budget card for average gamer

[gogoman123]

hi all. iam getting an i3 2100 and want to get a good budget card to go with it. i will be gaming on a 19" 720p lcd screen with native resolution of 1366x768. i want to be able to play current and upcoming games (like the witcher 2, bf3, starcraft2, crysis2, ect).

i dont mind lowering the resolution (to 1024×768) or the graphics as long as i can play and it still looks good.

so what would u recommend? thanks

 

[MangoX]

First off, how much are you willing to spend? How long do you plan to keep the card?

 

[Fallengod]

You might check out some of the research I have done. I am kind of in the same category. I only play at 1024x768 max as well, sometimes even lower. Looking for something with about 9800GT speed or maybe a little lower. Trying to decide which card to buy in the $100 category.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2183912

Heres a decent comparison from someone else:

http://www.techspot.com/review/392-budget-gpu-comparison/

 

[toyota]

going to a lower res especially with a different aspect ratio will not look good. it would be better just to turn down a setting or two and stay at naive res. a 19 inch 16:9 monitor is a very tiny so you will have to have that almost right in front of your face too. I would go with something like a 6850, 6870, or gtx560 non Ti. for most games those would be overkill but you have a good cpu so why not get a gpu to let you max most game out easily?

 

[toyota]

You might check out some of the research I have done. I am kind of in the same category. I only play at 1024x768 max as well, sometimes even lower. Looking for something with about 9800GT speed or maybe a little lower. Trying to decide which card to buy in the $100 category.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2183912

1024x768 or lower? good grief that's a horrible experience after you have played games on modern monitor with a decent res. 4:3 aspect ratios are so claustrophobic and you are missing 1/3 of the games intended fov. trying to play something like Dead Space or even BC 2 on 4:3 literally makes me nauseated.

 

[Fallengod]

I am an oldschool former professional gamer. Done that stuff for over 12 years so.... FPS are what matter in FPS games. I still run a CRT with a refresh rate of 150hz too. Anyways, the highest I ever go in games(league of legends), is 1024x768 which I can do slightly over 120hz in. I prefer 4:3 actually. I have been considering one of those 120hz flat screen monitors but....

 

[mnewsham]

How can you prefer 4:3? I dont understand all you do is really cut off part of what you can see.

 

[Red Hawk]

You may prefer low resolutions at 4:3, but most recent games were designed for consoles and the 16:9 aspect ratio. If you play them at 4:3, a lot of the field of view gets chopped off, meaning you see less than you would at 16:9.

As for the OP: At such a low resolution you don't need a very powerful graphics card. I would suggest something like a Radeon HD 5770/6770 (same thing) or a Geforce GTS 450. Both can be found for around $100.

 

[Concillian]

HD5770 / 6770 is a pretty decent card for those resolutions.

I'm still running 1280x1024 and it runs stuff well enough.

As the other guy mentioned, if you're looking for cheaper, look used for a 4850 or 9800GT. They will use more electricity and are slower, but will be cheaper and are probably adequate.

 

[toyota]

You may prefer low resolutions at 4:3, but most recent games were designed for consoles and the 16:9 aspect ratio. If you play them at 4:3, a lot of the field of view gets chopped off, meaning you see less than you would at 16:9.

As for the OP: At such a low resolution you don't need a very powerful graphics card. I would suggest something like a Radeon HD 5770/6770 (same thing) or a Geforce GTS 450. Both can be found for around $100.

the OP wants to play the most graphically intense games out there too though so 50-60 bucks more for a gpu makes sense. he has the cpu to get the job done with a 6850 or 6870 at that res.

 

[toyota]

HD5770 / 6770 is a pretty decent card for those resolutions.

I'm still running 1280x1024 and it runs stuff well enough.

As the other guy mentioned, if you're looking for cheaper, look used for a 4850 or 9800GT. They will use more electricity and are slower, but will be cheaper and are probably adequate.

go play at 1920x1080 for a week and try to use 1280x1024 after using 16:9. 5:4 aspect ratio for gaming should be used as a form of torture.

 

[Fallengod]

If you look at my thread. The 5670 is fairly decent video card. It is currently about $70AR for one I am looking at.

What I have been considering in the budget area is either the 5670, 6770(this is about $100AR), or the GTS 450(this is about $100-$110AR). The 6770 outperforms all and is about on par with the speed of a GTX 550 TI which costs $130. The 5670 uses about 61 watts of power, the 6770 and gts 450 use about 108 watts If I remember correctly. Anything above the GTX 550 TI will require 2 PCIE power connectors.

 

[toyota]

a 5670 is too weak to go with for 1366x768 if you want to crank settings in all newer games. 5770/6770 is the very minimum to get the job done at that res for games like the Witcher 2, Metro 2033, and Crysis 2 in DX11. I still say its worth the extra money to go 6850 or maybe even 6870 if you can find a good deal.

 

[Red Hawk]

Corrections: The 550 Ti is significantly better than the 6770, and the 6850 is a bit better and it only requires one PCI-e power connector.

 

[Fallengod]

Corrections: The 550 Ti is significantly better than the 6770, and the 6850 is a bit better and it only requires one PCI-e power connector.

Better in what ways? FPS wise? Not really. I am a huge nvidia fan since that all ive used but...According to most sites, that is not true. I still am kind of considering the 550 Ti but, I wish it were slightly cheaper.

Here is one with the 5770 compared.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...0-nvidia-geforce-gtx-550-ti-1gb-review-6.html


Here is another with the 6770

http://www.techspot.com/review/392-budget-gpu-comparison/page3.html

 

[toyota]

Better in what ways? FPS wise? Not really. I am a huge nvidia fan since that all ive used but...According to most sites, that is not true. I still am kind of considering the 550 Ti but, I wish it were slightly cheaper.

Here is one with the 5770 compared.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...0-nvidia-geforce-gtx-550-ti-1gb-review-6.html


Here is another with the 6770

http://www.techspot.com/review/392-budget-gpu-comparison/page3.html

I had a 192sp gtx260 which is about even with a 5770/6770. I sure hope you have one heck of a cpu to push something like a 5770/6770 or gtx550 Ti at just 1024x768 or 800x600. even with my E8500 at 3.8 there were some games that were no faster below 1600x900 and in a couple cases even 1920x1080. so I cant even imagine the bottleneck at 1024x768 or lower.

 

[Fallengod]

Shouldnt need that great of a cpu. I have a 2.9ghz C2D. This is also one of the reasons why I am looking at budget area and only looking for speeds equal to my 9800GT that died. I realize going too fast on a video card is wasted since I dont go above 1024x768 or 1280x800/1440x900. So part of my consideration is which card performs best at lower resolutions as well. I have always been partial to nvidia for that.

 

[gogoman123]

omg did i drop a bomb lol. ok so from what i understood the following are good recommendations: 6770/6850/6870, gtx 260, gts 450, gtx560 non-ti and i should choosse based on budget. is this correct?

 

[toyota]

omg did i drop a bomb lol. ok so from what i understood the following are good recommendations: 6770/6850/6870, gtx 260, gts 450, gtx560 non-ti and i should choosse based on budget. is this correct?

forget about gtx260 as that is 3 year old card now. yes all of the other ones would be good choices depending on how much performance you want and how much you want to spend. you can also through the gtx550 ti in there too. you really need to look at what deals are out there because some cards will be much better bang/buck choices.

 

[gogoman123]

ok so on the nvidia side i found
gts 450 from £80 http://www.ebuyer.com/267584-gainwar...-4260183361503
and the 550 ti from £105 http://www.ebuyer.com/260568-zotac-g...46se-2sdn-d5dx
and the gtx 460 from £105 http://www.ebuyer.com/249221-inno3d-...46se-2sdn-d5dx

 

[gogoman123]

and on the ati side
5670 from £50 http://www.ebuyer.com/190138-sapphir...d-11168-02-20r
6770 from £86 http://www.ebuyer.com/271723-his-hd-...-card-h677f1gd
6790 from £105 http://www.ebuyer.com/263745-powerco...x6790-1gbd5-dh
out of those which is best for my needs/price

 

[Fallengod]

Youre gonna have to decide on that one yourself lol. Look at the urls with benchmarks posted above and compare with how much you want to spend. I think the 6770 is a really good bang 4 buck on ati side. 6790 is obviously good too, probably not quite as bang 4 buck as the 6770 but... The 5670 is good, but that card is a little more on the high budget side and may not have the performance you want. Id probably bet the 5670 or even slightly above that is plenty fast for lower resolutions but I am not sure.

For nvidia, personally, its going to be the GTS 450, GTX 550 TI or GTX 460. If you have a good power supply (2 pcie power cables), and dont care about power consumption, id say the GTX 460 is probably the best bang 4 buck. That card is a little too much for my needs and I just dont need its speed. However, it is like only $10 above or maybe same price as the GTX 550 TI.

 

[gogoman123]

hey toyota, i noticed u have a 8600gt (which is what i currently have) hows that holding with current games 4 u? i have bad cpu (pentium d 2.8ghz) though

 

[toyota]

hey toyota, i noticed u have a 8600gt (which is what i currently have) hows that holding with current games 4 u? i have bad cpu (pentium d 2.8ghz) though

oh its okay for most newer games at 1024 and few older ones at 1280 but that's about it. you really have to pick settings carefully as it does not take much to tank this card. btw I had a gtx260 for almost 3 years and the 8600gt just my old back up card until I get a gtx560 Ti or gtx570.

 

[frozentundra123456]

hey toyota, i noticed u have a 8600gt (which is what i currently have) hows that holding with current games 4 u? i have bad cpu (pentium d 2.8ghz) though

I have a 9800GT and an E4500 at stock and run at 1440x900. Especially with the console ports that require a lot of CPU power I think I am CPU limited most of the time. The only game that has been really poor on my system was Black Ops, which appaently requires a lot of CPU performance. Otherwise I can run most new games at decent settings, but I dont play that many really graphically intense games like Metro 2033, etc. Am hoping that I can run Skyrym at decent settings. That and Mass Effect 3 are the only new games that I am really excited about.

I would think that your CPU and GPU are fairly even in performance at lower resolutions, though of course neither is that powerful.