ATI or Nvidia

Firebouncy · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:08

Hey guys,

Im starting a new build, buying:
Intel I7 930
Asus P6X58D-E Intel X58
Patriot Viper 2 Sector 7 6GB (3x2GB) PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Kit
XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular Power Supply
Samsung EcoGreen F2 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HI)
Sony Optiarc DRU-870S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - Retail

I already have a case, but im open to recommendations,
What im asking is what GRAPHICS CARD I should get im open to ATI or Nvidia.
Im trying to keep it under £800
So please can people give suggestions too:
What graphics card? (I want to play CoD BO black ops, etc on nearly all high settings)
Will anything not work?
And anyother recommendations!

Cheers!

andicole0 · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:11

i7 950 has had a decent price drop recently as the 920 and 930 have gone out of production.

I'd go for a PSU around 800W if possible.

Whatever is left of the £800 spend on a GTX video card that fits the budget.

Andi.

PS And before anyone says anything yes I prefer nvidia.

Swifty123 · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:11

So how much do you want to spend on the Graphics card alone?

Firebouncy · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:14

Well, the 950 is quite a lot more.
But thank you for the quick replies

)
Well for Swifty123 the most I want to spend is max £205

All parts with out case and graphics card = £593.43

xtremedetailz · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:17

Also there is no need for a 800W Psu, i was running a core i7 setup with a GTX480 on a 500W Enermax so 800W is overkill.

Firebouncy · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:18

I see, so shall I stick with what I have got?

Jokester · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:19

650W is more than enough for a single card setup.

Biffa · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:20

This: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-128-EA&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=

Everything else about your spec is fine.

Firebouncy · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:21

Would that run Black Ops, Medal of Honor, Crysis full out?

reiyushin · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:22

Firebouncy said:
I see, so shall I stick with what I have got?

Yea, your 650w will be plenty.

With £200 you're looking at the 6870 or the 470.

If you need cuda/physx or tesselation then the 470 is the card for you.
If you're more concerned with power draw, temps then the 6870 is for you.

They're neck and neck in terms of average performance so check the benchmarks of the games you play and decide

reiyushin · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:24

Firebouncy said:
Would that run Black Ops, Medal of Honor, Crysis full out?

Nothing runs Crysis

but it'll give it a good shot.
Can't comment on MoH but from what I've seen so far Black Ops prefers AMD cards. This situation will hopefully be rectified soon though.

reiyushin · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:26

If you're going to do the 470 root then an upgraded cooler is a nice thing to have.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-104-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1810

Right on the limit of your budget but will keep temps lower and allow more OC headroom should you choose to go down that path.

Firebouncy · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:29

Umm intresting, do the EVGA GeForce GTX 470 is a power hog is that right?
Im intrested in basically Black Ops and Crysis 2.
Still dont know which one to choose.. ive heard EVGA is good quality..but i quite like ATi so which one!

reiyushin · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:36

Fermi does draw a fair bit more power than its AMD counterparts.
EVGA has a good rep, yea.
The performance in Crysis 2 would be speculation and since BO runs a bit better on AMD at the minute I'd go for the 6870 because as you said, you like them.

Asus would be my choice then, 3 year warranty.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-240-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

xtremedetailz · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:40

The decision is yours mate, its apples and oranges between the two mentioned.

But if you want to overclock the GTX470 they all get to 800core and that is GTX480 speed for not lots of money but please get an aftermarket cooler version or get the Zalman cooler with a normal one.

From what i have seen the 6870 doesnt overclock well at all so no real gains from that.

And a 650W psu as already said it more than capable.

Firebouncy · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:44

Well, I have never overclocked and I dont know weather to do it. But I was just wondering on peoples opinions on the subject because I have done much research on the matter, ie benchmarks, and still cant get anywhere so I just wondered what others who do game think on the matter...

xtremedetailz · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:45

Overclocking on the GPU is very simple, all you do is mover a slider in MSI afterburner and thats it

Firebouncy · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:50

Lol, sounds so very easy! What card do you use?

Rroff · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:51

reiyushin said:
Fermi does draw a fair bit more power than its AMD counterparts.
EVGA has a good rep, yea.
The performance in Crysis 2 would be speculation and since BO runs a bit better on AMD at the minute I'd go for the 6870 because as you said, you like them.

Asus would be my choice then, 3 year warranty.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-240-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

Can't really say either way on Black Ops atm as they have severely ****** the renderer, some people have reported problems with shadows and crossfire with AMD but some people report they don't have those problems so could be user error. Out of the very small number of people who claim (I don't believe them) that the game is running perfectly fine for them theres a slightly higher number of AMD/ATI users than nVidia - but the number of people who claim its running fine are so small it doesn't really have any significance.

Infact if you haven't already bought Black Ops I'd say don't and monitor the situation because right now it is bordering on unplayable or unplayable for by far the larger number of people.

Firebouncy · 21 Nov 2010 at 12:53

Thanks for all that Rroff, so what would you recommend?