I can remember when a Low End / medicore Video Graphics card would run $300 to $400 bucks back in 2003 / 2005.
So,,,, I ended up purchasing the XFX Radeon R9270X Video Graphics card from a computer retailer ( Micro-Center) right here in town .
Total price for the card came to about $160 bucks, before the $20.00 mail in rebate, which I've got to do yet.
I have to watch the Size of the Card in my computer case, but it fit fine with still about 4" to spare.
Another concern before I purchased this particular Video Card, was its "POWER SUPPLY" requirements, and after checking it would work with my 650 WATT Power Supply that I currently have.
Requirements for this Video card were 500 Watts of power !!!
That's something you should be most careful of when purchasing a New Video Graphics Card, is its Power Supply requirements ! Very Important !!!
Another concern was the Power Supply Plug Ins , luckily this card still used the 2 - 6 Pin Plug Ins,,, so NO major re-wiring or buying extra connectors / adapters to make it work, basically Plug & Play as for my System anyway.
My old XFX Radeon 6850 HD Graphics Card still worked well, but, it was about 2 years old and this was a decent buy so I got it and upgraded it.
I like the fact it has 2 Cooling Fans on it, compared to just 1 Fan.
It'll be harder to keep clean, more Fins / Coils to keep free of Dust & Dirt tho !!!
which I clean every 3 months anyway, unbelievable how dusty dirty the coils can get attract dust & dirt, even here in the Midwest.
I have really good luck with XFX Radeon series cards so I just kept with the same.
at 1 time I had NVIDEA cards but wasn't all that impressed with their performance or how it rendered the clouds & sky and Chrome reflections or the Props on propliners, which I Like to fly a lotta older Propliners like the Just Flight DC-6's DC-3's and Constellations and Albero's Cessna 195's and Beeechcraft Stagger Wings too and the Lockheed Electras by Team KBT.
To each their own I guess, depending on how your system is set up and what your used to.
Heres some photos before installation and in comparision to the other card, not much difference really in size about an inch longer, same width tho.
The XFX 6850 HD had 1 Gig of DDR5
The New XFX Radeon R9270X has 2 GB of DDR5.
XFX Radeon Series Video Graphic Card : http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/amd-radeon-r9-series/amd-radeon-r9-270x-double-dissipation-edition-r9-270x-cdfr
