Need a recommended video card.

[Assassin X]

So I have a PCI Express slot (two spaces). In it currently is a ATI Radeon HD 4850 1Gb DDR3. But some things are beginning to get a frame rate drop, especially physics based games. Now heres the thing though. At most I could probably spend $250 at most. Aside from that my problem is I have a small tower and my current card is just under 8 inches long and about 1 1/2 tall. So whatever I get has to be under that or it won't fit. I like ATI but it doens't matter to me what brand it is really. As long as it works with most games.

So any ideas for a card thats gives at least double the power? Or maybe what the most powerful card I could get is without going over that $250?

In case you need them here are my systems specs (ignore the old specs at the far bottom):
-Quad Core AMD Phenom X4 9750
-ATI RADEON HD 4850 1GB DDR3 PCI Express Graphics Card
-1200 Watt Antec Power Supply
-Pegatron M22N7B-LA Motherboard
-8Gb DDR2 Ram (x4 2Gb sticks in 4 slots)
-2x 1TB HD (WD's)
-Heatsink/CPU cooler (pretty dang huge) (temp at 32c)
-CD/DVD-DL Lightsribe writer
-Win 7 64 Home Premium
-G9X Mouse
-Fatality Sound Card (Sound Blaster)
 

[El_Capitan]

$250 can get you a lot these days in the used department. An R9 290 if you're lucky. ~$200 an HD 7970 and ~$160 HD 7950. However, if you're looking for double the power of a HD 4850 (two of them in Xfire is just slower than a single GTX 580, which is just a little faster in some games than a single HD 7850). You can find HD 7850's used or new with MIR's for around $110.

[Waco]

At 8" or less you're pretty limited. I seem to recall a few short GTX 670s that would fit. A GTX 750 Ti would definitely for but might not hit the performance numbers you want (they are quick for what they are but they aren't crazy fast).

 

I believe you can get short 7870s and 270X's as well but I don't know any in particular.

[SpikeSoprano]

Zotac makes a smaller gtx 660/ 660ti, I believe mine is under the size you mentioned, not really high end but plays most games on highest settings and my 660 was only $200.

[cchalogamer]

Well maxing the budget and adding a few dollars (about 10) just because, MSI does make a short GTX 760 that's a lot of bang in a tiny card (though the CPU will be your big hold up then and may even be a part of it now).  Some of the R9 270 cards are just over 8" (8.3 for one I looked at) so if there's any wiggle room that might be an option.  I will say though, for the over a week I've used the 750Ti in my main rig it's an impressive little card for something that draws under 60w of power, OCs like mad and can do even BF4 ~ 1080p mostly high settings (just no AA) MOST of the time keeping over 60 fps (though of course there are plenty of drops to around 50.

 

Of course with used there are some good options out there but it's hard to say unless looking at a certain card,

[El_Capitan]

Some of the R9 270 cards are just over 8" (8.3 for one I looked at) so if there's any wiggle room that might be an option.

 

The two Powercolor HD 7850 2GB's on my For Sale thread is 7.99".

[IVIYTH0S]

I'd go for a shorty 760!

[cchalogamer]

 

Some of the R9 270 cards are just over 8" (8.3 for one I looked at) so if there's any wiggle room that might be an option.

 

The two Powercolor HD 7850 2GB's on my For Sale thread is 7.99".

 

Would be a great pairing for certain if not changing to a newer CPU soon, the 7850s are essentially underclocked R7 265s after all and they around the same as the 750 Ti I mentioned too with different trade offs (and a solid price making it more enticing than many of the other options). Btw I have a 7850 2GB as well so I'm not just going off reviews with my 750 Ti comparison.

[Assassin X]

Hmm actually turned off my computer and measured the card. I was off about the length. Its 9 and a half inches long. So I probably could fit some others ones too. The guy and Micro Center offered me a N760 ITX 2GD5/OC Nvidia GeForce  GTX 760 2GB GDDR5 for $269. I wasn't sure about it. No to mention I wasn't sure if it being a "short" version makes you loose some things or not. 

I'll check out some of the cards mentioned here so far. OI can probably bump my price up $20 more if I had to.

[SpikeSoprano]

The 760 is a good card and being it's a shorter version dose not impack performance. However I'm not sure if it only having one fan will effect temps when oc'ing.

Edited May 7, 2014 by SpikeSoprano

[Assassin X]

Yeah that was my other concern was the heat from only having one fan. I don't have a water cooled system yet. Still use fans. 2 fans blowing out the bottom back. 2 fans attached to a heat sink thats on the cpu. And then 1 fans near the video card that blow out the warm air (since I have no side). Actually heres a picture of my computer. You can tell I tried shoving everything from my old custom computer into a regular prebuilt one lol. The cords look more tangled then they really are in person. I feel ashamed to be a nerd when I post the picture lol. I did include a picture of the motherboard too (from online):
 

[wevsspot]

I've done business with Capitan before and he is a solid seller / buyer.

 

You should really consider the HD 7850 or GTX 580 he has for sale  

 

The HD 7850 is a darn good deal and I'm sure that he would do the same on the GTX 580.

 

Either of those cards would be a big upgrade from your HD 4850.