Looking for a New Video card to play Diablo 3

Status
Not open for further replies.

lchenjr

Distinguished
Mar 29, 2010
52
0
18,630
Hi all I would like to purchase a new video card that I can Max out graphics in the new Diablo 3 that will be out on May 15th. I want to be able to play it with the best graphics and Zero LAG!

Budget: hopefully not more than $200. If more, then I guess I will do a garage sale! lol.


My current build:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz
Mobo: Gigabyte 890GPA
Ram: G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB
Power: Corsair 750W
HDD: Seagate 500GB
Monitor: 55inch Sony TV (hx929)

1) wondering if I should get ATI or Nvidia cards.
2) Will a new SSD improve game play?
3) Will I need more ram?


Thank you all
 
Solution

ricardois

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2011
1,470
0
19,660
1) About Nvidia and ATI, that is not the answear, it will depend on what kind of money you have and how much performance you want, for example, if you wan't the most powerfull card out there, you go with nvidia 680, if you want a mid,low range card, normally ATI have good gpus cheaper than NVidia, but that is really relative and changes from time to time.

2) SSD will improve the loading times but the game performance should not be changed.

3) 4GB ram is enough for any kind of gaming, maybe in some benchmarks you will not get high scores, but 4gb is already good enough but upgrading to 8GB would be cheap, but that is really not important for now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127545
Will let you play diablo 3 normally, diablo 3 will probably not be a very demanding game and that video card is very good, you can find cheaper version of it if you want too like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121418

The only difference is the cooling and minor overclock settings what you can do manually later.

For an nvidia very good video card with extra 20U$:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604

But if you want a more recent graphics card, that have awesome performance for the money, with extra 50 bucks over your 200 you can go with this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102984

 

lchenjr

Distinguished
Mar 29, 2010
52
0
18,630
Thank you Ricardois. Yes, I am trying to keep the budget under 200. but if that Extra $50 will get me a most better performance. Then I would spend it.

Thank you for the links. I will check them out and read reviews.


thanks.
 

lchenjr

Distinguished
Mar 29, 2010
52
0
18,630
Currently, Narrowed my Search down to 3 Video cards.

1) Radeon HD 7770
2) Radeon HD 6870
3) Gtx 560 ti.

1) Does anyone have knowledge on HD 7770? how it performes? will it be able to run Diablo 3 to the MAX?

2) 6870, does anyone having issues with Overheating, or Noise level?

3) is 28nm better than 40nm?

Thanks
 

sinnerhp

Honorable
Apr 16, 2012
17
0
10,510
7770 is going to be a little cooler and require less power. The 6870 is a much better card and the 560ti is equal in some cases worse in some better to the 6870. Your PSU is strong enough I would say take the 7770 out of the equation and make the choice of either of the other two. Many will say go with the 560 ti because everyone knows that ATI drivers just aren't as good as Nvidia. (even though I'm an ATI fan :) ) the 6870 uses slightly less power than the 560ti under load.
Good luck!
 

lchenjr

Distinguished
Mar 29, 2010
52
0
18,630



Thank you very much. So are you saying that the Radeon 7770, even though its on 28nm, it is still not as good as 6870?


How is the noise level compared 6870 to the 7770?

Thanks,

 

sinnerhp

Honorable
Apr 16, 2012
17
0
10,510
The 28nm requires less power to produce and creates less heat. That's about it.

here's a quick rundown:

7770 vs 6870
Idle Power Consumption: 106 / 114 (w)
Long idle Power Consumtion: 100/ 113
Load Power Consumption: 189 / 255

Idle Noise Levels: 40.5 / 40.1 (db)
Load Noise Levels: 44.5 / 51

Battlefield 3 - 1920x1200 ultra + FXAA - High: 33.1 / 43.9 (fps)

*benchmarks courtesy of anantech: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/536?vs=540
 

lchenjr

Distinguished
Mar 29, 2010
52
0
18,630
Thanks all for the feedback. But now I am reading on Amazon and Newegg.

Customers saying that most HD 6870 cards, don't work after 4 month, they over heat and things like that?

Does any one know how such problems?

What about the GTX 560 Ti?
 

ricardois

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2011
1,470
0
19,660
well i already had a lot of problems, with AMD too, same thing overheat, and dead cards, and didn't see much of that in nvidia cards, only when used inproperly.

if you can go with the 560 ti it is a good choice i have one and i know the performance is awesome. 560 ti is closer to be equivalent to 6950, so yes it is better than 6870...
 

sinnerhp

Honorable
Apr 16, 2012
17
0
10,510
Yeah, sorry, this is an incorrect statement. The 6870, although slightly warmer (see previous posts) out performs the 560 ti by at minimum 10%. The 6950 then outperforms 6870.

Honestly, it sounds like you're sort of leaning to towards Nvidia, that 560 IS a good card, don't get me wrong. If it were my choice though however I would pick up that 6870 for I like better FPS and the driver issues shouldn't be a problem for the 6000 series cards. You'll see plenty of good and bad reviews no matter what you choose. Nvidia vs ATI is almost as bad as politics here in the US. Try to remain independent, do a little research and you'll reap the rewards. Check out that link I posted earlier though, and scroll down on it. That's the direct comparison of the 560ti an 6870 via ananatech. Shoot, even Tom's bench marks shows the 6870 out performing the 560.

in any case, good luck. You'll like either card :)
 

ricardois

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2011
1,470
0
19,660



well here is a relative performance graphics:

perfrel_1680.gif


http://img.hexus.net/v2/graphics_cards/nvidia/GTX187/Graphs/COD2.png

http://static.betazeta.com/www.chw.net/up/2011/01/GTX560TI_G9.jpg

i didn't personally tested the 6870, but i think that 560 ti is better only by looking at benchmarks.

 

cbramasco

Honorable
Mar 30, 2012
39
0
10,530
I currently play the Diablo 3 beta. In my machine now, I have a Sapphire 6870 Flex edition. It plays it on its highest settings with no problems. The only issue I have is, this card gives snow. I can be playing and then white specs randomly pop up. Happens in SCII as well. The old GTS-450 I had never had this issue. I will be going back to an nVidia card soon.

Here is a list of cards that are supported by Blizzard for Diablo 3:
http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/video-card-support-for-diablo-iii
 

sinnerhp

Honorable
Apr 16, 2012
17
0
10,510
hah, yeah, okay...I was looking at the comparison charts for the 7770 vs 6870 when I wrote above about the 560ti. The 560 ti is a better card in almost everything, even if it's only better by 1-5 fps per game setting. It still out performs the 6870 with the exception of encryption/decryption and tesslation.

My apologies for spouting off about the 6870 being better than the 560 ti. I should have made sure I was looking at the correct chart :)
Cheers!! (time for a beer!)
 

lchenjr

Distinguished
Mar 29, 2010
52
0
18,630
Well, I am actually leaning towards 6870.......

Kind of at the moment comparing which Brand to get.

So far, I narrow it down with MSI and Sapphire.........

Just don't know which card runs better. Because I keep hearing that there are issues with Fans not working on the video cards...............

Sapphire has a dual fan version, but its hard to find in US.
MSI has an HAWK version, and suppose to be really good, but again some said it could be fan issue. THat the fan just doesn't turn on........

I like a quiet machine. So I am feel like maybe I should just go with 7770, because it is a lot lighter card and sure it suffers in performance, but I am probably not going to run anything other than SC2 and Diablo 3.............

Any Suggestions?
 

ricardois

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2011
1,470
0
19,660


MSI cooling solution is awesome, very quiet and efficient. i think that the 6870 Hawk will be a great option for you the coolers are very silent even at high speeds the noise is very acceptable...
 
Solution
Status
Not open for further replies.