Requesting help choosing a Card in a 130 or less price range.

Good Afternoon OCN. I'll get straight to the point.

After not being involved in PC Hardware for some odd 5-6 years, I had a need to build a workstation for running programs such as AutoCAD, Revit, ANSYS and other analytical/drafting software I might need.


After spending some odd straight 45+h reading and catching up on oh sooo much I missed, I have assembled a rig and already bought it, so its not really up for discussion. What is up for discussion and where I request wisdom of OCN for is choosing a VGA in a price range of 130$ or less[with shipping]. I looked thru Newegg (I bought most of my rig their) and general reviews on-line, asked around and I am still quite torn about which card I should pick.

I have 130(shipping must be included) to spent in my budget and I would prefer it being 110. But if a 20 bucks difference are going to buy a significant advantage (and not few extra FPS) I would gladly pay an extra 20.

These were suggested to me by a buddy of mine =>

MSI N460GTX-M2D1GD5/OC2 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

GIGABYTE GV-N550D5-1GI GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

GIGABYTE GV-R775OC-1GI Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP

Additionally, I liked these as well =>

ZOTAC ZT-60201-10L GeForce GT 640 2GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready

ASUS HD7750-1GD5-V2 Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready

EVGA 02G-P4-2645-KR GeForce GT 640 2GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP

EVGA 02G-P4-2643-KR GeForce GT 640 2GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready

PNY VCGGT640XPB GeForce GT 640 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready

XFX Double D FX-775A-ZDP4 Radeon HD 7750 Black Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready [heard horror stories about driver updates]

EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready [over board]

Soooo.... The list is long... Would anyone be able to help me out here? VGA picking was always difficult, and it seems that's one things that hadn't changed since 6 years ago heh ^^.

In anycase, thanks in advance everyone ^^!

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P.S. Quite a few of these cards differ in chip-sets, clocks and ram capacity and multipliers, hense it seems as such a hard choice to me...However, Most of them have the same 128bit configuration... Would this mean that most of them will be "bottle necked" in their performance due to 128bit configuration?

Also, yes I will not overclock it right away, but I might want to/need to down the line, which is why OC potential also came into consideration and made me even more confused heh.
Edited by _Red_Dog_ - 6/11/12 at 3:57pm

Good Afternoon all.

Thx for all the replies!^^

Currently My choice got a bit narrower. These are the 2 I am currently looking at. Still not ruling much out, but never the less. I was extreamly Interested in these 2.

ZOTAC ZT-50401-10L GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support
(cheaper of the 2)

ASUS EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5/V2 Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Both are in my rice range(I trust ASUS is good about rebates?)

A buddy of mine also suggested this website =>
http://www.gpureview.com/

It seems that 6850 demolishes GTX550Ti in ALL categories except Shader clock(which 550 doubles), core clock(minor-ish difference, I can clock 6850 that far easy... i think so anyway, I could be wrong heh ^^) and power consumption(extremely minute difference IMO, my 650W Antec should handle this imo, however if I start adding 120mm fans at the rate I plan on... I might be in troublez heh)

So what would you recommend?>O_0
***BIG added bonus to ASUS is that its CrossFireX ready so I would have an option to Crossfire them if need arises. My mother board and Power supply are linked below. They say they both support it too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157296
***

P.S. Of shader processors... Whats the deal? I will sound like an idiot to most(I bet anyway) but why one needs 960 where 550 packs 192 which is the bittages its working on? Could someone please educate me about this? (I will be sure to google this myself, just lately have little free time left with new rig and all heh)
Edited by _Red_Dog_ - 6/13/12 at 4:57pm

Hmm it would... oh well I guess. Well I already bought the 6850 one. I trust ASUS will be good on rebate.

Thanks all for help! ^^ I decided to go with ASUS HD6850. I might crossfire another one at some point in the future! I guess, as of this order[bar few msc things and fans) my rig's guts are DONE ^^ Up next, the case... But that is for another board entirely ^^

Thx for help guys! ^^