Looking for video card upgrade ideas

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Xen0n27

n00b
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Dec 29, 2005
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I'm looking for ideas about what direction to take with my next upgrade. My current setup is working pretty well for me, except for the fact that it tends to lock up or give me video driver crash errors if I turn up the settings when I play games (LOTRO is about it at the moment for me). I'm fairly certain that the problem is because of my case (airflow), which I'm rectifying with an Antec Three Hundred (hopefully tonight if UPS delivers on time).

After several days of trying to figure out what would be the best "bang for my buck" for an upgrade to my computer, I think I've settled on a new video card. My GTX 275 performs well, but I'm a bit tired of how much heat it generates and it would be nice to have DX11 just in case I need it at some point. The one thing that I really dig about the GTX 275 is how quiet it is. Any card that I get has to be at least as quiet.

The cards that I have been looking at are the GTX 560 Ti, GTX 460 1GB, HD 5850, HD 6870, HD 6950. My budget is around $250, but I can go a big higher for the right card.

I know that this is the video card section, but if you guys can see anything in my Rig's specs that I should also consider upgrading please don't hold back (unless it would break some forum rule) - especially if it would be needed for a new video card.

Thanks.
 
The problem you have is the GTX275 is similar in performance to say a last gen GTX460 768mb so not exactly a slug. The GTX 275 is not a overly hot card or noisy card so buying a GTX560 or above for example will be very similar heat wise.

DX11 is still near worthless imo, not a "great" excuse to buy a new card.

Buying anything '"stock" under a GTX570 or 6970 is probably going to be a bit of a disappointment performance jump wise.

What you could consider is a 6950 2GB with the 6970 flash will beat a overclocked GTX560 in that price bracket.
 
In rough terms:

GTX460 1GB vs GTX275: +10%
HD5850 1GB vs GTX275: +25%
HD6870 1GB vs GTX275: +40%
GTX560Ti 1GB vs GTX275: +45%
HD6950 2GB vs GTX275: +55%
HD6950 2GB (unlocked to 6970 spec) vs GTX275: +65%
 
Thanks for the replies guys. The list that samuelmorris posted is very nice.

The 6950 to 6970 flash/unlock thing sounds pretty cool, but I'm a little unsure of spending $280+ on a video card. Any idea how the 6950 compares to a gtx 275 with regards to noise and heat output?

I'm now starting to wonder if my video card is the best place to start with upgrades. Based on the specs of my rig what do you think... upgrade to a better video card or would you save a little while for a new cpu (i5 probably), motherboard and memory?
 
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