Looking at new GPU card for less than $450

[section31]

I have $450 to spend on a new card, and I'm looking at this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814487076

but I'm not sure which "variation" to get. All are within a $20-30 range.. I'd say speed and long term life are important to me, noise is somewhat important, and heat and power usage are not important.

Newegg also has some great CPU/RAM/Motherboard combos with SSDs ... and I'd love to get one of those but only if my LL testing performance would be comparable.

[LaurV]

http://www.mersenne.ca/cudalucas.php?model=567
http://www.mersenne.ca/mfaktc.php
1. Scroll down (in both links)
2. Decide
3. ???
4. Profit...

[kracker]

Are you getting the card for TF or LL(or both?)

[Mark Rose]

Originally Posted by section31

I have $450 to spend on a new card, and I'm looking at this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814487076

but I'm not sure which "variation" to get. All are within a $20-30 range.. I'd say speed and long term life are important to me, noise is somewhat important, and heat and power usage are not important.

Newegg also has some great CPU/RAM/Motherboard combos with SSDs ... and I'd love to get one of those but only if my LL testing performance would be comparable.

If you're going EVGA, get a 2.0+ version as it has a much better cooling setup, which is important if you're running the card hard all day or want to try overclocking more. EVGA clock speeds are ranked: FTW+ > FTW > SSC > Superclocked > plain. GPUs are binned like CPUs, so I wouldn't count on being able to overclock beyond factory overclocks.

If you're buying from those options at Newegg, I'd go with SuperSC ACX 2.0+ or FTW+ 2.0+. The FTW+ is 2.5% faster; not sure if that's worth $15.

If you're looking for the best deal on a 970, I like to sort by Core Clock on PC Part Picker.

[henryzz]

Originally Posted by Mark Rose

If you're going EVGA, get a 2.0+ version as it has a much better cooling setup, which is important if you're running the card hard all day or want to try overclocking more. EVGA clock speeds are ranked: FTW+ > FTW > SSC > Superclocked > plain. GPUs are binned like CPUs, so I wouldn't count on being able to overclock beyond factory overclocks.

If you're buying from those options at Newegg, I'd go with SuperSC ACX 2.0+ or FTW+ 2.0+. The FTW+ is 2.5% faster; not sure if that's worth $15.

If you're looking for the best deal on a 970, I like to sort by Core Clock on PC Part Picker.

It is only 2.5% faster but it is in the top binning group which means it probably stands more change of going further still.
Something worth considering is that the higher binned cards not only perform slightly faster. They can also run at the same speed with lower voltage often.
Power savings between a FTW+ and a plain card running at the same speed would also certainly be worth $15. I don't know how far up the list you can go though.