Radeon 7770.

Mainly because its from this generation. Overclock it and your set.

If you can squeeze in $5 with $15 mail in rebate for a total of $144.99... GTX 560

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162084

Benchmarks.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/536?vs=543

 

If your monitor resolution is 1920 x 1080 go for the powercolor HD 6850. Across a wide range of games 6850 is faster. And it has more bandwidth because of 256 bit memory. But if you want lower power, better compute performance and your resolution is 1680 x 1050 or lower you could go for HD 7770.

MSI HD 7770 - USD 129 (USD 114 with mail in rebate)
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-PCI-Express-R7770-2PMD1GD5-OC/dp/B0077POOVM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1339469983&sr=8-2

 

If you're willing to go used I'd say a 470 from the OCN marketplace. Plenty in there and they're awesome cards

 

Just going based on what you had listed...6850

 

Wait for the GTX 560/560ti to drop in price. Look around you can probably a normal 560 for that price.

 

Here you are..... Galaxy GTX 560 1GB {$145 after rebate; free shipping}

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghooble

If you're willing to go used I'd say a 470 from the OCN marketplace. Plenty in there and they're awesome cards

Yeah, I'm gonna try and convince my friend to go that route.

I just found this XFX 7770 for $120 w/ a $15 MIR, so $105 after rebate shipped. So either that or a used GPU on OCN.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghooble

If you're willing to go used I'd say a 470 from the OCN marketplace. Plenty in there and they're awesome cards

Agreed, If you convinced your friend & if he don't mind the heat and power consumption then absolutely the GTX 470.
It will leave all those cards in the dust. It also overclock very well, at 850 MHz core it will perform 85-90% of a stock GTX 580.

GTX 470 vs HD6850
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/519?vs=539

GTX 470 vs HD7770
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/519?vs=536

GTX 470 vs GTX 460
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/519?vs=542

 

The GTX 470 is old. Get something at least in gtx 500 series or in the Radeon 6000 series. Just my opinion though.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by xerb

The GTX 470 is old. Get something at least in gtx 500 series or in the Radeon 6000 series. Just my opinion though.

Just because it's getting old doesn't mean it's bad. I know plenty of people including myself who love our 470s

 

Never said it was bad, but consider the lifetime especially if it's used.

 

^ That's ******ed. it's not like newer gen GPUs have any features over older gen cards. DX11 has been implemented on every single GPU many generations ago and it's just starting to be used by games and programs. We still have brand new DX9 games for the most part.

That's just how GPU companies sucker people into overpaying for crap performance. Oh, look at the 650, it's such a great deal at $120! Even though it performs the same as a GTX 460 which you can find for $60.

 

6950 2gb...used. They can unlock to 6970 and go for 135-150.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by xerb

The GTX 470 is old. Get something at least in gtx 500 series or in the Radeon 6000 series. Just my opinion though.

That's the whole argument? it's old... If you can find a used 470/480 i say go for it. Check your local Craigslist, and the ocn marketplace. I just got a HIS 6970 used for 100 a couple months ago.

 

Yeah, 480 or 6950/70 would rock...2gb 6970 is better for newer games cause of the extra vram and many other things.

 

Considering OP posted this last June... I'm thinking he's probably found a solution by now.

 

lol, way to bump a nearly year old thread.

 

lol, wasn't me XD

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Belial

^ That's ******ed. it's not like newer gen GPUs have any features over older gen cards. DX11 has been implemented on every single GPU many generations ago and it's just starting to be used by games and programs. We still have brand new DX9 games for the most part.

That's just how GPU companies sucker people into overpaying for crap performance. Oh, look at the 650, it's such a great deal at $120! Even though it performs the same as a GTX 460 which you can find for $60.

No, the GTX650 performs WORSE that GTX460. The problem with GTX470 is not it being old, but it's a power hog that i would not recommend to anyone.

HD6850 > HD7700 (always chose the card with greater memory bandwidth)

 

I'd have suggested finding a GTX660.
Buddy picked one up on sale for 150 about 2 weeks ago somewhere locally around here.

 

I got a 6950 1gb for 130...you can find a 2gb model maybe, used. 7850 would be nice otherwise, should cost close to that.

 

Unless you find GF100 based cards like GTX 465/ 470/ 480 at a dirt cheap price I don't recommend them. They are very loud (on reference cooling), hot and power hungry cards.
GTX 480 offers 7850 performance but at 7970-level power draw, if not higher...
I still find it surprising how I tolerated my GTX 470s noise for about two years. It is much louder than either my GTX 670 or HD7950.