Best Graphics card for £150 -180

gregbird101 · 23 Oct 2010 at 11:55

Afternoon all

I just turned 21 and now have some funds for a decent card!

At the moment my PC is:

i7 920
Gigabyte UD3 mobo
6 GB RAM
60 GB SSD
+
Nvidia 9500 GT....

Right So It's a big toss up between a

GTX 460 or the 6870 ?

Anyone got any ideas?

I saw a ati 6870 for £175 and i was tempted?

Cheers for help

An Exception · 23 Oct 2010 at 11:59

I'd take the 6870 personally due to it's connectivity and extremely low power consumption, the 460 needs to be a fairly good clocker to match the 6870 at stock...

NZXT30 · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:08

gtx 470 easily. its just a better card for the money.

Marine-RX179 · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:10

I gonna quote myself from another topic:

Marine-RX179 said:
To be honest, I think a 6870 and GTX470 both are decent cards at around the £180 mark. But I think which one to get is depending on expectation of the individual.

If not overclocking and just using the card at stock speed, 6870 would probably be a better choice because it would consume less power, be cooler and most likely be quieter as well.

If don't mind the extra power consumption, possible heat and noise, and will be doing some aggressive overclocking, then GTX470 would be a better pick, since there's more overclock headroom, and the actual performance gain on overclocking is better than overclocking the 6870.

At least that's the way I see it.

Orcvader · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:11

+1 to Marine's comment.
What speed is the 920 running at and what resolution do you play on?

ShakeNBake · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:15

both 6870 and 470 are ~£200

if you can stretch £20 more get one, difference is negligible between the 2.

if not, grab a 1024MB GTX 460 for £150 and overclock it to 800/1600/4000.

Stanners · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:17

GTX470

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-135-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1810

£190

6870 £200 on Ocuk

I would go for one of the two, what ever your preference is really.

An Exception · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:20

NZXT30 said:
gtx 470 easily. its just a better card for the money.

Only once overclocked, and by then it consumes huge amounts of power and generates lots of noise.

jorzeh · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:20

I'd like the MSI twin frozr to go on a nice special so i can get that since it sorta takes away the whole problem of the noise then.

RavenXXX2 · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:22

Gigabyte 460 1GB, amazing value, extremely cool running and quiet even when overclocked to the max, who knows in a few months you could grab another for some sweet SLI action.

460 1GB will match and in some games beat a 6870 when clocked to 800+ on the core " they all do 800 core easily " whilst still remaining quiet and cool running.

Marine-RX179 · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:29

RavenXXX2 said:
Gigabyte 460 1GB, amazing value, extremely cool running and quiet even when overclocked to the max, who knows in a few months you could grab another for some sweet SLI action.

I'm waiting for this to drop to <£135 before I get one, since a Sapphire 6850 with a Vapor-X like cooler can be had for £132 and is very tempting...

The only reason I haven't bought the 6850 yet is because I want the GTX460 more

An Exception · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:31

RavenXXX2 said:
Gigabyte 460 1GB, amazing value, extremely cool running and quiet even when overclocked to the max, who knows in a few months you could grab another for some sweet SLI action.

460 1GB will match and in some games beat a 6870 when clocked to 800+ on the core " they all do 800 core easily " whilst still remaining quiet and cool running.

If he plans to do that he would be better off with the 6870 as Xfire seems seems to scale better than SLI at the moment, and also seems to have better minimums even when competing with highly overclocked GTX460 at 850mhz.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/his-hd6870-crossfirex-review/7/

coltpython3 · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:32

6870 m8. i have a feeling theyre going to go up in price soon. it alos has lower power consumption and the load & idle heat temps are much much lower than the gts 470s

Trunks9486 · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:37

Shop around for either GTX 460 1GB overclocked or a 6870.

RavenXXX2 · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:42

Marine-RX179 said:
I'm waiting for this to drop to <£135 before I get one, since a Sapphire 6850 with a Vapor-X like cooler can be had for £132 and is very tempting... The only reason I haven't bought the 6850 yet is because I want the GTX460 more

Yeah it must kill you to part with that £15. :eek:

Mr Krugga · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:48

RavenXXX2 said:
Yeah it must kill you to part with that £15.

Probably not but he may put it towards some three games off Steam sales or a few drinks on a night out. Why pay more for an overpriced product? Both GTX460 1GB and HD6850 overclock above stock HD6870 levels (so GTX470 territory as well). If you can get the latter cheaper than why spend more? Crossfire scaling also seems better than already decent SLI. There would be more to it if they were priced accordingly.

RavenXXX2 · 23 Oct 2010 at 12:57

460 nets more performance overclocked that's why.....

at £152 the Gigabyte with its excellent cooler is hardly overpriced even when compared to a cheaper 6850.

I'm also can't find a 6850 as described for £135inc vat

Marine-RX179 · 23 Oct 2010 at 13:01

RavenXXX2 said:
Yeah it must kill you to part with that £15.

Na you are missing the point. If I was willing to pay the £150 for getting the GTX460 1GB, it would be a crime not to pay another £25 extra to get the GTX470 on yesterday's offer at £175, considering it is at least 20% faster. At the price stand, the GTX460 1GB would only worth consider if the price was lower, otherwise it would make more sense to stretch for a GTX470.

One reason when I'm more lending toward a low price 6850 or GTX460 1GB is that I don't think I quite need the level of power a 6870/GTX470 offers gaming at 1680x1050, plus the 6850 and GTX460 1GB will be quieter.

Raikiri · 23 Oct 2010 at 13:08

NZXT30 said:
gtx 470 easily. its just a better card for the money.

It's a little faster, wouldn't say it was better though.

6870 - Little slower, much lower power consumption, less heat and noise.

470GTX - Little faster, uses lots of power and makes lots of heat/noise. Overclocks better but would likely need an aftermarket cooler (they're that loud, imo).

Up to you really, both are good.

stulid · 23 Oct 2010 at 13:13

GTX470.

my Zotac isnt loud at all, yes you can feel the heat pouring out the back of the card, but oh well.