Advide for Replacing Graphic card

[Guest]

Hello, My graphic card a XFX 8600GT 256Mb DDR3 has broken and I need to replace it. I would like you to advise me to choose a card similar to my old one or if it's not much more expensive, maybe it could be better.
I have a Intel core2 E6750 in a motherboard Gigabyte P35C-DS3R , with 2 Gb of RAM DDR2 667 Mhz and a 550W power supply.

I have seen the following cards and prices:
-HD4650 1Gb DDR3- 62.1€ http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-power-color-radeon-hd4650-1gb-ddr3-128bit.php
-HD5550 512 MB DDR3- 63.1€ http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-powercolor-radeon-hd5550-ddr3-128bit-pcie.php
-GT220 512Mb DDR3- 70.2€ http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-asus.-nvidia-gt220-512mb-ddr3-hdmi-nativo-pci-e.php
-HD4670 512Mb DDR3- 73€ http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-asus-hd4670-512mb-gddr3-128bit-pcie.php
-HD5550 1Gb DDR3- 73.50€ http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-powercolor-radeon-hd5550-1gb-ddr3-128bit-pcie.php
-GT220 1GB DDR3- 73.8€ http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-zotac.-gt220-1gb-gddr3-128bit-pcie-hdmi-lite-pack.php
-GT240 512Mb DDR3- 76.8€ http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-point-of-view-geforce-gt240-512mb-ddr3-128bit-pcx.php
-GT240 512 Mb DDR5- 81.9€ http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-xfx.-gt240-512m-gddr5-128bit-hdmi-+-assasins-creed.php
-HD5570 1Gb DDR3- 85.3€ http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-powercolor-radeon-hd5570-1gb-ddr3-128bit-pcie.php
-HD5670 512 Mb DDR5- 86.8€ http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-xfx-radeon-hd-5670-512mb-ddr5-hdmi-pci-e-2.1.php

I know that the last cards are better than the beggining cards but, is there enough difference to pay more for them?
Which of them or others do you advice me if I want something similar but not worse than my old 8600GT?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sabot00]

It doesn't apply outside of the USA.

 

[jyjjy]

I've seen people say it applies to Canada as well but I doubt that helps this guy anyway.

 

[jyjjy]

When looking at these cards you should keep in mind that the difference in memory sizes doesn't matter. The speed of the memory is important but these cards are not really powerful enough to utilize more than 512mb of ram so just ignore the amount memory when making your decision.
In terms of performance those cards would rank as follows
HD5670 > GT 240(DDR5) > HD4670 > HD5570 > GT 240(DDR3) > HD4650 > GT 220 > HD5550
Even the HD5550 would be more powerful than your 8600GT. The best deals from those pricings are the HD4650, 4670 and HD5670 imo.
Out of those three the HD4670 is probably about 20% more powerful than the HD4650 and the HD5670 is about 25% more powerful than the HD4670. The HD5670 also give you DX11 compatibility and the latest audio/video playback features. If you can afford it I would really recommend the HD5670. It is a good card for low resolutions(1280x1024 and below) and will last you longer than the others.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your answers. Maybe I should go to the middle price so to the HD4670, but how much important or useful is or will be the DX11 compatibilty?
Thanks again.

 

[jyjjy]

Well DX11 is fairly new but there are already a number of games released that utilize it(BF:BC2, Stalker, Metro 2033, AvP, Dirt2, ect) and it will only gain momentum in the future. That said the main advantage of the HD5670 is the extra 25% performance over the HD4670. At the prices you listed the HD5670 is 19% more expensive than the HD4670 so that's a good value plus you get DX11 on top of it.

 

[jyjjy]

while the 5670 may offer DX11, i would not recommend it for any game that has moderate hardware recommendations.

I see people say things like this but I disagree. The HD5670 may be a weak card compared to most with DX11 but it also isn't intended for high resolutions. At resolutions the card is intended for there is no reason to think it won't be able to handle utilizing DX11. Also the performance hit in games that use it vary widely and on a few of them it even improves performance.

 

[sabot00]

DX11's SSAO, more efficient texture handling/swapping, more efficient calls, and compute shaders can INCREASE performance.
In addition to DX11 you have OpenGL 4.0.
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,700136/Stalker-Call-of-Pripyat-Benchmarks-from-DirectX-9-to-DirectX-11/Practice/
As you can see, DX11 increases performance on Call of Pripyat.

I also speak from experience, my 4670 could play CoP on medium settings, while my new 5650 can play CoP on MAX settings with the same FPS (DX11).

 

[jyjjy]

you can disagree but you would be in the minority. Its a fine card for DX10 gaming.

"DiRT 2 makes us question whether or not the Radeon HD 5670's capacity for DirectX 11 is truly usable. Only as more DirectX 11 games are released and benchmarked will we be able to get a clear picture. This is not a positive indication, though."

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5670,2533-15.html

Using the first, and generally considered poorly done, implementation of DX11 to conclude anything is a mistake. Dirt 2 has one of the smallest graphical improvements of the DX11 games and one of the largest performance hits.

 

[Guest]

I would get the 5670. It is a very very good budget card,.

 

[cregi]

Hello,
I think I will go finally for the Asus hd4670 512Mb GDDR3. I have found it for 63€, http://www.pcnouordenadores.es/grÁfica-pciex-hd4670-512mb-asus-gddr3-p-1787.html
I think it's a good price and will give me enough performance.
But I have read some opinions about this Asus makes quite noise and you can't control the speed of the fan. Is it really noisier that other brands? What can you tell me about this?
My old 8600gt was quite noisy too and sometines it was a bit annoying....

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[jyjjy]

That does seem like a good deal but apparently the card does have a lot of complaints about noise. Here are 128 customer reviews of the card on newegg and a lot mention the noise issue;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=14-121-274

 

[cregi]

Yeah, I see... Now I am again full of doubts.... coz if I have to spend 15 € more in changing the fan, it's better to buy the 5670...

 

[jyjjy]

If you can afford it I would recommend just going with the HD5670.

 

[IROC_69]

its a slight improvement, it also increases demand on the video card. while the 5670 may offer DX11, i would not recommend it for any game that has moderate hardware recommendations. Its also fairly new so most current games don't support it while obviously new games coming out will.

here is a good article on it
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/directx_11_deconstructed

very good articale by ct1615

gave me a reason to go for dx 11