Your Opinion: Graphics Card

[Johnathan Lyman]

Hey gang,

I've dealt with IGPs for a long time and never gamed much on the PC because of it. To this day I don't have much desire to do so. The only game I really play is World of Warcraft and I might play Half-Life 2 or whatnot.

I'm looking for recommendations on a graphics card that can put out enough to max out (or come close) WoW on a 20" LCD @1600x900.

Ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Fluffy]

What is your budget?

 

[Hopalong X]

That is a laptop according to Google.

Best I can find on the Sony web site it is an Intel on board graphics card and not replaceable.

There is no secondary grahics card listed or a driver for a secondary card.
It appears what you have is all there is.

If the graphics card is for a desktop not in your system specs how about some info on the desktop.
Mike

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

That is a laptop according to Google.

Best I can find on the Sony web site it is an Intel on board graphics card and not replaceable.

There is no secondary grahics card listed or a driver for a secondary card.
It appears what you have is all there is.

If the graphics card is for a desktop not in your system specs how about some info on the desktop.
Mike

I forgot to mention I'm building a desktop rig. LOL, sorry!

I'd like to keep it under $150. If I have to sacrifice some quality, I'll survive. I was looking at this one Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-R567OC-1GI Rev2.0 Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card to get me started. Basically my laptop is dying and I need to build SOMETHING up to catch it when it fails. I can't have any downtime. Building one will allow me to upgrade down the road (something i couldn't do with my laptop besides the RAM and HDD).

I also ran across this one. Newegg.com - PowerColor AX5770 1GBD5-H Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card

Converse!

 

[Golden]

I'm a fan of Nvidia - I use the Nvidia GeForce GTS250 1GB RAM (more than a year old) and play BFBC2 at maximum graphics quality at 1900x1080.

 

[Hopalong X]

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Video Cards & Video Devices,Desktop Graphics / Video Cards,NVIDIA,GeForce GTS 400 series

GTS 450 runs $120-140 at Newegg. Supports PhysX

I'm using a Asus 460 the next step up. They get closer to $200.

 

[Nemix]

@ jelyman

My vote goes PowerColor HD 5770 for $120, not only is it faster than the GTS 450 in 90% of games but it also requires less power.

Second would be GTS 450 if you find it for $120 or less. IMO PhysX is useless on a GTS 450 because it does not have enough juice to run both high settings + PhysX, you're better off going for pure power and high settings on the HD 5770. However, the GTS 450 has CuDA for applications and hardware accelerated DivX, Xvid and MPEG-4 which makes it worth $120 if you want these features and don't mind less performance in games. NVIDIA also has 3D which would cost you $200 for the glasses and a new 120hz 3D monitor.

In contrary the HD 5770 has Stream for videos and hardware accelerated MPEG2, H.264 and VC-1. AMD also has hardware accelerated video conversion built into the drivers and Eye of Infinity which is useless on a HD 5770 anyway like PhysX on a GTS 450. On top of all that the HD 5770 has a display-port output which is the future replacement for DVI.

Edit: Only a very small number of games support PhysX and with a GTS 450 @ 1600 x 900 you're not going to get 60 FPS max settings in these games and WoW is not one of them.

 

[Fluffy]

The 5670 is not a very good card. I had one and it struggled. I now have HIS IceQ 5 ATi 5770 and it is amazing for its price, comes pre overclocked at 875mhz core and 1250MHz memory.

 

[vierasniper]

gtx 260, ive been playing the latests games maxed out

 

[Fluffy]

gtx 260, ive been playing the latests games maxed out

As have I on my ATi 5770

 

[cybercore]

To run a game maxed out 1600x900, I'd go at least GTX 470.

 

[Nemix]

@ cybercore

The OP does not want to spend for than $150 so a GTX 470 is not an option, please read before you post.

@ vierasniper

GTX 260 is still a good card but requires way too much power 182W TDP, runs hot and loud and does not have newer features found on the HD 5770/GTS 450 eg. DX11. That's like telling me to go back in time and buy a 3Ghz Dual Core (90nm) as oppose to my 2.6Ghz Dual Core (45nm) because I can gain 2 FPS in WoW, when I can just easily overclock my my 2.6Ghz to 3Ghz, use less power consumption doing so and have the latest features (45nm, C1E and SSE3), just as an example purely not recommended.

Here's a nice comparison chart: WoW: Wrath of the Lich King - Benchmarks with Ati and Nvidia graphics cards - WoW, World of Warcraft, Lich King, Benchmark, Radeon, Geforce - PC Games Hardware but I do not like this site cause their benches seem off, last time I checked they told me I'd get 40 for some game I cannot remember but I ended with 60+ frames on my system with a slower CPU. It's just for reference to compare the cards.

Notes: HD 5770 = HD 4870, GTS 450 = 8800 GTX, and GTX 260 is the best of the 3 but requires way too much power [182W vs 108W (5770)] for a mere 2 frames. Please keep in mind the benchmarks are done with a Core-i7 @ 3.5Ghz, if you have slower CPU overclocking the HD 5770 to 900/1300 would more than make up for any frames lost due to your specific CPU and beat the GTX 260 in the process all while staying cooler, quieter and not sky rocketing your electro bill with extra bells and whistles (DX11).

Just my two pennies.

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

Well after tallying votes (yes, I counted) it seems the majority in my price range is the 5770.

I'll probably end up getting a more powerful card/psu in the future. I just need something NOW and only have so much $ NOW. Believe me, I'd love to pick out the best of the best and run rampant all over the place, causing children to cry because my FPS is better than theirs. Or something like that.

If anyone else as opinions, I won't be buying for a couple weeks so keep at it.

 

[SlackerITGuy]

Hey gang,

I've dealt with IGPs for a long time and never gamed much on the PC because of it. To this day I don't have much desire to do so. The only game I really play is World of Warcraft and I might play Half-Life 2 or whatnot.

I'm looking for recommendations on a graphics card that can put out enough to max out (or come close) WoW on a 20" LCD @1600x900.

Ideas?

Thanks!

AMD's:

• Radeon HD 5770

NVIDIA:

• GeForce GTS 450 or a GeForce GTX 460 (if you can stretch your budget to ~$170).

 

[Fluffy]

If you get the ATi 5770 I recommend the HIS one, it is pre-overclocked from 850mhz to 875mhz core and has overclocked memory to 5ghz (effective)

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

If you get the ATi 5770 I recommend the HIS one, it is pre-overclocked from 850mhz to 875mhz core and has overclocked memory to 5ghz (effective)

I'm seriously considering the HIS one. I noticed the higher clock.

 

[Fluffy]

If you get the ATi 5770 I recommend the HIS one, it is pre-overclocked from 850mhz to 875mhz core and has overclocked memory to 5ghz (effective)

I'm seriously considering the HIS one. I noticed the higher clock.

The cooling is amazing also, mine never goes higher than 50C under max load. It idles at 41C on 35% fan speed.

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

If you get the ATi 5770 I recommend the HIS one, it is pre-overclocked from 850mhz to 875mhz core and has overclocked memory to 5ghz (effective)

I'm seriously considering the HIS one. I noticed the higher clock.

The cooling is amazing also, mine never goes higher than 50C under max load. It idles at 41C on 35% fan speed.

That's good. I'll finally be able to hook up my HDTV to my PC via a LOGICAL connection (instead of VGA) and pipe all my /obtained/ high def movies!

I'll be sure to post up pics when it's all said and done!

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

New Egg has a 5830 at $170 rebate puts it under budget....(I hate rebates)

 

[Nemix]

HD 5830 for $170 is not a good deal. You can get a GTX 460 for that price which is better IMO.

@ Fluffy

I run my XFX HD 5770 @ 1Ghz Core and 5.2Ghz Memory Effective. My highest achieved was 1.05Ghz Core and 5.4Ghz Memory Effective. Keep in mind though I have a Thermalright HR-03 Rev. A Cooler mounted with 120mm quiet fan blowing on it and memory ramsinks. But it's about to be sold and replaced with a MSI GTX 460 HAWK.

@ jelyman

If you're interested I still have my XFX HD 5770 for grabs, like I said it comes with: Thermalright HR-03 Rev. A Cooler with Ramsinks (properly mounted with Arctic Cooling MX-3 Thermal Paste) : http://media.photobucket.com/image/hr-03%20rev.a/eastcoasthandle/Heat%20Sinks/Thermalright_HR_03RevA.jpg
Scythe 120mm Quiet PWM Fan (taken from Mugen 2) - Auto speed PWM and can be manually controlled via Catalyst Control Center (65 degrees Furmark, 20 dBa Silent)

My card is pre-overclocked @ 1Ghz Core and 1300Mhz/5.2Ghz Memory Effective via BIOS (no software needed, always stays). And can be further overclocked with OverDrive via Catalyst Control Center (1050 Core Max and 1350 Memory Max Values, capped by me via BIOS). I've had the card for 6 months and still have box, manuals, original cooler and the original BIOS backup (Lifetime Warranty with XFX not been registered).

Let me now via PM if you're interested,