gaming computer.

[hikaricloud]

Yeah the 260 is better. I don't know why he recommended the 4770 to you. Really, unless you are on a very tight budget, you should not buy anything less than a 260 core 216 or 4870 in a gaming build.

I recommended the 4770 because he didn't need anything more than that, and it was cheaper. I know the 260 is better, that's a no brainer.

As for not buying anything less than a 260, what if someone was just playing WoW? Would you still recommend it? It would be overkill and a waste of money.

 

[Baez]

Anything less than a 260? For WoW and CoD? No way. You can get a 9600GT on clearance and it will still run those games perfectly fine.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Go for baron5's i7 build.

Personally I think a GTX 260 or HD 4870 is the way to go for 1680x1050 (assuming you play a variety of games). A slower card might be able to max some modern games out but it would be cutting it pretty close and it wouldn't take much of a increase in requirements to cause newer games to be unplayable.

As for not buying anything less than a 260, what if someone was just playing WoW? Would you still recommend it? It would be overkill and a waste of money.

That depends on the resolution, while a GTX 260 would be overkill at low resolutions it would be far from it at 2560x1600.

 

[hikaricloud]

But we're talking about a 22" monitor here, 1680x1050 for WoW and COD. The 4770 would have worked plenty fine with that.

But regardless, he already has a GTX 260 in his possession, so it's really a moot point.

 

[Druid]

Well I can understand not recommending it for a low resolution monitor when they are one of those people who only play wow. If they play other games such as cod, there is a good chance they are going to be getting into other games in the future, so there is no need to cheep out when the 260 and the 4870 can now be obtained at very affordable prices.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

But we're talking about a 22" monitor here, 1680x1050 for WoW and COD. The 4770 would have worked plenty fine with that.

That's why I said it depends on the resolution. I wouldn't want to run 1680x1050 on a HD 4770. sure it may be able to max out WoW but it gets 52fps in COD5 with 4xAA which is cutting it too close in my opinion.

 

[zmatt]

But we're talking about a 22" monitor here, 1680x1050 for WoW and COD. The 4770 would have worked plenty fine with that.

But regardless, he already has a GTX 260 in his possession, so it's really a moot point.

What res do you play at? I have a 1680x1050 monitor and I can tell you that you are either underestimating how big that really is, or how powerful video cards are. You want to have 60fps to be safe, a 4770 is cutting it close. Druid was wise to recommend anything over a GTX260, Anything less wont be maxing games comfortably at 1680x1050. He will want to get a 4890 or better.

 

[baron5]

I completely agree with you guys, even though a 4770 which is basically as good as a 4850 when its overclocked, might max out cod5 and some other mainstream games now at 1680x1050, but it wont be long before you'll have to put settings down in order to get good fps. I good 4870 1gb or gtx 260 will keep you going for a good year or so at reasonable settings.

 

[hikaricloud]

Mmkay. Valid points.

Either way, though, it's moot since the OP has the video card already.

 

[zmatt]

This is true, but I think that a lot of TF members are a bit lacking in technical knowledge so anything that can be done to bring things from the realm of guess work into fact is good. The 4770 is a great budget card, but it isn't invincible.