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ATI Video card for a future build

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Ttam Legacy

Ttam Legacy

Registered
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Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Hello,

I'm getting ready to build a new computer, something I haven't done for about 8 years, so I'm totally out of the loop as far as knowing what is good out there. I know I want ATI for sure. What is a good Video card for up to 200.00? Thanks in advance.

:comp:
 
Why do you want to limit yourself to an ATI GPU?

Honestly for $150, the best card out is Nvidia GTX 460 1GB...
 
Well I guess I'm open to suggestions. Back when I was building computers ATI was better the Nvidia. I take it that the game has changed and now Nvidia is better then ATI?

The mother board that I'm looking at, ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD, is set up for crossfire.

I'm going to be using this system for graphics design and gaming, if that helps.


:comp:
 
Ttam Legacy said:
Well I guess I'm open to suggestions. Back when I was building computers ATI was better the Nvidia. I take it that the game has changed and now Nvidia is better then ATI?

The mother board that I'm looking at, ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD, is set up for crossfire.

I'm going to be using this system for graphics design and gaming, if that helps.


:comp:
Click to expand...
8 months ago it was a different story, none the less 8 years!!!

And yeah, I agree, Sandybridge build for a pittance more if you want. ;)
 
Theocnoob said:
Sandybridge.
Build a 2500K based system. You're only looking at an extra $40 over a 6 core AMD. It's faster.
Click to expand...


Not sure what a 2500K system is. Remember, I've been out of the computer loop for a long time. :)

:comp:
 
Spend a week here, read up on some hardware sites like overclockers/anandtec ect. Put together a system you feel is inside of your budget, post it with your budget here and people will point out any holes or bang for your buck that you're missing.

And you'll be in the loop for at least another week :p
 
The short and skinny on nVidia vs AMD (they got rid of the ATI designator) is: nVidia is definately you top end cards. They're a bit more pricey, but they give you that extra boost in nearly every level of card, plus the have CUDA which helps a lot during video rendering. AMD is the bang-for-your-buck card. Usually a bit less expensive, but usually lagging just behind in performance for an equivalent nVidia. I just updated to a AMD 6850 from a 4890. This was my first rig though, and I had been looking for high price-to-performance ratio. However, when I do finally build a new rig (probably at the end of the year) I will spring for an nVidia GTX5XX series, as I'm going more for performance and would like to enter into the benchmarking world. GOOD LUCK!!!
 
pbcranium202 said:
The short and skinny on nVidia vs AMD (they got rid of the ATI designator) is: nVidia is definately you top end cards. They're a bit more pricey, but they give you that extra boost in nearly every level of card, plus the have CUDA which helps a lot during video rendering. AMD is the bang-for-your-buck card. Usually a bit less expensive, but usually lagging just behind in performance for an equivalent nVidia. I just updated to a AMD 6850 from a 4890. This was my first rig though, and I had been looking for high price-to-performance ratio. However, when I do finally build a new rig (probably at the end of the year) I will spring for an nVidia GTX5XX series, as I'm going more for performance and would like to enter into the benchmarking world. GOOD LUCK!!!
Click to expand...

AMD has higher performance than Nvidia at pretty much every level but their drivers suck.

A reflashed 6950/6970 is faster than a 570 for cheaper if you overclock it. A 6990 is way faster than a 590 no matter what.

I like Nvidia better because of PhysX, better drivers, CUDA. You get more frames per dollar out of ATI in most cases and THE fastest card out there is the 6990 (ATI/AMD) right now. (in nerd mode on 450W)
 
Theocnoob said:
AMD has higher performance than Nvidia at pretty much every level but their drivers suck.

A reflashed 6950/6970 is faster than a 570 for cheaper if you overclock it. A 6990 is way faster than a 590 no matter what.

I like Nvidia better because of PhysX, better drivers, CUDA. You get more frames per dollar out of ATI in most cases and THE fastest card out there is the 6990 (ATI/AMD) right now. (in nerd mode on 450W)
Click to expand...

Understand totally but 700+ dollars for a vid card is way out of my budget. I'm looking to spend a total of 700.00 for my entire system, and believe me it is needed BADLY. I'm running a Athlon XP Thunderbird right now. LOL Ancient.

:comp:
 
The best card for the money under $200 is a 6850 and for $210 you can get a 6870 which is worth the extra money imo. Don't limit yourself to one company at all and don't listen to fan boys of any kind. AMD's drivers haven't been the best but I've had 3 ATI cards that have never had any driver issues. Nvidia has more and better technologies like CUDA and PhysX but there's a good chance you won't need that at all. For $200 get a 6850, $150 get a GTX 460 1gb, for $250 get a GTX 560 or a 6950 and unlock it.
AMD doesn't have the best performance at EVERY level. For top end single GPU it's GTX 580, dual GPU AMD and on the budget side they both punch it out. Note though that AMD cards at the 6xxx level do Crossfire better than Nvidia's SLI.
 
EarthDog said:
$6950 is $250.

Grab a 460 1GB for $150 though. Solid midrange card.
Click to expand...

I'll keep that in mind, let me show you guys what I was looking at for a system.

Proccessor: AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX

OR

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT90ZFBGRBOX

Mother board: ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Possible Video Card: XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity


I take it from what I've seen that a 1000W PSU would be a good idea as well.


:comp:
 
1KW PSU? No way! You can get away with half that (Corsair 550VX to name one).

I would also get 6870 vs 5870 (6870 a bit slower, note but more efficient in dx11/tesselation), and if you are throwing down the cash for that hex, get a sandybridge based system for the same price.

I also imagine you dont need 8GB of ram... do you?

noob...buddy...you are a funny dood. Make sure your information is straight my man. :)
 
Last edited:
Not a bad system but a couple pointers.
First off 1000W is overkill. That system can easily run off a 650W PSU. Go 750W as my recommendation. Systems don't use as much power under heavy load as you'd think. You really won't see more than 450W usuage during heavy game play.
CPU wise the 6 Core will benefit you greatly in the long haul. And has shown to improve FPS in games that use more threads. There also cheap now.
Video card wise that 5870 will probably give you the best performance for your money but I'd still suggest keep up with the new generation cards. That XFX model also isn't very good in terms of overclocking and cooling but again it's cheap. Tough call on this one, save money on the PSU and get a GTX 560 or unlock a 6950. If you don't have the extra dough then go with the 5870.
 
6950 is the best bang for your buck at the moment. If you can't go as high as $240, then a 460 for $150 is also a great deal.


Top end cards (like the 6950) will last you at least a year.

My 5870, which I bought in Feb 2010, lasted until 2 days ago. It was still a top range card too! 1920x res and high quality settings still blew 60+ fps in most new games. Only reason I bought a 6950 was a great deal and knowing that my 5870 was still a beast and resellable (it's in the classifieds for cheap...)
 
BigTerminator said:
Not a bad system but a couple pointers.
First off 1000W is overkill. That system can easily run off a 650W PSU. Go 750W as my recommendation. Systems don't use as much power under heavy load as you'd think. You really won't see more than 450W usuage during heavy game play.
CPU wise the 6 Core will benefit you greatly in the long haul. And has shown to improve FPS in games that use more threads. There also cheap now.
Video card wise that 5870 will probably give you the best performance for your money but I'd still suggest keep up with the new generation cards. That XFX model also isn't very good in terms of overclocking and cooling but again it's cheap. Tough call on this one, save money on the PSU and get a GTX 560 or unlock a 6950. If you don't have the extra dough then go with the 5870.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on the PSU. Getting a 750 instead will help keep the price down a bit. I was leaning towards the 6 core so I'll take your advice there for sure. Thanks again for your input. :)

:comp:
 
vixro said:
6950 is the best bang for your buck at the moment. If you can't go as high as $240, then a 460 for $150 is also a great deal.


Top end cards (like the 6950) will last you at least a year.

My 5870, which I bought in Feb 2010, lasted until 2 days ago. It was still a top range card too! 1920x res and high quality settings still blew 60+ fps in most new games. Only reason I bought a 6950 was a great deal and knowing that my 5870 was still a beast and resellable (it's in the classifieds for cheap...)
Click to expand...

I can swing the 6950. Sounds like that is a very doable card. I mostly play WoW, but I definitely want to be able to run Battlefield 3 when It comes out.

:comp:
 
EarthDog said:
1KW PSU? No way! You can get away with half that (Corsair 550VX to name one).

I would also get 6870 vs 5870 (6870 a bit slower, note but more efficient in dx11/tesselation), and if you are throwing down the cash for that hex, get a sandybridge based system for the same price.

I also imagine you dont need 8GB of ram... do you?

noob...buddy...you are a funny dood. Make sure your information is straight my man. :)
Click to expand...


Thanks for the input. :) Yeah, I probably don't need 8 gigs of ram but for 100 bucks, why not. :)

:comp:
 
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