Wanting to get a new Graphics card. Which one?

[rr5678]

I am in the market for a new graphics card, and I wanted suggestions for a future-proof graphics card.

Here are the specs of my system:

BIOSTAR G41-M7 (PCI-E 1.0a)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (<- GREAT investment, btw )
2GB Hynix DDR2-667
Apower 680 Watt PSU (PCI-E 8 pin connector)
(I didn't list the non-essentials )

I currently use a 7800GTX

 

[dmill89]

Right now the ATI Radeon HD5xxx series is basically the way to go (if you can actually find them in stock). They are currently the only cards that support DirectX11.

Which member of the sreies is mainly an matter of price and desired preformance.
5750/5770 ("mid range" $145-$170 cards roughly equivalent to many high end single GPU cards from last generation)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125302
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102858
The 5850 (one step doen from the top, the best "value" price vs. preformance $300)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102857
The 5870 (currently the most powerfull single GPU card avalible $400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102856 (I currently have one of these and can tell you that it is exelent.)

The only thing that is slightly worrying is your current off brand PSU. Off brand units tend ot bo overrated (not capible of outputting what they say they can), lack protection circuits, and are built with failure prone components makeing them "ticking time bombs" that can take out your system. I would definately reccomend replaceing it.

Here are some reccomendations:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021

 

[rr5678]

Right now the ATI Radeon HD5xxx series is basically the way to go (if you can actually find them in stock). They are currently the only cards that support DirectX11.

Which member of the sreies is mainly an matter of price and desired preformance.
5750/5770 ("mid range" $145-$170 cards roughly equivalent to many high end single GPU cards from last generation)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125302
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102858
The 5850 (one step doen from the top, the best "value" price vs. preformance $300)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102857
The 5870 (currently the most powerfull single GPU card avalible $400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102856 (I currently have one of these and can tell you that it is exelent.)

The only thing that is slightly worrying is your current off brand PSU. Off brand units tend ot bo overrated (not capible of outputting what they say they can), lack protection circuits, and are built with failure prone components makeing them "ticking time bombs" that can take out your system. I would definately reccomend replaceing it.

Here are some reccomendations:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021

Thanks for all that information.

This is the PSU: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=AK680&cpc=SCH
Is it good?

And also, any NVidia cards that are good? (I'm sort of NVidia-biased )

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

This is the PSU: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=AK680&cpc=SCH
Is it good?

No.

Price range would be useful, but consider:
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
SAPPHIRE 100255HDMI Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
for a total of $110.

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
HIS H485FM512H Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
For $175

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail
XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
For $245

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 ... - Retail
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100269VXLE Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
$310

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail
ASUS EAH5850/G/2DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI ... - Retail
$420

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail
SAPPHIRE 100281SR Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video ... - Retail
$510

No the links don't work, but I am lazy, and if you want the links, just look near the bottom of this thread, its where I copied my former post.

 

[dmill89]

This is the PSU: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=AK680&cpc=SCH
Is it good?

And also, any NVidia cards that are good? (I'm sort of NVidia-biased )

I'll seccond the no. That PSU is terrible (any $22 PSU that claims to be 680w is pure junk).

As for Nvidia cards, right now they have no DirectX 11 compatible cards, and are currently one generation behind ATI. Nvidia is also not planning to release any new cards untill at least febuary.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Aside from the minor* availability issue, the HD5000 series is pretty good, just a bit expensive, I suspect the prices would go down after fixing the availability issue and some price cuts.

 

[rr5678]

I'll seccond the no. That PSU is terrible (any $22 PSU that claims to be 680w is pure junk).

As for Nvidia cards, right now they have no DirectX 11 compatible cards, and are currently one generation behind ATI. Nvidia is also not planning to release any new cards untill at least febuary.

I thought it would be a junk PSU