GPU Upgrade for BF3 - Need Advice!

[7earitup]

I am confused here. the Galaxy gtx570 after rebate is $260 and the Evga is $330. how is that not 70 bucks difference? even before rebate its 20 bucks cheaper. and if you have had to rma multiple cards then that does not say much for Evga or maybe even Nvidia.

also it says 3 year warranty right on the Galaxy gtx570 listing.

I apologize, I did not see the mail-in-rebate.

Have you had any experience with Galaxy? 3 years seems a bit limited.

 

[toyota]

I apologize, I did not see the mail-in-rebate.

Have you had any experience with Galaxy? 3 years seems a bit limited.

this is my first Galaxy card but the have been making cards for other companies for a long long time. they also go under the KFA2 brand overseas. I know they have representative over on hardforum.com and Kyle and the hardocp gang seem to really like dealing with them.

I called to asked them a specific question and they actually answered the phone immediately which is rare nowadays. I hate dealing with companies that do not have a good contact phone number. now 3 years is not as good as a lifetime warranty but I do not see myself keeping a card that long anyway.

 

[badb0y]

Price vs performance the 560 ti is by far the best buy. Considering the fact that it also is nearly identical in performance of the 6950 when averaged out. There are times that the 6950 is on top, but just as many where its the reverse. In reality the difference isnt worth a debate.

So if performance is this close then all you have is price. Most ppl would tell you get the card that has the best price/performance ratio. This is where AMD is supposed to be superior. This is not the case these days, its not a given, not any more. The 560ti has the better ratio. This should be the end of it.........but

I will go further and say that i doubt the 2gb 560 will give you any real advantage here. Not anything that cant be overcome by just a few mhz OC bump wont overcome. I have not seen the results on BF3 but I every case i have seen proved that the 2gb 560 is just a marketing advantage. Nvidia balances their cards in a complete system. Its not like you can add memory to them and it make a big difference. I am not saying there will be no difference, just that its not anything a tiny bump OC cant overcome. We are talking a tid tiny bit here.

Truth: a plane 560ti will give you nearly just as much and save you a whole lot. one like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125401

for $219. The price vs performance is extreme and it will overclock to match cards costing much much more.

If anyone has any proof showing the 2gb 560 outclassing the 1gb then it would be great to see this. Especially in bf3. I would love to see this happen, but so far i have only seen worthless gains, not worth the money!!!!

He is specifically buying this card for BF3 and at his resolution with the settings cranked up the 1 GB Vram is not enough. I am constantly pegged at 1.1 GB to 1.3 GB of VRAM in BF3. If he holds onto the card for a few years the 1 GB VRAM may not cut it in the next few years.

Also if you want to bring overclocking into the equation, the HD 6950s can OC to 950+ core with ease and most of them will unlock into 1536 shaders so they meet or exceed stock GTX 570/AMD 6970s.

I am not trying to say that the GTX 560 Ti is not a good card, I think it's fantastic value for the money but the 6950s hold their own against the competition.

 

[exia989]

If you do go with a 6950, make sure its the 2gb model

 

[houe]

the HD 6950s can OC to 950+ core with ease and most of them will unlock into 1536 shaders so they meet or exceed stock GTX 570/AMD 6970s.

Not necessarily disagreeing with everything you said, but most 6950 do not unlock - those days are gone. I think most 6950s can reach approximate 6970 performance however.

 

[tviceman]

OP, if your mind has not been made up, for what it's worth I have a gtx560ti running at 100mhz on the core, and 2300mhz on ram (4600mhz effective) which essentially makes it as fast as a gtx570....

but I agree with toyota, the galaxy gtx570 for $260 after rebate is far and away the best buy mentioned in this thread.

 

[7earitup]

OP, if your mind has not been made up, for what it's worth I have a gtx560ti running at 100mhz on the core, and 2300mhz on ram (4600mhz effective) which essentially makes it as fast as a gtx570....

but I agree with toyota, the galaxy gtx570 for $260 after rebate is far and away the best buy mentioned in this thread.

Yeah, it was. Too bad I do not have the funds to buy one yet. The one that Toyota linked has since been sold out, and the restock shows a price increase, although it is still a decent buy IMO.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814162075

 

[Bill Brasky]

Yeah, it was. Too bad I do not have the funds to buy one yet. The one that Toyota linked has since been sold out, and the restock shows a price increase, although it is still a decent buy IMO.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814162075

I still see a galaxy 570 @ $260 after MIR, and it's in stock right now. Clearly the best deal!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162070

 

[7earitup]

I still see a galaxy 570 @ $260 after MIR, and it's in stock right now. Clearly the best deal!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162070

Thanks for the link. I have no clue what is going on on the NewEgg website.

 

[7earitup]

I am still waiting on my funds so I haven't pulled the trigger on a new video card yet.

I was curious though - does anyone know when the next series of AMD and NVIDIA GPUs are set to release?

 

[3DVagabond]

Next year for nVidia. As usual, AMD is keeping us in suspense.

AMD has said they'll be releasing their next gen this year. Some rumors state that they are delayed til next year. AMD has not confirmed this. They also aren't telling us what they are planning to release this year. I've heard, mid range, high end, pro, and portable all mentioned as either being the first release or delayed. LOL

 

[7earitup]

So then I am not completely stupid for blowing ~$300 on a card so I can play BF3 then? Lol

 

[tviceman]

So then I am not completely stupid for blowing ~$300 on a card so I can play BF3 then? Lol

No the card your getting is great.

 

[happy medium]

The gtx570 for 260$ ARR is currently the best card for the price for BF3..

 

[3DVagabond]

According to [H]'s preview the 6950 is faster than that w/Ultra,4xAA? Live benchmarking seems to make it impossible to do direct comparisons. I'd feel better with the extra VRAM of the 6950 myself.

 

[Silverforce11]

[H] is correct from my own experience and other gamers posting their own results, the game does not perform as badly as GameGPU or pcper's review.

It's laughable they somehow got such terrible FPS results using HIGH and no AA.

 

[7earitup]

I currently have my sights set on the following:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150549

Lifetime warranty, dual fan cooling, 2GB of memory. Comes with a decent rebate and I can sell the Dirt 3 coupon (I already own it), to make the investment more worth it.

All that, plus the motherboard I have now supports Crossfire, so I could buy another in a month or so or move on to the new series when it comes out. I will probably build another computer when the next series of AMD stuff comes out.

 

[7earitup]

Okay - so I am pretty set on the XFX HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150549

I was talking to someone in a game I play though and he stated that the card needs 25A on each rail. From what I can gather, my PSU only has 20A per rail.

Here is the chart for my PSU:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/resources/drivers/GameXstream_850W_chart.jpg

Will I have any problems running this card?

 

[s44]

Okay - so I am pretty set on the XFX HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150549

I was talking to someone in a game I play though and he stated that the card needs 25A on each rail. From what I can gather, my PSU only has 20A per rail.

I'm not sure how to put this politely, but... He's an idiot.

25A * 2 = 50A * 12V = 620W. Your system isn't going to even come close to pulling that from the wall. In fact, you might have difficulty pulling that many watts even with two overclocked ones in Crossfire.

 

[7earitup]

I'm not sure how to put this politely, but... He's an idiot.

25A * 2 = 50A * 12V = 620W. Your system isn't going to even come close to pulling that from the wall. In fact, you might have difficulty pulling that many watts even with two overclocked ones in Crossfire.

Well, he was just some random guy talking about AMD cards.

So what you are saying is that I should be fine?

 

[Jacky60]

The 6950 is faster, AMD drivers are better than Nvidia's these days in my experience and the 2gb of faster ram will mean you won't be ram limited in todays games especially BF3. When there's smoke and loads of players about you need that extra memory! People have reported running out of memory in BF3 with Nvidia cards with 1/1.5gb ram.

 

[JTsyo]

I would wait, but the GTX 260 is just not cutting it.

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. I still have some time to look at all of the choices. There is still just too many options! lol

hmm I have a i7 920 and a GTX260 216 and was doing ok in medium settings in the beta without the beta drivers. Though I have a 22" screen. What resolution are you using for your 24"? the 600 series should be a good step up, worth the wait in my opinion.

 

[toyota]

hmm I have a i7 920 and a GTX260 216 and was doing ok in medium settings in the beta without the beta drivers. Though I have a 22" screen. What resolution are you using for your 24"? the 600 series should be a good step up, worth the wait in my opinion.

all 24 inch monitors are either 1920x1080 or 1920x1200. and all you mentioned was 22 inch so what resolution are you at?

 

[7earitup]

hmm I have a i7 920 and a GTX260 216 and was doing ok in medium settings in the beta without the beta drivers. Though I have a 22" screen. What resolution are you using for your 24"? the 600 series should be a good step up, worth the wait in my opinion.

With BF3 coming out in less than a week now, there is no time to wait for the 600 series

My 24" is 1920x1200 by the way.

 

[JTsyo]

all 24 inch monitors are either 1920x1080 or 1920x1200. and all you mentioned was 22 inch so what resolution are you at?

hmm you know I didn't check the resolution while playing the beta. Native for the 22 is 1920x1080.