Recommendation for new video card

[Digimortal]

I just built my new system, got everything hooked up (my first build and everything is working great ) and now I need to upgrade my video card. I was wondering if you have any suggestions. I was thinking either of these two but I am definitely open for other suggestions.

Newegg.com - ZOTAC AMP! ZT-50402-10L GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.com - XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

I've always liked the ATI cards and XFX has always been good to me. I don't know anything about this ZOTAC manufacturer and I don't really know what to go for with nVidia, I switched to ATI a long time ago.

I'm trying to stick around the 150$ price range but I want to make sure I get a good card that shouldn't have any issues.. I can maybe go up to 200 if it's something real good.

 

[Digimortal]

This is the power supply I just bought. It got great reviews, was very easy to hook up, I only had to connect as many wires as I needed and I could pack away the rest of them for later upgrades or additions.
Newegg.com - XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W ATX12V v2.2 / ESP12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

 

[Fat.Clown]

best bang for the buck $150-$200?
probably either the gtx 460 or hd 6850
MSI N460GTX Twin Frozr II SOC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

 

[Digimortal]

I forgot to mention my motherboard only has 2 PCI express 2.0 slots, no 2.1. That Radeon 6850 seems nice but I don't know if my system is compatible. With the GTX 460, I want to go with at least 1GB of DDR5, would I notice a big difference with only 768MB? Also, I really want one with an HDMI out.

What about Sapphire? I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about their cards. Is anybody using or have used one that would recommend one of theirs?

 

[Fat.Clown]

the HD 6850 will work.

go with 1gb version of GTX 460 if you can.
hard to define "BIG" difference, so I am going to send you to a chart, see for yourself.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/313?vs=315

performance difference doesn't seem that big to me, but definitely noticeable.

never bought sapphire, won't comment.

 

[Digimortal]

Ok, I wasn't sure if PCI express 2.1 devices would still work in a 2.0 slot, that's good to hear.

I still just don't know if I want to switch to nVidia or stay with ATI.... Obviously by your title and picture you would recommend nVidia lol and that's cool. I'm not really partial to either chipset manufacturer but I usually stick with one brand until I have a bad experience. I don't really like to say it but I guess I'm a product of my environment and almost everybody I've known has always had ATI cards and don't like nVidia, I don't really know why. Most of them have said nVidia is overpriced but it looks to me that the same priced cards from each company have basically the same specs.

Thank you for your suggestions, I think I will probably go with the HD 6850 but I am going to do more side by side comparisons and check out reviews for these many different manufacturers of the cards (XFX, PNY, Sapphire, etc...) before I make a final decision. Normally, in the past, I've just checked out Best Buy for my video cards (lol) so I didn't really know there was such a massive selection to choose from I normally just see like 3 different levels of cards from either nVidia or ATI and they are usually only either XFX or PNY.

Anyways, thanks again for your input. I didn't catch the HD 6850 when I looked the first time.

 

[Digimortal]

I've got it narrowed down to 2 cards (assuming 2.1 devices will still operate in a 2.0 slot [just making sure]) and I really don't know which to choose.

Newegg.com - XFX HD-685X-ZNBC Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
or
Newegg.com - XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

The black edition has higher overclocking capabilities but the other one is cheaper and has OpenGL 4.1 as opposed to the black edition with 3.2.. I'm not really sure what is with the OpenGL versions or if the black edition can just be updated, like a driver can, up to 4.1 but right now I'm leaning towards the cheaper one just because of the price.

What do you guys think? Would higher overclocking capabilities overshadow the updated OpenGL version?

 

[Fat.Clown]

I was under the impression the black edition just comes factory overclocked.
does not mean "The black edition has higher overclocking capabilities".

I could be wrong.

I would just grab the cheaper version myself. (yes, everything is about me. I, I, I)

1. overclocking can be done by yourself.
download msi afterburner here

see the core/memory clock sliders?
slide it to the right a little bit, voila! same speed as black edition.

2. must be a listing error on newegg.com.
both are capapble of opengl 4.1.

 

[Digimortal]

Ok, awesome. Cheaper one it is then! I've always just used ATI Catalyst Control Center since it comes with the ATI cards. Maybe it does just come factory overclocked, I'm not sure, but my main question was about the OpenGL version. I just wish it came with a Crossfire bridge, oh well.

Thanks for all your help!