I reckon it's about that time to upgrade my command center, aka, the affordable PC. I own an AMD Radeon 6950 (GDDR5). When getting a new video card, is it smart for one to stick with the same company (AMD in this case) or can I switch to nVidia? Wasn't sure if my computer would reject it, or if I would have to go through some long, arduous process for it to work. I'm a n00b. Also, I'm researching new cards, but any suggestions from you guys as far as best card on maybe a mid-tier to high sort of level as far as price goes? Thanks people!

You can switch brands. The only thing you may have to do is uninstall the drivers and their control panel app (Catalyst Control Center?) for the old card before installing the new card.

An actual budget would be helpful here, along with specifications of the rest of your PC such which motherboard and PSU you have.

You can cross brands with cpu and Gpu with no issues. Like others have said, post a budget and what you will be doing with it ( ie. Photoshop, video editing, gaming.... running three monitors), and we can help you pick an appropriate one for your needs.

Stephen

Yeah, a budget on how much you're willing to spend would help a lot. Most people will probably recommend the GTX 970 because it's arguably the best performing card for its price right now. They're usually around $350 depending on which model you get.

If you want to go AMD again I'd just make sure your PSU is up to par. An R9 290 or 290X are great cards but damn they take a lot of power.

I would switch over to Nvidia if I were you. 970 is the best price for performance, but I'd go 980 if you have the dough.

If you're keeping things around $200 the GeForce 960 and AMD R9 270X are solid choices for 1080p gaming. The nVidia driver experience is better than the AMD one and the cards tend to run more efficiently these days, but at lower price points like this one they can be appealing.

I tend to like MSI's cooler design right now - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127844

@mb: Around $250 on a card.

MB: Asus P8P67

i5-2500k

8 GB memory

Corsair 650W power.

Built my PC at the end of 2011 for video games mostly.

@sfighter21: If you can bump your budget a bit higher you could get a 970 for around $320 which will last you for a while and have you completely covered for 1080p gaming otherwise a 960 should do

I'm about to build my first computer, and the 970 is probably what I'm going to go for - mostly because you can get a free copy of The Witcher 3 if you buy it from Newegg (aka the game I'm building it for anyway).

@sfighter21: Go for a used 770! Great card that you can find at that price. Unless you can go up another $50-$70...in which case I definitely recommend jumping up to a 970.

As other people have said, if you're willing/able to bring your price point up a bit, the GTX 970 is currently the way to go. If you're really set on the $250 budget however, you're looking at either the R9 280x or the GTX 960. The 280x used to be the better option between the two, but NVidia put out a 4GB sku of the GTX 960 this month that will outperform the 280x and run at lower temps/use less energy while still being priced at $240-$250. Until AMD puts out the 300 series cards, NVidia is currently beating them at both proposed price points. So, if you do decide to get a GTX 960, make sure it's a 4GB card and not from a 2GB sku.

So I just got a GTX 970... (The MSI version specifically), and it handles everything I hand at it. If you're playing everything at 1080p it should last you 4-5 years. It's smaller than my previous card (a GTX 570), and runs quieter. The software actually has a "Silent" mode, which makes my PS4 seem like a vacuum in comparison. If you buy one before May you also get a free copy of the Witcher 3 which is a neat incentive. I got mine for $320, which is about what I paid for my 570 back in 2011. My point is that if you're looking to play a game like Far Cry 4 at 1080p on High or Ultra settings, the 970 is a fantastic card for the money.

@skyline7284: Smaller, faster, quieter, consumes less power...isn't technology great