Graphics card upgrade

[Gifted]

So I need to upgrade my graphics card, I currently have an ati radeon hd 5700. My price range is around $300. Any suggestions on what the best graphics card I can get around that price? What are your thoughts on this card...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130809

[Ffran]

*/drools

[Gifted]

Haha does that mean it's a good card for the money? The only bad thing I heard about it was overheating and artifacting...but I'm sure that was people who fail at overclocking.

[Powergirl]

I have no problems with the Nvidia 660 Ti as a performance card, but buying one from EVGA is not something I would do.

I'm currently running a 560 Ti that was manufactured by ASUS, and it runs quiet and cool(relative cool for a video card).

I wouldn't bother over clocking a 660 Ti at this point since there is no reason to (it already owns any game you might play it on) and in general, the 600 series cards are over kill at this point, next year they wont be though, so buying them now ensures you'll have a card that can play "any game" for a few years to come.

It isn't that I've heard anything specifically bad about EVGA, but my experience with ASUS has been so good over the years that I simply haven't had a reason to shop any where else. If ASUS makes it, I buy it from them, and it's been as simple as that for six of seven years now. Sometimes things malfunction, but they've always taken care of me. When they couldn't fix a laptop I owned, they gave me a free upgrade (The laptop I got back was roughly 2.5 times better than the one they couldn't fix).


The 660 ti is currently one of the best video cards in the world, and you will not be disappointed.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

[Gifted]

Thanks powergirl, you should be a sales rep. I will most likely pick up the nvidia 660 ti sometime this week.

[Cremate]

The 660ti was originally what I was going to use in my build. It uses the same chip set as the 670 and 680, but just fewer cuda cores. Its a good choice. However, don't get the reference 660ti... try the MSI PE or Asus.

[Powergirl]

Thanks powergirl, you should be a sales rep. I will most likely pick up the nvidia 660 ti sometime this week.

Nice, grats on the new card. It definitely looks like a gorgeous card.

I bought my 560 ti about a year and a half ago and it's still very competitive and will probably continue to be able to play games on at least medium settings for the next two years. I'd guess your 660 ti will likely see about as much life and honestly, I would say you could probably get 5 or more years out of it, provided you take care of it (Frequent dusting, cleaning the copper contacts every so often (do not do this if you don't feel 100% confident you know what you're doing), never ever over clocking it, and never ever playing a video game with higher FPS than you need (around 30 is all anybody needs, these lunatics that brag about 200+ FPS are only killing their cards, it's essentially the same thing as putting a V8 into a moped)

In general, if you're interested in staying slightly ahead of the curve, I would recommend buying a new video card once every 3 years but not if a new series if about to be released or was recently released (it's always good to wait about 6 months before you buy a card from a new series so they can release different iterations, the 600 series did not launch with the 660 Ti for example)

[Gifted]

Thanks cremate ill look into those and I'll do alittle more research before I pull the trigger. Thanks power for the info.

[Gifted]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... llFullInfo

going with that card, what do you guys think? I think its a winner and deserves to be in my PC a.s.a.p. Going to put the order in sometime today.

[Powergirl]

I can't speak on the quality of MSI, but 259 votes with an average of five stars can't be bad.

[Cremate]

Good choice. I am using the 670 version of that MSI PE. You won't be dissappointed.

[Zelashi]

EVGA makes quality stuff, dont listen to the haters.
I'm using two EVGA 660ti in SLI. you can get the superclocked version for almost the same price(the 3662 model) which are the ones i have.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... alParent=1
Also, the primary reason i went with the evga cards is because they exhaust outside the case whereas most 3rd party companies have fans that exhaust inside. external exhaust helps big time in keeping temps down. lower temps = better performance.

[Powergirl]

EVGA makes quality stuff, dont listen to the haters.
I'm using two EVGA 660ti in SLI. you can get the superclocked version for almost the same price(the 3662 model) which are the ones i have.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... alParent=1
Also, the primary reason i went with the evga cards is because they exhaust outside the case whereas most 3rd party companies have fans that exhaust inside. external exhaust helps big time in keeping temps down. lower temps = better performance.

I can see that. I never said that EVGA made crap products, I just said I wouldn't buy them because I have no reason to, because I buy ASUS stuff when I can. It's just brand loyalty, not a smear campaign.

[Cremate]

external exhaust helps big time

That's false to a sensible extent. The difference in your ambient case temperatures is miniscule... and the temperatures on your actual GPU itself are higher if you use an external exhaust reference card, such as the EVGA model you linked. If your case has half-decent airflow (more than just one intake and one exhasust) something like the MSI TwinFrozr GPU cooler design that Gifted linked is better on your GPU lifespan... since your GPU temperature is lower, despite the ambient temperatures of the case being slightly higher. Unless you are seriously overclocking your CPU, the GPU is the hottest concern in your case.

[Gifted]

I hate how I can't quote from my phone ...anyways, thanks guys. Ordered it this afternoon before I passed out. 1 day shipping. It will be in my pc tomorrow. I can't wait to raid with quality and more than 15 fps haha. I'm sooo excited!!!!!