Upgrading Graphics Card *Suggestions Please*

[plasmas222]

Finally upgrading my Graphics card, looking for some helpful suggestions.


What I have now:

Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D PRO
650W CORSAIR power supply
intel i7 860
DIAMOND Hd 5750 (1gig gddr5)
16gigs ddr3 1600 ramm


What I want:

To be able to play any game that comes out for pc for at least 2 years before I need to upgrade again.

Spend as little as possible, duh Price whys I'm looking for no more than $800-1k max


Seems to me all I really need to decide is which card to get, and if I want to get 1 damn amazing card, two really good ones, or 3 decently good ones (mobo has 3 slots). Comments?

edit: I'd prefer anything but nvidea, but I'll be open minded and research any suggestions. Also, I'd like something that is OC-friendly Lastly, will my 650w PS be enough or will I need to plan on buying that in addition to the cards?



Please and thanks for the suggestions

[glc]

Your chipset doesn't have enough PCI-E lanes to support 3 video cards, and even with 2 cards, they are only going to run at x8.

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: February 2011 : February Updates

Take your pick. If you want to Crossfire 2 cards you may need a stronger PSU. Your present one will support any ONE card made.

[plasmas222]

Looking around I think my best bet is the GTX 580. Any reason why I shouldn't?

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by plasmas222 Looking around I think my best bet is the GTX 580. Any reason why I shouldn't?

That is the fastest single card on the market at this time, however I would wait until the gtx 590 comes out and see what it has to offer. It is supposed to release sometime this month, from what I have read it is a dual gpu card that uses the gtx 580 gpu. It is supposed to be extremely fast, if you decide you would rather go with the 580 anyway it should take a nice little drop in price after the 590 comes out anyway.

[David M]

The most you need is one very fast card if all you are powering is one monitor. The GTX 580 is very sufficient for that. The GTX 580 also an Nvidia card. Did you change your mind about Nvidia?

The only other option is to wait for the 6990 to become available. I have no idea when that will happen but it will be interesting to see the first benchmarks between the 590 and the 6990.

The 5970 and the GTX 580 run roughly the same speed, it depends on which benchmark you look at as to which is faster. The dual GPU 5970 is getting a little old now and seems to be out of production.

Overall, it's always a horse race between the two companies and it's pretty much nose to nose right now. I kinda doubt with the next ultra fast cards that one or the other is going to pull ahead significantly. Were I to choose the next ultra fast card for a single monitor, it would probably be the Nvidia. A full on uncrippled Fermi is a pretty nice thing.

[plasmas222]

Yea, the reviews for the 580 are so good that the slight displeasure I've had with nvidia is overcome.

I always have two monitors going, sometimes 3. Never do graphically intense things on more than one at a time though so I doubt it matters.

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by plasmas222 Yea, the reviews for the 580 are so good that the slight displeasure I've had with nvidia is overcome. I always have two monitors going, sometimes 3. Never do graphically intense things on more than one at a time though so I doubt it matters.

If your going to run 3 monitors then that changes the whole ballgame. Nvidia requires two cards running in sli to power 3 monitors, ATI does not. If your going to run 3 monitors the 5970 is the way to go at this point in time. If you can wait then the 6990 will be a great card I am sure, and it will be interesting to see the the gtx590 will support 3 monitors or not.

[David M]

Yup, for a gamer with three monitors, Eyefinity is the way to go...for now. It will be interesting to see if Nvidia's Surround system catches up. I hope it does. Competition is a good thing for consumers.