First of all my current build

Cpu:Amd phenom 2 x4 955- stock 3.2

memory: 8Gb DDR3 1333 dual channel

HD: 7,200rpm 500 gb

PSU:500W -will be getting 850 watt or something for future SLI or CF

Mobo- MSI 870A-G54. Not sure how good it really is but I plan on upgrading in the near future as well.

Current video card: HIS 5770 1gb DDR5 at 900 core clock and 1350 memory clock.

Good cooling in the case.

Alright now that is out of the way, I've been thinking about what to get, should i get a 6870 or a 6950? Go Nvidea and SLI when I get the new Mobo? Do I need 2gb of Vram or is 1gb fine? ( Some open world games can use up to 1gb vram which is why I'm not sure). I may use Eyefinity eventually but for the moment I'll either be on a 1400x900 for right now, or a 1950x1080 or higher soon(getting that new job and what not) I basically would like to play BF3 on highish settings if not ultra(unlikely though) as well as Skyrim on ultra 60fps. Anyways Thanks for the help, i'm going to keep browsing to see if any topics cover this already, thanks ahead of time and if it is covered I'll delete this. Cheers!

http://www.hwcompare.com/

Pretty much gives you all the comparisons you'll need.

That helps quite a bit thanks, however it doesn't seem to have comparisons for newer games such as BF3,Skyrim, Withcer2 and anything else that is very hard on the Gpu, as well as my issue with going for more Vram or Nvidea. Thats more of a user experience kind of thing i'm looking for.

From all the reviews and similar forum posts I've read, I'd say get a gtx560 TI

On the other hand, it's easier to recommend something if we know your budget

Depends on what you can afford; personally, I would say the best choice is a GTX 570. Although, if you have a low resolution monitor it may just be best going for a lower end model, but honestly, if you're planning on getting a new monitor, you may as well get a 570. I've found this pageto be useful.

Anyway, here are some benchmarks for the games you're interested in:

• Skyrim.
• BF3.

Also, I don't recommend getting SLI (or crossfire); usually the performance benefit that you get from 2 cards isn't really worth it - especially since you'll need improved cooling and more power (and more money).

My budget is roughly $300(this includes card and PSU. I could maybe go for $350 but thats pushing it.

Really what I'm wondering most, is if I need 2gb of Vram. If I really don't then I'll just nab a 560 or 6870.

I'm considering the 560 Ti, it looks to be a pretty good card. I'll probably wait till closer to Christmas and see if I could get my hands on a 570 though.

560 TI or 570 are good choices.

Don't think 2 gigs of vram is needed right now, bf3/witcher 2 run fine on my 570 with 1.2 gigs. If you want 2 gigs, I would wait for the next big generation of graphics cards to come.

You don't need 2GB+ of framebuffer unless you plan on gaming at higher than 1080p/1200p resolution. The two cards I would get at this point would be the nvidia GTX 570 or the ATI HD 6970. However, this isn't necessarily the best time to be getting a high-end graphics card as we're getting pretty close to the end of this current cycle(also remember that the GTX 500 series is just really a refresh of the GTX 400 series, and the ATI HD 6900 series is just a refresh of the HD 5800 series) and new cards are pretty close to the horizon (i.e. Q1-Q2 of 2012). So I would probably go for a GTX 560 Ti and then wait for the next round of cards to make the big upgrade.

Thank you, i'll keep that in mind guys, I'm pretty sold on the 560 ti idea, just wondering how it will handle Bf3 Skyrim and any higher up titles. I mean I want to run stuff on ultra if I can but I can live with high too haha.

Edit: I found this on ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608)newegg if anyone can offer some information. I couldn't really find a great review for this particular card, but its 2:30 Am almost so my google-fu is a bit weak.

So good news! I scratched off a lottery ticket and my budget is $450 now!

Think I might pick up the superclocked twin frozer 3 570 seems like a good deal

560 Ti is the best one if you are planning on going 1080p.

Well my 570 should be here at some point today, now I need to go about getting a Psu, I was looking towards modular as well as 850 watt's should be good for my system and a future SLI, and until then OC's on my processor and 570. I just have no idea what PSU to get :|

both the 6970 and the 560 is good choices. Kinda depends on what you want and what you can find for what price.

Sorry if that's not really helpful but I haven't bought a new graphics card in a while and right about now I got a 6770 + 5770 in crossfire which I got for free from a friend and that works perfectly for my need. With my i5-2500k at 4.5GHz I get pretty good framerate with the ati dll file that enables crossfire.

outdoors 30--> fps

indoors 60-120'ish.