GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

wiredmarlin5 said:Once the prices for the HD6850 and GTX 460 settle down in a month or two, picking up a dual setup for CF or SLI would be a smart move for anyone rocking decent motherboards paired with an i5 or i7.

And I’ve got some "luck" waiting for me... 😬 my chain snapped on my UD3, so now I have to time this perfectly to file a warranty claim and pay the difference to upgrade to a UD4 or UD5.😁

Just head on over to Micro Center and politely ask if you can pay the difference for a higher-end model, and honestly, that should be the end of it... I really don't think they're going to give you any trouble about it. But if it's Lost we're talking about, then just 😁

Can someone tell me if a GTX 460 1GB will work

Motherboard: Dell Precision
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 2.66GHz

I'm planning on grabbing a new power supply along with the card...

Well, it’ll work as long as you’ve got a PCI Express x16 slot on the motherboard 🤷

But don't expect that CPU to squeeze anything crazy out of the GPU...

http://www.amazon.com/product_info.php?c...oducts_id=7591

👍

I’d honestly just go ahead and add $17 the GTX 460 instead. It’s more powerful for basically the same price, so you might as well grab something that actually has some staying power for the future.

It is quite unfortunate; we are left simply waiting for NVIDIA to release their response in the form of the GTX 475. Word is that its performance should surpass the entire 68XX series, though the pricing remains an unknown variable... 🙂

Price: $1 $253

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/index....product_id=45788

And here's another one:
http://www.newegg.com/products...prodID=M0901304

You can order it now; should arrive in about two weeks.

I'll say a quick word regarding this whole "price stabilization" idea.

Last year, you could snag the first HD 5850 units for around $567 before the price supposedly "stabilized" at over $200. ☕

So, we're looking at a 900MHz GPU paired with 4200MHz memory, all sitting at the exact same price point as a GTX 460. I’m dying to see if this thing actually performs better, because right now, the value is hovering somewhere around 🙂
.

boldcanyon14 said:Hmm, a 900MHz GPU and 4200MHz memory at the exact same price point as a GTX 460? I’d love to see if this thing actually performs better, because price-wise, they're basically sitting right at 🙂

Not really. The GTX 460 dropped down to $500, so with these prices, the HD68** is obviously going to be
It's not $83 a small deal, especially when you're just buying a single card for an upgrade and every dollar counts.
If you're buying a whole new PC, then sure, the difference doesn't matter much. Just my two cents. 🙂

Just let enough cards hit the market first—once the supply catches up, those prices are bound to settle down. Since they’re sitting right in that specific performance bracket, you'll likely see similar price points popping up once people actually decide to list them for sale. At that point, it really just comes down to hunting for the best bang for your buck 😉

Yeah, I hear you. I’m looking at building a whole new rig from scratch, so I’m weighing whether jumping to an $67 is actually worth the massive price hike if the performance boost isn't even that noticeable. I have my doubts, but hey, maybe I'll be surprised.
Anyway, just wanted to give you guys a heads-up: there's a GeForce GTX 460 with 1024MB on sale right now at $449, and honestly, it looks like a steal. If I can find something similar at Best Buy, I might finally pull the trigger and get this setup finished. 😁

Just grab that POV460 on sale and take it over to the shop where you're getting the rest of the build; they'll happily pack it into the case for you...
And look, $450 it’s the best deal you're going to find on the market right now. There's zero point in waiting for some HD68** card when these are only a few frames behind—maybe 5-10% at most. $133 isn't a waste of money either. Use those savings to snag a better motherboard, a faster CPU, or just put the cash toward a road trip and some good food. It's worth it. 😁

EDIT: I'm still kicking myself for what I paid for that ASUS 5770 Lockheed Martin $420 instead of waiting for the predictable price drops we saw... but hey, I was stuck without a GPU because of that whole mess with those dishonest kids back in the day

I’ll have to figure out some kind of workaround, though since I’m not based in NYC, pulling it off is going to be a bit of a headache. We’ll just have to wait a few days and see how the admins set the pricing. Honestly, grabbing a pre-built rig might be the easiest move. Yeah... I definitely didn't see this price drop coming. Now I'm stuck wondering which brand to go with—ASUS, Intel, or even something else—since everything has tanked so much that the gap between them isn't even that huge anymore.

ASUS features both Hurricane and Lockheed Martin cooling systems. Honestly, the Lockheed Martin setup is definitely superior; I have it on my 5770 and temps are great, sitting around 30-32 degrees 🙂 at idle... under load in CoD4, it hits about 54.
Intel is a better value because it's cheaper than the Lockheed Martin version, and the Hurricane seems even more budget-friendly.
In my opinion, if you're buying new, just go with the cheapest option. You still get a 2-year warranty, so if it dies, you just return it and grab a new one. It’s not like it's going to fail anytime soon unless you push it way too hard with overclocking.

Look, performance-wise they're all basically the same thing, except for the cooling. Maybe one is slightly factory overclocked, but you can easily achieve that yourself with any overclocking software.

Hey, thanks so much for the breakdown. Everything makes way more sense now. I don't think I'm going to drop a ton of cash on this one, since I'm pretty sure I won't need to deal with this headache again anytime soon. At the end of the day, the warranty is the real deciding factor for me—luckily, the one I have right now just bit the dust, and it also had a two-year coverage period. Thanks again 🙂

Yeah, just double-check how long the warranty lasts for specific brands. I actually filed a claim with ASUS a few days ago because they used to offer 3 years, but then they cut it down to 2... I have no clue what the current situation is now. Some manufacturers even only give you one year on certain models, like Gainward. I'm not an expert on the exact specifics, so check before you hit the store. The retailer should know, and it’ll be listed on the warranty paperwork.

boldcanyon14 said:Hmm, a 900MHz GPU paired with 4200MHz memory at the same price point as a GeForce GTX 470? I’d love to see if it actually performs better, since the pricing puts it right around 🙂

If you kept up with the tech news, you'd know the 6870 is much closer to the 5870 and GeForce GTX 470 than anything else, and the 460 1GB is basically left in its dust☕

Nvidia is going to start slashing card prices drastically starting October 22nd, so you can probably expect the 460 with 1GB of memory to drop by $433 within a month—which isn't exactly bad news.

Let’s wait for the actual benchmarks... then we can draw conclusions once prices start settling in.

The reviews are already out, 6870, 6850 — Bit-Tech has covered them in this instance, though there are plenty of other outlets to check out as well.
Over there, they definitely justify the price tag when you stack it up against Nvidia, so I’d imagine we should see similar value here in the States.