The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.
I'm planning on buying a new video card. I was looking at this one. Is this a quality card that won't die quickly and will run most newer games pretty well? I've heard good things about it, but I just wanted to make sure.
Well i wouldn't recommend it so much for 1 main reason and that's the number of Stream Processors (not listed on bestbuy.com) it has.. The 4650 has 320 Stream Processors and well it might cut it for some games but many of the newer ones it will not. Now some may tell you to just wait and purchase a AMD 5000 series video card and that may be true, your decision but if you're still looking at 4000 line of video cards then may i suggest a video card with 800 stream processors the HD 4850.. you can find them quite cheaply on amazon.com newegg.com ... etc. They are fairly reasonable for only slight more expensive the HD 4650 you listed (800 Stream Processors vs 320 Stream Processors). Without getting too technical in case you're interested.. stream processors in it's less confusing way to say are what helps control the data flow of what's going on screen (the more you have, the more stuff that can go on simultaneous) and quite possibly the most important componet to a video card.
So in short don't go with that video card.. go with a HD 4850 (if you like AMD cards) and it'll be a little more expensive than the 4650 but much better payoff.. I found some reasonable priced HD 4850 for you on Amazon (1GB) and one on Newegg(512MB) ....they're kind of rare now-a-days. If you're interested in the new DX11 card from AMD then a similar card will be a HD 5770 and here is a whole collection of them via Newegg. Cheers.
Hang on for a week or two and pick up one of the new Radeon 5770's. They're about as quick as the existing GTX260 or 4870 but they have DX11 support along with a few other features. Also if history is anything to go by you'll see the card get quicker as the drivers mature and various bugs and optimsiations get sorted out. The card your thinking about at the moment is essentially a HTPC card and really wont give you what your looking for performance wise.
That card isn't going to give you much performance in games (low-medium settings you'll get medium fps). What is your price range?
The best bang for buck at the moment is the Radeon HD 4850, but that card isn't exactly high-end. If you want both power and value, you'll want a Radeon HD 5870. It's about double the price of the 5770 but it's also double the performance.
Thanks for the responses, I can only spend about a hundred bucks right now, Christmas has made me broke D:. I think I will save up and go with either the 4850 or the 4770. Thanks again.
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