Time To Update

-PSU (Corsair AX850)
-Motherboard (Asus Striker 2 Formula)
-Budget ($300-$400) Bag for buck I guess
-Location (United States)

-It would mainly be used for graphic design/gaming/misc, as of right now I am torn between gaming with my 360 or pc (once it is operational).

I currently have a EVGA 9800 GX2, it has served me well through our time together but I am currently giving my computer an overhaul (Some forum trolls such as myself might have seen my other threads). I should have done this about a year ago since I've owned it for a little over two years but whats done is done.

A lot has come out since I bought the 9800 GX2, which at the time was the best avaliable. I have done a fair amount of research and know about the current 400 series cards etc...

I was looking for one in the 300$ to 400$ range that would do well in an SLI set-up, if I chose to do that in the future. I saw something somewhere about the a 520 coming out soon but I don't know if I should wait for that, or if it is even true/in the near future. After looking at NewEgg, I've kind of decided the 480 was a bit steep in price for the time being, especially if I were to do an SLI set-up.

I do not know if I would do an SLI set-up but I now have that option with my new case. I have a thing for matching components so I was looking at Asus cards even though I have an EVGA card atm.

Help as always is appreciated.

-Lollies

Sold the 9800 GX2 for 100$, so I now have no Graphics Card. Anyone have any suggestions?

At that price range is pretty simple:

Single GPU solution:

• Radeon HD 5870

At ~$380, this is probably the best you can do performance wise with a single GPU (at your price range). It should destroy ANY game out there with ease @ any resolution. Temperature and Power consumption is not really an issue with HD 5000 series cards, AMD really did a good job on that. What's really an issue with these high end HD 5000 cards is length, so a good roomy case is important.

• GeForce GTX 470

At ~$300, the GTX 470 is significantly cheaper than any HD 5870 out there right now, but as a result, is not as fast. Now, this card REALLY REALLY shines under EXTREME AA/Tessellation situations. Keeping up with the HD 5870 in those scenarios and in some cases surpassing it (good if you are planning to play games such as Metro 2033 or Alien vs Predator). Now, all that performance in extreme situations comes with a price: Insane high temperatures (reaching ~100 degrees Celsius under load) and power consumption numbers (215W for the card alone under full GPU load). So case ventilation and a poweful PSU are very important if you're planning to go with a GF100 card.

Multi GPU solution:

• GeForce GTX 460 768MB 192-bit (x2)

At ~$340, this one is pretty much a no-brainer if you're planning to go with a multi-gpu solution. First of all, the GF104 chip can flat out fly, it compares very favorably to NVIDIA's high end GTX 200 series cards (GTX 275/280), so you can imagine the kind of performance you're gonna get with two of these in SLI (let me spoil the fun for you, 2 GTX 460 in SLI = GTX 480), second of all, it doesn't nearly generate as much heat as his big brother (GF100). I have a GTX 460 1GB OC Edition myself, and it idles around ~35 Celsius reaching ~65 Celsius under full load (although good case ventilation is always important under multi gpu setups). Power consumption, this setup requires more power than a single GTX 480, so a powerful/beefy PSU is a must (750W at least). Now the MAIN problem with multi gpu solutions is the following: Game compatibility. Some games really struggle to utilize both GPU's (this goes for AMD and NVIDIA) resulting in really underwhelming performance, not to mention the fairly common micro-stuttering issue. The good news is, SLI compatibility/performance is always a priority in driver releases, so it should only get better with time.

SlackerITGuy said:

At that price range is pretty simple:

Single GPU solution:

• Radeon HD 5870

At ~$380, this is probably the best you can do performance wise with a single GPU (at your price range). It should destroy ANY game out there with ease @ any resolution. Temperature and Power consumption is not really an issue with HD 5000 series cards, AMD really did a good job on that. What's really an issue with these high end HD 5000 cards is length, so a good roomy case is important.

• GeForce GTX 470

At ~$300, the GTX 470 is significantly cheaper than any HD 5870 out there right now, but as a result, is not as fast. Now, this card REALLY REALLY shines under EXTREME AA/Tessellation situations. Keeping up with the HD 5870 in those scenarios and in some cases surpassing it (good if you are planning to play games such as Metro 2033 or Alien vs Predator). Now, all that performance in extreme situations comes with a price: Insane high temperatures (reaching ~100 degrees Celsius under load) and power consumption numbers (215W for the card alone under full GPU load). So case ventilation and a poweful PSU are very important if you're planning to go with a GF100 card.

Multi GPU solution:

• GeForce GTX 460 768MB 192-bit (x2)

At ~$340, this one is pretty much a no-brainer if you're planning to go with a multi-gpu solution. First of all, the GF104 chip can flat out fly, it compares very favorably to NVIDIA's high end GTX 200 series cards (GTX 275/280), so you can imagine the kind of performance you're gonna get with two of these in SLI (let me spoil the fun for you, 2 GTX 460 in SLI = GTX 480), second of all, it doesn't nearly generate as much heat as his big brother (GF100). I have a GTX 460 1GB OC Edition myself, and it idles around ~35 Celsius reaching ~65 Celsius under full load (although good case ventilation is always important under multi gpu setups). Power consumption, this setup requires more power than a single GTX 480, so a powerful/beefy PSU is a must (750W at least). Now the MAIN problem with multi gpu solutions is the following: Game compatibility. Some games really struggle to utilize both GPU's (this goes for AMD and NVIDIA) resulting in really underwhelming performance, not to mention the fairly common micro-stuttering issue. The good news is, SLI compatibility/performance is always a priority in driver releases, so it should only get better with time.

Thanks for the very lengthy and informative post Slack, cant even count the number of times you've helped me out. I have nothing against Radeon, I just know little to nothing about it. The only thing by Radeon I have own was when I got my first computer (Dell 8300) upgraded at pc club to a Radeon card, don't remember what type. That was a long time ago though.

I don't necessarily need a SLI set-up, it just seemed like something I could invest in over time as my interest and knowledge grew. I was content with my 9800 gx2 for a long time so using a single card would be sufficient. I changed my PSU from a Thermaltake 1000W tough power to a Corsair AX850W so its not much of a change so I'm sure it could probably support a SLI set-up.

I will be doing some gaming I am sure but design is my main preference. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm just going to be using my Xbox for videos and move back to pc gaming or try to juggle both. It was easy when most games were not on all platforms but now that they are it seems a but ridiculous to buy games for both a console and comp.

With that said, would that narrow it down any?

As far as gaming is concerned it seems that more and more games are coming out first for consoles, so as you have a 360 i would use that,(don't own a console myself though)
As for the PC as nice as a high end card is for editing work and drawing i would opt for a sli or crossfire set up using either 2x460(2x450 would be ok and very cheap) or 2x5850/5830 as that would give all the power you need and should keep you under budget, also if you absolutely must game you still could quite happily,

Raz

Lollies said:

SlackerITGuy said:

At that price range is pretty simple:

Single GPU solution:

• Radeon HD 5870

At ~$380, this is probably the best you can do performance wise with a single GPU (at your price range). It should destroy ANY game out there with ease @ any resolution. Temperature and Power consumption is not really an issue with HD 5000 series cards, AMD really did a good job on that. What's really an issue with these high end HD 5000 cards is length, so a good roomy case is important.

• GeForce GTX 470

At ~$300, the GTX 470 is significantly cheaper than any HD 5870 out there right now, but as a result, is not as fast. Now, this card REALLY REALLY shines under EXTREME AA/Tessellation situations. Keeping up with the HD 5870 in those scenarios and in some cases surpassing it (good if you are planning to play games such as Metro 2033 or Alien vs Predator). Now, all that performance in extreme situations comes with a price: Insane high temperatures (reaching ~100 degrees Celsius under load) and power consumption numbers (215W for the card alone under full GPU load). So case ventilation and a poweful PSU are very important if you're planning to go with a GF100 card.

Multi GPU solution:

• GeForce GTX 460 768MB 192-bit (x2)

At ~$340, this one is pretty much a no-brainer if you're planning to go with a multi-gpu solution. First of all, the GF104 chip can flat out fly, it compares very favorably to NVIDIA's high end GTX 200 series cards (GTX 275/280), so you can imagine the kind of performance you're gonna get with two of these in SLI (let me spoil the fun for you, 2 GTX 460 in SLI = GTX 480), second of all, it doesn't nearly generate as much heat as his big brother (GF100). I have a GTX 460 1GB OC Edition myself, and it idles around ~35 Celsius reaching ~65 Celsius under full load (although good case ventilation is always important under multi gpu setups). Power consumption, this setup requires more power than a single GTX 480, so a powerful/beefy PSU is a must (750W at least). Now the MAIN problem with multi gpu solutions is the following: Game compatibility. Some games really struggle to utilize both GPU's (this goes for AMD and NVIDIA) resulting in really underwhelming performance, not to mention the fairly common micro-stuttering issue. The good news is, SLI compatibility/performance is always a priority in driver releases, so it should only get better with time.

Thanks for the very lengthy and informative post Slack, cant even count the number of times you've helped me out. I have nothing against Radeon, I just know little to nothing about it. The only thing by Radeon I have own was when I got my first computer (Dell 8300) upgraded at pc club to a Radeon card, don't remember what type. That was a long time ago though.

I don't necessarily need a SLI set-up, it just seemed like something I could invest in over time as my interest and knowledge grew. I was content with my 9800 gx2 for a long time so using a single card would be sufficient. I changed my PSU from a Thermaltake 1000W tough power to a Corsair AX850W so its not much of a change so I'm sure it could probably support a SLI set-up.

I will be doing some gaming I am sure but design is my main preference. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm just going to be using my Xbox for videos and move back to pc gaming or try to juggle both. It was easy when most games were not on all platforms but now that they are it seems a but ridiculous to buy games for both a console and comp.

With that said, would that narrow it down any?

No problem Lollies.

Hmm, If what you're going to be doing is splitting your time between gaming and designing, then I'd recommend a single GPU setup. Since, and correct me if I'm wrong here, most of the time you are going to be designing, with X software, your video card is going to be idle, and a SLI setup is going to be drawing much more power than a single GPU setup @ idle.

I'd go for the Radeon HD 5870.

It's faster than the GTX 470 (in most cases) and consumes less power than any of the GF100 chips @ both idle and load.

It's just a top notch card, there's no way around it.

thefabe said:

I posted this thread just for people like yourself, in hopes it would help them in chosing the card that is best suited for what they intended to use it for. Hope it can help you decide. Best Graphics Cards For The Money:October 2010 Fabe

After reading that numerous times it made me me want to either go with a GTX 460 SLI set-up or a Radeon HD 5850, or possibly a GTX 480. I think all of those except maybe the Readeon 5850 is above what I wanted to spend but I'm hoping it'll be worth it in the long run. I guess i just need to narrow it down from here.

I did find an SLI set-up of GTX 460's very appealing.

razy60 said:

As far as gaming is concerned it seems that more and more games are coming out first for consoles, so as you have a 360 i would use that,(don't own a console myself though)
As for the PC as nice as a high end card is for editing work and drawing i would opt for a sli or crossfire set up using either 2x460(2x450 would be ok and very cheap) or 2x5850/5830 as that would give all the power you need and should keep you under budget, also if you absolutely must game you still could quite happily,

Raz

I just find gaming on consoles irritating anymore, there is no maturity 99% of the time and I figure kids have a harder time getting hold of a computer than they do a 200$ Xbox 360. Maybe my logic is wrong but I never got as irritated at other players playing pc games vs consoles games. I originally bought my xbox for Assassin's Creed and it just went down hill from there.

Hopalong X said:

I'll go with razy60.

SLI 450 or 460.
A single 460 might do you for now add the second card when you need it.

Mike

Yeah that again was very appealing, after looking at TheFabe's page he gave me.

SlackerITGuy said:

Lollies said:

SlackerITGuy said:

At that price range is pretty simple:

Single GPU solution:

• Radeon HD 5870

At ~$380, this is probably the best you can do performance wise with a single GPU (at your price range). It should destroy ANY game out there with ease @ any resolution. Temperature and Power consumption is not really an issue with HD 5000 series cards, AMD really did a good job on that. What's really an issue with these high end HD 5000 cards is length, so a good roomy case is important.

• GeForce GTX 470

At ~$300, the GTX 470 is significantly cheaper than any HD 5870 out there right now, but as a result, is not as fast. Now, this card REALLY REALLY shines under EXTREME AA/Tessellation situations. Keeping up with the HD 5870 in those scenarios and in some cases surpassing it (good if you are planning to play games such as Metro 2033 or Alien vs Predator). Now, all that performance in extreme situations comes with a price: Insane high temperatures (reaching ~100 degrees Celsius under load) and power consumption numbers (215W for the card alone under full GPU load). So case ventilation and a poweful PSU are very important if you're planning to go with a GF100 card.

Multi GPU solution:

• GeForce GTX 460 768MB 192-bit (x2)

At ~$340, this one is pretty much a no-brainer if you're planning to go with a multi-gpu solution. First of all, the GF104 chip can flat out fly, it compares very favorably to NVIDIA's high end GTX 200 series cards (GTX 275/280), so you can imagine the kind of performance you're gonna get with two of these in SLI (let me spoil the fun for you, 2 GTX 460 in SLI = GTX 480), second of all, it doesn't nearly generate as much heat as his big brother (GF100). I have a GTX 460 1GB OC Edition myself, and it idles around ~35 Celsius reaching ~65 Celsius under full load (although good case ventilation is always important under multi gpu setups). Power consumption, this setup requires more power than a single GTX 480, so a powerful/beefy PSU is a must (750W at least). Now the MAIN problem with multi gpu solutions is the following: Game compatibility. Some games really struggle to utilize both GPU's (this goes for AMD and NVIDIA) resulting in really underwhelming performance, not to mention the fairly common micro-stuttering issue. The good news is, SLI compatibility/performance is always a priority in driver releases, so it should only get better with time.

Thanks for the very lengthy and informative post Slack, cant even count the number of times you've helped me out. I have nothing against Radeon, I just know little to nothing about it. The only thing by Radeon I have own was when I got my first computer (Dell 8300) upgraded at pc club to a Radeon card, don't remember what type. That was a long time ago though.

I don't necessarily need a SLI set-up, it just seemed like something I could invest in over time as my interest and knowledge grew. I was content with my 9800 gx2 for a long time so using a single card would be sufficient. I changed my PSU from a Thermaltake 1000W tough power to a Corsair AX850W so its not much of a change so I'm sure it could probably support a SLI set-up.

I will be doing some gaming I am sure but design is my main preference. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm just going to be using my Xbox for videos and move back to pc gaming or try to juggle both. It was easy when most games were not on all platforms but now that they are it seems a but ridiculous to buy games for both a console and comp.

With that said, would that narrow it down any?

No problem Lollies.

Hmm, If what you're going to be doing is splitting your time between gaming and designing, then I'd recommend a single GPU setup. Since, and correct me if I'm wrong here, most of the time you are going to be designing, with X software, your video card is going to be idle, and a SLI setup is going to be drawing much more power than a single GPU setup @ idle.

I'd go for the Radeon HD 5870.

It's faster than the GTX 470 (in most cases) and consumes less power than any of the GF100 chips @ both idle and load.

It's just a top notch card, there's no way around it.

I believe you are correct. I mean I don't design things for a living but its what I love to do, I haven't done it in a while so hopefully after relearning everything I'll enjoy just as much as I did a few months ago. Gaming and that kinda went hand in hand. I don't design for a living or anything but I just think it would be used for that purpose more than gaming since I have been doing less and less of it now that I am working full time. Last time I played a game on my 360 was probably almost a month ago now.

I don't know much about Radeon, that is the only reason I'm skeptical but I am not against trying something new. I've always just been a Nividea junkie I guess.

I was drawn to this one for some reason when I was browsing.

ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

or

ASUS EAH5850 DIRECTCU/2DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

Lollies said:

thefabe said:

I posted this thread just for people like yourself, in hopes it would help them in chosing the card that is best suited for what they intended to use it for. Hope it can help you decide. Best Graphics Cards For The Money:October 2010 Fabe

After reading that numerous times it made me me want to either go with a GTX 460 SLI set-up or a Radeon HD 5850, or possibly a GTX 480. I think all of those except maybe the Readeon 5850 is above what I wanted to spend but I'm hoping it'll be worth it in the long run. I guess i just need to narrow it down from here.

I did find an SLI set-up of GTX 460's very appealing.

razy60 said:

As far as gaming is concerned it seems that more and more games are coming out first for consoles, so as you have a 360 i would use that,(don't own a console myself though)
As for the PC as nice as a high end card is for editing work and drawing i would opt for a sli or crossfire set up using either 2x460(2x450 would be ok and very cheap) or 2x5850/5830 as that would give all the power you need and should keep you under budget, also if you absolutely must game you still could quite happily,

Raz

I just find gaming on consoles irritating anymore, there is no maturity 99% of the time and I figure kids have a harder time getting hold of a computer than they do a 200$ Xbox 360. Maybe my logic is wrong but I never got as irritated at other players playing pc games vs consoles games. I originally bought my xbox for Assassin's Creed and it just went down hill from there.



Yeah that again was very appealing, after looking at TheFabe's page he gave me.

SlackerITGuy said:

Lollies said:

Thanks for the very lengthy and informative post Slack, cant even count the number of times you've helped me out. I have nothing against Radeon, I just know little to nothing about it. The only thing by Radeon I have own was when I got my first computer (Dell 8300) upgraded at pc club to a Radeon card, don't remember what type. That was a long time ago though.

I don't necessarily need a SLI set-up, it just seemed like something I could invest in over time as my interest and knowledge grew. I was content with my 9800 gx2 for a long time so using a single card would be sufficient. I changed my PSU from a Thermaltake 1000W tough power to a Corsair AX850W so its not much of a change so I'm sure it could probably support a SLI set-up.

I will be doing some gaming I am sure but design is my main preference. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm just going to be using my Xbox for videos and move back to pc gaming or try to juggle both. It was easy when most games were not on all platforms but now that they are it seems a but ridiculous to buy games for both a console and comp.

With that said, would that narrow it down any?

No problem Lollies.

Hmm, If what you're going to be doing is splitting your time between gaming and designing, then I'd recommend a single GPU setup. Since, and correct me if I'm wrong here, most of the time you are going to be designing, with X software, your video card is going to be idle, and a SLI setup is going to be drawing much more power than a single GPU setup @ idle.

I'd go for the Radeon HD 5870.

It's faster than the GTX 470 (in most cases) and consumes less power than any of the GF100 chips @ both idle and load.

It's just a top notch card, there's no way around it.

I believe you are correct. I mean I don't design things for a living but its what I love to do, I haven't done it in a while so hopefully after relearning everything I'll enjoy just as much as I did a few months ago. Gaming and that kinda went hand in hand. I don't design for a living or anything but I just think it would be used for that purpose more than gaming since I have been doing less and less of it now that I am working full time. Last time I played a game on my 360 was probably almost a month ago now.

I don't know much about Radeon, that is the only reason I'm skeptical but I am not against trying something new. I've always just been a Nividea junkie I guess.

I was drawn to this one for some reason when I was browsing.

ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

or

ASUS EAH5850 DIRECTCU/2DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

Big ASUS fan huh? =)

Both would be excellent choices.

I would personally go for the HD 5850.

Faster and less power hungry (@ load).