Help me choose a new graphics card?

[smashed pumpkin]

My computer is starting to show a bit of age, and I believe it is time for a GPU upgrade. Currently my system is running two Geforce 8800GTX 768mb in SLI mode, liquid cooled. My computer is also running a quad core 3.2ghz w/ 8gb DDR3 RAM.

I would like to find a single Geforce card from the current generation that will exceed what my two cards can achieve in SLI. Preferably something under 500 dollars. At Best Buy last week I saw they had 1GB Geforce 460's for around $250 dollars. Would this be enough? Maybe something from the 500 series instead? Would I run into any problems going from two cards in SLI to one single card? Would the liquid cooling give me any problems?

Thanks guys.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Don't buy anything from Best Buy. Ever since Circuit City closed down Best Buy's prices are astronomically high when compared to online sales.

Newegg or Amazon.

At around the $250+ mark you should buy a Nvidia 560ti or a AMD 6950.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4137/a...-black-edition

Spending more money for a higher series car (ex 570 - 580 or 6970) will get you a faster card.

[smashed pumpkin]

Thanks Inanimate, I havn't checked online prices yet. I found this on Newegg, its a 560TI 2gb for $279. Appears to be only $20 extra dollars for a 2GB compared to the 1GB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814261099

[KO Gilligan]

The 460 1GB 256 is a pretty sweet card. If your looking at the 768 (192) for $250 that's exactly double what you should pay - it's only got the 192 bit mem bandwidth

You can score this Galaxy 460 1GB 256 for $145 after rebate plus $8 shipping... and it looks like you can swap the fan out easily if you ever want to. I have a Galaxy Card, and a Zotac... Don't think I'd get some of those other brands like MSI - isn't Zotac made by the company that does Foxconn?
Gigabyte is nice but it's like $40 more right now

Anyway here's the Galaxy:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814162055

For $250 you should be getting a lot more though - just thought I'd throw the economy idea out there. I love mine.

[nebiatsu]

Going from 2 8800gtx's to a less than 580/570 card probably wont make you happy.

I would say gtx570 would be the way to go.

Check here:
http://www.hardocp.com/reviews/gpu_video_cards/

[evilemperorzorg]

Originally Posted by smashed pumpkin

My computer is starting to show a bit of age, and I believe it is time for a GPU upgrade. Currently my system is running two Geforce 8800GTX 768mb in SLI mode, liquid cooled. My computer is also running a quad core 3.2ghz w/ 8gb DDR3 RAM.

I would like to find a single Geforce card from the current generation that will exceed what my two cards can achieve in SLI. Preferably something under 500 dollars. At Best Buy last week I saw they had 1GB Geforce 460's for around $250 dollars. Would this be enough? Maybe something from the 500 series instead? Would I run into any problems going from two cards in SLI to one single card? Would the liquid cooling give me any problems?

Thanks guys.

WTF Are you talking about???Your PC still hit it as Duke says
Dont spent your money.Keep them for the time that you really gonna need something new
I play all new games with AMD X4 BE 2.8,4 GIG RAM DDR2 1066 AND ONE ATI 3870 512 DDR4 256 BIT
ALMOST 4 YEARS OLD.And still play everything with 1440x900 with high details{besides GTA IV Textures}

[KO Gilligan]

Originally Posted by evilemperorzorg

WTF Are you talking about???Your PC still hit it as Duke says
Dont spent your money.Keep them for the time that you really gonna need something new
I play all new games with AMD X4 BE 2.8,4 GIG RAM DDR2 1066 AND ONE ATI 3870 512 DDR4 256 BIT
ALMOST 4 YEARS OLD.And still play everything with 1440x900 with high details{besides GTA IV Textures}

I finally had to retire my 3870 - very nice card that also worked well as a small space heater in the room.

- but he has 2 x 8800 cards - he could save his money a bit longer -it is probably time for your upgrade

[evilemperorzorg]

:

Originally Posted by KO Gilligan

I finally had to retire my 3870 - very nice card that also worked well as a small space heater in the room.

- but he has 2 x 8800 cards - he could save his money a bit longer -it is probably time for your upgrade

And again why to replace my card?
I can still play every new game in high details with 1440x900
Why to spent 300 euros to a new card ????
Also DNF aint gonna be that demanding.At least thats what i believe because it uses Modified Unreal Engine 2.5.Not even Unreal 3.
Maybe a 6800 the minimum with an old average Dual Core CPU and 1 gig of ram{XP}2{Vista-7}
Also im getting a second 3870 for 50 euros from a friend.Ive found her on E-Shop here in Greece for 120 euros!!!!That says something for a 4 year old card
Even my laptop card the crappy 8600M GS 256mb can still play new games with low-medium-high{i play Borderlands on high with no shadows on 1024x768 with 30+ fps} on 800x600 or 1024x768

[Kalki]

I want to choose between the 460 1GB and the Radeon HD 6850 1 GB. The 6850 runs a bit faster and yet consumes less power which should make things easy on my power supply. The 460 runs cooler and has PhysX. I'm not keen on overclocking as I live in a warm climate, don't have case cooling beyond a couple of fans and I'd like to avoid compounded heat issues. They're both priced roughly the same and I even found a 6850 that's cheaper than some 460 brands.

At this time the 560 is not an option and I only get the good prices on international websites which don't carry warranty here. I'm on my 3rd 8800GT in 6 months and so highly value my warranty which will expire a little later this year.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Originally Posted by Kalki

I want to choose between the 460 1GB and the Radeon HD 6850 1 GB. The 6850 runs a bit faster and yet consumes less power which should make things easy on my power supply. The 460 runs cooler and has PhysX. I'm not keen on overclocking as I live in a warm climate, don't have case cooling beyond a couple of fans and I'd like to avoid compounded heat issues. They're both priced roughly the same and I even found a 6850 that's cheaper than some 460 brands.

At this time the 560 is not an option and I only get the good prices on international websites which don't carry warranty here. I'm on my 3rd 8800GT in 6 months and so highly value my warranty which will expire a little later this year.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4137/a...lack-edition/6

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4137/a...lack-edition/7

[smashed pumpkin]

Well, looks like my search just kicked into high gear.

Last week, when I would get into a game to play, strange, dotted red lines would appear along the screen, and the PC would reboot. All other applications are fine, this just occured inside of games (I tried more than one).

Tonight, I tried getting into a game again, this time, no red lines, just a lock-up. I rebooted, and was getting strange artifacts in the text as it booted. There were red lines again too, but this time they were solid, vertical red lines. Not dotted and horizontal as before. I tried rebooting again, and now I'm getting no output on the monitor at all.

Popped open the case. All the fans appear to be functioning. I guess the card died

[smashed pumpkin]

Turns out my machine is out of warranty and I'm SOL as far as the company is concerned. Looks like I'll be doing this on my own. I've decided on getting a single nVidia 570 1.2GB card to replace my two 8800GTX 768mb SLI. Price seems to be ok (around $350 from what i've seen). Really can't afford the 580.

Here are some questions I have:

-Will a single 570 be an adequate replacement for two 8800 GTX SLI 768?
-What factors do I need to consider doing this? Anything I need to be aware of before I order?
-I have an nVidia nForce 790i mobo. I'm assuming this is adequate for the 500 series? Right?
-Any brands to avoid? What brands should be considered?

Here are two that I'm thinking of:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130593

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121432


The ASUS looks huge compared to the EVGA.

Thanks for your help guys.

[8IronBob]

Probably should look into at least an eVGA GTX 570. Probably stick two of those in SLI, then you'll have it made.

[Nessus]

Originally Posted by smashed pumpkin

Turns out my machine is out of warranty and I'm SOL as far as the company is concerned. Looks like I'll be doing this on my own. I've decided on getting a single nVidia 570 1.2GB card to replace my two 8800GTX 768mb SLI. Price seems to be ok (around $350 from what i've seen). Really can't afford the 580.

Here are some questions I have:

-Will a single 570 be an adequate replacement for two 8800 GTX SLI 768?
-What factors do I need to consider doing this? Anything I need to be aware of before I order?
-I have an nVidia nForce 790i mobo. I'm assuming this is adequate for the 500 series? Right?
-Any brands to avoid? What brands should be considered?

Here are two that I'm thinking of:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130593

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121432


The ASUS looks huge compared to the EVGA.

Thanks for your help guys.

One thing you should do is before turning off the PC for the upgrade go into device manager and delete the old card so your PC will be looking for a new card when it turns on. Of course in the WIN7 era this advice might be out of date.

[X-Vector]

Originally Posted by smashed pumpkin

The ASUS looks huge compared to the EVGA.

It takes up an extra slot space and it's very long (so you'll need a roomy case), but it also stays cool and very quiet:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A..._Cu_II/27.html
http://tweakers.net/reviews/2029/18/...productie.html (take a look at noise and temp under load in the second graph)

That last aspect is the reason that I've included the Asus HD6950 DCII in a new system that I've ordered.