Which Graphics Card to Choose? Opinions Please?

hispandora · 06 Nov 2009

Which Graphics Card to update too?

So my new computer game with a VCO GEFORCE 9800GT 512MB PCIE

The way that computers work in my house, since I work from home and need my computer to work on, whenever it comes time for either my boyfriend or I to get a new computer, I always get the new one and he gets whatever machine I had, which is always better than whatever he currently has. – As such I was going to take this VCO GEFORCE 9800GT 512MB PCIE out of my new computer and put it in his to upgrade the video card in that machine. But when looking at new video cards I have a few questions.

Would I be better off keeping the VCO GEFORCE 9800GT 512MB PCIE in my machine and getting another one to run on another PCIE slot? The games I mainly play are Guild Wars, Second Life and the Sims3, though I do know that Second Life doesn’t support SLi and that’s what I play the most, so I assume running two cards would be useless there. Also I have never heard of VCO before, is that a common brand?

I’m looking for something in the $130-$170 range and was thinking about one of these cards.

BFG GTS 250 1GB PCI-Express Video Card
PNY GTS 250 1GB PCI-Express Video Card
EVGA 9800 GT 1GB PCI-Express Video Card

r2l · 06 Nov 2009

You should buy a video card with Memory Interface of 512mb not 256.

torrentg · 06 Nov 2009

r2l said:

You should buy a video card with Memory Interface of 512mb not 256.

Are you referring to bit depth of GDDR3 memory? As in 256 bit or 512 bit?

thefabe · 06 Nov 2009

Everyone by now knows my suggestion XFX 5770 174.99 Newegg. 1gb DDr 5, DX11, 3 monitor support. Double lifetime warrranty Newegg.com - XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

mushroomboy · 06 Nov 2009

Newegg.com - ECS Black Series NBGTX260-896MX-F GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card (Over Clock Version) - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

I'm more of an nvidia fan!

thefabe · 06 Nov 2009

So am I and I run the Evga GTX260 superclocked. But if I had of known of the ATI 5770 I probably would have bought it just because when I build my i9 core build I would feel like I was a little more future proof (Not to mention it is 25.00 cheaper) Meaning not feeling like I needed to upgrade my graphics when DX11 apps and games come out. But in a review on Tomshardware the 260 definitely held it's own, and the performance on their test machine showed the 5770's performance against the 260 wasn't even worth mentioning.

mushroomboy · 06 Nov 2009

Just wait Nvidia is releasing DX11 soon.

thefabe · 06 Nov 2009

GTX300 series. How soon is yet to be leaked. NVIDIA GeForce 300 series surface in new drivers

Vector90Ash · 10 May 2010

Second Life software prefers Nvidia cards to Ati. There is a history of SL graphical issues with some Ati cards.
When I specced up my latest pc, the two shortlisted cards were Ati 5770 & Nvidia GTX275.
(Tests show them to be equally good, with Nvidia just having the edge, in some applications).
Because I use SL a lot, I went for GTX275 and have not been disappointed.
With my setup, I have been regularly getting 140-150fps on Emerald viewer.
Must admit, I did have some problems with LL viewer2 and 1.23 though, but V2 is pants anyway.

ThePizzaMan · 10 May 2010

me personally would be the 5770 for the dx11 and less power consumption