GPU Recommendations

[blucube]

I recently picked up FFXIV and it's been eating my 8800GTX a live, current specs:

Rampage Formula P45
Q6600 @ 3.2
8xGB Corsair Dominator PC-8500 @ 1066
8800GTX Stock
*Edit - CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS

Now I'm not sure where the performance bottle neck is, but I'm assuming it's the GPU. Looking into it, I'm not hearing a lot of great things about nividia's GTX400 series cards. Powerful, but at a lot of expense. I'm really not wanting to spend much more than $300 on a card. I was never big on ATI's cards, but they're looking a little tempting. Two cards I was looking at:

Newegg.com - XFX HD-585X-ZAFC Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE TOXIC 100282TXSR Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

I don't know anyone that has that card and plays FFXIV, but I imagine it would be a pretty decent boost in performance. I also hear the 5850's OC like champs, granted my PC life has been **** due to ramifications of OC'ing CPU/RAM/GPU ( mainly RAM, and possibly GPU in the past as I've baked it twice now ).

Can any provide suggestions on the above cards or maybe better options? I noticed the list, but still would like to see suggestions.

I appreciate your time.

 

[Sean W.]

what powersupply do you have?

 

[blucube]

Good question

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS
Newegg.com - CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

 

[Sean W.]

ATI recommended a minimum of a 500W power supply for a 5850, so i would say that the highest you can go with your power supply. a 5850 can play any game on the market at high ( not to be confussed with " highest " ) settings @ 1920x1080.

and this 5850 is the bees knees. it has an awesome cooler on it that will give you plenty of head room for a nice overclock that can get you within spitting range of the performance of a stock 5870.

Newegg.com - MSI R5850 Twin Frozr II Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

 

[blucube]

I guess one would do well to ignore a lot of the negative comments associated with that card?

 

[patonb]

^Thats BS. corsair 620hx will run pretty much every card... a 480 or 5890 maybe not, but my 520hx had my 2 260s running.

You'll have no issues running a 5850, a 5870 will run just fine too, but is 65-100 bucks more.

I'd get the 5850 with your setup... and gaming needs.

Edit...

I'd get the xfx one mainly for the warrenttee.... its a lifetime one!

 

[Sean W.]

^Thats BS. corsair 620hx will run pretty much every card... a 480 or 5890 maybe not, but my 520hx had my 2 260s running.

You'll have no issues running a 5850, a 5870 will run just fine too, but is 65-100 bucks more.

I'd get the 5850 with your setup... and gaming needs.

i was just going off of what is on the Manufacturers website

 

[patonb]

^Still have 120W and a *** load of Amps to play with. Plus its well known the manufACTUER over estimats the requirements due to too many crappy psu brands.

Even the 5970 actually only states 650W.

 

[PP Mguire]

Your CPU although still quite capable, could be a slight bottleneck for a modern high end card. Simply having a quad core doesnt alleviate speed issues but dont take this to mind because a GPU update will give you a great boost in speed. Im just putting that out there as common knowledge.

Now i dont play FF14 but ive used the bench quite a few times. My old 4890 ran it pretty well with some jinkage at high res but my GTX 465 runs it perfectly. I cant attest to in game though but im assuming its the same practically.

A 5850/5870, 460, or 470 would run just about anything fine these days or even a GTX285. You have to really take alot of 400 bashing with a grain of salt and its been something ive been combating with friends on the net about. Folding 24/7 my load temp on my 465 (highly OCed) is 65c. A 465 stock according to a recent folding card review (against a slew of others as well) only drew about ~200 watts from the PSU. Thats not that much considering the power these things pack. I have to mention though that at the most extreme conditions my CPU bottlenecks my single card but upgrading from an 8800GTX you probably will see a huge speed increase.

 

[blucube]

I've considered the CPU as well, and may look at that when I'm prepared to hunt down a new mobo as well. I haven't done a lot of research on Core i stuff, we'll not recently anyway. Though if you're over clocking, I know you say your folding 24/7 but do you ever run into the occasional BSOD or stability problem? Every now and again having to clear your OC settings, or junk a piece of Ram?

But back to GPU, it's been difficult to decide between nVidia and ATI it's really just coming down to price vs. performance. It's good to know, but if what's being said about the GTX400 series cards are to be taken with a grain of salt as you said that just makes the decision more complicated! ;] Unless ATI's catalyst drivers have improved greatly, I've just always preferred nVidia. I built two of my room mates PC's AMD/ATI and they seem to do alright.

Edit - In addition, is there something I don't know? Or is it silly to spend extra money on the SuperClocked versions of cards? You can usually achieve this yourself I'd imagine. Though now you bring it up I'm investigating

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550