Best video card for Intel i3-2100 CPU and Diablo 3?

[Antoneo]

System Specifications:

I. Processor/CPU: Intel i3-2100 3.1GHz

II. Current Graphics Card:Sapphire AMD Radeon 4650... I think.

III. Display Resolution:1680x1050


IV. Power Supply Unit Specification (Brand, Wattage, Ampage, Age, link): Corsair 450 watt, +3.3V@20A, +5V@20A, +12V@33A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A, 1.5 years, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139003

V. Case Specifications(N/A, Model, Length, Low Profile, Cooling, HTPC, Water, Silent): NA, just some ten year old mid-tower case with decent airflow and a quiet 120mm Yate Loon fan.


Purchase Details:

I. Budget? $250 or less shipped to NYC. I am willing to go with reputable rebates. Would like to stick with newegg or other reputable vendor.


II. Any particular preferences (Manufacturer[nV or AMD], Brand[XFX, Sapphire, EVGA, etc], Cooling Solutions)? Nope. I do like larger, slower spinning fans though. Meaning, quieter if possible.


III. Do you plan to have any Multi-GPU solutions such as Crossfire or SLI? Nope.


IV. Have you previously looked at a product(s) which you feel would fit your needs? Nope.


V. What are your needs for this GPU? I'd like to play Diablo 3 and SC2 at smooth frame rates at 1680x1050 resolution. I currently play SC2 only, and that's at low settings. Basically, the online streams are often of better quality than when I play. I'd like to see modern eye candy, without overspending since my CPU could easily bottleneck things.


VI. Do you plan on overclocking the card you intend to purchase? Nope.


Additional Notes:
Thanks for helping! I haven't paid any attention to video cards for the past 5-8 years and hold no loyalty. Don't have time to overclock anything, and prefer something that is performant, without quirks, and is relatively quiet.

I don't "hear" my 4650 card over the usual case fan noise when I play SC2 and would like to keep it like that if possible. I won't be changing my existing 450 watt power supply, and I'm guessing energy efficient cards generally need less cooling, producing less noise. Current power draw is minimal with just cpu, ram, motherboard, SSD, and video card.

Also, who is generally better in the driver stability department? I am running Win 7 x64.

Can't wait for Diablo 3!

 

[Jaydip]

Grab a 7850 and hack Big D to death :biggrin:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161406

 

[BallaTheFeared]

You don't need to spend that much for D3, that said the 7850 and 560 Ti 448 are both pretty close performance wise, with the 560 Ti 448 or any other Nvidia card having an IQ advantage in a pretty graphically crappy game.

 

[tuffluck]

the 7850 is a no brainer IMO. the HIS is a good price, but for $20 i'd totally prefer one with significantly more OC'ing potential.

 

[Antoneo]

Does my 1680x1050 resolution, i3-2100 CPU, and 450 watt PSU change the recommendation? I saw a 500 watt minimum PSU requirement, though I'm not sure what that actually means in terms of rail amperage.

Also don't want to spend on performance I'll never see if my CPU is a bottleneck.

 

[Don Karnage]

Does my 1680x1050 resolution, i3-2100 CPU, and 450 watt PSU change the recommendation? I saw a 500 watt minimum PSU requirement, though I'm not sure what that actually means in terms of rail amperage.

Also don't want to spend on performance I'll never see if my CPU is a bottleneck.

CPU isn't a bottleneck and is actually quite good for gaming.

What about a 7770?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102968

 

[blastingcap]

SC2 favors NVIDIA though apparently AMD's GCN does better than the older VLIW4/5 designs in SC2.

A $250 7850, especially overclocked, is kind of overkill for your needs but you can find them for under $250. Maybe just $.01 under though. Haha.

If you want something for $200 or less, get a GTX 560 Ti and you'll be set for a while. A few models are selling for $200 after rebate on newegg right now.

If you want to save money and don't plan to upgrade your monitor for a long time, you can get a GTX 460 768MB card for less than $100 which will do fine. It's about as fast as a GTX 280. But I'd pay the $20 extra and get the 1GB version of the GTX 460 if you think you may upgrade your monitor to 1080p or 1920x1200 anytime in the next 3 years.

 

[Barfo]

You don't need to spend that much for D3, that said the 7850 and 560 Ti 448 are both pretty close performance wise, with the 560 Ti 448 or any other Nvidia card having an IQ advantage in a pretty graphically crappy game.

huh? what's the graphical advantage you speak off?

 

[Stuka87]

huh? what's the graphical advantage you speak off?

The only one is Ambient Occlusion. Which does make a difference in the game. But there is already a mod that makes the game look far better on both AMD and nVidia.

A 7850 would be great, but you could run it with far less than that in reality.

 

[BlockheadBrown]

The only one is Ambient Occlusion. Which does make a difference in the game. But there is already a mod that makes the game look far better on both AMD and nVidia.

A 7850 would be great, but you could run it with far less than that in reality.

What is the mod you speak of?!

 

[Stuka87]

What is the mod you speak of?!

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3967848172

 

[RavenSEAL]

7850 has a lot lower power consumption than the 560 448, the winner in this case is clear.

 

[skipsneeky2]

The 7850 does look to offer a very low power consumption when it comes to its performance,making it very appealing.

7870 is a bad value,the 560 ti 448 uses to much power for the performance it offers,the 7850 is the obvious choice unless you got deep pockets for the big boy toys.

If waiting is something you could do for a month or two,nvidia might have their gtx670/gtx660ti cards out soon,i know i am waiting for that ultimate power to performance ratio card but i got a feeling the 7850 might be hard to beat.

 

[Dark Shroud]

The 7850 is the best bang for your $ card on the market right now.

 

[BlockheadBrown]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3967848172

Thank you!

 

[Antoneo]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm now waiting for either the Asus or Sapphire 7950 to come into stock. Can't wait to see what games are supposed to look like!

 

[Concillian]

7850 is a pretty hefty amount of video card for Diablo III at 1680x1050.

My 5770 ran all ultra at 1920x1200 on the beta and I saw a slowdown or two. If it's "playable" at 1920x1200 4xaa, then it will be good enough for 1680x1050. A 6850 or 7770 is PLENTY card for Diablo III @ 1680x1050.

7850 is twice as much and will buy you pretty much nothing in terms of IQ or noticeable FPS improvement.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Since you have no plans to OC I'd go with a GTX 560Ti 448. At stock it's faster than the 7850. Of course if performance isn't the #1 driving factor and power consumption is, then the 7850 is the better choice - slower but using less power.

 

[blastingcap]

I think a 7850 is overkill. A gtx 460 1GB or a 6850 on sale after rebate for $120-130 is enough at your resolution.

 

[Denithor]

Hell, my HTPC with an i3-550 and a GT 240 ran D3 beta @ 1080p everything maxed with no slowdowns (note I'm on an SSD so that might have helped). Including the visual mod that sharpens up the graphics.

 

[lehtv]

7850 is overkill for 1680 and for diablo 3. I'd sway you towards a HD6850 which consumes the same amount of power and has a decent performance for about half the price

 

[Silverforce11]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3967848172

OMG, this is so freaken awesome it really makes the games washed out graphics look so crisp and to great artistic effect. Thanks for the heads-up, I hope bliz wont ban its use for retail.

AO just darkens shadows, this makes the entire scene awesome.

VS

 

[lehtv]

The sharpen effect is nice but still looks washed out

 

[Silverforce11]

Screenshot doesn't do it justice, esp jpg.