Graphics Whats the best Graphics card?

Hey
So, basically, im building a new pc, and have been reading reveiws on loads of diffrent gpus, but i make a descision on one then i see one thats a bit better, and i was just wondering what you all think is a good gpu just now? I want one that can play all the new games in high detail, or as close as possible, any help would be greatly appreciated

 

What sort of budget have you got and what resolution is your monitor?

 

Budget is around 250, can push it a bit if i find something really good tho, and resolution, dont yet have a monitor but for now probably just 1920x 1080 was looking into a higher res monitor but quite expensive just now and 1920x1080 is enough for me just now

 

At that budget and resolution I'd recommend a GTX 570. You can pick one up for around £250 on Scan. Other people will be able to suggest brands etc. However this is the one I'm currently looking at: Clicky.

 

GTX 570 . Great or the money. And at that res, it'll be good for a long time too.

Edit; ninja'd. Singing from the same page here though.

 

GeneGenie are you aware that MSI card has the old GTX 480 cooler? Might be a screamer as the reference design for a GTX 570 has a vapour chamber which is much revered! Also that is a damned good price for a GTX 570 just under £230 on the PNY. How are PNY for service and is that a reference design GTX 570?

 

I didn't realise that no, good job you pointed it out as I was planning on using it in my new build, which I'm trying to keep as quiet as possible!

That price looks good for a GTX 570 but I must say I haven't heard much about PNY, if anyone has had any experience it would be good to hear it!

I've heard some good things about EVGA so may be worth giving their cards a look.

 

Also look at the 6950/6970 cards.

 

I've had recent experience with PNY. My wife's 8800GTS broke 2 days inside it's warranty, contacted PNY half expecting to be fobbed off but to their credit they arranged an RMA without any fuss and she now has a new replacement GTS450 in her PC. Their support was friendly and helpful throughout, I was very pleasantly surprised.

I'd definitely buy PNY brand stuff again.

 

Do they have a UK based RMA service?

 

Well i had looked at a sapphire hd6970 2gb, but have heard the cooling fan can be loud, does anyone no if this is true? And whats ur veiws on the card overall?

 

I had to send it to France, but their support was in English, apart from the extra day or so it took me to send it to them I don't think there'd be any difference. They couriered out the replacement with next day delivery.

 

I dont know much about the fan but, going for a 6950 and then flashing it to 6970 would be cheaper, although i think the 6970 overclocks slightly better

 

So is the 6970 one of the best for its price? Iv looked at diffrent nvidia cards but cant seem to see any 2gb ones that seem good, maybe im looking in the wrong places though

 

At 1920x1080, VRAM doesn't really factor in, so don't be fooled by thinking 2GB will give you better performance.

While others may talk about being able to buy a 6950 and flashing it with a 6970's BIOS, do be aware that this depends on 3 things: 1) You have the 2GB model 6950, 2) Your card has a reference PCB, not a customised one, 3) All the SP cores on the chip are fully functional and aren't actually broken. While you could get lucky, I wouldn't base your purchasing decision on something like this, especially when AMD could lock out this loophole without anyone knowing about it. There's also the issue that a flashed 6950 actually consumes more power and puts out more heat than a stock 6970.

As far as I'm aware, the 6970 is equivalent to the 570. Tbh, it's really a toss-up between the two now, and the differentiating factor is now features. Nvidia supports 3D Vision, PhysX and CUDA (if you have software that will use that such as Folding@home), while AMD supports Eyefinity for multi-monitor gaming, and generally tends to be more power-efficient. Personally, I find Nvidia's driver support to be better which wins it for me, but honestly they're pretty much level.

 

The reason i had went for 2Gb was because id read reviews saying on some games at 1920x1080 using over 1Gb, and i dont mind spending more for 2Gb gpu, and its just gaming it will be used for, and i had read that the 6970 has really good performance in most games just now, but also i want one that will have good performance in new games coming out also

 

The most expensive one of course.

 

I got a Gtx580OC and it does everything at 1920x1080 and its awsome the EVGA 1280MB GeForce GTX 570 HD Superclocked is just under £250 at Scan and is like a 580 light, so not bad at all.

 

I have just built my first new PC for years so I did a lot of research and got a lot of advice from the Bit Tech forum. I went for a GTX580 but only because I am going for a 1920x1200 monitor and had a higher budget. If I was going for a 1080 monitor I would have gone for a GTX 570, you can get an EVGA GTX570 for £251 and if you register it with EVGA within 30 days you get a 10 year warranty. EVGA are renowned for their warranty and service. Also you can get free delivery from Scan for being a Bit Tech forum member with 20 posts

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1280...mhz-gddr5-gpu-797mhz-shader-1594mhz-480-cores

The Nvidia cards are the pick of the crop at the moment as they handle tessellation and anti aliasing better than the current AMD cards, which is good for the upcoming Battlefield 3 and the Frostbite engine. Which is the only reason I built a new PC.

 

Do remember that there is no guarantee that you can flash the 6950 to a 6970. Some do, some don't. Don't buy the card thinking you can definately flash it to the higher model.