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-- I'm on a buget: video card

Posted by BTG on Jul-21-2009 03:06:

I'm on a buget: video card

I'm kinda stuck with my shitty video card, so i'm looking to upgrade.

i dont want to spend $1000, but a good $400 roughly will do the trick.

i'm thinking about getting two "Geforce GTX 260 Core 216" in SLI

but i've been with ATI since i was 16, so i feel a little guilty.

Posted by pkcRAISTLIN on Jul-21-2009 03:15:

Re: I'm on a buget: video card

quote:
Originally posted by BTG
but i've been with ATI since i was 16, so i feel a little guilty.

lol, that's a little silly

if youre in the market for a new card, don�t buy two. Buy the best you can afford and then double up on it down the road if you want to crossfire etc.

Posted by BTG on Jul-21-2009 03:49:

i read that 2 260's are better than 1 280 and it'll be only $30 more.

Posted by pkcRAISTLIN on Jul-21-2009 04:15:

quote:
Originally posted by BTG
i read that 2 260's are better than 1 280 and it'll be only $30 more.

then why are you here asking for my advice if you've already made up your mind?

Posted by Fledz on Jul-21-2009 10:29:

Yea but you're future proofing more with the single one.

Posted by noikeee on Jul-21-2009 11:01:

Why would you possibly need a card on the GTX280 range? Want to play Crysis at Full HD?

Posted by Cpt.Cocaine on Jul-21-2009 14:46:

Get a single 260, then get another if you ever run into framerate issues down the line. The 280 may be slightly better, but you just end up paying for power you really don't need. A single 260 will pretty much max everything out there anyways.

Posted by Moongoose on Jul-21-2009 16:47:

AAgree, unless youre using a 30" LCD screen and want to make full use of its native resolution while gaming, 260 should be more than sufficient, and if necessary you can always double down later.

Posted by BTG on Jul-21-2009 21:48:

what i want to do is play operation flashpoint 2 at max settings, as cheaply as possible.

i already have a quad core i7 and 6gb of ram, i'm hopinng a good video will do the trick..but i also want to be able to play avp 3? when that comes out in 2010ish at max.

i think i'm going to agree that future proofing is the way to go. so i'm gonna start looking at 280s

Posted by xCxStylex on Jul-24-2009 09:00:

The thread of this title is deceiving "I'm on a budget."

$400 for a (or sli/xfire) GPU is a huge budget -_-

BTW, "future proofing" is not the way to go IMO if you play new games all the time. You'll probably enjoy your gaming more by spending $200 each year instead of $400 every 2 years for the same total. To each man his own though, at the beginning of the $400 purchase. just my 2cents

quote:
Originally posted by BTG
what i want to do is play operation flashpoint 2 at max settings, as cheaply as possible.

i already have a quad core i7 and 6gb of ram, i'm hopinng a good video will do the trick..but i also want to be able to play avp 3? when that comes out in 2010ish at max.

i think i'm going to agree that future proofing is the way to go. so i'm gonna start looking at 280s

Posted by zokissima on Jul-24-2009 20:29:

I'd certainly start looking at getting a GTX280 or 285 for that budget that you have allowed yourself. It should be more than enough. As mentioned, SLI doesn't really pay off unless you're running a very large monitor playing games at an extremely high resolution.

Posted by BTG on Jul-24-2009 23:46:

i'm not sure i understand everything.

for todays' standards, 2 280s are over kill unless you have a massive monitor...

but if i had 2 280s in say 2 or 3 years, wouldn't it just increase my computers horsepower?

Posted by noikeee on Jul-25-2009 10:25:

First of all, a single 280 is already overkill for most stuff.

A duo of 280s will increase your horsepower, yes, but the end result isn't twice the frame rates, in fact it isn't even 50% extra frames compared to a single 280.

What people are saying is that if you have, say, 400$, it makes more sense to spend 200$ now, then keep the other 200$ to spend in two years time for a brand new card to replace it. Because that way you WILL get more than twice the frame rates. It makes more financial and practical sense. Besides the fact that a duo of cards (SLI) has a couple extra technical details that are an arse to deal with, going with single cards is simply easier.

Also, please check your PSU. You're already going to need a good one for a 260/280, and ONE HELL of a good one if you're going with a duo of cards. Plus a duo of cards would have ridiculous power consumption, take a good look at the electricity bills.