A little help with gpu for$150-200

[intruda119]

Just built a new computer after my last rig broke down. reading as much as possible and still cant decide which card.
Use this computer for mostly gaming with some video edit and normal browsing /word processing

i play nothing special. nba 2k, apb reloaded, bf3, l4d, crysis, dead island, little call of duty

amd x6 1090t oc 3.6
8gb cosrair vengence ram
gpu ati 4870 1gb ddr3
psu thermaltake 600
antec 902 case
asus motherboard( cant remember model)
res is est 1400x900 for the time being( cant upgrade for awhile)


nowi do have a cosrair 750 in rma process. im getting poor proformance with my gpu with lots of artifacts while playing most games. ive applied artic silver 5 and cleaned my gpu when building the new setup and get temps between 50-70c.

trying not to buy something overkill with my resolution.Ive looked at the 5870,6850,6870 and 6950.

 

[wa1]

No offense, but at 1400x900, a single HD6850 is more than enough to run most of games with decent setting (maxed out).
What is your board? open your case and see it for yourself...

 

[gnomio]

That resolution 6870/6850/6790 or the 550ti

 

[jessterman21]

I love how everyone thinks that a $150 GPU is enough to play Crysis and BF3 at Ultra + MSAA at 60fps @ 1440x900. IT'S NOT. I've got an HD 4890 and I can't even get Prince of Persia (2008) to stay at a constant 60fps without MSAA.

Highest you'll want to go for your res is HD 6950 or 560Ti though - that will pretty much max any game that's out at 45fps or more. Good temps and decent wattage.

 

[intruda119]

Never said I was going to play at ultra high settings. Ill probably upgrade my monitor next year sometime. I rather play on my 37inch right now vs my 24 1080p monitor. But not trying to play on minimal either.

No offense taken to poster above, I know my monitor isnt the best but when playing games I like to sit back a little bit.

My mobo is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131647

Got about 190 in paypal cash I can spend on a gpu. Ill check the mentioned cards out.

I love how everyone thinks that a $150 GPU is enough to play Crysis and BF3 at Ultra + MSAA at 60fps @ 1440x900. IT'S NOT. I've got an HD 4890 and I can't even get Prince of Persia (2008) to stay at a constant 60fps without MSAA.

Highest you'll want to go for your res is HD 6950 or 560Ti though - that will pretty much max any game that's out at 45fps or more. Good temps and decent wattage.

 

[intruda119]

I can get xfx 6950 for 190, is this a good price.

 

[jessterman21]

I can get xfx 6950 for 190, is this a good price.

Yes that is an incredible price if you mean $190 USD

 

[jessterman21]

Never said I was going to play at ultra high settings. Ill probably upgrade my monitor next year sometime. I rather play on my 37inch right now vs my 24 1080p monitor. But not trying to play on minimal either.

No offense taken to poster above, I know my monitor isnt the best but when playing games I like to sit back a little bit.

My mobo is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131647

Got about 190 in paypal cash I can spend on a gpu. Ill check the mentioned cards out.

No, no - I was saying that there are a lot of guys (like 2nd poster wa1) on Tom's Forums that think 1440x900 (my own res) is worthless and needs only a $150 card to max out any game. "Anything more is overkill for your res." I've read that so many times, but my own HD 4890 struggles holding 60fps in many lower-req games and it was a $200 card when I got it. You'd do well with an HD 6870/6950 or a 560/560Ti. One of those (or an HD 7850/7870) will be my next card, and I'm not upgrading my own monitor any time soon. Just saying we're in the same boat.

 

[beltzy]

I love how everyone thinks that a $150 GPU is enough to play Crysis and BF3 at Ultra + MSAA at 60fps @ 1440x900. IT'S NOT. I've got an HD 4890 and I can't even get Prince of Persia (2008) to stay at a constant 60fps without MSAA.

Highest you'll want to go for your res is HD 6950 or 560Ti though - that will pretty much max any game that's out at 45fps or more. Good temps and decent wattage.

Well if your goal is to have your minimum framerate stay at 60 fps, then you are going for overkill (your average performance would be significantly higher than 60fps and mostly wasted). When looking for the right level of performance, the idea is that you look at average fps, and as long as you min framerate isn't absurdly low you're ok. I would be surprised if someone who has not invested in a higher res monitor would be interested in dropping a lot more money to crank every setting to max. That's not to disparage folks who use lower res monitors, I would just find it odd.

Both cards listed as winners under $100 in TH Best Graphics Cards for the Money are described as providing "Exceptional 1680x1050 performance in most games".

 

[jessterman21]

Well if your goal is to have your minimum framerate stay at 60 fps, then you are going for overkill (your average performance would be significantly higher than 60fps and mostly wasted). When looking for the right level of performance, the idea is that you look at average fps, and as long as you min framerate isn't absurdly low you're ok. I would be surprised if someone who has not invested in a higher res monitor would be interested in dropping a lot more money to crank every setting to max. That's not to disparage folks who use lower res monitors, I would just find it odd.

Both cards listed as winners under $100 in TH Best Graphics Cards for the Money are described as providing "Exceptional 1680x1050 performance in most games".

My opinion on what's an acceptable framerate varies a lot from game to game. In 1st person shooters I find framerate drops much less noticeable than in 3rd person games.

For example, I play Crysis at a solid average 30fps on Very High and love it, but with games like POP and ME2, I find the framerate drops to be much more noticable and irritating. (I guess because they usually run at exactly 60fps or above) I would take 30fps if it just stayed consistent... Wish I could lock the framerate in these types of games to 30 or 45fps.

Plus I hate screen tearing in 3rd person games, so I like to enable Vsync, which unfortunately compounds the framerate drops... (I'm pretty picky about my visuals, though. I also don't like settling for less than 8x MSAA...)

Anyways, that's just me - and I would use a 1080p monitor if it didn't take a 580 to get the frames I want in my games... (Not to mention anything above a 560ti seems wildly overpriced...)