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Need new vid card


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So I'm looking to get a new video card that hopefully is at least twice as good as the one I'm currently using, but I'm on kind of a tight budget. I'll give details of my build.

 

I built this comp like 6? years ago. Intel Q9550 quad core, 8gb of DDR2 1066 MHz RAM, and an EVGA GTX260 896mb.

 

I'm really thinking this rig can still runs games for a while if I just upgrade the video card and possibly get a SSD in the near future as well.

 

Basically I know cyber Monday is upon us, and if anyone sees any great deals at around the $100 range for a card that's what I'm looking for, or if anyone upgrades and has one to sell fairly cheap ( so long as the card isn't like beat up or really old) then I'm interested. I'll be looking around tomorrow, but if you guys find any sweet deals would you mind posting them here? Thanks for any and all help!

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for $100, it may not be worth it until you can afford better. You may see a good deal on an older card but it would be better served I think until you can afford a new build in general. Your system is 5 or so years old technology wise. A new video card would give you some boost but not as much as a better videocard and the system to support it (mobo, cpu, RAM).

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Yeah I know. But a new build would cost me upwards of $1000 and I'm already spending a ton on a new heat pump system in my house right now. I might not get to build a completely new rig for a few years still.

 

Also, tigerdirect has a GTX660 Ti right now for $149.99. That sounds like a pretty good deal, right?

Edited by samurai nightling
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  • 2 weeks later...

While an upgrade to your Vid Card certainly will help, I'm going to echo what ZeroDamage said. Lots of games these days are as CPU intensive as GPU intensive. I was in your boat with a Core2Quad Q6600 CPU a few years ago, and that was more of a bottleneck than anything, even after I upgraded by NVidia 8800GTS SLI to a 470SC. The bump you get from picking up a I5 processor is huge, but yes, would run you ~400 bucks depending on what you get.

 

I think the AMD equivalents for Mobo + CPU are much much cheaper though although I don't know much about it. In case you are wondering though, my old system (Q6600 / GTX 470SC / 8GB) runs CSGO at 70-90fps in 5v5. It's pretty much unplayable in pugs though with more players.

 

I too would recommend that you wait until you have ~400-500 bucks on hand to do a system overhaul. I think your estimate of $1000 for new parts is a gross overestimate, especially if you can keep your old hard drives, case, and PSU.

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When i build a new system, I build it NEW. I would be replacing harddrives with SSD. I would be fully upgrading from a DDR2 system to a DDR3 system, so new mobo, CPU, RAM, video card, SSD, and well i could probably keep my PSU. And I don't like to go cheap on my parts. While I get AMD is cheaper, I like Intel. I don't think $1000 is an overestimate by any means.

 

Oh and my current system runs CS:GO at 70-100 FPS (only cuz i cap it at 100) in CMM and 50-100 in our pub. It is by no means unplayable, as I still kill a lot of people and keep a decent K:D. I just thought a new vid card would help a bit for a cheap solution for a while. From what I remember also, a Q9550 blows away a Q6600 performance-wise. It was the highest end CPU besides those ridiculously priced Extreme Core2quads for like $900-1000.

 

I will give building a new system some thought though. If I can scrounge up the cash and talk my wife into it. Probably neither happening anytime soon.

Edited by samurai nightling
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Depends on the game you are playing. I upped from your processor to an I5 and it was a huge difference. I was playing Planetside 2 at the time. Pretty sure I was able to pick up CPU, mobo and 8 gigs of ram for around $320..

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Nightling, if you go the radeon route...

 

I would stick with either an XFX card or a Sapphire card. I've used both of these brands; the XFX for the HD 6950 2GB and the Sapphire for the HD 6970 2GB.

MSI has solid performance but sloppy design (you'll feel like it's falling apart in your hand) and the ASUS cards are extremely bulky.

Gigabyte, I hear is also solid, though I have no experience with their cards.

 

if you grab yourself the Sapphire HD 7970 384-bit 3GB card, you should be set. Whatever you do, shy away from the 6GB version unless you absolutely feel you need it.

Here's a link for users in the states: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202001

 

I have been looking at reviews around the web for the 7970 and the 6970 and I'm a bit confused. I play Battlefield 4 in eyefinity, because it supports stereo rendering, and I get > 60 fps while doing so, maxed out.

My frames don't dip, even when colossal destruction occurs, but these review sites don't show the same data. Are the charts on those sites fixed or completely bogus?

 

 

 

 

 

However, if you're looking for a cheaper card that is still excellent

Try the Sapphire HD 6970 2GB dual-fan

 

Before upgrading to the 7970 and 7990, I utilized a single 6970 that was able to run all current games with the eyefinity set up and sustain smooth frames, and as always, even better if on one screen.

the 6970 should run you under 200$ (I believe it was on Newegg for 169 last i checked)

Edited by Sky
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Good news though, my wife said come tax refund time, if she doesn't buy me a xmas or birthday gift I can build a new PC. Most likely will reuse my case and PSU, but hopefully upgrade everything else and throw in a SSD for kicks and giggles. I'm gonna hopefully keep it under like $800. Honestly I need a new monitor too, I still rock out a 19", but it still works fine and it's not a necessity.

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As in FREE? Honestly I've never bought a Radeon video card, so I'm not sure how to compare it to the geforce cards. Which geforce would this one probably be most similar to?

Yeah, i'm no longer using it. As for which card it compares to....not really sure.

 

After researching it...if you feel it's adequate, just holler and it's yours!

 

XFX brand btw.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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