Need advice on GFX cards for best DoW2 performance

[Destructor]

Hi all,

My current computer runs Dawn of War 2 sort-of well on these specs:

Intel Core 2
642 @ 2.13GHz
2GB RAM
NVidia Geforce 8500 GT

But not well enough- I find I basically have to bottom out the GFX settings in order not to be a laggy multiplayer opponent.

When Retribution comes out in March I want to be ready for it, so I'm planning to double my RAM and get a new GFX card. My local store has the following two cards in stock, both for AU$300:

ATI Radeon HD 5870 (1GB)
AMD Radeon HD 6950 (2GB)

The latter seems to superior for the price. Some questions:

1. Do nVidia cards 'work' better with DoW2, seeing as it was made with nVidia technology? Is getting a Radeon a bad idea?

2. Are either of these cards 'decent'? Enough for DoW2? Enough to run at good specs?

3. Is there anything else I can do to my system to soup it up (apologies for being a n00b on this).

Would really appreciate whatever advice available (have asked in DoW2 forums but to no avail so I thought I'd ask here!)

Thanks!

 

[Yoda]

1) I don't think Nvidia really has any inherent advantage... lots of games have some video card splash at the start, and aside from the occasional PhysX effects I don't think it makes much of a difference.

2) Both those cards are pretty good. A million times better than an 8500 GT of all things. The 5870 might be a little faster, but I would go with the newer tech and the extra GB of video ram myself.

3) I think the video card upgrade is the right idea, and will probably give you performance that you're happy with. More RAM is great in general, so it's good that you're planning on upgrading there... aside from that all that's really left is the CPU... you could try to overclock, or see if you can get a faster CPU that's compatible with your motherboard, but CPU isn't the bottleneck it used to be in PC games... Also it kind of depends on what resolution your monitor is. Maybe it makes sense to go cheaper than a 5870 to stay more 'balanced'... I'm not really sure.

 

[Magellan]

Yeah almost any card would be better. I would just get anything newer off of ebay even a 4850 or Geforce 9600 would be a massive improvement over an 8500, which you say is running the game at least passably. Of those two I would go with the 6950 is the better pick.