I was looking for a card around $100, found these:

DIAMOND A4870PE5512 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103193
$59.99 shipped + the cost of 2 power connectors b/c it's an OEM drive.

ASUS EAH6770/DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 6770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121474
$99 after MIR

The 4870 is just dirt cheap for the performance but it pulls a ton of juice, even at idle. However it's 256-bit.

The 6770 is 128-bit but has 1GB ram and DirectX 11. I'm sure it's easier on the power too.

I have an i5-2500k so my video card is currently my bottleneck. Which one should I go with, or should I wait until March/April and see if prices come down at all after all the new releases? Thoughts?

If your budget was at $60, I would say go for the 4870, but since you can afford better, I would go with something more modern. That 4870 was $55 for a while recently, here's a deal thread (http://slickdeals.net/f/3649446-DIAMOND-4870-512MB-256-bit-GDDR5-44-99-after-CC?) with some discussion of it. There have also been a few threads in the Tech Support forum about this card: Radeon HD 4870 crash at stock clock (http://slickdeals.net/f/3681534-Radeon-HD-4870-crash-at-stock-clock), Diamond Radeon 4870 downclocks to 200/500 in windowed mode (http://slickdeals.net/f/3788298-Diamond-Radeon-4870-downclocks-to-200-500-in-windowed-mode)

There's a 6850 for $120 AR that was on the front page a few days ago: http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/67454/newegg-gigabyte-ultra-durable-vga-series-radeon-hd-6850-1gb-gddr5-video-card-dirt-3-game-coupon

4870 is much faster.
What is your power supply?

High End Video Card Chart

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

ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 System Requirements

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-4000/hd-4870/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-4870-system-requirements.aspx

AMD Radeon™ HD 6770 Graphics system requirements

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/amd-radeon-hd-6000/hd-6770/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6770-overview.aspx#3

For $20.00 extra I would go with the 6850.

For performance the cards are nearly the same according to this benchmarking site.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+HD+4870
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+HD+6770

Without doing further research (not sure if you are gaming, if so what games, or something else) I would go with the cheaper, less efficient card to save money. Payback on the power efficiency would take a while. Don't buy in to the marketing hype on amount of ram, etc. Trust the benchmarks.

It looks like the 6850 mentioned above would be a bump in performance for about $10-15 more. This would also be a good place to start and base it off your budget. You might even be able to upgrade if you can find a deal http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

4870 is much faster.
What is your power supply?

For $20.00 extra I would go with the 6850.

500W PS.

The cheapest 6850 on Newegg is $130 after MIR. Is that worth it being twice the price of the 4870?

No, not worth twice the price.

I have an asus 4870. I haven't changed any factory settings, but it has worked beautifully for me for most of my games; have not had any crashes/issues, although i do think asus is a much better company than diamond. you are definitely getting your money's worth for the performance, but it does run pretty hot. in terms of performance the 6850 is a bit better than the 4870, but I don't think you'll notice much of a difference and i dont think it's worth twice as much purely in terms of performance. You'll probably see something like 10-25% increase in performance, but at a 100% price increase. however, it is more efficient, and scales significantly better in crossfire.

Personally I'd spend a little bit more but that again depends on your budget and how much you need the better graphics (how much gaming you do lol)

The 4870 only has directX 10 support, it does not support directX 11. This may or may not matter to you, but I personally wouldn't buy a card without directX 11. It does have some nice graphics improvements.

I agree with everyone here, if you're really after DX11 then skip the 6770 since it doesn't really have to power for dx 11 anyway and move up to the 6850. It's kind of a bad time to get a 6xxx series card (the prices should be falling in the next couple of months) so personally I would just grab that 4870 for now if you need a card right away. You could probably turn around and sell it on ebay for more than that in a couple of months if you find that it doesn't live up to your expectations.

You could probably turn around and sell it on ebay for more than that in a couple of months if you find that it doesn't live up to your expectations.

You're probably right about that, nice call.

Thanks to everyone who contributed, reps to all :nod:

You're probably right about that, nice call.

Thanks to everyone who contributed, reps to all :nod:


129.99 MIR FRYS.com | ASUS (http://www.frys.com/product/6639934?site=sa:adpages%20page:p7) 560 Ti

129.99 MIR FRYS.com | ASUS (http://www.frys.com/product/6639934?site=sa:adpages%20page:p7) 560 Ti
That's a 550ti, not a 560 ti. Plus it's $20 cheaper on the egg.

What games are you going to be playing and what resolution? I would recommend the 6850. But if you don't play games like battlefield 3, crysis and such then get the 6770.

What games are you going to be playing and what resolution? I would recommend the 6850. But if you don't play games like battlefield 3, crysis and such then get the 6770.

right now i'm using a 1440x900 display unless i jump on that deal on the 20" screen for $65 from staples that starts on sunday.

actually newegg sold out of the 4870 i was looking at for $59 anyway. i suppose i'll wait a month and see how things shake out, maybe i'll be able to get a 6850 under $100, which is what the 6770's are selling for right now.

i just do some light gaming, mmo strategy games, sports games, things like that. when i get a decent card maybe i'll give crysis a shot...

So I started the thread about downclocking in Windowed Mode. If you play all your games full screen (i.e. not windowed), I think the card is a great investment at $50. For $60, you're bordering on the the $70 AR price that the HD 6770 (http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/66880/newegg-diamond-radeon-hd-6770-1gb-gddr5-pci-express-video-card-dirt3-game-coupon) was going for recently. Performance may be similar but you have a lot newer features and driver support, which helps.

If you are using Windows XP, just get 4870. It will have much better performance wise. XP does not have directx 11 support from Microsoft. Btw, most of the feature come with DX11 is not worth the benefit. You will highly likely to turn those features off anyway to get better fps. Unless you get a higher end dx11 card.

I am confused about what I can or should get for a video card. I have a HP computer that has a 300 watt Power supply. I do not game but do a lot a video work from the net.

I suspect most of the cards I am looking at at overkill for me. Many require 450-500 watt power supply-

Any suggestions for me ?

MEY

I am confused about what I can or should get for a video card. I have a HP computer that has a 300 watt Power supply. I do not game but do a lot a video work from the net.

I suspect most of the cards I am looking at at overkill for me. Many require 450-500 watt power supply-

Any suggestions for me ?

MEY

Video work from the net? Care to elaborate what you do and what programs you use? More than likely it won't be beneficial for you since you don't game.