Advice on purchasing new graphics card

[binding27]

Hello guys, I'm looking for some advice on buying a new graphics card for my system.

My current 5770 ran most games on full on my 19" 1440x900 monitor with nice performance, but I have recently upgraded to a 24" 1920x1080 monitor and along with more demanding games such as Battlefield 3, Skyrim and Saints Row the Third being released recently, it is starting to struggle to stay above 30fps even on medium settings.

It's time for an upgrade, I haven't looked at the available cards and their comparisons since I bought this card back in February of this year so im a bit rusty on whats better than what and the vast array of available cards further complicates things.

I've been looking towards something around the Nvidia GTX 560 Ti area, specifically the MSI TWIN FROZR II one linked below, but am unsure as to how well it performs in current games at 1920x1080 when put up against other similarly priced cards.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-GTX560Ti-OC-4200MHz-Graphics/dp/B004K8R8AI/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1322150923&sr=1-4

I've filled in the template available on this forum below to give you an idea of what i'm looking for and what i'm running at the moment.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Between now and Christmas.
BUDGET RANGE: £100 - £180

USAGE : Looking to play the latest releases Skyrim, Saints Row The Third, Battlefield 3 etc. and upcoming ones at high/ultra settings at 1920x1080.

CURRENT GPU: Sapphire ATI Radeon 5770 1GB [Link Below]
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-11163-02-20R-5770-GDDR5-Graphics/dp/B002ZO3D76/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322149760&sr=8-1]

POWER SUPPLY: 600W [Not sure of brand]

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:
Motherboard = ASRock N68C-S UCC
CPU = QuadCore AMD Athlon II X4 640, 3000 MHz (15 x 200)
RAM = 4GB DDR3

PREFERRED WEBSITES FOR PARTS: Any UK based website, amazon.co.uk etc.

PARTS PREFERENCES: Looking more at the Nvidia side if possible over ATI, had issues with certain games in the past just after launch with ATI. Altough I don't rule out another ATI card if its performance is significantly better than an Nvidia similarly priced card.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

Thanks for any advice in advance.

 

[geofelt]

At 1080P, you performance will be mostly limited by your graphics card, as you have already found out.

When upgrading, you should make the jump a large one, or you may be disappointed by the results.

Your 600w psu, if it has 42 12v amps, is capable of running a card as good as a GTX580

Graphics cards are competitively priced. You mostly get what you pay for at every level. Do not be distracted by differences in benchmarks which will be minor.

I suggest you look at a GTX570 if you can.

If your budget requires a GTX560ti, then I would prefer one with a cooler that directs more hot air out the back of your case. Recirculating hot air, even with an efficient cooler heats up both the gpu and cpu. Not good.
Perhaps something like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-GeForce-560TI-DirectCUII-Graphics/dp/B004K8R8DA/ref=pd_cp_computers_1/278-0618985-2135648

 

[pell380]

there are 3 options nvidia gtx 460 or ati 6870 and or nvidia gtx 560ti

i would recommend you to buy 560ti it is best card for 1080p in this budget

buy this gtx 560 it is 179$ after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121446

this is 174$ after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121466




and here are other options on this card i would prefer asus or evga

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006662%204017&IsNodeId=1&Description=nvidia%20gtx%20560&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20


dont buy gtx460 or ati 6870 they dont perfrome well on 1080p

 

[mouse24]

there are 3 options nvidia gtx 460 or ati 6870 and or nvidia gtx 560ti

i would recommend you to buy 560ti it is best card for 1080p in this budget

buy this gtx 560 it is 179$ after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121446

this is 174$ after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121466




and here are other options on this card i would prefer asus or evga

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006662%204017&IsNodeId=1&Description=nvidia%20gtx%20560&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20


dont buy gtx460 or ati 6870 they dont perfrome well on 1080p

uhm... sorry but... what? Why did you link him the 560 for 200 when a 6870 can be had for 160 at the same performance, also the 6870 does VERY well at 1920 x 1080, it can max most new games (excluding 16xAA + 16xMSAA)

my personal opinion is grab a 6870

 

[JackNaylorPE]

i would recommend you to buy 560ti it is best card for 1080p in this budget

buy this gtx 560 it is 179$ after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121446


this is 174$ after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121466

and here are other options on this card i would prefer asus or evga

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006662%204017&IsNodeId=1&Description=nvidia%20gtx%20560&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

Those are 560's not 560 Ti

 

[JackNaylorPE]

If ya gotta buy today, I'd get the 900 MHz factory OC'd 560 Ti.....same price as the reference models but ugraded cooling and sometimes VRM.

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:


$ 170.00 6870 (434/701) $ 0.39 - $ 0.49
$ 220.00 6950 (479/751) $ 0.46 - $ 0.59
$ 240.00 6950 Frozr OC (484/759) $ 0.50 - $ 0.63
$ 205.00 560 Ti (455/792) $ 0.45 - $ 0.52
$ 320.00 6970 (526/825) $ 0.61 - $ 0.78
$ 215.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.43 - $ 0.50
$ 340.00 570 (524/873) $ 0.65 - $ 0.78

The 6870 provides the best "bang for the buck" at 39 cents per frame, but the factory OC'd 560 Ti gets ya a pretty good return on the investment , especially in SLI.

However, with the hybrid 560/570 coming out Tuesday (to be known as the 560-448) for reportedly at or very close to the 560 Ti, it would appear to be about to grab the price / performance crown.

 

[swifty_morgan]

wudaya think of this ?

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18344290

 

[binding27]

At 1080P, you performance will be mostly limited by your graphics card, as you have already found out.

When upgrading, you should make the jump a large one, or you may be disappointed by the results.

Your 600w psu, if it has 42 12v amps, is capable of running a card as good as a GTX580

Graphics cards are competitively priced. You mostly get what you pay for at every level. Do not be distracted by differences in benchmarks which will be minor.

I suggest you look at a GTX570 if you can.

If your budget requires a GTX560ti, then I would prefer one with a cooler that directs more hot air out the back of your case. Recirculating hot air, even with an efficient cooler heats up both the gpu and cpu. Not good.
Perhaps something like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-GeForce-560TI-DirectCUII-Graphics/dp/B004K8R8DA/ref=pd_cp_computers_1/278-0618985-2135648

I would love to grab something like the GTX570 or GTX580 but looking at prices on amazon, the 570 is around the £250-280 range which is way above my absolute max of about £200.

How would the 570Ti handle something like Skyrim? Would I be able to comfortably max the settings at 1080p? I don't mind having the turn AA/AF down a notch or two, what kind of FPS do you think I would be looking at?

 

[geofelt]

I would love to grab something like the GTX570 or GTX580 but looking at prices on amazon, the 570 is around the £250-280 range which is way above my absolute max of about £200.

How would the 570Ti handle something like Skyrim? Would I be able to comfortably max the settings at 1080p? I don't mind having the turn AA/AF down a notch or two, what kind of FPS do you think I would be looking at?

Your 5770 already meets the recommended requirements for skyrim.

I have no doubt that a GTX560ti would serve you well. There is supposed to be an upgraded GTX560ti 448 launched soon, at the current price with performance approaching the GTX570.. You might want to see what that is about.

 

[yummerzzz]

Asus GTX 560 DCII TOP/2DI 1GB GDDR5 w/ Dues Ex H: Human Revolution and Dirt 3 for £173

Get that and be happy.

 

[ilysaml]

For Skyrim specifically, the game is a CPU whore, no matter what GPU you do have, you'll have to get a monster CPU to get a constant of 60 FPS.

 

[mouse24]

For Skyrim specifically, the game is a CPU whore, no matter what GPU you do have, you'll have to get a monster CPU to get a constant of 60 FPS.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/7/F/315195/original/CPU Clock.png

This honestly makes me want to cry, im getting a 6870 mostly because of skyrim... my poor athlon 2 x3 wont let my card fly D:

 

[ilysaml]

That's why you should consider something like Phenom II 980/975 BE firstly, the HD 6850/70 will max out Skyrim @ 1080P

 

[mouse24]

That's why you should consider something like Phenom II 980/975 BE firstly, the HD 6850/70 will max out Skyrim @ 1080P

Oh I'm not the OP, xD but I sure hope a patch or something comes out for this D:

 

[ilysaml]

Oh sorry for mixing you with the OP, anyway you should consider an upgrade too

 

[mouse24]

Oh sorry for mixing you with the OP, anyway you should consider an upgrade too

I'd love to upgrade, just don't have the funding... doesn't bother me much, as long as I can play games on medium or higher im fine with it

 

[binding27]

So i'm looking towards the Asus 1GB GeForce GTX 560TI DirectCUII now.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

Looks like a good card with good cooling and space for some overclocking if I desired.

Just thinking about my power supply, I think it's actually only 400 or 450W and probably won't be sufficient for this card, what kind of PSU would you reccomend for that card in particular, I think it's more demanding than the stock Nvidia GTX560Ti which has a reccomended minimum PSU of 500W.

Should I be looking around the 600W area? If so what kind of brands should I be looking at?

Also, I'm still stuck between the versions of the GTX560 Ti,

ASUS do the above one and also a TOP version that is factory overclocked by about 100Mhz more but is about £30 more expensive - is this worth it? Or can I just achieve this overclock myself with the linked version above.

Also there's the MSI GTX560Ti TWIN FROZR II at £187 with also about a 100MHz overclock on it but that's nearly £40 over the £150 price of the above linked ASUS.

Thanks in advance.