Video Cards

[Brad P]

Hello,

My name is Brad, and I have recently been looking around for a new video card for my PC. I have narrowed my research down to 2 cards, but cant tell which would be the best choice. The two cards are listed below along with direct links to the website that I will be purchasing the card from:

First Card ($169.99):
ASUS ENGTX560 DCII OC/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Website: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121446

or

Second Card (209.99):
ASUS ENGTX560 TI DCII TOP/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Wesbite: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425&Tpk=ASUS%20ENGTX560%20TI%20DCII%2f2DI%2f1GD5%20GeForce%20GTX%20560%20Ti

Now, I have taken the time to look and research both of these cards and the differences between the two falls down in to differences between 3 specs, which are listed below:

First Card ($169.99)
Core Clock - 850 MHz
Shader Clock - 1700 Mhz
CUDA Cores - 336

Second Card ($209.99)
Core Clock - 900 MHz
Shader Clock - 1800 MHz
CUDA Cores - 384

Now, I guess my question for whoever is reading this is simply this: Is the $40 difference between the card's going to have a significant impact on the card's performance simply due to a total of 150 MHz and 48 CUDA Cores?

 

[Bejusek]

560 Ti is some 10-15% faster than non-Ti one. Have a look at these reviews:

560 ti DCII:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti_Direct_Cu_II/6.html

560 TOP:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_560_TOP_Direct_Cu_II/6.html

560 ti comes OC'ed less than 560 TOP (compared to the reference design) and probably can be overclocked relatively more, gaining even more performance lead.

Is it worth the money? Look at the performance charts for your resolution and decide for yourself.

 

[EzioAs]

You can get a Radeon HD7850 2GB lower than $200 at newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=radeon%207850&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20. Even an HD7870 can be had for $219 ($199 after rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=radeon%207870&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20. If you prefer Nvidia, some GTX660 can be had for $210-220 and even lower after rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=gtx660&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20.

All 3 cards I mentioned are better than a GTX560ti in terms of performance and power efficiency. Plus they all have 2GB VRAM which is very useful in modern games. It's really a waste to get either the GTX560ti or non-ti right now unless they are really cheap.