Need advice on a good card for the price around 200$

[Valamyr]

Thanks alot for your comments everyone! Thats lots of valuable input :)

Originally Posted by Bond007

For a decent upgrade I would say hd 6870/6950/ gtx 560/ gtx 560ti. There seems to be more driver issues with the 68xx than other cards so I would probably pick one of the other three. The card you linked to is good, but too close in price to a 560Ti in my opinion (its $212 before rebate). For a 560 non Ti I would keep it under $200. Personally I don't think there is a need for more than 4gb ram if you already have a decent 4gb set with no programs or needs for more.

Actually, I think I need the RAM because I play heavily modded games like Oblivion and Fallout (and soon Skyrim) and they get real RAM-hungry, especially with fan-made texture packs and stuff like that. It may be the gamebryo engine thats not perfectly optimized RAM-wise, but I regularly crash and have to restart the game once the game gets around the 2 to 2.5Go mark in RAM use. People on the forums really suggested using 6Go for Windows 7 for better stability, and I expect Skyrim will require more. Plus, you know, its dirt cheap lately anyway.

[Valamyr]

Originally Posted by upcoast604

XFX Radeon HD 6870 900MHZ 1GB 4.2GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI 2x Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card - DirectCanada

$176.xx and free shipping.

Seems like a pretty solid choice, I'm leaning towards a 6870 after looking at benchmarks saying its just as good as a 560 but a bit cheaper. I'd go for a 6950 or a 560Ti but like it's been mentioned, my CPU would hold such a beast back anyway...

Is XFX known to make better cards than say, ASUS? There's this one on sale thats clocked even higher but its branded ASUS. Never had one of their cards.

ASUS Radeon HD 6870 DirectCU 913MHZ 1GB 4.2GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI 2XMINI DisplayPort HDMI PCI-E Video Card - DirectCanada

[upcoast604]

The xfx warranty is lifetime. 13mhz make no real difference, 50-100mhz you'll see some difference comparing identical cards.

[Valamyr]

Wanted to say thanks again to ya'll. I ended up busting my budget :) Your thoughts about how my system would hold back any new card made me decide money's not tight enough to make sacrifices when it comes to my gaming hobby... soooo...

Affordable Gaming rig, need opinions

I ended up getting a whole new core system. And the video card, like some of you recommended, is a 6950... 2G edition... unlockable to 6970 with a little luck!