Best video card for under $300?

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StormRage

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I'm posting this to get a collective opinion on what video card would be the best to buy under $300 for me to get. I want one with the best performance, temps, best overclocking capability, etc.

Things to note/consider/assume:
I WILL overclock
I plan on getting another for SLI or Crossfire later on down the road
I will have an i5 2500k overclocked to 4.5ghz+ and a mobo with two x16 PCI slots
750+ watt PSU
Battlefield 3 and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are on my preorder list...

I'm leaning toward MSI's new 560GTX-ti Twin Frorz II Golden Edition due to the amazing temps and overclocking it has, but the 6950 looks promising as well...
 
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Im running 2 9800 GTX's in SLI with 2 monitors and average 100-115 fps in DOD:S and TF2, 80-90 in BF:BC2 and the same in COD MW4.. and thats factory settings... when I moderatly overclock I average another 15-20 fps.

anything over 160'ish wont be visually noticeable

there is no reason to break the bank on 1 card... hell, every game I play is on its highest settings.
 
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I need these cards to play all the new games coming out and for the next 2+years in 1080p. Think "beast system".
 
LoL, I get 300 fps in DODS, yet I can't manage 30 in metro. DODS is 6 years old.

Your best bet will be a 6950 hopefully unlocking to a 6970.
 
Silent_Predator said:
anything over 160'ish wont be visually noticeable

there is no reason to break the bank on 1 card... hell, every game I play is on its highest settings.
Click to expand...

I won't be breaking bank, I have $300's to blow on a card. You have been keeping up with today's technology right. Battlefield 3 will simply not run ideally on 2 three year old cards.
 
its a high success rate for the 6950 to unlock to 6970 but i would not really do it u will lose some preformince in the gpu if u unlock the 6950. i rather get the 6970 then unlocking it if u can afford it. but if not i would go with the 6950. but u want to sli so.. yea but i dont regret having dual 6950 its AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! its worth it
 
since you edited in the games in question ... I have to agree with ddily.

the 6950 runs varying price by manufacturer , runs $230 - $290

Newegg has the 6970 for $349
 
this is the 6950 that i found to be easy to unlock to a 6970. ASUS EAH6950 DCII/2DI4S/1GD5 Radeon HD 6950. cards will vary and as well of oppions. this card i had an easy time to unlock it.
 
I paid $130 for my EVGA NVIDIA GTX 550 Ti and I can max out any game I throw at it.

I even ran BC2 1600x900 (max my monitor will let me at the moment :/) with everything set to max, including anti-aliasing at 32x and the anisotrophic filter at 16x w/o my fps dropping below 80, even with 2 sets of apache rockets slamming into the ground directly in front of me (lots of dust/smoke and sprites - usually causes fps drops for video cards when it gets to an intense amount).

Sadly... it's not on sale anymore and is back to its $150 original price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625

Stays under 50C in my Antec Three Hundred w/ the 2 case fans set to medium under load.
 
BC2 is not the most graphically intensive game, nor the newest. Not to mention, 1080p is pretty much the standard atm. 550 Ti will not cut it. It may suffice for you, but it will not for the OP.
 
For >$300, I think a 6950 might be your best bet. IMHO, it's a pretty boss card by itself, but if you can unlock it into a 6970 then all the better.
 
the asus gpu i showed u would have been a better choice if u were going to unlock it to a 6970. msi i never had luck i fried both of mine... the xfx is also a good one as well witch huckleberry shows
 
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I just ordered this one, will be arriving at my house on Monday. I don't plan on flashing it to the 6970 though. I can't afford to screw it up XD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372

The one XFX that Huckleberry showed you looks better than the MSI you had picked. It is just slightly stock underclocked, but the cooler looks more solid and is using copper pipes.

This card is more like a combo of XFX and MSI card that has been shown as far as cooling goes. Since you're going to overclock, the clocking won't matter too much. First review does state it's a LOCKED card so no 6970 flash.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102945

I put my vote on the XFX card Huckle showed (:
 
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