Help Selecting a Card.

[GangsterSte]

Hey guys,

I game on a 120mhz monitor at 1920x1280, and my MB has gives my the option to crossfire with AMD. I am using the Antec 300 case and on air. At the moment these are the cards I am considering:

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 Game

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-271-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

Asus ATI Radeon HD 6950 DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-255-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC HAWK 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Lara Croft Game

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-126-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

All in all I have no idea which to get and wondered if you guys could recommed one of the above. My opinion is to un-informed to make a good decision.

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[opethdisciple]

If you can stretch a bit more, it would be better to get a 2Gb card such as this

Out of the options above, the Asus card will be better for overclocking, whilst the Sapphire comes with Dirt 3.

What about these 560's?

This

or

This

or

This

 

[GangsterSte]

If I stretch anymore I think I will probably snap lol, on a student budget, on can't really go any higher, unless I get lucky with the graduate market

I like the idea of the Sapphire as I think I could get £10-£15 for the dirt game, so it is a nice money saver for me.

The Asus seems a good card but I am concerned that I heard it is a little bigger than the other 6950's, and if I were to put 2 in later down the road they may not fit (Using an Antec 300 atm).

Is the 6870 a good option, or am I better of looking at the Sapphire/Asus? Also slightly concerned about adding the crossfire as I don't want to add to much more heat to the tower, again, my opinions are only that, they are not very informed, just some reading around here and there.

 

[GangsterSte]

I did briefly consider Nvidia, however, my MB only does crossfirex, thus if I wanted to crossfire down the road, I wouldn't be able to. This lead me to look at the AMD cards as opposed to the NVidia. If my MB did sli I think I would be looking at Nvidia options.

 

[pecnarf]

i would suggest saving little bit more and going for this MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Dirt3 PC Game it currently £28 more that the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 Game reason being you have next to no problem playing any game at 1080 on high or ultra setting and in 3d and with the fact that we seeing more games coming out that go over the 1gb mark at 1920x1080 res with 2gb you won't have a problem plus the cooling system on MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III is hell of a lot better than the sapphire one which use the ref design. so for the extra £28 you get a fast card, extra 1gb of vram and greater improved cooling system.

 

[GangsterSte]

Cheers guys, I think I will save up for a 2gb cards as I do play at 1920x1280, it's just a shame there is so much difference between the prices of a 1gb and 2gb 6950 card.

 

[harmony]

I'd say it is not wise to spend £180 on 1GB cards as of today, if £20 is important to you. I'd go for either a cheap 1GB card, or stretch to get a 2GB card.