference between my friend's 6950 machine and my backup rig with a 6870, though this was in borderlands 2 and other games that weren't necessarily heavily GPU bound.

[FalseChristian]

I have 2 eVGA GTX 460 1GB in SLI and they rock on my 22" 1680x1050 LCD. It even plays Farcry 3 at over 40 fps. Of course it helps having an i5 2500K overclocked to 4.5GHz.

[Will Robinson]

Originally Posted by atomheart

I would recommend a gtx460 or a HD6870, HD6950 if you find it cheap. Though for what it's worth I have trouble telling the difference between my friend's 6950 machine and my backup rig with a 6870, though this was in borderlands 2 and other games that weren't necessarily heavily GPU bound.

No.
Last gen cards on that system...nyet!
Get an HD7850,it's modern,fast and has plenty of power for what you need.

[raghu78]

get the MSI HD 7850 2GB for USD 180 (165 after rebate)

http://www.amazon.com/R7850-2xMiniDi...dp/B007MLSGHE/

[Jimzz]

Yea in your budget the 7850.

If trying to save money the 7770 will also work but would need to be replaced if you move to newwer games.

So I would get a 7850 2gb now. I'm still running my GTX460 and have no reason to upgrade so go big now and enjoy it.

[Bman123]

You could spend $80 getting a used GTX460 or HD6850 and probably be fine

[SaurusX]

I thought this thread was going to be asking about games like TIE Fighter and Wing Commander. I was going to recommend a 3dfx Voodoo2.

[rottentreats]

Anything 3dfx!