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Thread: New GPU decision time!!

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    New GPU decision time!!

    I've been thinking about upgrading my GPU, but i can't decide which one to get (as with most people in this situation ). I'm assuming my Core i5 2500 should still do the job for a while (is Ivy Bridge even worth the upgrade?) and i game at 1080p.

    These are the cards i've been looking at so far and i'm not too fussed on the brand as long as it doesn't have a noisy reference cooler (i'm looking at you AMD!... Not sure what Nvidia reference coolers are like these days?):

    Geforce GTX 660 Ti (2GB)
    Radeon 7870 (2GB)
    Radeon 7950 (3GB)

    I'm looking to ideally spend around £250 and no more (If i could spend more then i would go for a GTX 670 hands down! )... I'm guessing any of these cards would make a nice upgrade from a 1GB Radeon 6870. Which would you choose and why? Also, how much do you guys think i would get for my XFX 6870 on ebay? It's in perfect order and still has the box and cables etc...

    Cheers

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Get the HD7950 3GB. The HD7950 3GB are known to be very decent for overclocking:

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

    The stock clockspeed of the HD7950 is 800MHZ BTW.

    I would look at this HD7950:

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

    Reviews indicate it is quiet card.

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    Get the HD7950 3GB. The HD7950 3GB are known to be very decent for overclocking:

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

    The stock clockspeed of the HD7950 is 800MHZ BTW.

    I would look at this HD7950:

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

    Reviews indicate it is quiet card.
    Seems like a good price... I hope MSI products are better these days (i've had quality issues with them in the past!). How does the 7950 stack up against a GTX 670? I've tried reading various reviews, but i take the results with a pinch of salt as they don't always have a similar outcome . Would upgrading my i5 2500 to an i7 3770 provide any benefits when it comes to gaming? Surely there will be some games in the near future that will utilise more than 4 cores/threads?

    Thanks again

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Quote Originally Posted by PowerPie5000 View Post
    Seems like a good price... I hope MSI products are better these days (i've had quality issues with them in the past!). How does the 7950 stack up against a GTX 670? I've tried reading various reviews, but i take the results with a pinch of salt as they don't always have a similar outcome . Would upgrading my i5 2500 to an i7 3770 provide any benefits when it comes to gaming? Surely there will be some games in the near future that will utilise more than 4 cores/threads?

    Thanks again
    GTX670 out of the box is faster,but the HD7950 3GB appears to benefit more from overclocking. You can basically get HD7970 or GTX670 level performance from the HD7950 from a lower than average overclock I suspect. Its pretty much what you saw with the HD5850 and HD5870.

    MSI appears to gave a decent warranty:

    http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-car...ally-look.html

    I would stick with your current CPU TBH.

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Is the 660 Ti worth considering at the same price as a 7950? I'm not really into overclocking myself, so i'll be buying a factory OC'd GPU. I've been going through reviews and it seems the 660 Ti is able to trade blows with the 7950 while consuming less power (if i've read them correctly!). The 7950 has an extra 1GB of memory, but i doubt that matters if i'm gaming at 1080p on a single screen. Hmmm... So it's between the 660 Ti (with free Borderlands 2) and the 7950 (do they come with any free games?) .

    Anyway, is £90 a realistic figure for my XFX Radeon 6870 (dual fan edition) if i sell it very soon? If so, then i could probably squeeze to a GTX 670 with a non reference cooler

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Quote Originally Posted by PowerPie5000 View Post
    Is the 660 Ti worth considering at the same price as a 7950? I'm not really into overclocking myself, so i'll be buying a factory OC'd GPU. I've been going through reviews and it seems the 660 Ti is able to trade blows with the 7950 while consuming less power (if i've read them correctly!). The 7950 has an extra 1GB of memory, but i doubt that matters if i'm gaming at 1080p on a single screen. Hmmm... So it's between the 660 Ti (with free Borderlands 2) and the 7950 (do they come with any free games?) .

    Anyway, is £90 a realistic figure for my XFX Radeon 6870 (dual fan edition) if i sell it very soon? If so, then i could probably squeeze to a GTX 670 with a non reference cooler
    Honestly,speaking the HD7950 is one of the most underclocked graphics cards made for years. A lot of the Nvidia cards like the GTX660TI actually auto-overclock themselves to to 1100MHZ to 1200MHZ. The 28NM process used by both AMD and Nvidia is generally capable of 1100MHZ at least. The HD7950 3GB runs at 800MHZ normally.

    The power consumption difference is not really relevant - unless you are gaming like 24/7 the difference is not going to really increase your power bill that much IMHO.
    An HD7950 at stock clockspeeds has around the same(either lower or higher looking at reviews) power consumption as an HD5870 or GTX560TI under load.

    You are also not TDP limited or length limited like I am with my SFF system either,where lower power consumption would be more critical.

    The idle power consumption of the cards is quite low just like the GTX600 series cards.

    Also,be very careful of the reviews(avoid HardOCP at ALL costs,as they are sponsored by Galaxy, and just give full marks to all Galaxy products). Many of them are using pre-overclocked cards(which cost more at retail) and some of them use less intensive forms of AA(which are better on more bandwidth limited cards).

    The GTX660TI is not bad,if it was closer to £200 IMHO. The main issue is the the reduced amount of ROPs on the GTX660TI and limited memory bandwidth. There has been cases of cards in the past which had this such as the GTX460 768MB or reduced RAM quantity(8800GT 256MB). Now in both cases,reviews painted them really well,as being closer to more expensive cards(8800GT 512MB and GTX460 1GB and HD6870), but in the long term they did not last as long.

    The following is an average of at least 10 review websites at 1920X1080.



    Moreover,if you like adding high quality mods to games like Skyrim the HD7950 does start to move ahead:

    http://translate.google.com/translat...660-ti%2F24%2F

    But,if you feel the GTX660TI,floats your boat it is still a more than capable card,however I would rather go for an HD7950 or GTX670 ATM. I just get the feeling its an OK card for today,but perhaps with more limited legs for tommorrow(this is my opinion though).
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 29-08-2012 at 02:15 AM.

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    PowerPie5000 (29-08-2012)

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Thanks for the detailed reply! I do like adding tons of mods to games! So the 7950 it is then (or 670 if i can justify spending over £300 )... I'm not really too fussed about PhysX as i've lived without it just fine for the last few years

    Cheers

    EDIT: I don't suppose the 7950 or the 670 benefit much from PCI-E 3.0? My motherboard supports this option if i add an Ivy Bridge CPU (there i go again, always wanting the latest when it's not 100% needed ).

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    PCI-E 3.0 is not really of much use with the HD7970 or GTX680 IIRC at normal gaming resolutions. Hence,the HD7950 or GTX670 would be fine.

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    PCI-E 3.0 is not really of much use with the HD7970 or GTX680 IIRC at normal gaming resolutions. Hence,the HD7950 or GTX670 would be fine.
    I thought so... I read a quick review and it seems the 7970 and GTX 680 only gain around 6-7 fps going from PCI-E 1.1 to 3.0 (now there's progress ).

    Cheers

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    I'd be interested in buying the 6870 off you Providing its still under warranty and you have the original receipt
    Last edited by dacads; 29-08-2012 at 09:36 AM.

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Oops clicked post twice

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Seconding the 7950 recommendation, they overclock well even without a voltage boost. Currently running mine at 1000MHz core + 1575MHz memory, though I suspect it could go a little higher and still be stable.

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    I always stayed on green side of the world, so I would say 660Ti. It is same or a bit faster than GTX580. At 1080p this will be more than you need, perfect solution for next few years, but if you are looking to buy a card for like 3-5 years, then 670 would be the choice I think. Then again, who buys cards for 5 years?
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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    The HD7950 is a better card overall,especially with its extra overclocking headroom. The OP says they use mods,and the HD7950 does better in Skyrim with mods at stock clockspeeds. Plenty of people over on OcUK who have GTX670 and GTX680 cards themselves recommend the HD7950 over the GTX660TI,and they consider themselves Nvidia fans too.

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Quote Originally Posted by dacads View Post
    I'd be interested in buying the 6870 off you Providing its still under warranty and you have the original receipt
    Not sure about the Warranty (i hear the XFX warranty is crap and they rely on the retailer to sort it out!)... I bought it from Scan.co.uk around Feb last year, but i need to keep the original receipt as it has other components on it (i could provide a copy). I'm pretty sure it came with a 2 year 'return to base' warranty.

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    Re: New GPU decision time!!

    Yeah I've heard bad things about XFX too regarding customer service which is ashame as their products are the opposite. I think I'll resist making an offer but the card is still in demand and you should get around £80-90. Not sure how good the Hexus classified section(no 100 posts yet) is but I would use eBay as last resort due to their fees and other hassles

    /off topic

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