[Ryan]

I've decided that since I only have $400 to get me through the summer due to me being unemployed, I'm just going to get a cheap card now to get me back up and running and once I'm back at university and working, I'll then get a better card.

My main requirement is for the card to run BF3 decently and Minecraft (which shouldn't be too much of a challenge) at 1680x1050. Cheapest I've found so far the Sapphire Radeon 6770 for $96 and MSI GTX 550 Ti for $111. Which one would be better? I really want to go cheapest as possible, so if anyone has any other suggestions, let me know.

This post has been edited by Ryan on Tuesday, May 8 2012, 19:53

[PrometheusX]

Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 | $ 130

It's much better than the 550ti, and check out this benchmark: BF: Bad Company 2, Highest settings 1680x1050, 8xMSAA, 45FPS.

So expect similar results with BF3 w/o AA I guess.

[Ryan]

I noticed the EVGA GTX 560 SE. It's pretty much at the top of my price range, but looks to be much better than the 550 Ti and 6770.

This post has been edited by Ryan on Tuesday, May 8 2012, 20:41

[PrometheusX]

QUOTE (Ryan @ Tuesday, May 8 2012, 20:35)

I noticed the EVGA GTX 560 SE. It's pretty much at the top of my price range, but looks to be much better than the 550 Ti and 6770.

Oh. Go for that one then, that's quite a deal.

[Ryan]

QUOTE (PrometheusX @ Tuesday, May 8 2012, 17:45)

QUOTE (Ryan @ Tuesday, May 8 2012, 20:35) I noticed the EVGA GTX 560 SE. It's pretty much at the top of my price range, but looks to be much better than the 550 Ti and 6770. Oh. Go for that one then, that's quite a deal.

After doing some reading, not gonna go for that 560. Turns out it's a just a branded GTX 555. As one review said, the SE stands for "Suck Edition".

[PrometheusX]

QUOTE (Ryan @ Tuesday, May 8 2012, 21:31)

QUOTE (PrometheusX @ Tuesday, May 8 2012, 17:45) QUOTE (Ryan @ Tuesday, May 8 2012, 20:35) I noticed the EVGA GTX 560 SE. It's pretty much at the top of my price range, but looks to be much better than the 550 Ti and 6770. Oh. Go for that one then, that's quite a deal. After doing some reading, not gonna go for that 560. Turns out it's a just a branded GTX 555. As one review said, the SE stands for "Suck Edition".

Really? Then go with the 6850, unless you find something better than it.

[Ryan]

Found a good deal on a used Asus GTX 560 Ti for $150, which is basically the same price a GTX 550 Ti with tax would have cost me. Trying to get deal worked out with the guy now.

[SyphonPayne]

Sounds like a great deal. You could go with that then SLI if you ever need more power for fairly cheap, or just wait a gen or two and see what the offerings are in the future. Either way the 560 Ti is a HUGE upgrade from the 285.

[Ryan]

Doesn't look like I could get a deal done with the guy for the 560. Got an offer from a guy for a 470 for $120 though. How would the 470 handle BF3? It has a hideous blue PCB, but seeing as I'll only be using it for 4 or 5 months, I could survive.

[Wolf68k]

Really?! The color of the PCB is that big of a deal? Who cares.
Sorry but that's like buying a guitar based on how it looks and now how it sounds or how it works for you and your style of playing.

As for the BF3 performance; Guru3D.com used an i7 965 @ 3.7GHz. The 470 on DX11 Ultra settings: 1280x1024 44fps, 1600x1200 34fps, 1920x1080 30fps, 2560x1600 12fps.

[leik oh em jeez!]

QUOTE (Wolf68k @ Wednesday, May 9 2012, 10:33)

Really?! The color of the PCB is that big of a deal? Who cares. Sorry but that's like buying a guitar based on how it looks and now how it sounds or how it works for you and your style of playing.

Or like buying a car with leather seats and wood trim, or painting a car, or putting certain wheels on a car, or massive amounts of chrome if you're from mexico, or buying a certain PC case, furniture, painting your room, or buying a certain monitor, hell, even building a gaming PC to start with. Being a huge Apple fanboy I would expect you to know how big of a role appearance can play in a purchase.

That said, a 470 for $120 sounds like a great deal, I payed $185 for my 480.

[Wolf68k]

As usual you completely missed the point and take one little thing and completely spin it out of context.

[leik oh em jeez!]

And as usual you have to make some asshat remark claiming your words had some different, deeper, unintelligible point behind them that I somehow missed rather than admitting that you just hadn't looked at it that way or refrained from posting all together. So, since you want to start this douchebag game of grasping at straws trying to point out how the other could possibly be wrong, if by "Really?! The color of the PCB is that big of a deal? Who cares. Sorry but that's like buying a guitar based on how it looks and now how it sounds or how it works for you and your style of playing." you some how meant something other than appearance should be of the smallest concern, then what exactly did you mean?
That "one little thing" was half of your post, but now that I have explained to you why it does matter, you're going to downplay that part of your post like it was only a small part. And I'm not spinning anything out of context. I'm taking your exact words and assuming that the point you were trying to explain with them was the only one possible.

I mean really, the only point of your last post was to say "I didn't mean what you thought I meant, and I'm not going to tell you what I did mean because frankly I'm not quite sure myself. So to change the subject AWAY from me having no idea what the f*ck I'm talking about, I'll just accuse you of taking something out of context."
Way to f*cking go man, you make us all so proud with your your well thought out posts.
And then you go cry to daddy because you lost an argument that YOU started. Again, way to go. You REALLY proved your nonexistent point yet again.

Sorry Ryan, I know you don't want to see this.

This post has been edited by leik oh em jeez! on Wednesday, May 9 2012, 18:32

[PrometheusX]

@ Ryan: I say wait a little bit, look for other offers. Hopefully you'll find another 560ti. If not, then the 470 is the one to get.

[Ryan]

A guy on another forum showed me this. Seems to be the best deal, so I think I'll go for it. Should hold me over for a few months till I can get a 660 or a 670.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?...N82E16814130690

[PrometheusX]

What a deal that one is. This topic alone has a couple of them I would haven't even expected.

If this is surely your choice, then watch out from the temps. The card (and most of the 400 series) tend to overheat easily.

[Ryan]

QUOTE (PrometheusX @ Wednesday, May 9 2012, 18:09)

If this is surely your choice, then watch out from the temps. The card (and most of the 400 series) tend to overheat easily.

The 400 series cards run hot, but they're not that bad. It's really only the 480 you have to watch out for overheating, and as long as you have a well ventilated case you'd be fine.

[Wolf68k]

I got a GTS450 when my first 560Ti had to be RMA'ed for a replacement. Played a lot of BFBC2 with it and run eVGA's OCScanner on to stress it, never over heated or got any hotter than the 560Ti does while stressed. Admittedly I think it also helped that I use eVGA Precision (v2.0.3) to control the fan speed, does a better than the letting the card do it itself.

[SyphonPayne]

As was previously stated it wasn't the entire 400 series that was hot and power hungry, it was mostly the 480. The 460 was more efficient than the 470/480 but the 470 wasn't near as bad as the 480. My 460 actually ran cooler than my 560 Ti but that's because the 560 Ti has a less aggressive fan controller (runs slower, quieter.) The 560 Ti only uses 10 more watts than the 460 yet outperforms the 470 which draws 40 more watts than the 560 Ti.

I would go for the $120 470 over the $100 GTX 460 SE any day of the week. Even with the blue pcb. The 470 is slightly slower, hotter, more power hungry than the 560 Ti but it does have extra VRAM. If those are your only two options I'd go 470 for sure. If you can find an affordable 560 Ti it would be a bit better though.

[PrometheusX]

I thought that the 460/70/80 had the overheating problems. Thanks for clarifying everyone.