Advice on GPU choice and upgrade path

[gmsnacks]

Good morning everyone.

I am planning to build my first new system since 2004 this weekend. I have chosen the components (quickly: i7 860, Gigabyte P55 UD2, 4GB RAM, Corsair 650W) and must now only decide the video card. The most stressful applications this system will use are games, and I will play them at 1680x1050. However, for the next few months I plan to catch-up with games I missed the past 5 years, including BioShock, STALKER, FEAR, HL2+eps and Far Cry. The only 2009 game I intend to play this year is Left 4 Dead 2.

Due to this, I do not believe I have a reason to purchase a high-end graphics card at this moment. I do plan to upgrade to a new graphics card and a SSD early next year.

My question is, how low can I go with the GPU? Will a sub-$100 card tide me over considering the game selection? Thanks!

 

[crazylegs]

I'd say spend a little more, get a 4890. This will go well with your system and your resolution (basically will max every current game out!). Would be a shame to hold back an otherwise pretty sweet machine.

If you crave more, further into the DX11 era, once the dust has settled you can pick up a better value ATI / NV DX11 part

 

[Munky]

Yup, look for a Radeon 4770 or a Nvidia 9800gt. Both of those are available for under $100 and would run those games well at your resolution.

 

[crisium]

A 4770 or 4850 (little faster, but higher power draw) will be able to handle all of the games you listed and is sub $100. But you may indeed want to pony up a little more to have a bit more life for future titles. I don't think a 4890 is needed, but a 1GB 4870 at its cheapest is $145 free ship with a rebate on top of that:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150436

I dunno if you'd want to wait to see how the 5750 performs, but that should be out in the coming weeks. It might be slower than a 4870 (we don't know yet(, but it will use much less power. But if you cannot wait I'd recommend the 4870.

There are also some 1GB 4850s that go to $100 after rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...%201068320729&name=1GB

But I think you'd be hitting yourself on the head in the future for not paying another $25 for the better performing 4870.

 

[Kingbee13]

for jsut a bit over your goal of $100 you can get a 4870 for 125 from newegg, IMO it's worth the price premium


4850 @ $100 would work well)


4770 can be had for $95 but it's a bit slower than the 4850 (altough less power and runs cooler).


9800GT would would work starts at $90 but its more of a drop off in performance.



That's why I'd recomend the 4870 since its only about $30 more than these much slower cards

XFX 4870 $125

 

[gmsnacks]

Thanks everyone, I just noticed on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C..._.28HD_5xxx.29_series) that the Junipers are scheduled to be released tomorrow. Any known truth to this?

 

[McRhea]

Another vote for the 4870 1gb card. Wait a little while though, because I bet the prices on all current video cards are about to drop. Why pay $125 for a 4870 when it might be $90-100 in 2 or 3 weeks? Just wait a little for prices to drop, and then pull the trigger.