Which card for around the £275 mark?

[stoofa]

OK, I have this budget to buy the "Best" graphics card possible.
The person in question is quite an avid gamer and likes to play things on his display at 1920x1080 with all the details switched on.
I cannot remember what his current card is, I do know it's NVidia based and I do know it is starting to suffer.

I'll admit I'm a little behind in the card technology at the moment. I'm running an NVidia 460 based card.

Now personally I've always had better luck with NVidia based cards. I know the ATI stuff is good and usually a little cheaper, but I've seen driver issues in the past.

So, you've got £275 to spend on a new, fast and pwerful card - which option do you go for?

Thanks.

 

[stulid]

One of these,

GTX570 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-151-GW&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

MSI 6970 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-123-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

I assume your mate has a good PSU and sufficient room in the case for these sort of cards?

 

[spain]

For that money it would be the 560ti 448, 6970 (more vram) or GTX 570.

EDIT:
He's quick.

 

[stoofa]

That is going to be what I check next - that he has the right kind of PSU and space. Unless he's changed things (and I don't think he will have done) he'll still have a Corsair modular PSU at around 700watt - I cannot remember the exact size, but I bought it when he was last looking to upgrade.

Are ATI drivers really up to scratch these days? Will there be no regrets going the 6970 over a GTX570?

If you were buying one of those two....which one would you spend your pennies on?

 

[stulid]

If you were buying one of those two....which one would you spend your pennies on?

I would get the GTX570 as its cheaper, Nvidia drivers have always been better for me and it will eat games at that resolution.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

Golden Sample reads as a decent card.

I came across one of these recently:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-129-MS

I little bit more in cost and no doubt you can push the Sample to the same 770MHz, but the cooler is amazing.

 

[bhindi]

either 570 or 560ti 448 and a few beers

 

[Marine-RX179]

Wait for 7950 1.5GB and fingercross, or new Nvidia cards may be?

 

[MDPlatts]

7865/7870/7890 which come out in about 10 days - whichever one fits your budget - or a 6970 for old school

 

[[timko]]

OK, I have this budget to buy the "Best" graphics card possible.
The person in question is quite an avid gamer and likes to play things on his display at 1920x1080 with all the details switched on.
I cannot remember what his current card is, I do know it's NVidia based and I do know it is starting to suffer.

I'm surprised no one else has asked this yet so...

What's the specs of the rest of his rig? I know you mentioned he's a gamer and so his PC may not be too out of date but if it is old then a current generation card could easily be bottle-necked.

 

[bhindi]

oh no if its not vram its bottleneck bangwagon

 

[andybird123]

2nd hand gtx580 gets my vote

 

[lucas4]

Wait until the new cards shake up prices when they're released. 2nd hand prices of decent cards should plummit as has already happened to a certain extent.

 

[Surveyor]

Wait until the new cards shake up prices when they're released. 2nd hand prices of decent cards should plummit as has already happened to a certain extent.

Several new cards have been released already (AMD) but there's been no shake up of prices yet.

 

[Snapshot]

Golden Sample reads as a decent card.

I came across one of these recently:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-129-MS

I little bit more in cost and no doubt you can push the Sample to the same 770MHz, but the cooler is amazing.

I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago to go in my folding rig and it's currently giving 21k PPD. It was quite a bit cheaper from a competitor, however.