also this program is a good test for your vid card you can put the load on just the CPU or just the GPU or the CPU and THE GPU

with it you can see just what kind of load you can put on your system

http://www.ocbase.com/index.php/software/20-occt

Off topic: Quiz always writes paragraphs and i always feel like i learn something new every time i read his knowledge.

Listen to Quiz he knows his shit

Originally posted by pirateshake

Off topic: Quiz always writes paragraphs and i always feel like i learn something new every time i read his knowledge.

Listen to Quiz he knows his shit

He is the computer "Rain Man" of mmorpg.com that is for sure. Everyone must have a talent in life, his is computer hardware, and mine is eating those candy fruit slices from Walmart. mmmm, I luv those good.

Originally posted by Epic1oots
dont bother, just wait a little longer and get the gtx660. its not that much more, youll be very happy.

The GeForce GTX 660 and/or GTX 660 Ti were rumored to launch in May.  Didn't happen.  Then in June.  Didn't happen.  Then in July.  Didn't happen.  The rumors of an August launch are perhaps more credible than the earlier rumors, which looked to me like people who didn't have any inside information but were making things up.

When's the last time that there was a consumer graphics card based on a GPU chip, and then another card based on a salvage part of it, and then a third card based on a further salvage part of it, without the third card being basically irrelevant?  The third card existing is pretty common, but the cards tend to be low-volume parts, and hence overpriced.  I think you have to go all the way back to the GT200b version of the GeForce GTX 260 (as opposed to the GT200-based card of the same name).  That was a huge die with tons of stuff that could be fused off, far more so than GK104.  Can you name another GPU chip with a second salvage part that mattered since, well, ever?

Second salvage parts are actually pretty common:  Radeon HD 5830, Radeon HD 6790, Juniper-based Radeon HD 5670 (as opposed to the ubiquitous Redwood-based cards), GeForce GTX 465, GF110-based GeForce GTX 560 Ti (as opposed to the ubiquitous GF114-based cards), and the rumored upcoming GeForce GTX 660 and/or GTX 660 Ti, among others.  Want to bet that the last one will be the first one on the list that actually matters to consumers, as opposed to being a way for AMD or Nvidia to get rid of a handful of defective dies?  I don't.

http://amzn.com/B0050I1PHO

That's what I have.  Works great.  Everything ultra in WvWvW or End of BWE parties and I never fell under 30fps other than those rare instances when I pan my camera fast and it dips to 20 FPS for a second and recovers quickly.  Typical PVE gameplay on Ultra I am running at 40-60 FPS. Nice rebate on that card right now.

Rest of my system:

Windows 7 64-bit

Intel i5 760

12 GB Corsair Vengeance (Nice deal here for decent gaming RAM: http://amzn.com/B004QBUL1C )

Originally posted by Pretender00

Replacing  my old HD4770 card for a new one for launch.

I have between $150 and $200US to spend.

Can anyone tell me if they think that the GTX 550ti 2GB would be better than a HD6870 1GB?

 

I know the HD6870 is a better card but would the extra 1GB of memory be worth it in getting the 550ti?

 

Or I might go with a HD6950 2GB for 199$ but would looking for value to my money. 

I think you're okay with the GTX550Ti 2Gb already. In the forlast stress-test I played GW2 with it (finally) using GPU for graphics and I had 40+ FPS in highest settings on busy places. Gotta say that I have a GTX460 in SLI (768Mb version factory OC). I think the GTX550Ti 2Gb will perform around the same as my SLI setup.

It looks like I'll make a decision between these. Thanks for all your help especially yours Quiz!! 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121446

If I get froggy maybe I'll buy this one...since its only $30 more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102987

Originally posted by Pretender00

Replacing  my old HD4770 card for a new one for launch.

I have between $150 and $200US to spend.

Can anyone tell me if they think that the GTX 550ti 2GB would be better than a HD6870 1GB?

 

I know the HD6870 is a better card but would the extra 1GB of memory be worth it in getting the 550ti?

 

Or I might go with a HD6950 2GB for 199$ but would looking for value to my money.

Believe it or not (and I speak from my own experience), replacing the video card will have a minimal impact on game performance, unless you already have a good mainboard, ram and processor.

What else does your pc contain?

Originally posted by bronecar

Originally posted by Pretender00

Replacing  my old HD4770 card for a new one for launch.

I have between $150 and $200US to spend.

Can anyone tell me if they think that the GTX 550ti 2GB would be better than a HD6870 1GB?

 

I know the HD6870 is a better card but would the extra 1GB of memory be worth it in getting the 550ti?

 

Or I might go with a HD6950 2GB for 199$ but would looking for value to my money.

Believe it or not (and I speak from my own experience), replacing the video card will have a minimal impact on game performance, unless you already have a good mainboard, ram and processor.

 

What else does your pc contain?

I'm sure I read somewhere that the last stress test for GW2 took the load from the CPU and let the GPU handle it? I just upgraded from an older Nvidia to a GTX560 and I noticed an appreciable difference in both looks and performance. Not saying you're wrong (Crom knows I know bugger all about PC's). Just saying my PC isn't great by any stretch of the imagination but I did notice a difference, at least with GW2.

Originally posted by Reizla

I think you're okay with the GTX550Ti 2Gb already. In the forlast stress-test I played GW2 with it (finally) using GPU for graphics and I had 40+ FPS in highest settings on busy places. Gotta say that I have a GTX460 in SLI (768Mb version factory OC). I think the GTX550Ti 2Gb will perform around the same as my SLI setup.

A single GeForce GTX 460, even the cut down version with a 192-bit memory bus like you have, is a much faster card than a GeForce GTX 550 Ti.

Originally posted by Pretender00

It looks like I'll make a decision between these. Thanks for all your help especially yours Quiz!! 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121446

 

If I get froggy maybe I'll buy this one...since its only $30 more.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102987

What power supply do you have, and what case?  All of the cards that you link will use a lot more power than your old Radeon HD 4770.  You don't want to buy a new video card only to have it fry things because your power supply can't handle it, or overheat because you case doesn't have enough airflow, or not physically fit in your case in the first place.

Using this :      Ultra X-Finity ATX Power Supply - 600W, Dual 80mm Fans, SATA-Ready, SLI Ready

Case is an Antec Sonata II mid tower case. I have adequate cooling, that won't be an issue.

Originally posted by JJOneway

Originally posted by bronecar

Originally posted by Pretender00

Replacing  my old HD4770 card for a new one for launch.

I have between $150 and $200US to spend.

Can anyone tell me if they think that the GTX 550ti 2GB would be better than a HD6870 1GB?

 

I know the HD6870 is a better card but would the extra 1GB of memory be worth it in getting the 550ti?

 

Or I might go with a HD6950 2GB for 199$ but would looking for value to my money.

Believe it or not (and I speak from my own experience), replacing the video card will have a minimal impact on game performance, unless you already have a good mainboard, ram and processor.

 

What else does your pc contain?

I'm sure I read somewhere that the last stress test for GW2 took the load from the CPU and let the GPU handle it? I just upgraded from an older Nvidia to a GTX560 and I noticed an appreciable difference in both looks and performance. Not saying you're wrong (Crom knows I know bugger all about PC's). Just saying my PC isn't great by any stretch of the imagination but I did notice a difference, at least with GW2.

Correct, though I think they didn't find the right balance yet. My GPU was during last week(end)'s stress tests around 60% load the whole time sometimes even dropping lower and my CPU was using 3-4 of the 8 (hyper threading) cores continuously with at least 2 cores being over 65% load all the time and sometimes 3. This was with HD6970 and I7 2600k (running at 4Ghz 1600 fsb 1:1 with ram).

Does anyone think I would see a big improvment if I installed a 120GB SSD drive and just put the OS and GW2 on it? Currently using a 300GB HDD 7200rpm with only about 40GB available.

Originally posted by Pretender00

Using this :      Ultra X-Finity ATX Power Supply - 600W, Dual 80mm Fans, SATA-Ready, SLI Ready

Case is an Antec Sonata II mid tower case. I have adequate cooling, that won't be an issue.

I'd like to suggest that you should care more about power consumption and stay away from higher power cards.  Your case is designed for quiet operation, not high airflow.  Trying to cool a high-power internal-exhaust video card with a single 120 mm fan is going to give you heat problems.  Probably not fried hardware, but more stress on it than you'd like.

The power supply, meanwhile, is a relic of another era:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=23

The review isn't really that hard on it, but standards were different six years ago.  The Radeon HD 4770 that you're looking to replace now would have been the best video card in existence by an enormous margin six years ago.  Power supplies don't improve nearly as fast as video cards, but they have come a long way in six years.  They surely didn't imagine it powering a video card that pulls 200 W from it.

A lower power card like this would probably be fine:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150598

But that raises the question of whether it's a large enough upgrade to justify.  I'd lean toward "no".  Your computer doesn't have some components that are clearly much stronger than others, so if you upgrade one thing, you'll immediately be held back by something else.  I think your best route would be to save your money until you can spend around $1000 to get a new computer.

Originally posted by Pretender00

Does anyone think I would see a big improvment if I installed a 120GB SSD drive and just put the OS and GW2 on it? Currently using a 300GB HDD 7200rpm with only about 40GB available.

 

You'd see a huge improvement in loading times.  It probably wouldn't make a difference in frame rates, though.