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Upgrade? Bang for Buck... 200$ Range

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Plasmoid_Man

Registered
Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Hey all... I haven't upgraded in a while and am curious as to what is going to get me the biggest bang for my buck.

I am currently running a 9800 GX2 with a 9800 GTX as the PhysiX card. I can play most games pretty well but am going to be playing some StarWars soon and maybe some BF3, so I'm looking at a reasonable increase in GPU.

I'd love to keep it under 200 but I guess we'll have to see. Any recommendations? Should I just grab another 9800 GX2 and SLI it? or bump up to a 550 TI? or even more so to a 560 or 570?

What's the biggest bang for buck here?

Thanks!
 
What resolution do you game at?

The 9800GX2 in quad SLI produces some horrible results, due to being 4 GPUs the scaling is very poor so I would avoid going down that route.

Also, you could sell the 9800GTX as a dedicated PhysX card isn't really needed IMO. Even now only a small amount of games worth playing actually feature it and even then most cards can handle PhysX on the side.

The GTX570 gets more bang for the buck here in the UK at least. It isn't that much slower than the GTX580 and is so much cheaper! People have been playing BF3 with high settings quite successfully and will probably be the best choice.

Here is a chart comparing your current card with the GTX550 TI, GTX560TI, 570 and 580.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/chart...=on&prod[4833]=on&prod[4913]=on&prod[4837]=on

I would look and see which card gets the performance increase you want for the price. The 550TI actually looks a bit slower than your current card. I would pick the 570 looking at that list
 
I was going to suggest at least a 560ti without knowing anything else about your system or your resolution. The 560ti can be had for around $200, with room to add another for SLI in a few months when the price drops precipitously after the 600-series comes out. I'd guess you'll be able to pick one up for around $100-125 new, maybe under $100 used.

The other option is the 570 for about another $75 out of pocket and then a $50 rebate. This would give you better performance and better SLI later. Personally, I think the performance increase from the 560ti to the 570 is much bigger than from the 570-to-580 upgrade, and the price is much higher to do the latter.

So... my vote, if money is really tight, do the 560ti and plan on SLIing later, but if you can save for a few more weeks and put a little more into it, do the 570.

This is all assuming 1920x1080. Most of those results on the page linked above are at lower resolution. If you're running 1920x1080, I'd definitely choose the 570.
 
Yeah, my monitor runs at 1680 x 1050, so I'll look around for a 570. I think I should be able to afford that.

Thanks all.
 
If you are running at 1680 x 1050 you would be fine with a 560ti.

+1. 1680x1050 is perfect for a GTX 560Ti. Higher resolutions may require a GTX 570.

The GTX 560Ti is a hell of a card and can handle a lot of today's games on the higher end of graphic settings, too. Take a look at the review over at Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-gf114,2845.html

However, the GTX570 has a ton of bang for the buck. It's a hell of a card as well. And in my honest opinion, worth the extra ~100-150 above your budget.
 
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