Video Card selection

[mulisha]

Hows it going guys? Well I usually do this on my own but my research skills are a bit rusty, basically I need a new video card and my Budget is around 200 dollars, I can fudge a bit probably a max of $230 but thats max. I just want a cheap card that runs all the games I play (I.E. Sniper ghost warrior, SCII, Metro and crysis for the most part.)I am running a single 46" Samsung LCD at 1920x1080. Ive been looking into this Newegg.com - GIGABYTE Ultra Durable VGA Series GV-R685OC-1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
and came across this Newegg.com - MSI N460GTX Hawk GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Now I did research on both and people are saying the Hawks 460 keeps up with the 6870. Now I just wanna know what all of you think for my situation.Thanks in advance

 

[mulisha]

Well seing as of the moment no one has responded. Maybe someone can help me out with a question I asked and never received an answer to about my ATI HD 4850. What happened is I got a new mobo (ASRock K10N78D without onboard video) and eversince I installed it I cant boot past the part where it says checking video performance on setup it just reboots. Now I have it currently on my old mobo(GA-M61PME-S2P with onboard video that boots perfect no probs) when I disable the 4850 in safe mode under device manager it boots fine from the card. Basically when it installs drivers for it from windows or even from ati it will show the splash screen for a moment freeze then reboot in a continuous loop. Any ideas? possible volt prob? Maybe bios issue? Maybe just drivers or is it a big brick? HAHA

Windows 7 x64
ASRock K10N78D - bios#1.80
AMD Phenom II X3 710
Kingston hyperX DDR2
Cooler Master 550w

 

[Hopalong X]

I like the Nvidia myself.

What I'm running. ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU/2DI/1GD5 1GB 256-bit GDDR5

I was a few weeks early.
Yours wasn't made yet.

Click on My System Specs. Lower left corner of my post.

Sorry I'm no help on the 4850.
Mike

 

[mulisha]

Thanks for the response Hopalong X, Yea ive been looking at the MSI because of the cooler on it and the reviews are quite good. So hows yours on games like I stated?

 

[SlackerITGuy]

Well, considering that you have an AMD processor, I'd go for the HD 6850 (Fermi based cards have low GPU usage issues with non Intel i5/i7 CPUs).

 

[mulisha]

Whats your take on the 6850?

 

[SlackerITGuy]

Whats your take on the 6850?

Very good card for the money.

Not as strong as Fermi based cards under heavy AA/tessellation, but still pretty solid.

If I didn't have my GTX 470 or an Intel CPU in the way, and I was in the market for a ~$200 card, the HD 6850 would be my choice.

EDIT: The Sapphire one is going for $179.99 as of right now.

 

[Hopalong X]

Nvidia plays nicely with AMD CPU's.

I had no preference last summer - 2010- just started reading up on the Nvidia 400 series and the ATI 5000's.

Nvidia seemed the best choice with 3D, tesselation etc. 3D I mean the non glasses type. Plus DX11 at the time.

Right now I'd stay with Nvidia because what I have has worked well since August. Low heat etc.
It is also what I know now and comfortable with.

ATI would be starting from scratch with the CCC controls etc.

Either should serve you well.

Mike

 

[mulisha]

Yea from the research I did the 460GTX seems like a beast! Youd think that the 6850 would be 1 up on the 460 having newer technology and all. Its still a tight race between which I should buy they both have there perks.

 

[mulisha]

I do watch blurays on my PC aswell which is why I think the gold plated HDMI port on the 6850 is sweet and ATI has had the audio down alot longer then nvidia, but I know that Nvidia has brute power over ATI and there drivers are pretty awesome aswell as you where saying.

 

[smarteyeball]

Ithe gold plated HDMI port on the 6850 is sweet

Marketing flim-flam.

In your situation, I'd choose the 460 over a 6850. (As long as the 460 is a 1GB model)

Both cards are HDMI 1.4a compliant too I believe.

 

[SlackerITGuy]

Nvidia plays nicely with AMD CPU's.

I had no preference last summer - 2010- just started reading up on the Nvidia 400 series and the ATI 5000's.

Nvidia seemed the best choice with 3D, tesselation etc. 3D I mean the non glasses type. Plus DX11 at the time.

Right now I'd stay with Nvidia because what I have has worked well since August. Low heat etc.
It is also what I know now and comfortable with.

ATI would be starting from scratch with the CCC controls etc.

Either should serve you well.

Mike

As an owner of both a GTX 460 and a GTX 470, I gotta say... No they don't, GTX 200 series maybe, but not Fermi based cards.

Just google "Fermi low GPU usage".

OP: Unless you're planning on going Intel soon, go with the HD 6850.

Consider yourself warned lol.

 

[sygnus21]

Just google "Fermi low GPU usage".

OP: Unless you're planning on going Intel soon, go with the HD 6850.

Consider yourself warned lol.

Out of curiosity I did just that I and I saw a lot of driver complaints as opposed to any correlation with Intel CPU's and Femi based GPU’s.

Granted I didn't read all 8000 posts, but.....

Have a link where it specifically states this? Thanks.

 

[mulisha]

With my budget it looks like i'll most likely be stickin with the 6850 then I guess. Thanks for all the help guys

 

[SlackerITGuy]

Just google "Fermi low GPU usage".

OP: Unless you're planning on going Intel soon, go with the HD 6850.

Consider yourself warned lol.

Out of curiosity I did just that I and I saw a lot of driver complaints as opposed to any correlation with Intel CPU's and Femi based GPU’s.

Granted I didn't read all 8000 posts, but.....

Have a link where it specifically states this? Thanks.

Hahaha, I hear you.

Trust me mate, I've been dealing with this since I got my first Fermi based card back in July of last year.

One of my closest friends, was having the exact same issues as me with his GTX 460, he was using a Q9550 at the moment (which is a pretty good CPU actually).

As soon as he purchased an i5 750, all his low GPU usage issues went away, he's now getting 99% usage at all times in BFBC2, Crysis, etc...

EDIT: Here's a post from back in the day (like 2 months ago lol):

http://www.overclock.net/11261271-post708.html