Buy a 5870 now or wait?

[lockyiii]

I'm building a new computer and was wondering if I should go ahead and get a 5870 now or use my GTS 250 till the next gen cards come out. I'm building for gaming, mainly final fantasy 14 and diablo 3.

 

[fharper]

What resolution is the monitor that you play on? And are you satisfied with the current performance of the GTS 250?

 

[lockyiii]

Sorry was going to put that in but forgot apparently. I'm running 1920 x 1080 at the moment. The 250 is fine for now, it's the rest of my system that is holding it back. With next gen games though it's pretty weak. I figured the newer GPUs will start coming out around fall/early winter though so am kind of thinking my 250 from my old computer will last ok with the new build, NEW BUILD, till then.

 

[fharper]

With that build I would say you should be fine with the 5870 as it should last you a little while.

 

[lockyiii]

I know the 5870 is a great card and will last a while but do you think i could get by on my 250 till the next set of cards come out?

 

[fharper]

Well that's really up to you. If you don't mind playing at lower settings then the 250 should probably be all right till then.

 

[Emperus]

Since you are geared up with a X58 build and also taking into account that you are somewhat satisfied with your current GTS 250, i'd recommend getting a single GTX 460 for now.. It'll be a whole lot better compared to the GTS 250.. Also, two GTX 460's in SLI touch upto the performance levels of a single GTX 480/HD 5970.. This much performance comes at lower price, lower heat, lower power consumption and lower noise levels..

 

[Helltech]

The idea of a GTX460 now, and SLI in the future is a very good idea. I havn't looked at your new build thread, so only do that if your board can SLI obviously.

If you wait till Christmas time you MAY see HD6000 cards, but we still be in the 400's series. So you kind of already know what to expect.

Hell my motto is, if you dont mind what you are playing at just keep waiting till you can't wait any longer.

You can still go with the 460 solution and it may be cheaper by the time you NEED it.

 

[geofelt]

At 1920 x 1080 using your new build, it would be appropriate to use a graphics system of about the power of the 5870.

Exactly what that should be is unclear at this point in time.

There are going to be some new and presumably better options arriving in time for the Christmas buying season.
There is talk of new ATI tweaks, and new Nvidia cards . It might pay to wait. Also, the GTX260 is going to put some marketing pressure on ATI so we might see some price adjustments.

My suggestion is to build, using the GTX250 to start with, and see how it goes. No doubt, you will want to do better, but getting some gaming in with the new build will clarify just how much better you need to go.

When you upgrade, it should be by a couple of performance tiers, otherwise you will be disappointed.

A 5870 may be right. Or even a 5970.
Or a GTX480,
Or SLI GTX260(they seem to scale very well)
or... whatever comes next.

 

[lockyiii]

Well I found a great combo deal on a xfx 5870 and xfx black edition 850w PSU so I've decided to just bite the bullet and go with that. Thanks for all the help though. I've spent way too much time debating this as it is lol.

Combo