What video card did you buy and why?

[JRW]

Bought a EVGA GTX 480 during the week of its initial launch, I wanted something that could push 1080p gaming with higher graphic settings. (My previous GTX 260 had a bit of a struggle).

No regrets and the card has been rock stable.

 

[Arkadrel]

What video card did you buy?
a Sapphire 5870


What was your primary factor in your purchase? (money, resolution, multi-monitor, wife has you on a budget, etc.)
Directx11 (new features at its time compaired to my old card).
It was a great deal faster than my last card (a 9600GT).


Are you happy with your purchase?
Yes, omg yes... the 5870 is a amasing card even today, maybe esp today because of how many times the fabs amd/nvidia use have been delayed, so theyve been stuck at 40nm.

Also resently with drivers giveing the older 5xxx cards, MLAA... Im pretty happy.
I play Starcraft2 and mlaa works nicely for that.

If you had it to do over what would you buy instead and/or what do you plan on buying next?

I wouldnt change a thing, it was a great buy at its time. When nvidia got directx 11 cards out, they where pretty power hungry(compaired to fps they gave), ran hot, stuff they now have fixed with the 5xx series.

I wont get a 6xxx AMD card, or a 5xx nvidia.... Im waiting for new node, not 40nm tech. Also I want to see games where I have a reason to upg, before that happends I probably wont upgrade.

I will say the 5870 has grown on me, my next card will be a AMD card too, unless nvidia give better performance/cost by a large margin, or have some other feature I like more than what the amd cards have.

 

[Dribble]

GTX 570.

Had a GTX 260, wanted a decent upgrade to make better use of my 120hz monitor.

Pretty happy, most console ports I can ramp the settings right up and still get > 60 fps which makes a big difference to me in first person shooters. That said it's still not that quick, particularly if you want to play in 3D ... can never have enough power

 

[Golgatha]

Purchased an eVGA GTX 570 SSC. It was only $20 more than the stock version, with enough of an overclock to put it within 5% of a much more expensive stock GTX 580. It was also around 15-20% faster than my previous GTX 480. I chose to sell the GTX 480 because I did not like it due to not being able to run Folding@Home on it year round (too much heat and noise for me, but not out of spec mind you), and the 570 SSC uses less electricity and I can run Folding@Home year round without worry now due to decreased heat output.

I previously switched from Crossfired HD 5850s due to ATI's shit drivers. Half of the games I was regularly playing at the time had some issue or another with Crossfire, and Borderlands didn't work at all with it. I was willing to take a 20% or better performance hit to go back to a single GPU. After messing around with both Crossfire and SLI, I would say SLI has been more stable, but neither is as problem free as a single GPU. The reason I'm currently comfortable with a single GPU is because games quite frankly have stagnated in their system requirements and I'm able to play all my games with excellent min/max FPS on a single 570 SSC.

All that said, I will probably upgrade to the next generation fastest single GPU card (or next to fastest if another 570 SSC equivalent comes to market) for the aforementioned reasons, and also just because I have the means to easily afford to do so.

Currently I am very happy with my purchase and use it constantly with no issues.

 

[Castiel]

Forgive me for inquiring more but I still don't see why you would want the 6970 over a GTX 580? The GTX 580 bests the former in performance all the time. Don't get me wrong the 6970 is a fantastic card too.

For me it was the 6950 simply because when it launched at 300$ MSRP I grabbed mine for 260$ unlocked it overclocked and well you know the rest.

Overpriced for what you get? :biggrin:

 

[sticks435]

I jumped on the MSI 570 OC deal from last week. Needed a new card for 1920x1200 and the 560 just wasn't enough for how I like to play. I play mostly single player, so I want eye candy. Wanted Evga, as my 8800GTS and 260 were both from them, but figured it was going to be awhile before those dipped under $300.

 

[ZipSpeed]

I got a 580 for gaming because I wanted the best! But I also do a lot of distributed computing so every video card (and CPU) in my sig also number crunches too when not gaming.

 

[SirPauly]

MSI GTX 470 Twin Frozr 2 based on I felt that the thermals and acoustics were a con with the orginal Fermi default cooling.

Purchased this product to have PhysX, 3d Vision, strong tessellation and DirectX 11, and transparency in DirectX 10 and 11. Quality and flexibility are very important to me and gauge my hardware on gaming experience potential. Grow tired of just resolution and 2d gaming and really liked the potential back with stereo 3d and my older CRT's, with Internet 3d stereo, programs like Google Earth and prospective of watching 3d stereo movies on my display for upside and things to look forward to.

Very pleased with the product and a lot cooler and quieter than anticipated, with very strong oc over-head potential. Sold on MSI now and how they try to differentiate from others.

IT was the best move for me based on my needs and how I define value. The key is subjective tastes are just that and why flexibility and choice are paramount to me. We're different and as long as there is product that fits someone's needs -- great.

Next product will be the next architectural generation or new arch - and leaning heavily toward nVidia based on their pro-active and aggressive nature.

 

[Bartman39]

XFX6950HD unlocked/OC`d...

Cause its WTF I wanted...:biggrin:

 

[badb0y]

Overpriced for what you get? :biggrin:

Don't you get what you pay for? :O .