Help me choose a video card!

[Fltlt_HardBall]

I'm a bit pissed that my 1gb 7950gx2 isn't supported by CoD. I suspect it never will be, and since DX10/11 seems to be the way to go now I guess it's time for an upgrade.

With a family to support it's hard to justify shelling out megabucks on a top-of-the line card, but after some research I've found that I can get a 2gb HD6950 for less than $400 over here in South Korea. (Yes, I could get it cheaper on eBay, but after postage and import tax and waiting for the postman I'd rather get it locally).

So here's my question: Is that card a reasonable bang for my bucks? GTX 570s are more expensive and have less RAM, so they don't seem like such a great deal (unless I'm missing something).

By the way, I'm limited to a card which doesn't need more than a 500w power supply, a criteria which the HD6950 meets.

Any insights into the relative merits of ATI Vs Nvidia Vs price would be much appreciated.

[unknownraver]

G'day Hardball

In my humble opinion, it is still difficult to say on which graphics card CoD will run best, because the game is still not running at its optimum, as you might have gathered from reading posts on this forum.

I am running a ATI 6970 and after installing the first patch, there was some improvement in the game. I am waiting for full release of the second patch to see what that does. From what I read the beta version tested by many so far has made more improvemnets.


One thing to note. If you are planning to run a multi monitor setup, then ATI is your preferred option as they have the Eyefinity technology, meaning you can run three monitors off the one card. That is my setup at the moment. I am heppy with the 6970.

[Russkly]

Hi Hardball.

Sounds like you're in "Oh, balls, I need to throw some money at a better GPU, in order to play CoD 'well'; but which card?" labyrinth too!!! And it is a labyrinth, believe me.

Welcome.

Firstly, as unknownraver says, it's a tad early to be able to say definitively, for example, which CoD will benefit more from: more memory or faster clock/memory speeds. At the moment it seems to like more memory, but who knows if that will change.

I'm going through the same card selection process too, because my card is struggling a little, but I'm going to hold fire to see how the game evolves and what it benefits most from in terms of GPU spec. To be honest, I play mostly offline, and I can't see that CoD has much to offer as yet.

However, enough about me!

Have a look at this site, which I thought was really useful:

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

You can also select "Price Performance" at the top of the page, and this gives a very useful guide. In essence NVidia cards perform better but are more expensive per unit of performance.

My last 3 cards have been NVidia, so I'll probably stick with them, and also because the Radeon 6900 series have received a fairly cool reception so far.

You mentioned your PSU. Why are you restricted to 500W? Is that your current PSU rating? If the PSU's the rate limiting factor, maybe you should replace the PSU before the card? They don't have to be very expensive, but just ensure that you have sufficient amperage on the 12V rail to fuel the card and the rest of your PC.

I only know this, because my PC is crashing and rebooting itself whilst playing CoD, and I'm pretty sure it's because the game massively stresses out the GPU, and then my PSU can't cope (the newer NVidia cards require 40A on the 12V rail, and my PSU delivers less than that).

So, in summary, make sure that your PSU can support whatever card you get, because CoD will be maxing out that puppy! No point having a great GPU, if your system can't sustain it.

Hope this helps, and let's also hope that CoD justifies all the money we're throwing at this game.

R

[doghous3]

Just pipe a snippet in here, I doubt you're looking at it, but never-the-less; do not buy a GTX460 - they seem to have issues with CoD (but maybe it's 460+xp).

[PulpzillA]

Maybe have a look at the GTX560 not quite as fast as the 570 but cheaper and nearly on the same performance if you overlock it.

[Fltlt_HardBall]

Yep, I've currently got a 500w PSU, and want to try and avoid upgrading it if possible...

It's a real slippery slide... new video card? Oops, that card needs a 680w PSU. Oh, and if you want DX10/11 you'd better upgrade your OS from XP. Wanna drop a decent quad-core CPU on your existing socket 775 mobo? That'll be 400 bucks. Sheesh, I may as well scrap the whole lot and start again...

[Russkly]

Yep, I've currently got a 500w PSU, and want to try and avoid upgrading it if possible...

It's a real slippery slide... new video card? Oops, that card needs a 680w PSU. Oh, and if you want DX10/11 you'd better upgrade your OS from XP. Wanna drop a decent quad-core CPU on your existing socket 775 mobo? That'll be 400 bucks. Sheesh, I may as well scrap the whole lot and start again...

Indeed, CloD is going to cost lots of people lots more than the €50 the game cost.

I'd do the OS upgrade anyway - I held off for ages but didn't regret my move from XP 64 to Win 7 64 at all.

As for the PSU/GPU/CPU question I suppose it's assessing priorities.

I resented having to pay €130 for a new PSU, because it doesn't actually improve anything as such, but it's a vital component of any system. As I say, watch out for the amperage requirements on the 12V rail - your 500W may fit with ATI's quoted requirements, but the detailed spec. will tell you about the precise amperage requirements, and you may find that your current PSU won't cut it, as quite a few of us in this forum have also found.

So, maybe upgrade the OS and the PSU and see what that leaves you for a GPU using the comparison chart above.

What CPU do you have btw, because this might also influence GPU choice?

R

[TommiVH]

I recently bought Gigabyte GeForce 560ti OC 1GB, and Im very pleased to it. 500W PSU is enough.

[PeterPanPan]

Just pipe a snippet in here, I doubt you're looking at it, but never-the-less; do not buy a GTX460 - they seem to have issues with CoD (but maybe it's 460+xp).

I have a 1GB Gainward GTX 460 GS and have absolutely no problems. I can't quite run all game settings on Max, but am getting good frame rates (45 over land, 65 over sea) so it seems like this is a decent card for your bucks. I am running W7 64bit.

No idea though if a 500W PSU is enough. Mine is 600W.

[Troll2k]

You might look here for some info.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-radeon-hd-6990-geforce-gtx-590,2912.html

Or here to see where your card stands.
ATI.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/131
Nvidia.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/132

[Zoom2136]

Yep, I've currently got a 500w PSU, and want to try and avoid upgrading it if possible...

It's a real slippery slide... new video card? Oops, that card needs a 680w PSU. Oh, and if you want DX10/11 you'd better upgrade your OS from XP. Wanna drop a decent quad-core CPU on your existing socket 775 mobo? That'll be 400 bucks. Sheesh, I may as well scrap the whole lot and start again...

BINGO, we have a winner ;)

COD is a flight sim, and as such its performance is tied to thw single biggest bottle neck in you computer. If you have a 775 socket MB, it is time for a serious upgrade. Get a new 1155 socket MB with a i5 2500K CPU. You will need RAM as you are probably running DDR2. Get a 6 GIG kit. For the rest of your PC, re-use your old components. Buy a basic GPU and upgrade down the road. This is more $$$$ upfront, but will end up costing less in the long run...