Giving a friend a recommendation for a GPU...help.

[RyanGreener]

Hi everyone. My friend has a Phenom II X2 running at stock speeds. He's wonder what GPU would be able to be sufficient enough so that it won't be too slow, but the CPU won't bottleneck his GPU. He plays a VARIETY of games so while I know it depends on the game, is it possible to make a vague recommendation? He plays random games that are super CPU intensive (SC2) to games that are GPU intensive (Crysis, blah blah). Power is not a problem because he has an overkill PSU for his current setup (Seasonic 650W)

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

GTX 560 Ti

 

[Avalon]

Assuming he's running at a res of 1680x1050 or 1920x1080/1200, I'd say a Radeon HD6850/6870 or Geforce GTX 560 non Ti.

 

[Xonim]

I second the vote for a 6870. I actually just picked up an XFX6870 last week for $170 after MIR (with free Shogun 2 & DiRT 3) and have been very happy with its performance so far. You can find other brands for $15-20 cheaper if you have no brand preference.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

6870/50 gets my vote.

Also, Phenom II X4s are pretty cheap. He should consider upgrading; newegg has the 925 for $80 and the 955 for $110. He can grab a GTX 460 and a Phenom 925 for the same end price as a 560 Ti.

 

[rockyjohn]

What processor does he have, what is his budget, what resolution is his monitor, and what game settings does he want to be able to run? Need to know all four to make a good recommendation.

In the meantime, you might also look at the THG article that lists their recommended video cards are different budget levels, it also gives a very brief blurb about what you can expect from each one they recommend. This might help you better define the budget level as well.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2964.html

For some good information about how to upgrade a video card you might also look at:

[removed]

If you budget is in the $150 to $250 range, you might look at this GTX 560 review that includes comparative stats with most of the other cards mentioned above. Make sure you read the final thoughts on the last page which summarize the author's recommendation and the performance of the cards:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2180563

Note that mainstream cards gaming are generally considered to be in the $100 to $200 range and you can find cards for less than $150 that do a credible job of running games as long as you don't turn the settings way up. Which is why we need to know the budget and other information.

A real bargain right now is the GTX 460 1 GB card which is being phased out and can now be bought for only $140 AR - and with Photsop 9 Elements thrown in:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130570

Note that its stats are reported in the review linked higher up and the price listed there from May was $160. Not too long ago it cost almost $200.