graphics card

[hoofhearted4]

i think the MSI is a little bit better then the EVGA twin frozr....the reviews seem a little more upbeat about the MSI then they do with the EVGA

 

i might end up going with the MSI just to keep my board and gfx card of the same make...though my EVGA does come with a bigger rebate lolol

Edited July 8, 2011 by hoofhearted4

[N3C14R]

ive been taking ques off of the list in your sig. (going with your mother board, and now considering your GPUs)

 

whats the difference between these two?:

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814127565

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130610

Apart from the aftermarket MSI cooler, the Evga one has a higher overclock and lifetime warrenty.

[hoofhearted4]

sooo EVGA seems to be a better deal at the moment. nice thanks!

[Elsarian]

Stream Processors are extremely important! Basically video cards have different shaders that are used as small processors to process parts of the image, a stream processor is a generic shader that can be turned into a specific shader on demand (depending on the need). The stream processor is what does a huge portion of the actual rendering. So basically each stream processor is like a processor for a video card. Doubling the number of stream processors does pretty much double the speed of the video card for rendering stuff as long as you stay in the same video card series, like nVidia's 9xxx series. The 9600GT has 64 stream processors while th 9800GT has 112 sp's.

 

And the 560ti that was linked has 384 where as this the 6950 card has 1400!!!! Huge difference. And I am talking about Radeon HD 6950.

 

Here is the link so take a look at it yourself: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=292642&CatId=7005

 

Generally speaking, I would recommend ATi Radeon cards over nVidia cards since they offer more bang for your buck, i.e. price to performance ratio.

[thresxx]

Save a little money and buy a GTX 460 with a good cooler. They can overclock like beasts, and are basically a gtx 560 after an overclock. Or get a 6870 with a good cooler. They are two of the best bang for your buck cards right now, and both can be overclocked rather safely.

 

 

As for the shaders, nVidia and AMD/ATI have very different graphics architechture, so you cannot compare them in terms of number of shaders.

 

Basically go for whatever card has the best price, and a decent cooler.

[hoofhearted4]

hmm ok ill look into it some.

[N3C14R]

And the 560ti that was linked has 384 where as this the 6950 card has 1400!!!! Huge difference. And I am talking about Radeon HD 6950.

Both cards are based on radically different architectures so the amount of stream processors are irrelevant.

 

Example, even though a 6970 has 1536 sp's, a gtx580 which has less than half the amount having only 512 sp's is still faster due to design, efficiency, architecture, etc among other differences.

 

Having more does not necessary mean better.

Edited July 13, 2011 by N3C14R

[hoofhearted4]

so far im still thinking EVGA. its the best for price (with a good $30 rebate)

[Elsarian]

What ever you believe best for both yourself and your budget my friend. I wish you the best of luck on your endeavor. But weather you go Ati or nVidia, try your best to get two of the same card to double the performance and power. Then you wont have to worry about another graphics up grade for a while.

 

Happy Gaming my friend :thumbsup:

 

-Elsarian

[hoofhearted4]

oh i will deff be going SLI, however it might be some time before i get two. if i build my PC this year, then next year ill be getting the second gfx card. if i build it next summer, then i might have to wait a little longer for a second one. if i wait till next summer, the build will prolly change anyways, to reflect new prices/combos/deals and new items like CPUs and whatnot. but picking out a list now, really helps me learn about what im looking for in each item, what makes one better then another and such.

 

i appreciate all your help guys :)