Yet another vid card question.
By
Father Xmas,
Posted on: 2010-08-15 20:57 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
An HD 5850 is a nice ~$300 video card. Sapphire, XFX have fairly good reps. The price of the GTX 470 is now fairly close to the HD 5850 (duck here comes je_saist 
).
Don't forget a good quality PSU. 650 watt should cover it nicely for a single video card system. 750 watt for Crossfire. I like Antec, Seasonic, Corsair.
BTW, the price of the i7-870 has dropped to within $10, last I look, of the i7-860.
Read the fine print (at Gigabyte's website) when dealing with Gigabyte motherboards with USB3 and 6GB SATA for Socket 1156. There are usually some kind of limitation when enabling USB3/SATA III support.
GA-P55A-UD3 and -UD3P, enabling USB 3/SATA III drops the video card slot down to x8 from x16.
GA-P55A-UD4P and -UD6, USB 3/SATA III will act as USB 2/SATA II if you are using Crossfire/SLi.
Only the extreme -UD7 supports USB 3/SATA III and Crossfire/SLi at the same time (3-way Crossfire/SLi).
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Given that:
1) I will never install a more powerful video card in the system, and
2) I will never install more than one video card
the motherboard should be okay with those limitations.
Regarding the power supply, I have used Antec in my last two builds and plan to stick with them. I'll use an online wattage calculator then get significantly higher capacity to allow for deterioration of the components, particularly since I run my system 24/7 at 100% CPU utilization.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
TL;DR version: Which card should I get?
Long version: I like to have the cost/horsepower of various components in proportion. Putting a 5970 video card in a system with a Core i3 CPU would be silly. In my last build, I had an E6600 Core2Duo ($315) and a 7950GT ($265). I'm a bit more into the gaming now than I was then, so I figure my video card should be upgraded a bit in proportion to the rest of the system.
So far, I have decided on:
Core i7 860 ($290)
Gigabyte mobo with USB3 and 6GB SATA
8MB of G.SKILL RAM
So, I figure I should be looking at a 5850 video card.
(Two builds ago, I had an ATI card due to compatibility concerns with a video capture card. My last build had an NVidia card since that seemed the best price/performance at the time. ATI seems the way to go at the current moment. I have no loyalty to either chipset.) Once I settle on the video card, I'll pick a power supply.
So, two questions:
1) Does anyone see a flaw in my thought process that brings me to the 5850?
2) Since my knowledge of ATI cards is years out of date, what manufacturer would people suggest? My 7950 is from EVGA - I'm willing to pay a premium for quality.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project