Video Card selection (7870)

[Vyunger]

Hi,

I am in the process of building my first gaming machine, I am completely new to computer building so excuse my ignorance if the questions are silly.

A little back ground, I am building a computer to be able to do photoshop work, minor video editing and playing games such as CIV 5 and World of Warcraft. I have decided that I am going to go with a i5 3570K chip with a Asus P8Z77-v LE ATX motherboard. Based on my research the best bang for the buck in the video card space is the Radeon HD 7870 but I am stuck on determining which brand to go with. I hear good things about the Gigabyte card with the 3 fans but not sure if I should aim to get an Asus card for better compatibility with the motherboard. Another question is what should I look for in a video card? I have been looking at memory, core clock and the chip, is there anything else I should be paying attention to?

Any feedback on these question and any other advice on selecting a video card would be greatly appreciated. My budget for a video card is under 260 and my budget for the computer not including a monitor is 900.

Thanks!

 

[bononos]

Check out the sticky in the general hw subforum for $1k build recommendations which should be very useful for you.

There is a boost version of the 7870- not sure whether it is within your budget.

Generally cards are based on reference models or have custom pcb and heatsinks. If you are looking at a review for a reference model, check to see that it is based on a real off the shelf retail sample instead of a preproduction unit.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I'd advise posting in general hardware

 

[Vyunger]

Thank you, I will post in general HW