What about that Radeon HD 6850 1GB?
In case you thought I forgot, let’s take a quick look at what a difference $20 can make if you wanted to upgrade from the GTX 550 Ti to a Radeon HD 6850.

MSI GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Cyclone OC Review - GF116 Sees Daylight - Graphics Cards 77

MSI GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Cyclone OC Review - GF116 Sees Daylight - Graphics Cards 78

MSI GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Cyclone OC Review - GF116 Sees Daylight - Graphics Cards 79

MSI GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Cyclone OC Review - GF116 Sees Daylight - Graphics Cards 80

MSI GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Cyclone OC Review - GF116 Sees Daylight - Graphics Cards 81

MSI GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Cyclone OC Review - GF116 Sees Daylight - Graphics Cards 82

Yeoch.  The HD 6850 1GB card easily bests anything the GTX 550 Ti can offer, and in some cases by a HUGE amount.  Before you send that email, I realize that NVIDIA has other cards that are $20 more that would likely see just as big a gap with the GTX 550 Ti, but the point was not to find the best $170 card, but just to indicate what benefits you can get for shelling out that extra Jackson. 

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