I need some advice on a new GPU

Hey guys, I'm selling my crapbox360, due to how crap it is, and getting about 290$ from it. I'm not skimping out on my PSU, im getting a 700W, but the video card is kind of confusing me. I'm not sure what to get. BTW, im pretty much Nvidia only, i refuse to get an ATI card because i love physx, cuda, and EVGA.

current hardware:
3 gigs of ddr2 800mhz
phenom x4 9950 @ 3.0 ghz
8800gts 320mb
windows 7 ultimate
too much harddrive space

My main question is, should I just get a gtx 260 core 216, or is saving up for a 275 REALLY worth it? I want either an xfx or evga card because of their kickass warranties. I know that if i oc a gtx 260, just by 50 mhz on everything, its getting close to the 280 in crysis at midrange resolutions. so what should i get? The res i use is 1280x1024. thanks.

GTX 285, GTX 275, or GTX 260 Core 216.

The 260 Core Edition gives you the REAL bang of the bucks!
BTW, push that Phenom to 3.4, to make Nvidia's shader shine!

go for the Core 216, I have it and I overclocked the hell out of it.

But I would also recommend to wait till the DX11 cards for out, or wait till the end of the summer for huge price drops.

thanks, and yeah i'll try to push it but I'm still on stock cooling, i need better airflow thats for sure.

I was thinking of waiting for DX11 cards but im not a crazy enthusiast im a gamer, so I wont buy a card if its more than 250$ probably.

You needn't worry about DX11, that'll be a while away due to the fact that there won't be DX11 games released until the next year. I'd get a GTX 260 core 216 and that will basically run any game on max settings at that res, and it's only about $180.

But, it's kinda pointless asking for suggestions when you say "Nvidia only, EVGA only." You already know what you want, why waste your time asking for obvious answers?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

It's only ATi who yells about their DX11.

Windows 7 comes out in sep., and then we'll see what Nvidia and ATi got for us.

Quote: "i refuse to get an ATI card because i love physx, cuda, and EVGA."

i'd like to ask. how does cuda apply to gaming anyway? what is it anyway (pardon the ignorance)? does it really give significant improvement in games? (i asked around and none of my enthusiast/gamer friends even care about cuda [even the nvidia users])

Because youre playing games dosnt mean your ONLY playing games.
Cuda is great for alot of stuff, look it up.

CUDA is amazing.

oh ok.. i did some research.. yeah cuda sounds great.. speeding up video conversions and other work processes...

guess i'll have to start saving for a 295 hehe.

yeah cuda is absolutely godlike, i use it for all sorts of applications, badaboom and folding@home being the most used ones. I convert my video files constantly, because i love recording things on my hd camera. anyway, thanks for the advice guys, guess im getting a core 216.

Get a SLI-ready motherboard, and GTX 285, instead.

well have fun getting what ever card you get, but if you look up the specs you might be suprized about how good ATI is getting...

go through all the pages, and once you introduce Anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering the 4890 in crossfire will top the 295...

What is your MB chipset? AMD or Nvidia? If you have an AMD chipset, you might as well go AMD to crossfire later if that is what you want. But I suppose all your mid to upper Nvidia cards will play most games pretty well at a range of resolutions. Its your call. As far as Cuda goes, check this out:

    - http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/graphics-cards/amd-to-support-nvidia-s-cuda-technology--612041

imo what you have now is fine, I'd wait.

I have an Nvidia chipset (evga 730a), but an amd cpu. ATI is getting good no doubt, but i don't just play games as said. I actually rely on cuda at this point. If ATI can make a cuda alternative that is actually decent, i may get an ati card.

cuda applies to gaming because the Physx API runs on the cuda framework. however im sure that nvidia will port Physx to OpenCL sometime in the near future if that becomes profitable.

ATI Stream is like the CUDA to Nvidia CUDA used in applications and for games by using the PhysX

and ATI Stream Also used in application and HAVOK for Physics in games also Video Up-sampling converting and "SimHD" for SD to HD Up-sampling works on both CUDA and ATI Stream in the End ur choice for which one u want good luck

if i where u i would wait till DX11 card come out and when the DX11 games about to come out also...

I just have a feeling that like dx10, and 9 before it, when the dx11 cards come out, theyll be as slow or possibly slower at running dx10 games until a few months later when great drivers come out. Also, games wont come out for dx11 for a good while.