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im actually going to build me a gaming computer in a couple of months, my XPS laptop is dying on me, slowly but surely. anyways would that be a good graphics card? my budgets gonna be $800 not including tax
Assuming you don't need a monitor, you should be able to put a 660 in provided you can find a good motherboard and processor combo at Microcenter or somewhere else. Find a tower that will be what you need and isn't overly expensive, I found one as good as any $100+ tower for $69.99. The most expensive things you're going to buy will obviously be your CPU, motherboard and GPU, with the PSU and Windows being the next most expensive. RAM is dirt cheap now, you can buy 8GB DDR3 RAM for practically pennies on the dollar in comparison to everything else. My 8 gigs of Corsair DDR3 1600 MHZ PC312800 RAM only cost me $34.99 after the mail-in rebate.
I have a Radeon HD 6700 with an i5 3750k and 16 GBs of RAM. Not bad for the first PC I built! Everything overall was $660, due to insane deals.
I was originally gonna buy the 660ti but I couldn't afford to pay about 400 bucks ($300 for the card and a bit more for a power supply upgrade and tax). I'm glad that I can still upgrade to something decent without having to pay so much.
Amazon says you can get Borderlands 2 free when you buy select GTX 6 series cards. Not too bad of a deal.
The 650 is a waste of space every way but literally when a 7770 (or even nVidia's own 550ti) can be had for about the same price and perform better. The 660 could finally be a reasonable mainstream card for nVidia assuming it comes down to $200, and it already performs better than the 570's while costing less. A much better deal than the overpriced 660ti's anyway.
I just pulled the trigger on a 7950 yesterday to finally put a GPU in my system, will get here Tuesday, yaaaaaay.
I just pulled the trigger on a 7950 yesterday to finally put a GPU in my system, will get here Tuesday, yaaaaaay.
Oh and the Borderlands 2 deal only applies to 660ti's and up unfortunately. AMD has a similar deal with Sleeping Dogs starting at the 7870's, which can be had as cheap as a 660 if you find a good deal....
Ugh this is making me want my i7 sager with 650m to hurry up and get delivered to my house. I needs me sum pc gaming nao!
@Wedge
A 7870 should be around $70-100 cheaper than a 660ti, its the 7950 thats around the same price as a 660ti(~$10 more, the 7950 being the better card). But yeh if I were looking at an upgrade its the game that would make the deal for me(Id go for Sleeping Dogs since Ive already got Borderlands 2 paid for).
A 7870 should be around $70-100 cheaper than a 660ti, its the 7950 thats around the same price as a 660ti(~$10 more, the 7950 being the better card). But yeh if I were looking at an upgrade its the game that would make the deal for me(Id go for Sleeping Dogs since Ive already got Borderlands 2 paid for).
I'm actually pretty unhappy with my Radeon 5870 right now and have been wanting to get an Nvidia card for a bit now. If I weren't saving for a wedding and eventually a house, I would absolutely splurge for the 660. Might go ahead and get that 650, though, since it's half the price.
Dale, why doesn't Destructoid do a bi/monthly post called "Hypothetical Build" where you create a gaming PC/laptop below a certain price-point? You could even follow it up with suggestions (extra RAM, alternate video cards, etc.) for those with a larger budget. It would be a great help for people building their first gaming-focused machine.
not a bad idea. Ive never been a pc gamer, so the thought of building my own felt a little daunting. In the end, I needed portability, so I just ordered a custom laptop. I know, I know, friends dont let friends game on laptops. But I dont have any friends. Id love to build a high powered pc someday, once my bank account recovers from spending over a grand on a laptop.
I upgraded my old 9800GT to GTX660Ti. Now I can't play anything because I just sit there looking at the most beautiful graphics I've ever seen.
Also, free Borderlands 2.
Also, free Borderlands 2.
I'm still happy with my 560. All current games run maxed out so I'm not in rush, but somewhere down the line will pick 660 up or maybe just wait and see what 700 series will bring.
Atm there is no games to play on PC that would benefit from even more processing power. Buying those cards makes sense only if you're running games on insane resolutions / multiple displays.
Best to wait for next gen consoles first, before buying new gfx card for your PC.
Best to wait for next gen consoles first, before buying new gfx card for your PC.
Are you kidding, neojam? These cards aren't even high-end, and you're saying that they can play games on multiple displays?
@neojam If your old graphics card is, let's say, 9800, then it is a very huge improvement and not a bad investment at all. Also, the games DO benefit. I haven't been able to try playing on multiple displays yet, but on a single monitor in any new game the performance is better and the framerate higher than with my friend's 560.
Also, I was able to make 660 lag with a current-gen game: I ran Red Orchestra 2 with 32x antialiasing.
Also, I was able to make 660 lag with a current-gen game: I ran Red Orchestra 2 with 32x antialiasing.
@neojam If your old graphics card is, let's say, 9800, then it is a very huge improvement and not a bad investment at all. Also, the games DO benefit. I haven't been able to try playing on multiple displays yet, but on a single monitor in any new game the performance is better and the framerate higher than with my friend's 560.
Also, I was able to make 660 lag with a current-gen game: I ran Red Orchestra 2 with 32x antialiasing.
Also, I was able to make 660 lag with a current-gen game: I ran Red Orchestra 2 with 32x antialiasing.
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