6850 or 6870? Is the latter really worth the extra coin?

[JeremyWills]

Title says all.

Recently bought COD Black Ops, painfully obvious my X1950 even though its the required minimum and runs the game is way too slow. Would like a nice healthy bump in performance in the game. I'm not after the best absolute possible resolution or anything, just a nice noticeable improvement would be sufficient.

Wanted to keep the cost around $200, 250 tops. Seems the 6850 is very doable in that range. There are a few 6870 offerings right at the $250 mark. However, I'm hoping to not have to buy a new PSU. So the 6850 gets marks there based off what I've come up googling. Also, the 6870 from the screen shots I've seen looks to be a long sucker, might be an issue in my case, again the 6850 is probably the safer bet.

Finally, I might seriously consider folding again if I have a new GPU that can throw up some decent results on that front.

Not opposed to Nvidia possibly, but I've always been an ATI/AMD fanboy so why I'm eyeballing the 6000 series first. Also not interested in any multiple card setups, etc... just want a single honest mid range card thats a good bang for the buck.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks in advance. Thinking I might just bite the bullet and order a 6850 soon off the egg and be done with it, but thought it might be worth waiting a day or two to see what you all had to say.

Cheers
J

[TheGlasMan]

Hey Jeremy, nVidia is still the way to go Folding, @ 10,000/day for a 460 vs hundreds (maybe a couple thousand for new cards) for ATI/AMD. Sad but true.

Power wise the nVidias are useless but a 460/70 will double your performance and the saving can get a good psu.

[RatboyX]

At the 200 dollar mark the 460 1 GB would be a great card for you, and a major upgrade from the 1950. And that’s from someone that bought a 6870. Oh I like the 6870 just fine but I don’t fold and I paid more than the 200 dollar price point you are looking at. I think you can get a nice 460 for right around that price.

[JSLEnterprises]

I would say a GTX 470. EVGA has some pretty good mail in rebates going on making the card ~$280, and in some places ~$260

[Pehu]

GTX460 1MB or HD6850 are both good choices (and in your price range? Might possibly want to look at some great deals on HD5850s also). HD6870 is a bit overpriced atm as is the GTX470 with its totally ridiculous power needs (not to mention there are deals of HD5870 in that same price range).