Selecting a video card

[MattyB13]

Hey guys, Im sure this is a redundant topic but I would appreciate some input. I am putting together a system for the first time in some years and have not really kept up. I have some loyalty to Nvidia but I am open to suggestions.

What I have ordered thus far:
Cooler Master HAF 932 advanced
GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-UD3H LGA 1150 Intel Z87
Intel Core i5-4670K
XFX P1-850X-XXB9 850W PS

I am willing to spend up to $400 but would really like to keep it more like $350 or below if possible. Cards I am looking at:

EVGA 04G-P4-2768-KR GeForce GTX 760 4GB 256-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130949

GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423

GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-4GD GeForce GTX 670 4GB 256-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125449

GIGABYTE GV-N66TOC-3GD GeForce GTX 660 Ti 3GB 192-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125450

GIGABYTE GV-N670WF2-2GD GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125438

EVGA 02G-P4-3677-KR GeForce GTX 670 FTW Signature2 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130843

So I have not exactly narrowed it down, but I doubt I can go wrong with any of these at the same time. Its small things tripping me up here such as 2GB vs 4GB. And if anyone wants to make an argument for AMD/ATI please do, I dont know much about their products and have never owned one. Anyways, general info would be appreciated as I have not been familiar with up to date hardware in about 6 years.

Also, it seems which games you play is a factor these days based on other threads... BF3/4, skyrim, and Rome 2 are what I am looking at.

Thanks a lot, I appreciate any input.

 

[aatje92]

Get a 7970, better than all the cards you listed and in your budget.

 

[MattyB13]

Get a 7970, better than all the cards you listed and in your budget.

Thanks for the speedy response, can you elaborate a little? I have been hearing things about Nvidia technologies not available through Radeon cards such as PhysX though I do not exactly know what this would do for me. I am willing to research Radeon though I have owned multiple Nvidia cards and have been happy with them. Do you have a particular manufacturer you recommend? I noticed XFX makes Radeon cards now and I have had good experiences with them in the past.

Thanks

 

[MattyB13]

Forgot to mention, I am also interested in SLI/crossfire down the line if that makes a difference in anyones thinking.

Thanks.

 

[aatje92]

PhysX is nothing interesting, modern cpu's can handle that fine, and only a handfull of games use it. If you're going for a radeon card, i can advise you to get a Sapphire card, they mostly have the best prices, best support, and best quality as a 100% AMD partner.

The 7970 is about as fast as a GTX770, so it's faster than all those you listed, also the 7970 overclocks like crazy (if you're into that).

 

[bryonhowley]

I would agree with the above.

If you still want to go Nvidia look at the GTX 770 2gb version. It would be cheaper than the 4gb and is a great card also. Really there is not much need for more than 2gb VRam at this time 2gb will work just fine all it does really is add to the cost of the card.

I run a SLI GTX 670 setup in Surround on 3 Asus 27" monitors and have not run into any problems with games and I only have 2gb versions. I have not upgraded to the GTX 770 simply because I have not ran into any games my GTX 670's can not handle so for me there is no point in sidegrading yet.

 

[MattyB13]

Well thanks for the input, I have a decision to make now lol. I will start looking into the 7970 today.

 

[MattyB13]

One more question I forgot to ask earlier.. How is driver support/stability for the Radeon cards? I have heard it can be kind of iffy compared to Nvidia support but of course I have no way of knowing.

Thanks

 

[aatje92]

The drivers are fine, used to be a bit weird a while ago but they solved that