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Best Value Performance card?

Dulanic

Dulanic

Diamond Member
It has been a while since I looked into a video card. I currently have a AMD 4850. I am starting to get into Witcher 2 and it just kind of chokes. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I want decent performance. I would like to stay around $200.

Is this a decent choice or can I get better for around this cost? I would like to keep noise down some too.

http://www.amazon.com/ENGTX560-DCII-...1512968&sr=8-2

CPU: i7 930
Memory: 6GB DDR3
MB: P6T
PS: 550W Corsair.
 
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At what resolution do you play?

But it is a good option. Other options depending on the price would be AMD 6950 or a 6870.

1920_HighUltra.png
 
Dulanic said:
It has been a while since I looked into a video card. I currently have a AMD 4850. I am starting to get into Witcher 2 and it just kind of chokes. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I want decent performance. I would like to stay around $200.

Is this a decent choice or can I get better for around this cost? I would like to keep noise down some too.

http://www.amazon.com/ENGTX560-DCII-...1512968&sr=8-2

CPU: i7 930
Memory: 6GB DDR3
MB: P6T
PS: 550W Corsair.
Click to expand...

That's a standard 560 you linked. No way should you spend $200 on it. If it were a Ti version, then maybe. I'd go with a 6870 right now. Newegg had one this week for $160, and I'm sure Amazon has them for $180 or under.
 
So if I were to go with a 6870, is there any reason to spend more than just $154 on this sapphire? Seems like a decent deal. My current 4850 has worked great for me for the past few years. Also, I have tried to find comparisons but I cant that will show me my 4850 vs something like a 6870. I am guessing it is at least 2x as fast?

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DV...&s=electronics
 
Dulanic said:
So if I were to go with a 6870, is there any reason to spend more than just $154 on this sapphire? Seems like a decent deal. My current 4850 has worked great for me for the past few years. Also, I have tried to find comparisons but I cant that will show me my 4850 vs something like a 6870. I am guessing it is at least 2x as fast?

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DV...&s=electronics
Click to expand...

Here is a link comparing the specs of a 6870 vs. 4850.
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=635&card2=566

And here is a link with a 6870 vs. 4870.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=304

Here is a link with a 5870 vs. 4850. 6870 you could say that is equal to a 5870.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/162?vs=177

Any specific reason why you are buying from Amazon ?
 
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Dulanic said:
So if I were to go with a 6870, is there any reason to spend more than just $154 on this sapphire? Seems like a decent deal. My current 4850 has worked great for me for the past few years. Also, I have tried to find comparisons but I cant that will show me my 4850 vs something like a 6870. I am guessing it is at least 2x as fast?

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DV...&s=electronics
Click to expand...

Not really, no. The Sapphire cards come with a good cooler and, unless you're doing very high OCing, it'll be up to the job. At $180/$160 AR it's a very good deal. Just keep in mind there's really no reason to get the GTX 560 as overall it's 5% slower than the 6870 and the GTX 560 Ti is only 5% faster than the 6870. Both aren't really what you'd call good bang-for-buck given their prices. The GTX 560 needs to be priced at $170 to make sense and the GTX 560 Ti needs to be priced at $190-200 to make sense.

perfrel_1920.gif


Also, the 6870 is overall around 90% faster than the 4850, since the 5870 is 100% faster.
 
MentalIlness said:
Here is a link comparing the specs of a 6870 vs. 4850.
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=635&card2=566

And here is a link with a 6870 vs. 4870.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=304

Here is a link with a 5870 vs. 4850. 6870 you could say that is equal to a 5870.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/162?vs=177

Any specific reason why you are buying from Amazon ?
Click to expand...

Price is the same as Newegg and I have prime + 3% rewards + insanely good return policy if I have any issues. Any reason I shouldn't? I've ordered nearly all my PC parts from Amazon for the past 2 years as they have always treated me well and their return policy is better.
 
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Dulanic said:
Price is the same as Newegg and I have prime + 3% rewards + insanely good return policy if I have any issues. Any reason I shouldn't? I've ordered nearly all my PC parts from Amazon for the past 2 years as they have always treated me well and their return policy is better.
Click to expand...

Nah, no reason why you shouldn't. I was just curious is all. But yes, you will notice a big difference in your games.

When I went with the 6870 "XFX"...I upgraded from a 9800GTX which is damn near equal to a 4850. I noticed a big increase instantly.

Edit : I also play at 1920x1080.
 
Dulanic said:
It has been a while since I looked into a video card. I currently have a AMD 4850. I am starting to get into Witcher 2 and it just kind of chokes. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I want decent performance. I would like to stay around $200.

Is this a decent choice or can I get better for around this cost? I would like to keep noise down some too.

http://www.amazon.com/ENGTX560-DCII-...1512968&sr=8-2

CPU: i7 930
Memory: 6GB DDR3
MB: P6T
PS: 550W Corsair.
Click to expand...


I had a 4850 myself and was in the same boat as you awhile back, looking to replace it with something faster. I compared the card before and after with what I bought to replace it [a 6950].

My results are this-
A 6950 is slightly more than 2x faster than a 4850 is at 1280x1024 with 4xAA. If you dial up the AA and Resolution then it gains even more speed [1920x1080 for instance], its around 2 and half times faster.

I almost bought a 6870 at first but from what I could tell it wouldn't be fast enough [for me atleast] over a 4850 to justify it. A 6950 in alot of games can be up to 25% faster than a 6870, so in the long run thats enough of a speed difference to justify paying more for a 6950.

Btw, If you are on a budget and can Crossfire a 4850, I would look into purchasing a second card and going that route instead. Even though its been several years since the 4850 was released, its still almost as fast as newer single slot cards when Crossfired so there is little reason not to do it.

A 4850 can be had for as little as $20-$50 on Ebay if you place your bids well.
 
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If you want to pay straight up without the hassle of rebates get a 6870, they can be found well under $200. If you don't mind spending a bit more say $220 then getting a $20 rebate to make it $200 then you can get a 6950 both cards would be a huge upgrade to your current 4850. I will say this I had a 6870 and play at 1920x1200 and I could play pretty much all my games like BC2, COD etc at max settings and it was butter smooth.
 
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I don't play too many games outside rpg games like the witcher and wow so I think the 6870 should do well for what I need. I appreciate the advice.
 
Dulanic said:
I don't play too many games outside rpg games like the witcher and wow so I think the 6870 should do well for what I need. I appreciate the advice.
Click to expand...

The 6870 seems like the best choice, to be honest. You wouldn't really tell the difference between it and a card like a 6950 1GB unless you were playing games like Metro 2033 constantly.
 
LOL_Wut_Axel said:
The 6870 seems like the best choice, to be honest. You wouldn't really tell the difference between it and a card like a 6950 1GB unless you were playing games like Metro 2033 constantly.
Click to expand...

Don't even know what that is lol. Good I feel old now I used to be on top of all these things.
 
If you play WOW, GTX560 Ti will be much faster in DX11 Cataclysm expansion. GTX560Ti also has another 20% of overclocking headroom, while HD6870 only has 5-10%.

You can get the PNY with lifetime warranty for $195. The HD6870 is a great card for $160 if you are trying to save some $.
 
RussianSensation said:
If you play WOW, GTX560 Ti will be much faster in DX11 Cataclysm expansion. GTX560Ti also has another 20% of overclocking headroom, while HD6870 only has 5-10%.

You can get the PNY with lifetime warranty for $195. The HD6870 is a great card for $160 if you are trying to save some $.
Click to expand...


The GTX 560 Ti has on average 20% of OCing headroom on the Core and 15% on the Memory , and the 6870 10% on the Core and 15% on the Memory, so the situation is not as bleak as you're saying.

As for basing the decision on whether to buy one card over the other, I don't think just throwing in one benchmark only is enough to make it much better overall.

It's somewhat faster overall, but you definitely have to pay $30-40 more for it.
 
RussianSensation said:
If you play WOW, GTX560 Ti will be much faster in DX11 Cataclysm expansion. GTX560Ti also has another 20% of overclocking headroom, while HD6870 only has 5-10%.

You can get the PNY with lifetime warranty for $195. The HD6870 is a great card for $160 if you are trying to save some $.
Click to expand...

That's just one game? The 6870 runs 65avg/40min (DX11). You'll never see a difference for the $35.00. Also, in Witcher, the game the OP mentions, GaiaHunter has a chart up that shows 1fps difference. That's within margin of error range. Again, never see a difference for the $35.00.

We're talking ~20% more for the 560ti. I really like the 560ti, it's just at $160.00 the 6870 is a better deal.

For those comparing release performance figures, 6870 performance has improved with the latest drivers. Here's a recent review on [H]. Both the 560ti and the 6870 are O/C'd models. Not outrageously though, (just want to show recent driver performance) with the 6870 running @ 940 (stock 900) and the 560ti @ 900. (stock 822). I'm sure most cards could reach those clocks, even at stock volts. Note that the 6950, in the review, was not O/C'd.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/07/11/gigabyte_gtx_560_ti_oc_video_card_review/1
 
RussianSensation said:
If you play WOW, GTX560 Ti will be much faster in DX11 Cataclysm expansion. GTX560Ti also has another 20% of overclocking headroom, while HD6870 only has 5-10%.

You can get the PNY with lifetime warranty for $195. The HD6870 is a great card for $160 if you are trying to save some $.
Click to expand...

I may actually take your advice as wow is the game I play most. I wasn't aware there were 560 tis for under 200.
 
Dulanic said:
I may actually take your advice as wow is the game I play most. I wasn't aware there were 560 tis for under 200.
Click to expand...

An overclocked GTX560 Ti ~ GTX570. A GTX570 ~ GTX480.

At 1920x1080 8AA in WOW, a GTX480 was 48% faster in Tom's Hardware testing against an HD6870. Obviously, in large raids, your CPU performance will also matter a lot. So this difference may be smaller. But for an extra $30, esp. since you play WOW the most, GTX560Ti is the better card imo.

SuperBiiz has an EVGA GTX560 Ti for $209.99 after $20 Mail in Rebate with Free Shipping. Take $15 off your order over $200 w/ code: CHAMPS, ends 7/25. That would take the card down to $195 as well. KR- series don't have lifetime warranty with EVGA though.
 
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