Looking to replace my 5670.

Have a Radeon 5670 in my rig, looking to replace it this year. Possibly going Nvidia? Any suggestions?

EDIT: Figured I'd throw this up here as well Budget ATM: is under 300 (if possible) CPU: Intel I-5

What is your budget?

Budget? Power supply?

EDIT: Also, CPU? If you weren't running a high-end rig you likely have a weaker CPU as well and don't want to go around bottlenecking the fuck out of a 680 or something.

What's your cpu, sometimes Nvidia doesn't play nice with AMD processors?

@RollingZeppelin: That's not even remotely true.

@Kidavenger: preferably under 300 dollars, but I figure I can wait if necessary to accrue some more cash

@RollingZeppelin@SirOptimusPrime: it's an Intel I-5, and I think I have 750w PSU but I'm at my parents for thanksgiving and the computer isn't here. It was a gift and my first desktop pc, so I'm new to all this so I apologize in advance if I sound uninformed, because I am lol

@gaminghooligan: Hey, we all start somewhere, and sounds like you have a good backbone to jump off of. A GTX570 sounds like it would be exactly in your wheelhouse - nvidia + regularly sells for anywhere between $250-300. I would recommend, if you can, wait a little bit and see if you can scrounge up another hundred bucks because you are just a c-note away from looking at a 670. That's pretty much the best you'd get, as the 680 doesn't have a big enough performance increase to justify the price difference.

I'm guessing the machine has at least 4GB of RAM since the other specs seem nice. Must have been a pre-built office-type package or something along those lines? Plus, if you want, later down the line you can probably look into overclocking to squeeze as much juice out of your rig as possible. Then you can go down the rabbit hole of getting SLI if you really want.

This site is also useful for quick and easy comparisons for CPU's and GPU's: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2

EDIT: If you're in the US, look at using newegg or Amazon as they tend to have the best deals (plus, there is a bit of a Black "November" thing going on at Newegg as well).

GTX570, $314.99 before shipping, plus $20 MIR - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687

GTX670, $389.99 before shipping, plus $20 MIR - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787

@SirOptimusPrime: oh wow that's perfect, and yeah it has 6gb of ram it was a pre-built my ex got me for Christmas

I'm going to recommend a 7950, it's on par performance wise with the 670, it costs less, and AMD have great pack in games for that card right now: http://blogs.amd.com/play/this-holiday-never-settle/

You'd get Sleeping Dogs, Hitman: Absolution, and Far Cry 3

Whatever you do, you may as well wait until Friday to pick one out, there will likely be some sweet deals that could change all this.

@Kidavenger:

Hmm, maybe I'm mixing that up with something else I've heard. I guess AMD processors are fine with Nvidia GPUs.

@Kidavenger: The reason I didn't recommend the 7950 is only because of the wild variance in people's experience with drivers with AMD. Also, games can sometimes be broken for weeks on end under the banner (though this also goes for nvidia) and that can be frustrating for a first-time user.

And the OC tools that come with CCC just plain suck, not to mention the controls for forced AA and the like. As someone who only just got into OC'ing and has a fair tolerance for doing grognard shit on my PC, I hated it so I'm just relaying experience. Plus, he'd get Borderlands 2 and Assassin's Creed 3 if he bought the 670... and *sigh* Duke Nukem Forever if he got the 570.

Also, the Steam Winter Sale is bound to have some cheap, fly ass games to break over your GPU's knee.

@SirOptimusPrime said:

@gaminghooligan: Hey, we all start somewhere, and sounds like you have a good backbone to jump off of. A GTX570 sounds like it would be exactly in your wheelhouse - nvidia + regularly sells for anywhere between $250-300. I would recommend, if you can, wait a little bit and see if you can scrounge up another hundred bucks because you are just a c-note away from looking at a 670. That's pretty much the best you'd get, as the 680 doesn't have a big enough performance increase to justify the price difference.

I'm guessing the machine has at least 4GB of RAM since the other specs seem nice. Must have been a pre-built office-type package or something along those lines? Plus, if you want, later down the line you can probably look into overclocking to squeeze as much juice out of your rig as possible. Then you can go down the rabbit hole of getting SLI if you really want.

This site is also useful for quick and easy comparisons for CPU's and GPU's: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2

EDIT: If you're in the US, look at using newegg or Amazon as they tend to have the best deals (plus, there is a bit of a Black "November" thing going on at Newegg as well).

GTX570, $314.99 before shipping, plus $20 MIR - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687

GTX670, $389.99 before shipping, plus $20 MIR - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787

Yeah, this is probably the optimum solution.

One suggestion though, if you are thinking of overclocking the GPU, you have to consider the manufacturer's cooling design. My computer has an EVGA GTX 470 in it. EVGA has a good reputation for making well made GPUs, but their 470's don't come with the greatest cooling, so I can only overclock my 470 slightly. If you check out some overclocking forums, they usually point out some good manufacturers for particular cards that have a decent cooling unit for overclocking. But that's only if you're thinking of overclocking.

I dunno, I've got an Nvidia GeForce2 MX 400 in my desktop that's pretty dope.

The MX means it supports dual-screens.

wow these are all awesome suggestions, thank you guys so much, knew GB was the place to ask this

As for the AMD issue with drivers, I'd conjecture that whatever problems persist on its driver side is on par with that of NVidia, if not less. The driver problems that people experience are not widescale, and definitely not as bad as many mistakenly make them out to be. Not happy with its overclocking utility? There are free software that can provide similar function with even more add on benefits. The recent release of 12.11 drivers it has come a ways in improving its performance too, not to mention the game bundle (Sleeping Dogs, Far Cry 3, AND Hitman Absolution). 7950 is a TERRIFIC choice just for that reason alone, especially for its current prices at around $290. But you can also go for a 660Ti while it is impossible to find a 670 under 300 dollars.

Id stick with AMD, way more bang for your buck. Im still using a 5850 after 2 years and have had no problems. The card you got was low-mid range when it came out so whatever you spend money on around 300 is going to be a huge step up. Never had any problems with the AMD drivers and I play all the big games on PC. I'd go for that 7950 if they still got that bundle 3 great games that are like $150 retail is such a good deal, all I got with my 5850 was DIrt 2.

I'm currently loving my MSI 660 GTX Ti.