So I have my old rig I got back in '10...haven't done much with it except slap in a bit more ram when Cosair sticks were on sale.

Here it is:

Windows 7 64 bit

Intel i5 760 @ 2.80GHz

8GB DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250

Suprisingly I'm able to play Skyrim at slightly above Ultra settings with an FPS of 25-60 (25 cities/60 interiors/30 wilderness)...but that was only due to some tweaking (using mods that increased performance and allowed the user to run at ultra with little performance loss)...

So, other than the fact I don't have a fancy i7 and half of what I could have in RAM, I am looking to upgrade my video card with the intent of running GW2 at max-ish. I know the really top end recently came out but I'm not looking to lay down $600 bucks for the newest GTX 6XX series. I do however have my eye on the moderatly priced EVGA GTX 550 2GB edition...I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or other advice on what my new video card should be. 

It has to be under $200...It has to have a good chance of running max (or close to) settings in GW2.  I all about nVidia so it may take some persuading for me to consider ATI.  I'm really looking for that bang for my buck that my current rig was back in 2010.  Thank you in advance. :D

As far as video cards go, in that price range, I think the GTX 560 is probably the best choice. That or the 6870 from AMD, both are great and only slightly less than $200 currently. What resolution do you play at?

1920*1080

probably should have mentioned that I was looking at the GTX 550 Ti version (2GB edition)...which I *think* is more performance than the regular 560 or am I wrong? The 2GB Ti version of the 560 is well over the $200 while the regular 560 looks to be around $130 (the EVGA GTX 550 Ti 2GB is around $170)

This may be helpful. The performance levels for GW2 are estimated, but the chart does accurately show the relative performance of the cards listed.

(Click image for full resolution):

I found a a couple GTX 560TI and HD 6950 cards for around $230 on Amazon US, if you could afford to exceed your budget by $30.

There are also a number of GTX 560 and HD 6870 cards for under $200. A couple nice deals there, if you look.

Originally posted by Lucrecia

1920*1080

probably should have mentioned that I was looking at the GTX 550 Ti version (2GB edition)...which I *think* is more performance than the regular 560 or am I wrong? The 2GB Ti version of the 560 is well over the $200 while the regular 560 looks to be around $130 (the EVGA GTX 550 Ti 2GB is around $170)

A GTX 560 will offer more performance than the 550Ti. The extra GB of video ram probably won't see any use in GW2 or just about any other current game, from what I understand.

EDIT: Just to quantify, I checked some benchmarks and the GTX 560 would outperform the GTX 550ti by roughly 50%.

if you can wait until the nvidia 660's come out then the price should drop more on the 560's and 560 ti's. tho there are some nice rebates on them allready, but as the next gen gets out the prices will drop further.

So my advice wait as long as you can and look for a really good deal or the next price drop on the current gen cards. unless gw2 comes out before said time then just get the best you can afford at the time.

tigerdirect has some great rebates on the 560's right now

160$ for standard 560 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=555335&CatId=3669

can get a ti for around 200 tho the best ti's the 448 core one's are still around 250

Originally posted by kileak

if you can wait until the nvidia 660's come out then the price should drop more on the 560's and 560 ti's. tho there are some nice rebates on them allready, but as the next gen gets out the prices will drop further.

So my advice wait as long as you can and look for a really good deal or the next price drop on the current gen cards. unless gw2 comes out before said time then just get the best you can afford at the time.

Prices have already started to drop and may not go much lower than they are now, if you deal shop. We also don't really now when the GTX 660s will start shipping in quantity. It could be a few months. I guess if the purchase is looking towards GW2, where you land on release date speculation will influence how much time you think you have to wait. :)

GW2 is not gonna be very taxing graphics wise..

The 560 or 550ti should be more than enough for it :) or the ATI 6870 or 6950s..

Aye, too bad we dont know when gw2 is gonna ship either, unless she's trying to get her system ready for the beta weekends.

As mentioned above if you can afford it i would definitely recommend either a 560 ti (msi twin frozr ii /oc for example) or a 6950 from AMD. Going to budget is going to hurt you in the long run. Ive been running with my 560 ti from msi now for a loong time and been extremely happy with it.. playing everything except Battlefield at full fluff and even Battlefield 3 can be played at a fairly high setting.

While you may not care about high or ultra details it is a way of insuring yourself for the future and thereby saving money in the long run. In my example i just bought another MSI GTX 560 ti twin frozr ii /oc edition to run the system in SLI (SLI and crossfire scaling today are very good in general) and im getting close performance to the new 680 where my MAX FPS are at times a bit above but lagging alittle when it comes to the minimum FPS (frames per second). This was measured in battlefield. Now for a setup that has costed me around 3300 DKK versus a new card that cost at the moment 4000DKK or more i think i got a good deal and my system will be able to last another 1½-2 years minimum on an already 2½ year old i7 platform.

get a 570 for $300, and overclock it to 580 levels. done deal cuz thats wut i did =)

also, overclock your i7! i overclocked my 2.6ghz 720 to 3.55ghz, but with better cooling it can easily be oc'd to 4ghz. i7's are still very powerful.

Originally posted by umie214

get a 570 for $300, and overclock it to 580 levels. done deal cuz thats wut i did =)

also, overclock your i7! i overclocked my 2.6ghz 720 to 3.55ghz, but with better cooling it can easily be oc'd to 4ghz. i7's are still very powerful.

For people in that price range, but no immediate need to buy asap, continually watch for deals on on the 570s. I bought one for $269, (after a $20 rebate, free shipping), a couple weeks ago and now it's back up to $335! I usually shop Amazon and Newegg. Pick a few sellers you feeel comfortable with and search the models you are interested in daily. You'll get an idea what normal prices are and will be better able to quickly recognize a good deal when one pops up. :)

EDIT: Here is a good price on a GTX 570 currently on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GeForce-mini-HDMI-Graphics-GV-N570OC-13I/dp/B0056GJLA8/ref=pd_cp_pc_0

It's a Gigabyte for $255.99 after $20 rebate. Just make sure you have room in your case, it looks a little long with the three fans.

If you want anything above medium settings especially during WvW fights you should be aiming for AT LEAST a gtx 570.

Anything less than a 570 will be stuck with medium settings at best during large scale pvp.

Wait for the last possible moment before upgrading as they optimise the game more and the price of cards will fall more to.

Also rem GW2 does NOT support dual cards (sli / Xfire) and it could be a year or never before they do so take that into account to.

You kinda forgot to mention which PSU you own. I don't think it's a good idea to get a card like a gtx570 with a weak PSU, as they need lots of power (around 200W on load, more if OC'ed).

Around the same price you should look into a HD 7850 which gives the same average performance while consuming almost half the power (typical 115W in games), and overclocks like ****.

Both of these surpass you budget anyway, but if you want to break it for extra perf. the AMD card is a better option overall.

Aise from that, I think the 550ti are a terrible idea, they're "useless" overpriced crap and the performance boost from yours would be small.

I'm not sure about other cards' prices in USA, but HD6870 \ GTX560 ti used to be sweet on price\performance range. From some info on newegg the 6870 is way cheaper now (170$ vs 210$) but if you can find a 560 ti for around 170$ it's a pretty good option as well.

Unless you do GPGPU compute, the price difference for a HD6950 doesn't justify the performance delta. If you can find one (maybe used) at 180$ or below then go for it, else stick with the above choices.

My Radeon HD 5770  is able to render 64 player battles in BF3 easily without ever dropping below 25 frames per second. I am sure it can handle GW2, which is by far less taxing than BF3. GW2 might not be optimized for those cards in the next BWE, but it will be on release.

You won't need a gpu with more than 1k MB memory to enjoy all of GW2 on the highest settings.

Originally posted by IPolygon

My Radeon HD 5770  is able to render 64 player battles in BF3 easily without ever dropping below 25 frames per second. I am sure it can handle GW2, which is by far less taxing than BF3. GW2 might not be optimized for those cards in the next BWE, but it will be on release.

You won't need a gpu with more than 1k MB memory to enjoy all of GW2 on the highest settings.

This also, at 1920x1080 resolution you won't need more than 1GB of VRAM for sure.

Originally posted by Vortigon

If you want anything above medium settings especially during WvW fights you should be aiming for AT LEAST a gtx 570.

Anything less than a 570 will be stuck with medium settings at best during large scale pvp.

Wait for the last possible moment before upgrading as they optimise the game more and the price of cards will fall more to.

Also rem GW2 does NOT support dual cards (sli / Xfire) and it could be a year or never before they do so take that into account to.

Not sure if that last bit is true... if it is then a single 560 will really do the job fine.. cant say more than that..

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Originally posted by Caldrin

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Originally posted by Vortigon
If you want anything above medium settings especially during WvW fights you should be aiming for AT LEAST a gtx 570.
Anything less than a 570 will be stuck with medium settings at best during large scale pvp.
Wait for the last possible moment before upgrading as they optimise the game more and the price of cards will fall more to.
Also rem GW2 does NOT support dual cards (sli / Xfire) and it could be a year or never before they do so take that into account to.

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Not sure if that last bit is true... if it is then a single 560 will really do the job fine.. cant say more than that..

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Well its a known fact that GW2 does not officially support SLI/Xfire in any way at the moment unfortunately :(

And a 560 will not run GW2 at max settings during large scale combat such as WvW.

I wish it did, as I would save a lot of money on my new build :)

But its beta and a lot can change that's for sure.

Get a gtx 680 like i did and stave for two weeks. lol