Video card suggestion?

Hey all, I'm in the market for a new video card that can kill Ultra Mode. I run a dual-monitor setup at 1920x1200 (both monitors), though when I'm playing City of Heroes, I'm only running it on one monitor. (I use the second monitor for the Paragon Wiki or for running other non-graphically intensive apps.)

I'm looking to spend in the neighborhood of $200-$300. This is my motherboard. I'm not a whiz when it comes to hardware, translating specifications into "This will run City of Heroes really well," though I'm perfectly proficient at installing it once I have it. I prefer nVidia cards since I've had trouble with ATIs in the past.

So... Any advice on what will help me get set up would be appreciated. Links to Newegg and/or Amazon would be come close to getting on my Christmas card list.

If you go with the Nvidia 470 make sure your power supply can cut it! A new one will set you back around another $100 on top of the cost of the card.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/...t_buying_guide

I bought a 5770 for my system since it's a few years old, and I plan on putting together a new system in the fall. It runs Ultra decently, but I don't turn everything all the way up either. Still, it's not bad, and I didn't have to upgrade my power supply.

So, seriously? The only advice is to go with an ATI card? I mean, if that's the only advice there is, then I suppose that I'll go for it. I'm just a bit surprised that no one out there will suggest an nVidia card in that price range. I dunno, maybe that's why I came here, because I was having trouble myself finding that. I just know that I had trouble before with settings that couldn't be enabled, wonky bugs, and other problems with an ATI card, but that was quite a while back. Have those been worked out? Also, I was kind of hoping to support one of the companies that sponsors the game.

Okay, I'm on Newegg now, and I'm looking at the RadeonHD 5850 cards. I have a few questions.

1) I'm looking at two Radeon HD 5850 cards. The Sapphire Toxic is factory overclocked. The core clock is 765 MHz instead of 725 MHz, and the memory clock is 1125 MHz instead of 1000 MHz. It's also $70 more expensive than the non-overclocked version. Will these specs really make a difference running City of Heroes? Is it worth paying 20% more, or is it just the difference between a couple of FPS? City of Heroes is really the most graphically intense game I play, but of course, I want to play it with smokin' frame rates. Oh, and I also sometimes do video captures, which can ding the frame rate.

2) There's also a Sapphire Toxic 2GB card (versus 1GB) for exactly the same price. Am I just missing some obvious difference other than how much memory is on the card? Neither of the prices are marked down. Why are they exactly the same price?

3) Does anyone have this particular card from this particular manufacturer? Is there any reason why I shouldn't buy this card? Does another manufacturer have better cards? Again, this is my motherboard. I have a 1000W power supply. Will I need to buy anything else?

4) I figure that if I do go with the Sapphire Toxic model, for just $10 more, they have the RadeonHD 5870, with a non-overclocked 850 MHz core clock and 1200 MHz memory clock. Would this be a better deal?

5) Does anyone else want to weigh in on the ATI vs. nVidia thing? I mean, if we're pushing up into that price range, we're in the price range of some of nVidia's higher-end cards.

Any thoughts and help would be appreciated!

The nVidia cards will run hotter, will require more power, and of late the ATI cards have been topping them in comparisons I've seen. I haven't seen anything lately, but I don't really think it's changed from a price/performance standpoint.

When you weigh in the power requirements and heat increase, ATI is an easy choice to me.

I have a GTX275. But if I was buying now I'd go for a ATI.

Well, color me convinced. ATI it is, then, and I'm really glad I asked. You guys are awesome.

I've decided to go with this one. It's out of the price range I was considering, but that should future-proof me pretty well, I hope, and will hopefully kick ultra mode's a**. I'm also buying a 128 GB SSD.

Again, thanks for the advice. I really had pretty much decided to go with one of the nVidia cards.

I have added you to the list of those I officially am angered by in this forum. You are in good company though with Zombie Man, Zloth, Bill Z Bubba, and Back_Blast.

*makes a note to be prepared to add M-B to The List*

Too late. No avoidance of The List at this point. But, as I pointed out to TonyV earlier in the thread, you'll be in good company at least.

*makes a note to add Cade Lawson to The List as well*

You know what one of the coolest things about this card is? I mean, literally? Tonight, I watched Belle do her Taxibot event night, which consisted of both of Positron's task force segments, back-to-back. I had the Ultra Mode settings bumped all the way up.

My old video card, with some Ultra Mode settings ranked kinda sorta up, would start revving up its fan until it sounded like a jet engine in there, and I was getting frame rates in the ~15 FPS range. This puppy, though, cranked up all the way, was as quiet as it was when I first turned the computer on, and was consistently getting quite a bit more. I don't know exactly how much, but I could tell that it was more than the 15 or so it used to. And did I mention quiet? I don't know if it just operates quieter, or if it didn't have to work at its maximum capacity to run City of Heroes. I think it's the latter, since the room didn't get appreciably warmer like it usually does. Whatever it was, though, I liked it a lot better.

Heh I have a geforce 220 GT and works fine even with everything maxed out I'm glad I no longer use my 5100se or w/e integrated. Integrated cards eat up CPU