Absolute best graphics card for the money March 2012?

I'm trying to get the most for my money can anyone lead me in the right direction? Also this doesn't mean it has to be a cheap card. If you know of any processors that would fit the bill as well feel free to share with me, thanks.

The GTX 680 is pretty good value for money at the moment; it's not too far from the dual-gpus in performance and is significantly cheaper (here at least).

The 7950 is good value for money compared to the 7970, and beats the GTX 580.

The Radeon 6850/6870 are what I would consider minimum for modern gaming and have always been great value for money.

It depends what games you want to play, and at what resolution etc.

And for CPU I recommend the 2500k, because it's a 2500k.

The GTX 680 is pretty good value for money at the moment; it's not too far from the dual-gpus in performance and is significantly cheaper (here at least).

The 7950 is good value for money compared to the 7970, and beats the GTX 580.

The Radeon 6850/6870 are what I would consider minimum for modern gaming and have always been great value for money.

It depends what games you want to play, and at what resolution etc.

And for CPU I recommend the 2500k, because it's a 2500k.

Postmortem123

I figured out the only difference besides that 0.1Ghz increase is that the IGP has been disabled. Does that mean it will overclock better than a regular 2500K?

[QUOTE="Postmortem123"]

The GTX 680 is pretty good value for money at the moment; it's not too far from the dual-gpus in performance and is significantly cheaper (here at least).

The 7950 is good value for money compared to the 7970, and beats the GTX 580.

The Radeon 6850/6870 are what I would consider minimum for modern gaming and have always been great value for money.

It depends what games you want to play, and at what resolution etc.

And for CPU I recommend the 2500k, because it's a 2500k.

juiceman77

The 680 is good price performance yes, though it is quite expensive. If you want to play modern games on the max settings then it's the best choice in my opinion.

The 2550k is pointless, don't bother with it; it has a 100Mhz overclock and comes with no integrated graphics. If you get a 2500k you'll most likely be overclocking it yourself.

Oh okay thanks for all the help man really. I just wish I could find a cheaper card to start off with lol. Since we're on the subject is there any great mobo's that you know of for the 2500K that would be great for gaming purposes? Figuring out if a mobo is good or not really confuses me considering all I go off is reviews and all I'm going to be using my rig for is a ton of gaming and some casual things like browsing and music so idk if certain mobo's are tailored to specific functions, know what I mean? Thanks for all the help again brojuiceman77

The 560 Ti. Everyone is trying to clear stock in advance of its Kepler replacement, so you're looking at $200 or less after rebate for solid 1920x1080/1200 performance.

For motherboards something like this would do fine.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-z68xp-ud3-gen-3-intel-z68-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-(x16)-vga-on-boar

It's pretty basic but has everything that you need, I don't see the need for anything more.

As mentioned above, the 560 Ti is a good gaming card and is apparently cheap in the US now (I have no idea with US prices), though personally I'd have to get two to give me the performance that I want :P

The GTX 680 is THE most powerful carrd right now. The reason people are recommending it is because it's got you covered for the "next gen of games", it's stupifyingly powerful, easy on the power supply, ANd it was ggressively priced at $500 (instead of the expected $600).

But really, as an entry into PC gaming, I would recommend something like a GTX 560 ti. And maybe treat yourself to a GTX 680 aroudn the holidays (you cna probably sell the 560 Ti on Ebay for a decent amount.

I would go with the GTX 680 it doesn't matter which one they are all reference just get the cheapest one. For the CPU I would look at the Intel i7 2700k along with 8GB's RAM and a Z68 Asus motherboard. Grey_Eyed_Elf

2700k is like a 2550k. A pointless .1ghz clock increase, and if you're buying a K chip, you're probably going to OC, so it is a waste of money.

[QUOTE="Grey_Eyed_Elf"]I would go with the GTX 680 it doesn't matter which one they are all reference just get the cheapest one. For the CPU I would look at the Intel i7 2700k along with 8GB's RAM and a Z68 Asus motherboard. WiiRocks66

2700k is like a 2550k. A pointless .1ghz clock increase, and if you're buying a K chip, you're probably going to OC, so it is a waste of money.

[QUOTE="WiiRocks66"]

[QUOTE="Grey_Eyed_Elf"]I would go with the GTX 680 it doesn't matter which one they are all reference just get the cheapest one. For the CPU I would look at the Intel i7 2700k along with 8GB's RAM and a Z68 Asus motherboard. Grey_Eyed_Elf

2700k is like a 2550k. A pointless .1ghz clock increase, and if you're buying a K chip, you're probably going to OC, so it is a waste of money.

I meant the 2700k is like a 2550k compared to a 2500k. Going from a 2500k to a 2550k is a .1ghz increase, as is going 2600k to 2700k. And since you're buying a K chip, you're probably going to OC, so that .1ghz increase is pointless.

[QUOTE="Grey_Eyed_Elf"][QUOTE="WiiRocks66"]

2700k is like a 2550k. A pointless .1ghz clock increase, and if you're buying a K chip, you're probably going to OC, so it is a waste of money.

WiiRocks66

I meant the 2700k is like a 2550k compared to a 2500k. Going from a 2500k to a 2550k is a .1ghz increase, as is going 2600k to 2700k. And since you're buying a K chip, you're probably going to OC, so that .1ghz increase is pointless.

Best for the money? Probably GTX 560 Ti.