Best GPU Card for 200$ ???

So guys, i am building a new gaming PC and i need some advice on
the GPU. I cant decide which one to buy.
Games i play: mw2,mw3,bf3 :gun:

I am thinking of buying the XFX HD6870
What do you think ?

Thanks in advance,
Jim

Thats a very nice choice i'd say go for it..
I think AMD-RADEONs are the best choice in the market.. A "better" graphics card is the one which is built well hence lasts long enough by the time a new one's needed..
If you're on a budget, get the one which has the least negative reviews.. just a rule of thumb..

I've seen nVidia's owners saying all sorts of crap about it, hell i even lost one of my good old lattitude's due to the nVidia burnt out but that was a laptop..

I'm not really an expert on graphics cards but I thought the website below that I've used in the past and I think it's a good comparison of all the graphics cards benchmarked for framerates with their comparative costs. They have lots and lots of cards from high end to mid range and lower.

When I bought my GTX 260 a few a years ago it seemed to be the best price for the best frame rate in the games I wanted to play at the time that were really taxing to video cards like Crysis.

I really like the Battlefield line of games and have played a lot of Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3. My card which I still have doesn't run BF3 in the highest frame rates (25-40 on average) nor is it DX 11 but I really like the NVIDIA brand myself. Although I am sure ATI or AMD (I guess they are the makers now are good too as Sinner mentioned.)

The website has your HD 6870 on the list although it isn't the XFX brand. If you look on the benchmark rankings it shows how it stacks up against others just in case to see if there is anything that is a bit cheaper for more power. On the website it shows how the same model by different brands might be faster or slower like Winfast GTX 460 vs Geforce GTX 460 which rank slightly different.

The benchmarks really helped me find the best one for my money when I bought my still functioning good although now outdated GTX 260.

PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - High End Video Cards

One more site with some good reviews on Video Cards in case you haven't checked this one out as well. It has some reviews of some different versions of the 6870 and lots of other reviews of other cards as well.

http://www.guru3d.com/category/Videocards/

That is a good card, I have seen 560ti for same price on occasion from newegg, and it does not matter what card, if dx11 is important to you conside a 7770, or if its pure speed I saw a HD6970 for around 200$ last month on newegg. If I could find the 560ti for under 200$ though I think it would kill the 6870. Most cards are a bit overkill still as the games are still living in the 360 and ps3 era, and its time to move on Hoping to wait on next year to upgrade myself. If you get a AMD card, and have 2 slots, use your 260 as a dedicated physix card if you have the psu to do so.

Thanks a lot for your replies :beer:
I am probably going to buy the 6870.
I prefer XFX because their cards have life-time warranty

Jim

Under $200, your best bet is the 6870. The 560Ti will run slightly better but it is over $200.

And if you're willing to spend over $200, around $220 will land you a nice 6950. Get the 2GB version, those can be unlocked to become the 6970. Do some Google searches, there's tutorials on how to do it. It won't be too hard if you're already a technical person.

But the 6950 even w/o the unlocked shaders will run much faster than the 6870.

not to try and change your mind, but just for the info, most cards from EVGA have lifetime warranties, and ASUS cards come with errrr a 5 year transferable warranty, so they have good resell prices later on. MSI gives it upper range cards a lifetime warranty as well. Have fun with whatever new card you decide, I got to pull mine in the morning, its time for the yearly TIM change. One of the reasons my cards last so long, I got some rage 128 and a old riva TNT all in one wonder card floating around here that still work.

I also just found the XFX HD6950 for 215euros.
They say that the HD6950 2gb = GTX560Ti
Whereas the HD6870 = GTX560
Opinions ?

Jim

the 2gb 6950 gives you headroom, we are starting to use more and more gpu memory in very recent games, I see a 560ti is just a tad better at DX 11 and tessellation but not by much, so they both have there advantages and disadvantages, but the 560ti also does physix and cuda if your into that. Both will keep up with my 470gtx and my 470gtx still kills games. :beer:

I got confused
Which one should i buy ? I dont know what CUDA and physix is BTW.
The 6950 2GB or the GTX560ti 1GB ?

Jim

physix is a nvida physics simulator used in games like arkem city and well quite a few others, it can be done with most decent CPUs though. Cuda like a direct compute GPU for nvida, used for writing parallel processor codes or running folding at home, if your into such stuff.


Both cards are good cards, I am leaning to the ATI with 2gb if you have any plans on using multi monitor resolution the 560ti lags behind after a certain point.

I will buy one 19inch monitor for my PC.
So i will 99% buy the XFX 6950 2GB

Jim

Its about the resolution not the size, at 1080p both card do about the same the edge going to 560ti, at or above 2560x1440 the XFX 6950 2GB is doing better than the 560ti. On a single 1980x1080 or a 1980x1280 both are just about the same, with like I said the edge going to the 560ti. I hope that helps a bit. No worries though, both cards are a good upgrade path from a 260gtx.