6850 VS 6870 VS GTX 550 Ti

[IslandStylin]

SO I am thinking about buying a graphics card for my new set-up and I am not sure which to choose. Would love to hear your input

Here are the contenders:

1. EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130625
$124.99 after mail in rebate + $6.98 shipping


TOTAL: $131.97

2. SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102908
$134.99 includes DIRT 3 game free
TOTAL: $119 after mail in rebate

3. SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB
TOTAL: $144.99 after mail in rebate INCLUDES DIRT3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102948

What will I be using my computer for?

1. Gaming : Diablo 3, skyrim, and other new games
2. Editing in AVID (Can I even use these cards for that? Avid says I need a Quadro card, which cost an arm and a leg)
3. 3d work in After Effects and Maya. Photoshop work as well

Should I wait another month and hope prices go down? Should I suck it up and buy an expensive card like the 560 ti instead? Is it worth spending another $100 on?

Mahalo

 

[T_Yamamoto]

prices wont go down for a while, and go with the 6870, its a midrange card.

 

[Concillian]

You left out your res.

As far as speed.... 550Ti < 6850 < 6870.

Diablo III is pretty light and these should be reasonable enough to enjoy the game at 1080p. I fully expect Skyrim will be more demanding than Diablo III

Skyrim I'm running on a 5770 @ 1920x1200, which is about a 550Ti speed and it works without AA, but it's not the best. There are some slowdowns and such. 6850 would probably be enough to run at this res with no AA. With higher AA a 6870 may end up like a 5770 with no AA, not sure, but it generally takes more to run things at max settings at 1920x

The 6850 with an OC is a pretty good value at that price. If you're at 1080p it might be a little light for you. Depends on if you're okay with not being maxed. If just casual gaming and you're fine with not having every option enabled, then it should be good and detail will be miles beyond a console. If your res is lower, then it fits even better. If you're into higher quality at 1920x, then you want at least a 6870, if not even further up the line, like 6950 or 560 Ti, which are generally the cards to get for 1920x at higher detail settings.

I had the 5770 from when I was @ 1280x1024 and it was pretty solid at that res and when I moved to 1920x1200, I decided to wait on 28nm to upgrade.


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Quadro cards will generally enable driver features that are disabled on consumer level cards. You don't need the hardware of a Quadro card, but you do need the driver switch that allows the hardware to accelerate certain professional level software. There are likely illegal solutions for this (definitely unethical, don't know if outright illegal,) since it's mostly software differences and not so much physical differences between the Quadro and GeForce lines.

 

[Face2Face]

Go with the 6870, I love mine. Skyrim runs awesome. FYI - Use SKYBOOST to increase frames in skyrim. It make a huge impact in towns.