Gaming at 1680 x 1050

[Ricochet]

I have a friend who wants a recommendation of what to go for in terms of gaming at 1680 x 1050. He's cheap and is not upgrading his monitor anytime soon. Already got a Core i5-3570k for a good deal.

He can get a 6950 2gb used card for around $50-$60. I'm wondering if I should tell him to spend a bit more to get a R9 270x.

The games he play or interested in running: WoW, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, FF14, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider, and Skyrim.

 

[KaRLiToS]

Like you said, I would also recommend a R9 270x or a GTX 760. But the R9 270x is cheaper in most cases and is also on par with the GTX 760 or even better.

 

[Ricochet]

A used 270x can be found for less than $140 but I'm not sure if he even wants to spend that much.

 

[SPBHM]

from your description the 6950 makes sense...
it should be fine for all these games, maybe not tomb raider with tressfx.

 

[mindbomb]

A used 270x can be found for less than $140 but I'm not sure if he even wants to spend that much.

I've seen used 7950's go for ~$120 at auction today. Good models too, like vapor x and twin frozr. What the heck happened to mining that people are desperate to get rid of their cards?

At any rate, tell your friend to stick to GCN cards, for driver support reasons. Performance on newer games is appauling on the pre-GCN AMD cards.

 

[blastingcap]

If he's too cheap to upgrade the monitor, he might as well keep playing with the 6950 2GB. Maybe unlock it to 6970 if possible. None of the games he plays is that demanding.

 

[lehtv]

I'd buy a new card rather than used. From highest to lowest performance:

PowerColor R9 270 $130 AR
XFX R7 265 $120 AR
EVGA 750 Ti $120 AR
Powercolor R7 260X $70 AR (el cheapo edition but probably works fine)

Take your pick. 6950 is a bit slower than the 265. Warranties: Powercolor 2 years, XFX lifetime, EVGA 3 years.

 

[Ricochet]

Thanks, for all the input, guys.

 

[HeXen]

A good monitor is half the battle.

 

[Headfoot]

Go for the used 7950 or 280

 

[Attic]

Used 7850 should come in $60-$85.

I'd recommend that and OC it.

 

[Majcric]

Go for the highest performing card you can get him to buy. I ran a 680 at that rez for a long time and never did I feel like it was too much.