Which graphics card are you using?

[Bribe]

I am trying to pick a good graphics card to run StarCraft II on Ultra settings at 1080p. A couple expenses I am trying to be wary of are:

Energy bill (I would like to have a GPU that doesn't need more than a single 6-pin PCI connection).

Overall price (I would like to keep it under $150).

I can find benchmarks online but you know how synthetic these things are. One site says a graphics card can handle the pressure, another site says no way.

Some graphics cards I have looked into for running SC2 which fall under these definitions, some even say the 7750 can average 30-40fps 1080p at ultra, but I don't trust the validity.

AMD 6850
AMD 7770
AMD 7750
nVidia 550 Ti

Graphics cards which I like which I know for sure will do the job, but I can't choose due to budget: nVidia 460/560 SE (higher electric bill than I want to get involved in), AMD 7850 (way too high price but the performance/watt is the sweet spot for me).

Please vote in the poll and post your GPU, screen resolution, settings (low/med/high/ultra) and lastly how playable it is at those settings. It should be fun to see what other people are using as well.

 

[BlargHonk]

HD4870 1gb, runs Sc2 on Ultra at 25 FPS with SSAO without it runs at 35, resolution at 1600x1200, which has about 7% less pixel area than 1920x1080

Equal cards are GTX260-216, HD5770, GTX460SE, HD6770, GTX550TI

The HD7750 is worse than any of those, while the HD7770 is better.

I believe the $200 pricepoint is usually the best point to buy at.

 

[Bribe]

Thanks for the valuable feedback! I think I will wait for the 7790 or 650 Ti which should debut between 150 and 200.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Nvidia 275 GTX. Runs StarCraft II on ultra (all ingame settings maxed excluding settings such as AA which will come soon) with no performance problems at all at 1680*1050. Only frame drops are caused from excessive particle use (have drivers set to high quality so they are demanding) and from complex game states (my CPU cannot cope with some complex game states like displacing 1000 units at the same time).

An Nvidia 460 GTX also performs the same. The card is only slightly weaker but much more energy efficient and fully DirectX 11 compliant (unlike my 275 GTX which is only DirectX 10 compliant). This card was superseded by the 560 I think which basically does more for less energy.

 

[Klasus]

I use 2x GTX 580

 

[Bribe]

I am having trouble finding out differences between the 460 and the 560. It looks like the 560 is a rebranded version of the 1GB/256-bit version of the 460, with some factory overclocking and a minimal TDP improvement by switching to the more optimized GF114.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=632&card2=657

With reliable rumors saying the 660 will come out later this month, I will wait and see what kind of price it can be available for. I have a psychological block spending more than $200 on any particular component, which is why I have been more interested in the 560 as opposed to the 560 Ti.

>> 2x GTX 580

Since a 570 can handle anything StarCraft II gives at 1080p, can I ask what other games you are using to take advantage of this madness?

 

[Dr Super Good]

Depends on the resolution he is using. If he is playing in surround 3D even those might not be enough.

 

[Bribe]

I am glad to have a distaste for super large monitors and dual screen.

 

[mckill2009]

I just bought a copy (2nd copy) of SC2 and use my laptop to play the game, and man the graphics is awesome!, I have Intel HD Graphics, 4gbRAm and a B960 2.2ghz cpu...

 

[Bribe]

Why a second copy?

Though I will admit I bought wc3 twice. Once in 2001 (and Frozen Throne the following July) then I threw them away in 2004 but bought them again in 2006.

 

[mckill2009]

coz I bought the first one a year ago but never installed it coz of WC3 and my PC is old, so
I gave it away, but things have changed so I bought another this day and man it's great!

 

[Bribe]

Compared to WC3 almost anything looks good

Lately I've played a lot more Playstation 3 and let me say you really appreciate the difference in graphics. I am not even playing in 1080p nor 720p but standard PAL format (gonna buy the 42" Phillips PFL7676 later this year).

I have been getting back into Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 lately as well and let me tell you graphics do not make the game. That game is awesome! However a great game + great graphics is certainly better than the same game with poor graphics. Can't wait to build this monster computer next year.

 

[BlargHonk]

However a great game + great graphics is certainly better than the same game with poor graphics. Can't wait to build this monster computer next year.

Tell that to Dwarf Fortress, texture packs detract from it's fun-ness

 

[Bribe]

Well then they did it wrong. For example starcraft 2 vs starcraft brood war, it's generally the same game but the graphics enhance the experience so much there are people, me included, who will build a computer just to play it.

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

Are you gonna marry your computer or something? I've seen you building a computer for... months? Well it's up to you but the threads..

 

[Bribe]

I have no money to build it right now dude, I am simply making sure that when I buy it is the best possible investment. If I can ask for free advice, why shouldn't I? You should be careful how you spend your money too.

By the way I work for Apple so studying hardware comes with the territory.

If you don't like it, avoid my threads.