7850 or GTX 660?

[mogans]

Hi,

Which of these two cards perform better? Benchmark reviews says 660 has a better frame rate than 7850 in all games.But,some people say 192 bit memory is bottleneck for several games if choose 660.Since,im not interested in overclocking,im planning to choose 660.

In india these two cards lies in the same price range.
7850-15k
660-16k

Also if i choose 7850 will there be any added advantage over 660 than the memory bit?


Please help me.

[BoFox]

The 660 is definitely faster - rated at 161 Voodoopower, while the 7850 2GB is rated at 139 VP.

Running 4x or 8x AA will slow the 660 down a bit more (due to less ROPs/bandwidth), but it should still be noticeably faster overall. You could probably still use higher settings for the demanding games.

In the future, as games become more and more shader-intensive, and too demanding to use AA, the ROPs/bandwidth will be less of a factor.

[Durvelle27]

see if you could fit a HD 7870 into your budget as that's the best bang for your buck

[96Firebird]

Since you don't plan on overclocking, the 660 is your best bet.

[raghu78]

Originally Posted by Durvelle27

see if you could fit a HD 7870 into your budget as that's the best bang for your buck

yeah. try and get the HD 7870. the price would be around 17 - 18k. definitely worth the extra bit over both these cards.

[BoFox]

If under 16.5k, then yes-
but for close to 18k, definitely not - the 660 would def. be the best bang-4-buck of the 3.

[raghu78]

Originally Posted by BoFox

If under 16.5k, then yes-
but for close to 18k, definitely not - the 660 would def. be the best bang-4-buck of the 3.

HD 7870 is faster at stock compared to GTX 660. With overclocking HD 7870 scales better due to 256 bit memory and 32 ROPs compared to 192 bit memory and 24 ROPs on GTX 660. Worse the single 6 pin PCI-E power connector and Nvidia's strict power target restrictions hamper overclocking and affect performance even more. HD 7870 (1.25 Ghz) will be a solid 15 - 20% faster than GTX 660(1.2 Ghz). HD 7870 is worth atleast 15% more money than GTX 660.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/...cking_review/5

"There was no reason to test the overclock against a 7870 with the highest possible overclock as our results show the 7870 better performing anyway. In the two games it wasn't, the Radeon HD 7870 can be overclocked further taking it over the performance of the overclocked GTX 660. The point is, you can get more gaming performance when overclocking a Radeon HD 7870 than you can out of an overclocked GTX 660."

[BoFox]

Originally Posted by raghu78

HD 7870 is worth atleast 15% more money than GTX 660.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/...cking_review/5

"There was no reason to test the overclock against a 7870 with the highest possible overclock as our results show the 7870 better performing anyway. In the two games it wasn't, the Radeon HD 7870 can be overclocked further taking it over the performance of the overclocked GTX 660. The point is, you can get more gaming performance when overclocking a Radeon HD 7870 than you can out of an overclocked GTX 660."

[H]'s conclusions should never be taken as a sweeping conclusion - note the lack of games in their reviews.

Going by Ebay, the 7870 sells for only about 5-7% more than GTX 660 on average, not 15% as you state.

The 1.2GHz overclock is never a given. A 660 does overclock too.

In the future, the ROPs/bandwidth will matter less with the more demanding games.

[96Firebird]

Originally Posted by mogans

Since,im not interested in overclocking...

For raghu78...

[RussianSensation]

GTX660 is the clear winner if they are priced similarly.

[raghu78]

Originally Posted by BoFox

[H]'s conclusions should never be taken as a sweeping conclusion - note the lack of games in their reviews.

Going by Ebay, the 7870 sells for only about 5-7% more than GTX 660 on average, not 15% as you state.

The 1.2GHz overclock is never a given. A 660 does overclock too.

In the future, the ROPs/bandwidth will matter less with the more demanding games.

Did you read the article and the conclusion about the overclocking headroom being affected by Nvidia's reductions on power target. the scaling on these GTX 660 GPUs does not stand a chance against a HD 7870.

Did you know with older drivers the HD 7870 worked out faster than GTX 660. With the 12.11b HD 7870 is keeping up with GTX 660 Ti in the most demanding games like BF3 or the newly released MOH Warfighter. AMD fixed their Frostbite 2 engine performance weakness.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphic.../Battlefield-3

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages..._review,6.html

With this driver HD 7870 OC will crush the GTX 660 OC in the most demanding games like BF3, Sleeping Dogs, Metro 2033, Witcher 2

[raghu78]

Originally Posted by 96Firebird

For raghu78...

My advice to the OP is to get a HD 7870 if the price is within 18k. I live in India and i am sure if the OP looks around for the best prices on HD 7870 cards its very much possible. Even at stock the HD 7870 is faster than GTX 660.

[alexruiz]

Originally Posted by BoFox

The 660 is definitely faster - rated at 161 Voodoopower, while the 7850 2GB is rated at 139 VP.

Running 4x or 8x AA will slow the 660 down a bit more (due to less ROPs/bandwidth), but it should still be noticeably faster overall. You could probably still use higher settings for the demanding games.

In the future, as games become more and more shader-intensive, and too demanding to use AA, the ROPs/bandwidth will be less of a factor.

I'll bet some money those compilations were taken BEFORE catalyst 12.11 beta
The GTX660 is still faster overall than the HD7850, but the margin is much narrower that what the VP metric suggests.

To the original poster. As others have suggested, see how much difference in price is between the 2 of them, and add a HD7870 to the mix. If the HD7870 is close in price to the GTX660, it is a no brainer as the HD7870 is GTX660 ti performance.

If both the GTX660 and HD7870 are much more expensive than the HD7850, just grab the HD7850 and be happy, it is a very solid video card also. Why don't you post some prices for us?

[96Firebird]

Originally Posted by alexruiz

Why don't you post some prices for us?

He did, in the original post. 7850 is 15k, 660 is 16k (Indian currency). He has not stated how much the 7870 is, but raghu78 said 17k-18k.

[Jaydip]

Apparently not,they cost more.This is the cheapest I found and it costs close to 20K http://www.flipkart.com/sapphire-amd...er=from-search

[alexruiz]

Originally Posted by 96Firebird

He did, in the original post. 7850 is 15k, 660 is 16k (Indian currency). He has not stated how much the 7870 is, but raghu78 said 17k-18k.

LOL
Probably time for me to get new glasses

Being so close in price, I thin the price differential as % is the same as the performance differential. Comes down to personal preference.

Edit: Wonder if the 1GB RAM would be a deterrent, but I think this one wins: Radeon HD7850 1GB < Rs 14k

[BoFox]

Originally Posted by alexruiz

I'll bet some money those compilations were taken BEFORE catalyst 12.11 beta
The GTX660 is still faster overall than the HD7850, but the margin is much narrower that what the VP metric suggests.

To the original poster. As others have suggested, see how much difference in price is between the 2 of them, and add a HD7870 to the mix. If the HD7870 is close in price to the GTX660, it is a no brainer as the HD7870 is GTX660 ti performance.

If both the GTX660 and HD7870 are much more expensive than the HD7850, just grab the HD7850 and be happy, it is a very solid video card also. Why don't you post some prices for us?

You got that right! I haven't adjusted it with the latest beta drivers from either AMD or NV yet - If I cannot confirm all of the performance increases to be legit (i.e., BF3's stellar increases not having IQ issues with AA according to one poster here, etc..) - I'll just wait until the WHQL version comes out before taking them into consideration for the VP ratings. Otherwise, if the performance increases can be confirmed to not have any IQ issues, then I'll just go ahead and update them. Any help would be appreciated.

[BoFox]

Originally Posted by tweakboy

and a clean format is needed.

Nah, not in most cases nowadays. It's not as bad as it used to be - where you had to use DriverCleaner/DriverSweeper programs - let alone do a clean format.

[mogans]

Originally Posted by Jaydip

Apparently not,they cost more.This is the cheapest I found and it costs close to 20K http://www.flipkart.com/sapphire-amd...er=from-search

Yeah,that was the only cheapest one available.XFX and Asus version cost around 24k.Since its price was high,i didn't bring it into the picture.My budget is around 16k max.

Here are the exact price details,

AMD 7850 MSI-15,300 INR
NVIDIA GTX 660 Asus-16,500 INR

With US pricing i would have definetly chosen 7870,but in india all graphics card prices are very high.

[Leyawiin]

Not sure without Googling what the difference in Rupees equals in US dollars, but the GTX 660 is the better performer in almost any scenario. That said, there is certainly nothing wrong with an HD 7850 2GB. Its excellent hardware... although drivers could often use more polishing (not to start a fight in that direction though - just my personal opinion).

[Selenium_Glow]

Originally Posted by mogans

Yeah,that was the only cheapest one available.XFX and Asus version cost around 24k.Since its price was high,i didn't bring it into the picture.My budget is around 16k max.

Here are the exact price details,

AMD 7850 MSI-15,300 INR
NVIDIA GTX 660 Asus-16,500 INR

With US pricing i would have definetly chosen 7870,but in india all graphics card prices are very high.

I can't find MSI 7850 anywhere for 15.3K INR. If I were you, I'd jump on this price immediately!!! I find it here for approx 17.5K after some bargaining.

[riversend]

OP, with the discussion of the 7870s mentioned just be aware of the length of some of those cards and take it into account if there are case size issues.

Should not be a factor with most 7850s or 660s.

[Jaydip]

Grab a 660 for that price.

[mogans]

Originally Posted by Selenium_Glow

I can't find MSI 7850 anywhere for 15.3K INR. If I were you, I'd jump on this price immediately!!! I find it here for approx 17.5K after some bargaining.

http://www.flipkart.com/msi-amd-r785...er=from-search

[raghu78]

Originally Posted by mogans

http://www.flipkart.com/msi-amd-r785...er=from-search

thats a very good card for a nice price.