i have been running on a BFG 280 GTX and it is crapping out on me and its time to go ahead and get a new one. my problem is i am looking at these:

1. GTX 295: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143167

2. ATI 5970: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10011625&prodlist=froogle

the 295 i can get my hands on now, the 5970 is on b/o everywhere but its such a fucking beast of a card (which you pay more for) but not available yet that i can find. should i just wait till my current card completely craps out to choose or just go with the 295?

imo just set a price, decide at what point you must absolutely get a new one, and get the best card in that budget available. If your current card doesn't let you enjoy a full game... I'd say just buy asap. But if you want the best there is and won't settle for less, just wait until you find the 5970 in stock. It's new and it will most definitely be restocked early January.

is crossfiring an option? you could get it cheaper by just crossfiring 2 budgetcards

2 pieces of shit went put together just makes a larger pile of shit. get the ATI card.

If you registered the card with BFG you can send it back and get a new one. I had to send one back a few years ago. I sent a 7800gt back and received a 7950gt. It took about a week total so it depends on your patience.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ADD-ATI-RADEON-HD-5970-2GB-PCI-EXP-TO-MY-SYSTEM_W0QQitemZ110474633500QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC _Video_TV_Cards?hash=item19b8cd211c

$70 more than if you bought it for retail, with free shipping.

holy shit i didnt realize it was a $700 card you kids are stoned if you think thats a good buy.

Well it's the first single card to play Crysis Warhead with full settings, 1920x1200 at a solid 60fps. That's a pretty big checkpoint; there are still not many games coming out today or anytime soon that are as demanding as the Crytek engine games. It outperforms every other card on the market in almost every category/game in every way. It is at least 2x better than my 4890 in every chart I've seen, with lower idle power consumption (although the max wattage at 100% usage is higher at 300W).

But if you don't play games in full HD, don't play games like Crysis or future DX11 titles, and don't have the rest of your computer specs maxed out, the GTX 295 or even $200-300 cards will give you the same noticeable performance.

I just hope that sometime within the next 10 years that GPU performance and graphic quality will reach a plateau, and ati/nvidia can focus on making cards that use less power, create less heat, and are much smaller with the same performance. And that developers stop chasing the dragon of having the best looking games and focus on better gameplay. Most games today are beautiful to me, make the game and AI match the beauty of those fancy shaders!

i sent the 280 back and am waiting to hear what they say on it for warranty, its been a little under a year. i did go ahead and get the GTX295 though, coming in today (hopefully) and am going to build another rig for my son with all the extra parts ive got.

Doesn't BFG do lifetimes on all their stuff, Munky?

yah i believe so, they told me i have to send it in and they will determine if it is warrantied.

zomg, the 295gtx oc is FUCKING SICK!! did a complete reformat as well installed win7 and this is a superbeast now. plus the are going to ship me another new 280gtx back because of the lifetime warranty thing. winner!!

Of course it's "FUCKING SICK!!" considering it was the most powerful GPU until ATI released the 5970.. the 5870 carries the better price/performance ratio by a good margin, or the 5970 would sit you well for the longrun.