On numbers alone I wouldn't upgrade for anything less than +50% performance, but for a lot of people it's not the only metric for evaluating an upgrade. There's noise, heat, power consumption, exclusive features (e.g. Eyefinity, 3D, PhysX, audio bitstreaming) or even something like one's favourite game having issues with a particular chip. I upgraded my X1950XT to an 8800GT not for performance but because the fan on the former was starting to wear out and click. Of course, those better financially resourced than myself could probably justify any performance upgrade on that criteria alone.

 

 

 

Aside from coolers, card vendors might differentiate on software bundle (free games), included accessories (probably not so common these days), warranty length/tranferability, PCB colour (for people with windowed cases), packaging (there was a card recently that came in a large novelty rifle plastic case) and of course, price. There are also the factory overclocked variants, although this tends to be more obvious a decision than the aforementioned.

Edited October 27, 201015 yr by Humanoid

I see, thanks.

 

I guess I'm just not enough pro to care much more than the noise level. I always replace the cooler with a third party cooler to cut the noise down.

I just need something new and shiny to spend my cash on.

OK, it is now December and the 6970 is nowhere to be seen.

 

I AM DISAPPOINT

It's not until the 13th now, apparently Texas Instruments screwed up a shipment and there's a big parts shortage.

OK, it is now December and the 6970 is nowhere to be seen.

 

I AM DISAPPOINT

Name me one game that needs such horsepower to run properly.

 

Hell, even Crysis 2 will run better than Crysis 1, and Rage even runs with 60 fps on a 360. I have no need to upgrade anytime soon.

Metro 2033

Bah, who cares. Why do girls buy make-up? Why do you buy candy? Why do people buy luxury items in general?

 

I just want the latest shiny for no logical reason.

No graphics card in the world can run Battlecruiser 3000AD well.

Edited December 3, 201015 yr by Humanoid

Bah, who cares. Why do girls buy make-up? Why do you buy candy? Why do people buy luxury items in general?

 

I just want the latest shiny for no logical reason.

Well, whatever floats your boat.

 

Usually when I can't think of anything to waste my money on I save it. Because you never know how ****ty the future can be.

I am still using my 8800 gts g92.

 

It still rocks.

Usually when I can't think of anything to waste my money on I save it. Because you never know how ****ty the future can be.

I earn enough to both buy useless shinies and save. Good times.

Dialing the number for Skatteverket...

 

My very noisy and constantly crashing ATI card is getting on my nerves. I seriously considered the EVGA GTX580 1536MB FTW 015-P3-1589-KR Hydro Copper 2 for a while. That is, until I discovered that Swifttech makes the water cooling block it comes with. Then I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

http://www.nordichardware.se/testlabb/25-g...tstart=#content

 

It's a review of 6970 and 6950.. but in Swedish. I'm now undecided if I'm going to upgrade. I was hoping for a bigger difference between my 5870 and the 6970. I mean, the 6970 is faster and my 5870 is slacking.. but compared to Nvidia they're not doing so good. The 6970 is equal to the GTX570. AMD has no competitor for the GTX580 yet.

 

Maybe I should wait for the 6990? Decisions.

6950 Crossfire might be turn out to be the best value high end solution - costs about 20% more than a single GTX580 but 50-70% faster. That'd be the upper bound of the 6990 I imagine, depending on how much they end up having to cut it down to fit in the 300W envelope.

Since I prefer a single GPU, the 580 is making me drool. But $500...blech. Maybe it'll drop to $400 by summer/years end when I really want to upgrade from the 275. Not that the 275 is giving me any issues, still runs everything like a champ. I just want new toys.

At the moment my budget-minded 5770 with the slaved 9800 GT is enough to run anything I've needed it to, so I'll likely stick with that until I need to upgrade to something else.

So, nVidia launch the GTX590 to attempt to smoke AMD ....and end up taking it a bit too literally. With some mild overclocking/overvolting within the protection parameters, several review sites, using a mix of samples and retail boards have reported their test cards blowing up - indeed one tester had both his cards independently fail. Thermal imaging of the card in a closed case have shown the PCB heating up in excess of 110

So, nVidia launch the GTX590 to attempt to smoke AMD ....and end up taking it a bit too literally. With some mild overclocking/overvolting within the protection parameters, several review sites, using a mix of samples and retail boards have reported their test cards blowing up - indeed one tester had both his cards independently fail. Thermal imaging of the card in a closed case have shown the PCB heating up in excess of 110

Watercooling is the way to go. So many nuclear reactors can't be wrong

So, nVidia launch the GTX590 to attempt to smoke AMD ....and end up taking it a bit too literally. With some mild overclocking/overvolting within the protection parameters, several review sites, using a mix of samples and retail boards have reported their test cards blowing up - indeed one tester had both his cards independently fail. Thermal imaging of the card in a closed case have shown the PCB heating up in excess of 110

So, nVidia launch the GTX590 to attempt to smoke AMD ....and end up taking it a bit too literally. With some mild overclocking/overvolting within the protection parameters, several review sites, using a mix of samples and retail boards have reported their test cards blowing up - indeed one tester had both his cards independently fail. Thermal imaging of the card in a closed case have shown the PCB heating up in excess of 110

I have been getting sporatic blue screens with my HD 4500 (i think) older model anyway, but much worse than that, the fan has started howling something awful every time I go into full 3D, starting a game etc, it makes no perceptible noise with light activity, browsing, watching movies etc. My attempts to clean it out have all failed.

 

What's the consensus on the best value if you were buying right now ?. Things like power consumption are a concern. I rarely ever turn my computer off.

HD 4800. I remember now.

At increasing price points I feel the best options for the time being are: GTX460 1GB (not the SE model), HD6850/70, HD6950 (2GB useful for resolutions over 1080p).