GPU Upgrade and Star Citizen

[chazus]

I'm building a system for a friend largely to play games, but most importantly to play Star Citizen. Budgeting is currently allowing for a sub-$200 card. Only playing 1080p, at likely 'high' (not ultra) graphics.

I've played the alpha so far on my old 660 and it's done well. I'm building another system tomorrow with a 960 (which I'll list in a moment) and test it out as well.

My question is this, are the "ITX" cards any worse, or anything I should worry about? Is the smaller form factor any kind of concern?

ITX Card for $180 - http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Overc.../dp/B00SD9KZ96
Standard card for $140 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127844

I'm sticking largely with the 960 because of budget reasons. the $140 price tag (via jet.com + rebates) is hard to turn down. If I purchase through amazon, that ITX card is the cheapest I can get, and I have about ~$120 in amazon credit sitting around (that is basically cash in my pocket).

I've considered the 380, but the cheapest 4gb card (and largely my only reason to go with a 380) is $30 more.

This seemed to show it running pretty smooth on a 960. But I'm always aware that it's alpha, and single player mode, etc etc. Currently upgrading from a failing 6850. Full system will be an overclocked 4690K, 16gb ram, SSD, etc.

[Kagthul]

Noisier maybe, depending on their cooling solution. But the clocks aren't different, and the performance should be the same.

I had a Zotac GTX 760 that was only 7.5" but it was still fairly quiet.

[Deleted]

They usually run hotter and/or louder like Kagthul said. By how much more its a gamble depends from model to model i guess.

[Jtbrig7390]

Only difference will be the cooling. All the specs are the same so the performance is the same. So it may run hotter then the normal size version. With that said if the cooling in the case is decent then it won't even matter. Its just a smaller card and thats all really.

My GTX 970 is a Gigabyte like in ur first link and it runs cool So I kinda trust them over MSI since I never used MSI before.

Edit: I say go with the 960 since it will only cost you like $80 due to having funds already. Just incase you have to upgrade soon so thats $120 you can spend on the upgrade.

[Deleted]

How about you wait until the Game is out, before you waste money on a System to play a non-optimized Alpha?

[chazus]

How about you wait until the Game is out, before you waste money on a System to play a non-optimized Alpha?

The current video card is old, and failing. It needs to be replaced regardless. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some glaring issue on getting a 960 for star citizen. He plays other current games as well, so they benefit too.

Besides, I imagine, if anything, the release version of the game will, if anything, run better than the alpha. So if it runs good on the alpha and beta, it will do well on the rest. Not only that, but we've both bought into the alpha, so it would be nice to play the thing we bought.

So far it runs great on my poor little old 660.

[Jtbrig7390]

The current video card is old, and failing. It needs to be replaced regardless. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some glaring issue on getting a 960 for star citizen. He plays other current games as well, so they benefit too.

Besides, I imagine, if anything, the release version of the game will, if anything, run better than the alpha. So if it runs good on the alpha and beta, it will do well on the rest. Not only that, but we've both bought into the alpha, so it would be nice to play the thing we bought.

Well like I said in my opinion I would get the Amazon one just because of how much you will save.

If you have to upgrade thats a extra $120 you can use on a upgrade.