what's the best bang/buck for a budget of $150-200?

[3DVagabond]

What is a reasonable framerate for the games? I mean a framerate where you can nicely without any lag or freezeups.

If I have a monitor with 1080p resolution and I lower it to 1680x1050, will the picture quality get reaaally bad or would it still be reasonable?

Also when comparing the stock gtx460 to the hd6850, there's very little difference in terms of framerate, only 3-4frames. Some games, gtx460 is slightly better, and in others hd6850 by a few fps. So is 5 frames a big difference?

Also I had read that some cards like the 6000 series are better at tesselation. Is this included in the 4AA(anti-aliasing) test in the charts at anandtech GPU benchmark tests?

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/313?vs=291

Or is it safe to say that these cards are almost the same, and one should just get the cheaper card one can get?

Yes, virtually no difference between the 2. Just watch what you are buying if you go with the 460. There are the 460se cards that are slower, further crippled chips, and there's also the 460 768MB with less RAM. People throw pricing around on these cards like they are talking about one card. "You can get a 460 for $100 and it's $150 for the 6850", type of talk. The cheapest 460's aren't comparable with the 6850.

 

[dpk33]

Yes, virtually no difference between the 2. Just watch what you are buying if you go with the 460. There are the 460se cards that are slower, further crippled chips, and there's also the 460 768MB with less RAM. People throw pricing around on these cards like they are talking about one card. "You can get a 460 for $100 and it's $150 for the 6850", type of talk. The cheapest 460's aren't comparable with the 6850.

so i've already decided that i'm going with either the 6850 or gtx 460. which exact model of the gtx460 is the best (under $200) and how does it compare to the 6850?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

so i've already decided that i'm going with either the 6850 or gtx 460. which exact model of the gtx460 is the best (under $200) and how does it compare to the 6850?

$130 for an evga is a good deal.

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

 

[m3t4lh34d]

I'd go for an open box 6950 2GB ASUS model or something similar.. they're going for 213 shipped

They can easily be flashed to a 6970, and you're talking about an entirely different ball game of performance there, plus the possibility of Crossfire flashed 6970s in the future (my setup)

I switched from a 580 to these flashed 6950s in crossfire and I've never looked back

 

[3DVagabond]

so i've already decided that i'm going with either the 6850 or gtx 460. which exact model of the gtx460 is the best (under $200) and how does it compare to the 6850?

Well, "the best" will get you up to the price of a 6870. You would need to decide if it's worth paying that for a better built product. IMO the best is this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-518-_-Product. Excellent cooler and beefier power stage. The power stage on many designs is a bit lacking if you want to O/C. Most reviews don't report VRM temps, just GPU temps. A lot of manufacturers therefore don't concern themselves too much with it. I've seen reviews where the VRM on some 460's get real hot. Some to the point of failure when O/C'd to the magical 850MHz levels people like to brag on.

If I was looking at the best bang for the buck I'd just get this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130570 Cheap and from a reputable manufacturer who's known for good customer service. Only 2 year warranty on this model though, instead of their better known lifetime warranty. I wouldn't O/C it as hard as the Hawk though. I'm sure there will be others here who claim the reference 460 does 850 "easily" though

Similar situation price wise with the 6850. Bang for the buck? This one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150516 Cheap, relatively speaking, and it does come with XFX's lifetime warranty.

Cost no object (within reason) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127576

Or if you prefer http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102912 The Toxic has an excellent cooler that dumps it's heat out of the case. Might be important to some.

The reference design for the 6850 called for a 4 stage VRM. Many manufacturers must have deemed that overkill and most 6850 only have 3 stage designs, like the reference 460 does. While the 6850 is a bit more efficient I still wouldn't push those designs too hard. The XFX is a 3 stage design, but still good value, IMO. The MSI is 6 stage and the Sapphire Toxic sticks to the 4 stage of the original AMD design.

Sorry for not being able to just say, "buy this one". I know what I would get, but YMMV and all I can do is give you what I consider to be important when choosing.