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WhiteHartMart

WhiteHartMart

WhiteHartMart

Associate
Joined
1 Aug 2011
Posts
249
Location
Cornwall
Recently built a machine using 2nd hand parts to a tight budget - now have some spare funds and can't help feeling a GPU upgrade would be good.

Currently have:-

Q6600 @ 3.0
4GB DDR2
1GB 5770

Gaming at 1920x1080 and starting to play iRacing. BF3 is preordered though so I need a card capable now of playing that but one that will also be good enough for a i5, mobo and ram update next year.

Budget £150, maybe £200 max.
 
I say wait until BF3 is out before upgrading if you're happy with the frame rates you're getting with the current games you're playing. The new ATI cards may be out by then unless I've misheard. Still only rumours though.
 
Hi there,

May I ask what make and model PSU you are using?

If your PSU can support it then this OEM GTX 570 card with 1 year warranty is a real beast at £206. If you want something cheaper and new then a GTX 560 Ti or HD 6950 1GB would be a good option.
 
The HD 6950 is a nice card, no doubt but the GTX 570 is the faster card in the vast majority of games (and often by a decent margin).

The points about the warranty and game are fair enuf and for the OP to weigh up. In terms of being a refurb the way I see it is that you are covered by OCUK and their RMA turn-around time will most likely be faster than RMAing any other card.

As for the cooler - the rear-exhausing vapour chamber cooler used by the stock GTX 570 is actually pretty good. Tough I don't know how it would directly compare to the custom cooler used on the sapphire.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I am ok with current frame rates, but I know this won't be the case when BF3 arrives and I'll have to sacrifice quality settings! Then again, maybe I could use the Beta to test this out next month?

PSU wise I have recently got this - Lepa B-Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' - so should be fine ;)

Not too worried about the OEM situation as at least there is cover via OCUK.

I am tempted to go green but then like the look of the Sapphire 6950 - plus no hassles with driver changes that way.

Then again am I making too much of that - presumably a driver sweep, card swap and reboot process should be fine?
 
GTX570 OEM is a complete steal at that price.

Even the GTX580 EOM is priced brilliantly.

The vapour chamber is excellent, so no issues heat wise, it should O/C well too, plus you get a 1 year warranty.

For a little over £200 its awesome value.
 
As a cheaper option - would MSI 6870 Hawk be a decent step up from my 5770.

Can source one for £135 and then worry about a more substantial upgrade in a year or so?
 
A 6870 will offer a pretty decent jump in performance, (see here) for not a massive outlay - also if you want you could sell on your 5770 and claw back a portion of the upgrade cost.

One good option would to buy a 6870 now, get a motherboard and PSU that will handle two (when you do your system upgrade) and add a second 6870 in Crossfire further down the line - as the Crossfire scaling with these 6000 series cards is excellent.
 
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