What new graphics card?

[dave87]

In the wake of some bargain purchases I'm getting back into PC gaming. So, current spec of PC is as follows:

Lian Li PC-A05FNB
Core i5-3570k
ASUS P8Z77V
8gb Corsair Vengence
60gb Zalman SSD
2x150gb WD Raptors (RAID0)
320gb Storage drive

and.... a mighty HD4850.


What should I replace the HD4850 with? I run 2x23" Dell Monitors, so there is the possibility of adding a third at some point in the future - eyefinity may be an option then Gaming is usually on a single screen at 1920x1080, though some games do have dual screen options - Supreme Commander for one, and I'm sure more in the future.

So, knowledgeable Hexites - what should I go for?

[rover214]

Do you have a budget?

[Biscuit]

7950s seem to be the best bang for buck at the moment, but it all depends on what games you play really. As im sure you know, games tend to have a preference for one brand or the other.

[cptwhite_uk]

I just opted for a 7870, but you might need something more if you're intending to go dual / tri screen. By the way, supreme commander can be used with 3 monitors, a couple of my mates do that all the time (i.e. massive field of view over 3 monitors).

I'd suggest the 7950 for AMD as a budget(er) option, but ideally the 670.

[dave87]

Budget...not sure as yet. Slightly unexpected purchase, so don't want to go too mad....


As to games, I've recently picked up:

CS Global Offensive
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
Need for Speed Shift 2 (this is the one that suffers the most)
Supreme Commander
Stalker Call of Pripyat

Plus a load of games in my back catalogue (AvP etc) that I hadn't been able to turn the settings up on.

[leonc]

I would say 7850 for 150~ish budget. check out overclocker thread about overlocking 7850. You can OC it like crazy!

[cptwhite_uk]

The Gainward GTX 670 is on Today Only at Scan for £275.99, that's as cheap as I've seen one go for at a major retailer.

Overclockers have the HIS and VTX branded 7950's for £228 + delivery

The 670 has a 2Gb frame buffer, the 7950 has 3Gb, however unless you're planning to planing to run tri-monitor I would have thought 2Gb should suffice.

Generally speaking, the GTX670 seems to have more raw gaming performance, but the 7950 is £50 cheaper and no slough either. Tough call really, I want to say GTX670, but it's an extra £50 and has less RAM!

Both cards would be good choices, I'm more sensible these days so I'm going to say 7950 purely for the cost saving, the fact the drivers are getting better (and getting more performance from the 7*** range now), and the fact it has more RAM

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you overclock here are the two options IMHO:
1.)HD7850 - overclocked can hit around GTX580 level performance

http://hwbot.org/hardware/videocard/radeon_hd_7850/

Stock clockspeed is 860MHZ.

2.)HD7950 - can have over HD7970 and GTX670 level performance

http://hwbot.org/hardware/videocard/radeon_hd_7950/

Stock clockspeed is 800MHZ and the average overclock is 1165MHZ from 550 submissions. Even at around 1GHZ,you should be seeing HD7970 level performance IMHO.

GTX670 is a better option if you don't overclock,but the HD7950 does seem to have much higher overclocking headroom on average. It is extremely underclocked at stock clockspeeds.

[DLUK]

If you overclock here are the two options IMHO:
1.)HD7850 - overclocked can hit around GTX580 level performance

http://hwbot.org/hardware/videocard/radeon_hd_7850/

Stock clockspeed is 860MHZ.

2.)HD7950 - can have over HD7970 and GTX670 level performance

http://hwbot.org/hardware/videocard/radeon_hd_7950/

Stock clockspeed is 800MHZ and the average overclock is 1165MHZ from 550 submissions. Even at around 1GHZ,you should be seeing HD7970 level performance IMHO.

GTX670 is a better option if you don't overclock,but the HD7950 does seem to have much higher overclocking headroom on average. It is extremely underclocked at stock clockspeeds.

670 or 7950 are blinding value for awesome power. 7850 is wicked value but can run out of power in some demanding games or resolutions though (it's a good GTX 580 where as 670 or 7950 with even a bit of OC are a GTX 590-6990!). If you mainly play less demanding games or older games 7850 is hard to ignore if you like lots of AA_AF and like to see games like Skyrim-Sleeping Dogs BF3 maxed out in ways consoles users dream off 670-7950

[dave87]

So based on the suggestions, the HD7950 appears to be the way to go?

If so, what is the thought on the MSI Twin Frozr variant? There appear to be two versions - one around £250, one around £300 - does anyone know the differences?

[Fjo]

Looking around, no one seems 100% sure.
Everywhere it's listed has it at the same specs as the original, but i'd bet it's just got the new boost bios and is otherwise the same. Possibly boosting from the factory OC of 880Mhz to 925/950Mhz, but that's speculation.
I just ordered the original for my new build, because they overclock like mad anyway. You can use CatalystCC to raise the TDP and get 1Ghz to 1050Mhz with just about every 7950 card and then if you want more, MSI Afterburner will help you tweak the voltage a little to get into the 1200Mhz+ region. And that's all without boost, for £50 less. Based on the reviews that are out and have been for a while for the original card, i'd save that £50 and just raise the TDP to take the performance above the boost bios anyway. In fact, i'm going to do exactly that

PS. I think it's worth reminding you that the original is on sale atm too. Not to force your decision, but it may not be for long and if they even get more stock, its original price was about £270.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

So based on the suggestions, the HD7950 appears to be the way to go?

If so, what is the thought on the MSI Twin Frozr variant? There appear to be two versions - one around £250, one around £300 - does anyone know the differences?

The boost versions on OcUK are similar price to the normal version and you can download the BIOS and use it on reference cards.

TBH,I would get this card:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-m...ni-displayport

The more expensive card I suspect is the boost version and the listed specifications might be wrong.

[Fjo]

Besides, for £300 you could get a GTX 670 or a 7970 if you look around. Around £250 is good for a 7950.

[rainsong]

I'm hoping the 660 Ti and 670 prices will come down a bit in the next month or so... UK pricing seems a bit crazy at the moment.

[PowerPie5000]

I'm hoping the 660 Ti and 670 prices will come down a bit in the next month or so... UK pricing seems a bit crazy at the moment.

It definitely seems that mid-high end GPU's are getting more expensive with each new release! I remember paying around £170 for my Radeon 6870 shortly after it was released... Now you're looking at around £250 for new mid-high end GPU's!! I'm trying to decide between a Geforce GTX 660 Ti and a Radeon 7950 at the moment... Or a GTX 670 if my budget can be stretched

[asderferjerkel]

So based on the suggestions, the HD7950 appears to be the way to go?

If so, what is the thought on the MSI Twin Frozr variant? There appear to be two versions - one around £250, one around £300 - does anyone know the differences?

They look identical to me - might just be an error on their end! I didn't think the boost bios was available for it yet, since it doesn't use the reference PCB. The Twin Frozr comes factory overclocked to 880MHz (stock is 800MHz), but it has decent cooling so you can easily push it further yourself.