I finally purchased the core parts of my new system. I went with an I5 3570k with an ASUS P8Z77 mobo and 16GB of GSkill memory. Now I am looking to upgrade the existing video card I have soon. After listening to many opinions in regard to an I5 and an I7, I went with the I5 simply because multithreading didn't appeal to me. I will not be doing any significant video editing, ripping, encoding, ect ... Also, I really do not care about running my games at 10000FPS (yes, im exaggerating) nor do I need crisp smooth graphics at the highest resolution possible. Also, Im not willing to spend an extra $100 to save a couple seconds of processing time. (to load games, ect ...) What I do want is a card that will run any current games with ease at a good resolution. That said, I don't mind spending $200-$300 for a good card, but I would like to justify the cost. I've always been partial to Nvidia, but like the Intel/AMD wars, tides change. Also, I would like a quality brand. Nvidia side, im looking at EVGA or MSI. So that said, recommendations?
GeForce GTX 560 Ti has been dropping into the mid $100's and that makes it one of the best bang for your buck cards. You'll get marginal FPS upgrade if you go towards a 570 that is in the mid $200s.
get the 580, price recently dropped, exceptional card i won't recommend SLI because you don't seem like the type to know anything about it, so for a single slot machine, 580 is your best bet, and will last a good 2 to 3 years
Thanks for the input! This is what I am unsure about; How much of a difference the 550's, 560's and 570's. I am eyeing the EVGA 560 TI.
580 is very pricey and out of my range. I do not plan on going with SLI/Crossfire until much later. I prefer to go with a midrange card, and add a second ...or even a third card later if need to be. Does SLI work better the crossfire?
i think the technology has evolved to where the differences won't be noticed by the common user, more factors go in when considering a 2 or even 3 card set up, such as cooling and power supply i was wrong, i'm sorry to recommend the 580, perhaps the 560 ti 448, which is basically a 570 at a bargain, it's sub 300 on newegg atm i have a msi 560 ti that runs a brisk 29c at idle, it's amazing, but i long for something a little better for upcoming releases, guild wars 2 in particular... having played the beta, i know for a fact i'll be having fps issues during large battles, although i'm sure my stock 920 is the focus bottleneck, but still...
I use one and am very happy with it. I'll probably keep using it until I upgrade everything (new cpu, motherboard, etc.). It handles Starcraft 2 easily, and right now, that's what I play the most. It's quiet and doesn't run real hot. A nice card.
I hate it that both card companies make their product numbers confusing as hell every new generation. A whole year of not paying attention and I have to google this -ish all over again to find the best value, best performer, etc...
