New video card recommendations

xplag

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I'm throwing a new PC together (i7 920 and 850W PSU) and I don't know what to get for a graphics card.

Preferably I'd like it to be future proof (as far as you can get right now) but under the 400 mark. I have no objection to SLI or X-Fire.

If you know of any good deals or have recommendations, let me know plz!
 
ATi radeon 5850/70 if you can find one in stock

like this

My local FRY's had them in stock, so you should check your local shop
 
I'd go with two 5770s to be honest. It's future proofed and I think is pretty close to the same price as the 5870, and is better.
 
grab up a 5850 and OC it. the performance boost between the 5850-5870 isn't worth the extra 100-130 bucks at all. in the future if you need to you can grab up another when it drops in price if you want to crossfire. they are probably the only things that are future proof right now because it has all the new tech. also the performance will be upped in a couple months once a ring of new drivers are released.
thats my recommendation anyway
 
My rule of thumb is always get the most powerful single card setup you can afford.

That way, when prices drop, you can always add another for cheap.

At this point you're looking at a 5850/5870(if you can find one, 5870 is about $10 over your limit) or a GTX 285.
 
buy a better video card so the graphic in css will be AWESOME
and more FPS
 
For your price budget, get Crossfire 5770.
They perform on par with a 5870 and better in games that support dual-video cards.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5770-review-test/14

Only loses to the 5870 in Crysis Warhead by a margin of like 7 FPS. Otherwise, its better.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447&cm_re=5770-_-14-150-447-_-Product

$360 for 2 of them.....and XFX is a good brand, good warranty too so no needs to worry. I've also seen Overclocks on their 5850/5870 and they reached some pretty high overclocks. They crossfired a 5850/5870 and got 1000mhz core 1200mhz memory, only possible because the 5870 was coupled with it i think.
 
For your price budget, get Crossfire 5770.
They perform on par with a 5870 and better in games that support dual-video cards.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5770-review-test/14

Only loses to the 5870 in Crysis Warhead by a margin of like 7 FPS. Otherwise, its better.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447&cm_re=5770-_-14-150-447-_-Product

$360 for 2 of them.....and XFX is a good brand, good warranty too so no needs to worry. I've also seen Overclocks on their 5850/5870 and they reached some pretty high overclocks. They crossfired a 5850/5870 and got 1000mhz core 1200mhz memory, only possible because the 5870 was coupled with it i think.

I still think getting a 5850 now for the same price, and then picking another one up in maybe ~6 months for possibly as low as $200 is a better option. Maybe that's just me and my upgrading self.
 
I still think getting a 5850 now for the same price, and then picking another one up in maybe ~6 months for possibly as low as $200 is a better option. Maybe that's just me and my upgrading self.

no, i agree......its always better to pick up something like a 5850 now and getting a 2nd on in the future but you'd be paying almost as much as a 5970 almost, around $100 less though.....even when the price drops to $200 in the future. 5970 is like $610 cheapest if you can find one but gives crazy performance. 5970 is in a good price range right now, i can't wait till the 5950 comes out in like the $400's-$500.....best price/performance ratio.

Crossfire 5770 is good enough for most people tho =/ scales extremely well according to the benchmarks.

Either option is fine depending on him. Crossfire 5770 will run all games max pretty much except Crysis and like Far Cry 2 somewhat.
 
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Crossfire 5770 is good enough for most people tho =/ scales extremely well according to the benchmarks.

Either option is fine depending on him. Crossfire 5770 will run all games max pretty much except Crysis and like Far Cry 2 somewhat.

Yeah. I tend to shy away from cross-firing lower end cards though. I like to have a fast single card since CUDA/Stream don't utilize multiple cards efficiently. I would say that some games don't support dual cards but there aren't many of those now-a-days.
 
Yeah. I tend to shy away from cross-firing lower end cards though. I like to have a fast single card since CUDA/Stream don't utilize multiple cards efficiently. I would say that some games don't support dual cards but there aren't many of those now-a-days.

yes.....very few don't see improvements from multiple card solutions. A persons only threat is driver support if they are using multiple card solutions but driver support has gotten fairly good these days and even those benchmarks show promising signs considering the card just came out when they did those crossfire reviews and the scaling is phenomenal.

I would personally go with a single fast card also and CFX/SLI it but its pricier.

I hope to just get a 5970 when theres a huge price drop. The XFX 5970 Black Edition looks insanely sick!! Volt-modding software and all that, plus they are handpicked and the website says they are meant to get 1000mhz core clock and 6.0GBPS memory clock.

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/16486/34/

and

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=233&threadid=123050
this guy said he talked to staff member and they are binned to overclock atleast 1050 core, 1450 memory with voltage increase that comes along in the software provided only for the black edition. Sapphire also has one that only works with the sapphire OC model supposedly so this voltage tuner seems to be exclusive.
 
ehhhh , a single 5850 would rock right now . You could still crossfire in the future with it, 2x 5770's right now would mean 2 new cards in the future. The distant future yes, but you fill both slots now, your gonna need to buy two again.

GTX 285, forget about it. you'd be better off with a single or SLI GTX 260. They are getting on the outdated side compared to ATI right now.

If you could hold it for a min, see how the next gen Nvidia cards perform and go from there.
 
Yeah... maybe I'll wait for Fermi to finally get here next year and just buy a cheap card to tide me over (GTS 250 or 4970 probably)
 
Yeah... maybe I'll wait for Fermi to finally get here next year and just buy a cheap card to tide me over (GTS 250 or 4970 probably)

I'm getting a XFX Geforce GT 240, So i'll let you know how that runs :P
 
Yeah... maybe I'll wait for Fermi to finally get here next year and just buy a cheap card to tide me over (GTS 250 or 4970 probably)

+1

The capabilities of Fermi are amazing. The high end single chip card will probably cost you $450-$550 at launch, but the performance will be amazing(some estimate faster than 5970), in games and in CUDA, etc.
 

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