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What's the recommendation for the graphics card under $150? At the moment I am doing with the on graphics on the ASUS motherboard.

I wish to get ATI HD 6970 but that's beyond the available budget .

My rig is a AMD Athlon II X4 6454 GB, Gskill DDR3 RAM, 128 Intel SSD boot drive

What are you intending to play and what resolution will you be playing at?

In any case, with your budget, you'd be looking at the GTX650Ti, HD7770, and maybe the HD7850 if you can find one on sale and after a mail-in rebate (or if you can stretch your budget a bit).

mortifiedPenguin wrote:

maybe the HD7850 if you can find one on sale and after a mail-in rebate

If you live in Canada 7850 $139.99 after a $20 mail in rebate.

The Radeon 7850 is the best bang/buck in the ~$160-170 range.

This XFX 7850 1GB is $160 after MIR.

If you truly can't stretch your budget, the next best bet is the Geforce 650Ti, which can be had for as low as $110 after MIR, and will handily outclass the competing Radeon 7770 at the same pricepoint.

PS The 7850 is a little faster than the 6950, so if you're wishing for 6970-like performance, that's the one to get.

I'll agree with everyone else. Stretch your budget by 10-20% and get a Radeon HD7850.

Voldenuit wrote:

The Radeon 7850 is the best bang/buck in the ~$160-170 range.

This XFX 7850 1GB is $160 after MIR.

Think that should be better. Makes sense adding few extra bucks and getting a card that satisfies my hunger.

The 7850 2GB is roughly equivalent to a 6950. Those cards are $180 - $200. I would say you'll be ok with a 7850 1GB or GTX 650Ti at 1080p and relatively high settings on modern games. The current deals on MSI 650Ti's for $110 and a free copy of Borderlands 2 is a huge advantage over the 7850 1GB though. That's a heck of a deal, but it expires end of the day on 1/31 so hurry if that's what you're going to do.
Furthermore, I'd rather spring the extra $25 for a 2GB 7850 if that's what you're going for.

DPete27 wrote:

The 7850 2GB is roughly equivalent to a 6950. Those cards are $180 - $200. I would say you'll be ok with a 7850 1GB or GTX 650Ti at 1080p and relatively high settings on modern games. The current deals on MSI 650Ti's for $110 and a free copy of Borderlands 2 is a huge advantage over the 7850 1GB though. That's a heck of a deal, but it expires end of the day on 1/31 so hurry if that's what you're going to do.
Furthermore, I'd rather spring the extra $25 for a 2GB 7850 if that's what you're going for.

We asked what resolutions the OP was playing at but he never replied. Once you start getting close to the $200 mark, my recommendation changes to the GTX660 (for $194 after MIR) over the 7850. Faster, more power efficient and more features (better application support in photo/video editing, Physx support). AMD's Eyefinity still has an edge over nvidia's surround, but neither the 7850 nor 660 are suitable for multi-monitor gaming anyway.

However, it's all too easy to overspend by increments on computer hardware, so I still think it's better for the OP to stick close to his original budget and get the 1 GB 7850 for $160. He'll just have to be parsimonious with texture, AA and resolution settings. As you said, it's fine for 1080p on High/Med presets on most games.

The 650Ti is a good deal relative to the 7770 but is not a great gaming card. It is significantly outperformed by the 7850, and it's worth spending that extra $$$ on the 7850 to hit a minimum fps threshold for smoothness.

@Voldenuit: You make a good point. For only $10 more than a 7850 2GB, the GTX 660 is definetly a better performer. That being said, both cards are above the OP's budget. No doubt, the 7850 1GB is better than the GTX 650Ti, but the 650Ti is $60 cheaper right now and includes a free game that's very inticing. It will be interesting to hear the decision.
1) Spend $10 more than the budget on a better performing card.
2) Sacrifice a bit of performance to save 30% and get Borderlands 2 for free. (I still have a 6850 which is roughly equivalent to a 7770 and I am perfectly satisfied playing the latest games at 1080p.)

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