$250-$300 video card purchase...is now a bad time?

[antef]

So I built a system at the beginning of the year (in sig) thinking the video card for it would be right around the corner, but of course it's almost May now and things haven't quite shaken out. However my grad school semester is ending so I really want to buy soon. Unfortunately I feel like the options in my price range are not good and that's not going to change until NVIDIA releases some lower priced 6xx parts. Can anyone recommend a $250-$300 card right now, or should I really wait till later in the summer? Buying last gen is not really an option, want the 2 GB memory and lower power consumption. So I'm seeing 7850s for about $250 and a Powercolor 7870 for $330 but with no reviews which I may be willing to spring for. I'll be playing BF3, Arkham City, things like that at 1920x1200.

Thanks!

 

[Jaydip]

U can get a 7850 now or wait until NV launches their lineup.

 

[Concillian]

7850 is the only card worthwhile in that price range, and you have to be willing to OC it to get the most out of it.

7870 makes no sense if you OC the 7850.

If not OCing, keep an eye out for deals on the 560 ti 448 or 570 in the ~$200-220 range.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

A 7850 oc is just about 10% or so slower than 7870 oc so buy 7850 and oc and save the rest to upgrade 6-12 months down

 

[Upgrade_Itch]

So I built a system at the beginning of the year (in sig) thinking the video card for it would be right around the corner, but of course it's almost May now and things haven't quite shaken out. However my grad school semester is ending so I really want to buy soon. Unfortunately I feel like the options in my price range are not good and that's not going to change until NVIDIA releases some lower priced 6xx parts. Can anyone recommend a $250-$300 card right now, or should I really wait till later in the summer? Buying last gen is not really an option, want the 2 GB memory and lower power consumption. So I'm seeing 7850s for about $250 and a Powercolor 7870 for $330 but with no reviews which I may be willing to spring for. I'll be playing BF3, Arkham City, things like that at 1920x1200.

Thanks!

Forget the reference 7870, if you can muster up another $50 bill ($379) you can afford a reference model 7950. The 7950 is not only faster but this model can overclock to a higher percentage over stock speed then the 7870 can.

And for 1920 x 1080 (or 1200) gaming its ideal. I will be buying the Sapphire HD7950 OC model myself next payday. My HD5850 is played and I have found a buyer for it.

 

[Leyawiin]

Yeah, its HD 7850 or HD 7950. There's no reason to buy an HD 7870 at its current price point.

 

[kalrith]

Yeah, its HD 7850 or HD 7950. There's no reason to buy an HD 7870 at its current price point.

This or wait to see what nvidia brings to the table.

If you get the 7850 and want to oc, then it seems the reference cooler is insufficient. The Sapphire and Asus aftermarket coolers seem to be the two best. There are several threads discussing this:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2239216
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2241741
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2241664
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2240794

 

[Concillian]

The "reference" cooler designs are able to hit 30% overclocks... I'd hardly call that insufficient cooling to overclock. Insufficient for MAX overclock? Okay, sure, but where do you draw the line on what becomes "sufficient"?

The "reference" coolers don't cool as well as some of the vendor specific designs. That's about all you can say. The reference coolers are still quite capable of overclocks higher than 1100 MHz.

 

[kalrith]

All I'm saying is what others are reporting. They've said that overclocking to 1150-1200 MHz on the core is resulting in 80+ °C on the reference cooler. Some might be comfortable with that temperature, but others will not. Just like some will be content to hit the max 1050 in CCC, and others will want to push beyond that.

With the price of the Sapphire non-OC being close to the cheapest 7850 out there, I think it's worth it to mention the problems people are having with the reference cooler.

 

[antef]

Thanks for the opinions. I don't plan to OC because I don't really have the patience to fiddle with it and I also value noise the most, so that would be my biggest factor in considering various vendors based on their coolers. I feel the 7850 is not really strong enough for a card I'll hold onto for 3-4 years, so I'm considering the 7950 (even though traditionally I've never spent more than $200-250 on a video card).

Let's say a theoretical 660 Ti came out at the sweet $250 price point. Other than lower cost, would its performance make me want it over a 7950? I know we have no idea how a 660 Ti might perform, but perhaps we can speculate how it would be positioned against AMD's current line-up.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Even a 680 or 7970 won't last for 3+ years not even with oc. They might have last 2-3 years with heavy oc for med settings if new consoles weren't coming out. Within 3 years there will be games where a stock 7950 will struggle at 1080p low settings provided a new console comes out by 2014

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Get a 7850 with aftermarket cooling, use for 2 years, sell and buy a new card

 

[blastingcap]

I know this is a painful suggestion and you said you wanted to buy now, but I would simply wait a little longer for Nvidia to increase the price pressure on the $300 segment.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

It could mean waiting several months for a less than $50 price difference

 

[blastingcap]

It could mean waiting several months for a less than $50 price difference

i said wait a little longer not wait several months; if he's at the absolute limit of waiting, go ahead and buy

 

[DominionSeraph]

Just get a 7850.
Nvidia making the GK104 the GTX 680 says that they want to play on the high end with that, and I'm not sure the GK106 is going to have the horsepower to hang with the 7800 series. I foresee a pretty large gap in Nvidia's lineup so it's really not going to be in their interest to price aggressively -- that will only increase the size of the pricing gap between high end and midranged and leave AMD in sole possession of the high-midrange.

The 7850 is a good card. If the pricing structure in a month or two shows that you could've saved $20 or $30 by waiting, what is that really going to matter 2-3 years from now?

 

[Concillian]

All I'm saying is what others are reporting. They've said that overclocking to 1150-1200 MHz on the core is resulting in 80+ °C on the reference cooler. Some might be comfortable with that temperature, but others will not. Just like some will be content to hit the max 1050 in CCC, and others will want to push beyond that.

With the price of the Sapphire non-OC being close to the cheapest 7850 out there, I think it's worth it to mention the problems people are having with the reference cooler.

Right, but that's not what you wrote in the previous post:

If you get the 7850 and want to oc, then it seems the reference cooler is insufficient.

Read that sentence. It says, the reference cooler is insufficient for overclocking. It's very plain and cut and dry.

What you said after I corrected you is correct. It's fine for overclocking as long as you're content with "only" a 25-30% overclock (what other video cards have been able to overclock "only" 25-30% with the reference cooler?)

Of course there are better coolers than the reference cooler... there always are, I was just trying to put what you said into perspective, since what you said was false.

 

[Concillian]

Thanks for the opinions. I don't plan to OC because I don't really have the patience to fiddle with it and I also value noise the most, so that would be my biggest factor in considering various vendors based on their coolers. I feel the 7850 is not really strong enough for a card I'll hold onto for 3-4 years, so I'm considering the 7950 (even though traditionally I've never spent more than $200-250 on a video card).

There are different types of overclocking. What Don has been doing with his 7850 is finding maximum possible, and it requires a lot of fiddling.

EVERY 7850 review I read was able to turn their reference 7850s at stock voltage up to 1050 MHz (22% overclock) and there was no fiddling. You can have a milder overclock without the fiddling because there is so much headroom on a 7850. If voltage is kept stock, then heat output goes up less than 10%, so things stay quiet as well.

You can assume a 7850 with a better cooler will still be very quiet at a 1050 OC and there will be little to no fiddling.

 

[kalrith]

Read that sentence. It says, the reference cooler is insufficient for overclocking. It's very plain and cut and dry.

What you said after I corrected you is correct. It's fine for overclocking as long as you're content with "only" a 25-30% overclock (what other video cards have been able to overclock "only" 25-30% with the reference cooler?)

Of course there are better coolers than the reference cooler... there always are, I was just trying to put what you said into perspective, since what you said was false.

For one, I said "it seems"; I did not say that "the following statement is the absolute truth". For two, a 30% oc would be 1118 MHz, and for some the reference cooler is insufficient for that (again, "for some" does not mean "for absolutely everyone"). For three, you don't have to be a jerk.

 

[SickBeast]

It kind of is a bad time to spend $250-300 on a GPU. I did it because I had to when my old card broke.

nVidia will be coming out with the GTX 660/670/690 very soon. It will definitely have an impact on prices and performance in that price bracket. If I could have waited I would have.

As others have said, the 7850 is a pretty good value considering its overclocking ability. Most seem to hit 1150mhz on the core which will allow it to beat a GTX 580.

 

[dynaboom]

2 choices: either wait for Nvidia's mid-range parts to create some competition in that price range, or go with a 7950 for under $400.

 

[Silverforce11]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=33351113&postcount=242

Just posted some very interesting numbers you should take a look at.

$250 range is great currently, with 7850s OC like on crack getting 40-50% OCs on stock coolers (Asus, MSI, Sapphire).

 

[antef]

There are different types of overclocking. What Don has been doing with his 7850 is finding maximum possible, and it requires a lot of fiddling.

EVERY 7850 review I read was able to turn their reference 7850s at stock voltage up to 1050 MHz (22% overclock) and there was no fiddling. You can have a milder overclock without the fiddling because there is so much headroom on a 7850. If voltage is kept stock, then heat output goes up less than 10%, so things stay quiet as well.

You can assume a 7850 with a better cooler will still be very quiet at a 1050 OC and there will be little to no fiddling.

Okay, good point. If it required very little effort and testing to get a mild OC then I would probably do it. Especially if I planned to upgrade in 2 years instead of the 4 years that I've held onto my 8800 GTS 512 for, then I imagine the 7850 would be sufficient. However some still recommend stepping out of my price range to the 7950. Would that offer any benefits TODAY at my resolution?

 

[aaksheytalwar]

7850 oc compete with 580 gtx for $250, not bad at all IMO. And if you wish to stick for 2 years you need 2gn vram

 

[antef]

7850 oc compete with 580 gtx for $250, not bad at all IMO. And if you wish to stick for 2 years you need 2gn vram

Yeah, I am leaning towards this at the moment. What is a best guess for more NVIDIA cards to roll out? Late summer?