Looking at different nVidia graphics cards...

[Aanker]

Hello!

I am currently looking at various nVidia graphics cards to replace my current 8800 GTX at a reasonable price (with an upper bound of perhaps $ 270). The GTX 460 has caught my attention as the 500 series seems to be well outside my economical range, but I am entirely new in this vast expanse of digits and letters which only serve to confuse me. While video memory is fairly easy to understand, I don't know enough about the cards or computers in general to see the difference between, say, a GTX 460 or 480.

I have also found a 'Gigabyte GeForce GTX 550Ti 1 GB PhysX' at the quite generous price of $ 178, but something is telling me that this graphics card can't be much better than the 'Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 1GB PhysX CUDA' card at the slightly higher price of $ 190. Advice would be priceless.

Please note that my aim is to stay within the nVidia brand of graphics cards, simply because it is the only one I am acquintanced with (and it is apparently quite compatible with most games etc.).

Thanks in advance,
Aanker

[Crazyeyesreaper]

560Ti best bang for buck nvidia card out there

460 is pretty much the only worthy 400 series card and its slower but a large margin comapred to a 560Ti

470 and 480 are end of life aka no longer being made and have high heat and extreme power requirements.

depending on your location in the world i can try finding a good price

but for say $270 560ti or AMD 6950 1gb are your best bets.

Fastest 560 Ti available.
Gigabyte Super Overclock $259
Core clock 950mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-369-_-Product

2nd Fastest 560Ti available.
Asus Direct CU II OC $249
Core clock 900mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-425-_-Product

3rd fastest 560Ti available.
MSI Twin frozer II $245
Core clock 880mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-565-_-Product

all 3 cards have better cooling then stock cards so they run quieter cooler and will give you slightly better overall performance compared to stock 560Ti's

Review of the Gigabyte GPU here http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigaby...-soc-review/11
Note that the GTS 450 = 8800gtx in performance roughly also take note of where the stock 560s performance is compared to the Gigabyte card. sometimes its worth paying a bit extra so you dont have to mess around with overclocking yourself if your not familar with it.

[Aanker]

560Ti best bang for buck nvidia card out there

460 is pretty much the only worthy 400 series card and its slower but a large margin comapred to a 560Ti

470 and 480 are end of life aka no longer being made and have high heat and extreme power requirements.

depending on your location in the world i can try finding a good price

but for say $270 560ti or AMD 6950 1gb are your best bets.

Fastest 560 Ti available.
Gigabyte Super Overclock $259
Core clock 950mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-369-_-Product

2nd Fastest 560Ti available.
Asus Direct CU II OC $249
Core clock 900mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-425-_-Product

3rd fastest 560Ti available.
MSI Twin frozer II $245
Core clock 880mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-565-_-Product

all 3 cards have better cooling then stock cards so they run quieter cooler and will give you slightly better overall performance compared to stock 560Ti's

Review of the Gigabyte GPU here http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigaby...-soc-review/11
Note that the GTS 450 = 8800gtx in performance roughly also take note of where the stock 560s performance is compared to the Gigabyte card. sometimes its worth paying a bit extra so you dont have to mess around with overclocking yourself if your not familar with it.

Wow, really informative post, thanks a lot (+rep)!

Also, I live in Sweden.

if budget is an issue go for a stock card. evga/msi/asus would be my top pick. but above post is spot on!

i think you can unlock a 6950 to a 6970 so perhaps that might tempt me towards ati. (extra perf).

just to check whats your psu and cpu clocked at?

I don't know what a PSU is ( ) but my CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.4 GHz (I assume the 'clocking' is the Hz value of the CPU in operation?).

PS. I looked more specifically at the cards you lined up, and I found the two fastest on Swedish sites! The 900 MHz Gigabyte card is sold at $ 255, the 950 MHz Gigabyte 'Super Overclock' card at $ 294, so more expensive than the site you gave me (I don't know if it still is given import costs etc.), e.g. slightly above my upper bound, but that's just looking at one Swedish retailer.

PPS. I found a cheaper retailer for the 950 MHz card, selling it at $ 257, so that looks promising.

[Totalheadache]

if budget is an issue go for a stock card. evga/msi/asus would be my top pick. but above post is spot on!

i think you can unlock a 6950 to a 6970 so perhaps that might tempt me towards ati. (extra perf).

just to check whats your psu and cpu clocked at?

[Crazyeyesreaper]

well for the record the above cards are only around $5- 10 more expensive then the stock 560 Ti gpus.. but in the case of the Gigabyte card at $10 premium its going toe to toe with stock GTX 570 580 and 6970 in most titles meaning extreme performance to value. so saving $10 isnt worth that loss especially since you go back to stock coolers.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

PSU = powersupply, powersupply means no nice shiny new gpu for you.

if your in sweden then give me some online retailers you trust.

for example the UK has ebuyer/ scan.co.uk

usa has tiger direct / newegg.

so on and so on

but anyway if your in sweden you should be using the Euro which should mean the above gpus should be cheaper

and a core 2 duo at 2.4 will bottleneck most modern GPUs today meaning you wont see there full performance,

[Aanker]

PSU = powersupply, powersupply means no nice shiny new gpu for you.

Oh yeah, I didn't see that one coming. Dell stock is 375 W PSU as compared to the recommended of 500 W PSU for the 560Ti.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

to be honest an 8800gtx uses alot of power so in reality your actually lucky the Dell powersupply of 375w lasted this long and has been reliable. as i fried a dell 350w with a single 7800GTX back years ago.

but 8800GTX can use up to 185w
GTX 560 Ti stock uses 202w max overclocking of course increases this id expect the gigabyte card to push 230w max so yea your PSU isnt going to cut it

the 460 is also fairly power hungry compared to similar performance ATi cards. in general your at the cross roads where a better GPU will let you game a bit longer but overall your going to need a full system overhaul soon.

as that Core 2 Duo is quickly becoming the minimum requirment to even let games run.

[Aanker]

You're probably right, I have had this computer for a good three-four years, and my parents have actually been considering the purchase of a new stationary, so that might be the best solution. The problem is, that they are now incredibly turned towards a Mac.

[Karklos]

Sounds like you need an entirely new system.

I don't know what advice I could give on dissuading them from going for a mac. They are considerably more expensive than pc's. Why specifically do they want one?

I suggest You offer to build the new pc yourself. It would save money and I think most parents would be impressed, that you have the aptitude to do it. If they want the security of a warranty, point out that most components will have individual warranties in excess of what you get from the likes of dell/up etc

[Aanker]

Sounds like you need an entirely new system.

I don't know what advice I could give on dissuading them from going for a mac. They are considerably more expensive than pc's. Why specifically do they want one?

Well, they are in some form of 'Apple' extasis and my father, being the technology trinket lover that he is, wants all of his dear little Apple apparature to work together seamlessly, which greatly bothers me. On top of that, my mother agrees with him simply because she believes that Apple will offer a much easier system to handle... Then again, due to my passionate resistance against a Mac, they might just be teasing me.

I suggest You offer to build the new pc yourself. It would save money and I think most parents would be impressed, that you have the aptitude to do it. If they want the security of a warranty, point out that most components will have individual warranties in excess of what you get from the likes of dell/up etc

I have no experience with building computers, but I suppose there are a good number of good tips and tutorials out there?

GTX 560TI is an amazing card.

Yes, I'm getting that impression as well.

If you want my advice, try and pick up a 450 GTS for about $110, and then a better PSU for about $60. It won't be anything fancy, but you'll get another couple of years out of it.

What has caught my attention is however the fact that my CPU is nearing the lower bound of the system requirements, as pointed out by Crazyeyesreaper, so a new system entirely (as people have suggested) seems to be the better solution.

What resolution is your monitor? My 450 can play Battlefield Bad Company 2 on highest settings at around 40 fps.

1024x1280, an old, flat, screen.

[GasMask]

GTX 560TI is an amazing card.

[Bolkonsky]

If you want my advice, try and pick up a 450 GTS for about $110, and then a better PSU for about $60. It won't be anything fancy, but you'll get another couple of years out of it.

What resolution is your monitor? My 450 can play Battlefield Bad Company 2 on highest settings at around 40 fps.

[Bolkonsky]

You'll be fine with a lesser card for a while, unless you plan on getting a new screen.

Heck, you could probably just get a 9800, though I still recommend a 450. If you aren't planning on getting a bigger screen, DO NOT GET one of the more expensive 5xx cards, it will be such a huge waste of money. The highest I would get at that range is a 460, and even then, that's a little overkill and would still suit your needs even if you got a bigger screen.

In regards to the whole PC thing -

You have a cheap temporary solution that will cost ~$150 - $170 or you can put that money aside until you have enough to buy a new rig for ~$800 - $1200 depending on what you want. That's really a choice you have to make.

[Karklos]

There are indeed some good tutorials out there. There are 3-4 useful tutorials stickied in the basement.

I dont know how well off your parents are (?), and you will know better than I the best methods of loosening the purse strings. When I was living at home I probably would have offered to do jobs or linked a reward to a milestone - e.g passing exams etc

I think you could build a very nice system (i5 2500k, ssd, decent graphics card) for just over £800. If you want a nicer monitor and perhaps a new mouse = £1000.
Good luck mate!

[GasMask]

I agree a good PSU is essential just like a good chain on a bike the better it is the longer it lasts etc get a good PSU and a lower end card like above said the 450 GT or GTS etc then upgrade when essential.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

well if there so turned to a mac tell them to watch this.