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Weekend Open Forum: Time for a graphics card upgrade?
On the budget and mid-range levels things were dictated a bit earlier. ATI bombarded the market with new releases in the sub-$200 segment that not always lived up to expectations. Nvidia had nothing new to show here and instead relied on product refreshes and a price cutting strategy that nonetheless has served the gamer on a budget really well so far. On a recent tech tip we summarized what's hot in the market of budget graphics cards.
The upper mainstream and high-end segments could be considered complete with the new GeForce GTX 480 and 470. Unfortunately these cards have not challenged any positions held by competing Radeon HD 5000 products and instead have slotted in-between ATI products both in terms of performance and price. ATI still has the availability upper hand and from what we recently saw while testing a Fermi board, the Radeons are also more efficient.
With all this in mind - not to mention that Crysis 2 is on its way - are you considering a graphics card upgrade in the near future? Or perhaps you didn't wait around for Nvidia and have already grabbed an existing Radeon offering? Tell us about your GPU pick, and what graphics card you are upgrading from. Moreover, was there a gaming title in particular that inspired the upgrade? Discuss.
User Comments: 67
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Souljacker said:
I'm still running an 8800GTX, might get a 5770 soon.
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I have always been a fan of Nvidia but im thinking of getting an ATI card next. Im slowly building a new PC for Windows 7 64bit and will use a quad core AMD CPU.
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I have always been a fan of Nvidia but im thinking of getting an ATI card next. Im slowly building a new PC for Windows 7 64bit and will use a quad core AMD CPU. The Fermi release wasn't that great. And im noticing that more high end systems are using ATI cards.
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Where do I begin?
My first few cards were nvidia...
Then I saw the light...
I'm always going with the underdog, why? Because competition is a win/win for the consumer (us).
We love to always have a winner but now days the distance between a winner and a runner up is a hair thick.
I have a Spider platfom with AMD 940 and 4 3870 toxics ,a Dragon platform with AMD 955 and 3 4870 Powercolors that woulld put many to shame. What do I mostly use you may ask? A lowly AMD 9850 with a single 9800gt Calibre P980 and let me tell you...This one also kicks butt!
The Light that I saw showed me that you just can not keep up with all that comes out if you are a regular John and work for a living, support a family and the sort.
Just enjoy what you have or can get. Let the big guys duke it out while you sit it out and enjoy reading whats going on. Did I make any sence? It's ok to be a fan boy and act like one...Also remember we have the power to tell this big companies what we want by what we buy. Do we need 300 fps for a game? or do we just want to turn off the computer when we go to bed with a smile on our faces because we actually enjoyed what we played?
When we pass away and go to the (wherever) cant take the computer with us...Only what we enjoyed!
Meanwhile, KEEP ON OVERCLOCKING BABY! Oh YEAH!
QuantumMech
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I'm happy with my GTX 260, gona buy another for SLI.
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Philosophy, spirituality, and crossfireX in one post.....
Where do I begin?My first few cards were nvidia...
Then I saw the light...
I'm always going with the underdog, why? Because competition is a win/win for the consumer (us).
We love to always have a winner but now days the distance between a winner and a runner up is a hair thick.
I have a Spider platfom with AMD 940 and 4 3870 toxics ,a Dragon platform with AMD 955 and 3 4870 Powercolors that woulld put many to shame. What do I mostly use you may ask? A lowly AMD 9850 with a single 9800gt Calibre P980 and let me tell you...This one also kicks butt!
The Light that I saw showed me that you just can not keep up with all that comes out if you are a regular John and work for a living, support a family and the sort.
Just enjoy what you have or can get. Let the big guys duke it out while you sit it out and enjoy reading whats going on. Did I make any sence? It's ok to be a fan boy and act like one...Also remember we have the power to tell this big companies what we want by what we buy. Do we need 300 fps for a game? or do we just want to turn off the computer when we go to bed with a smile on our faces because we actually enjoyed what we played?
When we pass away and go to the (wherever) cant take the computer with us...Only what we enjoyed!
Meanwhile, KEEP ON OVERCLOCKING BABY! Oh YEAH!
QuantumMech
Philosophy, spirituality, and crossfireX in one post.....
who saw that coming
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I am in sore need of a GPU upgrade. My current card, an 8500gt with 256mb struggles to max out even very old games at high resolution. I probably will upgrade it within the next 6 months, to a 5770 or something of a similar price at the time.
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I personally think the heatsink design of fermi is very advanced and if ATI's heatsinks used on fermi.. the GPU will be cooked & explode in less than 10 seconds, now i'm not saying nvidia design is bad, but their mistakes is designing a GPU that can do the CPU calculations.. please nvidia next time stick to what you do best and that's by designing a gaming GPUs.
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Timonius said:
I'm going to have to let Nvidia re-proove themselves for the next few motnhs at least. I won't be buying a new upper end graphics card untill the dust settles a bit. My current focus is acutally an interim cpu/mobo upgrade.
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I went from a Intel G41 integrated graphics "solution", to a Core i3-530 integrated graphics "solution". Does that even count in this discussion? Should I not have admitted to that....?
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I went from a Intel G41 integrated graphics "solution", to a Core 13-530 integrated graphics "solution". Does that even count in this discussion? Should I not have admitted to that....?
Intel graphics!!! why that's even worse than a Fermi! oh my god I cant believe it, what a rube!
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Intel graphics!!! why that's even worse than a Fermi! oh my god I cant believe it, what a rube!
The G41 graphics score a pitiful 3.5 in Windows 7 Experience Index, and the Core i3-530 comes in at 5.3..! Arguably bad is still bad, but that's a big improvement when tasked to a HTPC or similar use.
And no, I am not deluding myself into believing that it will play Crysis..! Which is quite serendipitous, since I neither have a copy, or know how to play it in the first place. So there!
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I had free time on my hands and decided to rank the 15 graphics cards used in the the GTX480 test:
1st HD5870 Crossfire
2nd HD5970
3rd GTX295
4th GTX480
5th HD4870X2
6th HD5870
7th HD5770 Crossfire
8th HD5850
9th GTX285
10th HD5830
11th GTX275
12th HD4890
13th GTX260
14th HD4870
15th HD5770
As far as it goes for me here in New Zealand, HD5850 gives me the most bang for my buck, so I'll probably get that.
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Believe it or not the G41 graphics score a 3.5
that's the highest IGP WEI i have seen, but as long as her ....well...nevermind
And no, I am not deluding myself into believing that it will play Crysis..! Which is quite serendipitous, since I neither have a copy, or know how to play it in the first place. So there!you know denial is the first sign.....yer a closet Crysis player aint yas?
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that's the highest IGP WEI i have seen, but as long as her ....well...nevermind
Yeah well, it'll do .wmv video too, so there! Why just last night I was watching "Fist of Furry".
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I will more than likely just pick up a 4890 since i only game at 1680 x 1050 i have a 4850 so ill get a nice little boost then ill wait till the new revised cards come out from ati and get one of them
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Yeah well, it'll do .wmv video too, so there! Why just last night I was watching "Fist of Furry".
I saw that!! it was a double feature with 'Mr Holland groped us'
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I'm thinking of getting this http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=46788&vpn=HD5
5AZNBC&manufacture=XFXthoughts?
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my 8800GT is still doin great!
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I took up R5770 when my 9800GTX overheated (though now it's repaired). My, my am I glad that the R5770 (factory OC) is way cooler than the 9800GTX at stock speed. Well I guess I won't me getting the Fermi at all not wanting to harm my room any further. BTW, I live in a place with 365 days of summer.
I might just get another 5770 in CrossfireX or jump over to R5870 or whatever that comes next from ATI. The former is my priority now as graphic card prices are not cheap nowadays.
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Two weeks ago i upgraded from my evga 8800GT SSC to a 5770. I have to say im dissappointed, dont get me wrong, the 5770 is good card, great value. I just expected a higher increase in performance.
The performance increase in may case was 10-30% depending on the game, i guess ill have to get a GTX 470 after all.
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Staff
I currently have a watercooled 8800GTS 512MB G92
I will upgrade when Crysis 2 is released, currently the games that are out work ok with my setup
And I think by the time Crysis 2 is released there might have been a die shrink to 28nm for the ATI cards so the more reason for me to wait since I don't really feel the need to upgrade right now, I am also eyeing the 2GB 5870; it seems to make a big difference for minimum framerates at high resolutions
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Well I'm glad I made the right call, and bought 5770, although i'm not an avid gamer (at best a casual one); I may choose to put another one to have a 5770 CF. I guess, this time around, I am not going green for a while anyway.
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Right now I have a GeForce 9800GT 512MB and I would really like to either upgrade to a HD 5870 Vapor X(the only 5870 that can fit in my CM Scout case) or a GTX 470, I have an SLI motherboard so it will probably be the GTX 470 in the end but it's a shame how much power the new fermi cards use and how hot they get at load.
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Yad said:
I had an 8600GT and bought in october when was released an 5770.
So far i have been really pleased with it although i think my Cpu is slowing it down :/
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