April 2012 Graphics cards 400-1000$ budget.

[warptwist]

Hi everyone

Okay so i just ordered
NZXT Switch 810
NZXT Hale90 1000W (850W was out of stock.)
ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3
Intel I5 2500k (cooled by: NZXT Havik140)
Corsair Vengeance 2x8Gb 1600Mhz
OCZ Vertex SSD 120Gb

So that will be my current rig.

And im currently on the look-out for a Graphics Card.
(not to mention Monitor, Mech-Hdd and Keyboard - but wont discuss that at this time.)

So what Graphics card at the high-end is the best high-performance Graphics card worth the money?

I tryed to make a Google spreadsheet where i took the Benchmarks score from Anandtech.com, And the pricerunner.dk prices on the GFX's and tryed to come up with a Price divivded by Bench x100(scale it up to not look like 0.019 scores ect) and it came out like this.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...XRRaEhienNfaXc

Wether this actually can give a decent look at what cards perform best for the money i dunno. But really.. what Card is the best-buy in about ~14 days? as i don't have the money atm.

I'm proberly leaning mostly towards 680, 590, 580, 7970 or 6970. But wether those are the best for the money, I'm not sure on. Should i wait(max 1-2 months)? Buy now(in 14 days)?

[Deleted]

I would personally say a 560Ti. Its medium range graphics card but copes with any game easily out, and will do for a while to come. If your willing to wait a little you could wait to see what the GTX 660 is going to be like. There was a rumor more 600 series would be released around mid-april so maybe wait and see

[mannenabo]

a 680 will do wonders

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

You should also take a look at the HD 7870.

[vesseblah]

R7970 or GTX680 with that kind of budget. Really no point settling for less, or going for previous generation cards.

[Brewski]

I'd go for the Radeon 7950, you can overclock it and it'll be on par with the HD 7970.

[warptwist]

I'd go for the Radeon 7950, you can overclock it and it'll be on par with the HD 7970.

if the 7950 was cheaper i'd proberly agree, but the difference between 7970 & 7950 isn't really that big (~3500 vs ~4000-4100) If it was 3000 or so i'd agree.

[Evilmaniac]

GTX 680 has the best price performance at the top end card list. It uses energy cost when idle and under load between the 7970 and 7950, It cost right at $500, and is the top preforming single card gpu. It comes close to the same performance of the 590 and 6990.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...k,3161-20.html

[glo]

GTX 680 has the best price performance at the top end card list. It uses energy cost when idle and under load between the 7970 and 7950, It cost right at $500, and is the top preforming single card gpu. It comes close to the same performance of the 590 and 6990.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...k,3161-20.html

Calling it the best single card is a hairy topic. True, it's marginally the best single card at stock speeds, definitely NOT the best card overclocked.

[vesseblah]

definitely NOT the best card overclocked.

I would get GTX680 simply because it has better cooler. 1-2fps more past vsync limit in some games is not worth it.

Or rather, I'd wait until MSI comes up with improved board design for GTX680 and get that one.

[Deleted]

Calling it the best single card is a hairy topic. True, it's marginally the best single card at stock speeds, definitely NOT the best card overclocked.

Wait a minute. What are your sources on the claim that 680 is definitely not the best card overclocked?
I read this performance test by alienbabeltech and nothing's really showing the 7970 having more potential.
I had been wondering about this myself and would be glad to see some OC results.

[Deleted]

From what i have seen/been reading the 680/7970 are pretty much on par with each other, maybe with a slight edge towards the 680.
Over here the price difference between the 2 is about 50 euro (holland), the 680 being cheaper.
I would prob go for the 7970 with a custom cooler (sapphire or the MSI lightning version). (but i just dont like reference coolers, and i have a good airflow in my case )

In any case you should also look at the features of both cards, but if its mainly for gaming, i would suggest the 680[COLOR="red"]

---------- Post added 2012-04-01 at 10:28 AM ----------

Scrap that, what about 2x 7870s??? :P

again here two 7870s are about 650 euro, which is only 100-150 euro more than a 7970.