4850 upgrade for ~£130?

[melat0nin]

Hi all

Yesterday I bought a new monitor (1920x1080) and it's given my Powercolor 4850 a right kicking (Deus Ex HR went from mostly silky smooth at 1440x900 to a bit of a slideshow in the heavier areas, even with AA disabled), so it's definitely time to upgrade the gfx to something a bit beefier.

I can spend up to around £130. Was thinking of the 6870 (£130 from OCuk - http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-143-OK). Is that a reasonable option? I had been looking at GTX460s a while ago but things seem to have moved on since then.

 

[Lemin]

Id sell the 4850 for more funds & get...


Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£179.99 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-247-AS&tool=3

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=330

 

[cjbagnall]

My gtx460 1gb plays Deus Ex at 1080p res no problems at all with the graphics settings on high.

 

[gwobbles]

imo 6870 is just about ok for 1080p, id suggest a GTX 560 Ti for a lil bit more

if you want some kind of reference as to how well gpus handle DE:HR this can give you some pointers

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/deus-ex-human-revolution-performance-benchmark,3012.html

 

[melat0nin]

Thanks for the replies guys.

From what I can glean from the TH charts, the NV 560Ti looks pretty competitive (and it seems a lot better than the 6870 on those Anandtech charts, for not much more cashola). A quick Google shows a 2gb example (Palit... never heard of the brand) for around the £170 mark (http://www.google.co.uk/products/ca...a=X&ei=yaxgTsDuAoez8QOkhfT5Dw&ved=0CG0Q8wIwAw)

Is there anything particularly special about the ASUS? I see it runs very cool..

EDIT: it's amazingly cool... my 4850 sits around 70 deg idle, and gets up to 80 on load.. and it makes a right racket. I'd love to solve that problem while i'm at it.

EDIT 2: I take it i'll need to get another PSU?

 

[melat0nin]

bump

I did a rough calculation of power (http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine) and it looks like my PSU should be sufficient.. does that sound right?

Is it likely to make any difference getting a 2gb 560Ti over a 1gb? I might go dual monitor at some point, but not for gaming (i'm not interested in surround gaming and all that).. so my instinct is that 1gb will be enough (and saves some pennies).

Is there any particular brand of 560Ti to avoid? I want one that's got a decent (quiet and effective) cooler.. looks like the ASUS fits the bill, but does anyone have any other recommendations?