Please help me choose a video card!

[smeelo]

I am looking to build a new computer as mine is getting somewhat outdated.

I will have:
8Gb's of G.Skill ddr3 1600mhz ram
AMD Phenom II X4 Deneb @3.6Ghz
ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard


My current PC specs are:
intel core 2 duo e8400 @3.0Ghz
8gb Samsung ddr3 1333mhz ram
XFX Radeon HD 4890 1gb video card

I want a video card for $220 or less that will outperform my 4890 enough to make it worth the purchase. I'm wanting to play all new games at max settings @ 1280x720. Should I even upgrade my video card at all? Please give me good recommendations as I would like extra consent on picking out a new video card.
I've been looking at the 2Gb XFX Radeon HD 6870 and the GTX 560 ti. Please again help me choose a good card. Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

GTX 560 TI. About 40% performance increase i believe. ( not sure at your res. tho ) Maybe upgrade monitor to ?

 

[lubey]

If the RAM you have in your current system is indeed DDR3, I would just keep that and use the money saved to buy a Radeon 6950 1 GB (or maybe even get the 2 GB version if possible). Upgrading RAM speeds from 1333 to 1600 Mhz will probably give you sweet f/a performance increase and you already have 8 Gigs which is plenty. Those two cards you are looking at are both fine, but might not outperform a 4890 enough to justify the upgrade.

 

[smeelo]

If the RAM you have in your current system is indeed DDR3, I would just keep that and use the money saved to buy a Radeon 6950 1 GB (or maybe even get the 2 GB version if possible). Upgrading RAM speeds from 1333 to 1600 Mhz will probably give you sweet f/a performance increase and you already have 8 Gigs which is plenty. Those two cards you are looking at are both fine, but might not outperform a 4890 enough to justify the upgrade.

My current motherboard is an Intel DP45SG and its max ram is 8gb so I got 4 2gb sticks of ram and would like
to minimize that to 2 sticks so I'm not working my memory controller as much. The new ram I want is only $51 so I'm not too concerned. I guess I could spend an extra $20 and get the Gigabyte 1gb 6950. Do you think a
1gb 6870 or a gtx 560 ti would max out Battlefield 3 with the new setup I'm looking at?

 

[smeelo]

GTX 560 TI. About 40% performance increase i believe. ( not sure at your res. tho ) Maybe upgrade monitor to ?

I'm using a 32" Vizio flatscreen as my monitor. I won't get bad performance at 1280x720 right? I do not really have money to get a new monitor and I like my current one. Games look good to me @1280x720.