6950 vs GTX 560 vs GTX 560 Ti 448 *edit* I got a 7850! :)

[SickBeast]

Hi Guys,

My GTX 460 is slowly dying. I need a new card ASAP.

Here are my options:

GTX 560 Ti 448 (several brands) $230-240
AMD 6950 2gb (XFX) $215
GTX 560 (vanilla, several brands) $150
AMD 6870 (several brands) $150

Here is the rest of my rig:

i5 2500k at 4.8ghz
12gb ddr3
asus p8p67

I game at 1080p.

The games I want more performance in are the Crysis games, Battlefield 3, and I'm interested in playing some upcoming releases.

I honestly don't know what to do. My budget is $200. I would stretch it for a good deal.

I don't game that much any more. The GTX 460 was serving me fine aside from the games I mentioned.

If any of you could link me to a deal or if you have other suggestions that would be great. Thanks!

 

[Tempered81]

My vote goes to a 448 core 560 or an unlockable 2gb 6950

 

[SickBeast]

It seems as though the other 6950s cost $60+ more so I'm not interested, even if they unlock.

Comparing the GTX 560 Ti 448 and the 6950 on AnandTech Bench I'm leaning toward the Ti 448 even though it costs $15 more. I noticed that the Ti 448 is faster in a bunch of games, and in some cases the difference is quite significant.

I've actually develped a preference for nVidia cards. I prefer their drivers over AMD.

 

[Arzachel]

If you're willing to overclock and it fits your budget, a 7850 would do great (240-260$ Sapphires seem to get a ton of praise). If not, the GTX 560 Ti 448 (balanced performance, 1.5gb vram shouldn't be an issue at 1080p) if you're willing to spend more, or the HD 6870(great card, but you might not see that big of a bump over your old GTX460) if you're willing to spend less.

 

[SickBeast]

If you're willing to overclock and it fits your budget, a 7850 would do great (240-260$ Sapphires seem to get a ton of praise). If not, the GTX 560 Ti 448 (balanced performance, 1.5gb vram shouldn't be an issue at 1080p) if you're willing to spend more, or the HD 6870(great card, but you might not see that big of a bump over your old GTX460) if you're willing to spend less.

Thanks for that, the 7850 is tempting. Do they unlock to 7870s?

I'm going to see what goes on sale tonight at NCIX.

The 7850 2gb costs $250 where I live and it looks like it's well worth the extra $20.

 

[Arzachel]

Thanks for that, the 7850 is tempting. Do they unlock to 7870s?

I'm going to see what goes on sale tonight at NCIX.

The 7850 2gb costs $250 where I live and it looks like it's well worth the extra $20.

They don't unlock, but they overclock quite well as you'd expect from 28nm cards. At worst you're getting around GTX 570 performance at much better power draw and slightly better temps and acoustics. At best you're looking at something quite close to a GTX 580.

 

[SickBeast]

They don't unlock, but they overclock quite well as you'd expect from 28nm cards. At worst you're getting around GTX 570 performance at much better power draw and slightly better temps and acoustics. At best you're looking at something quite close to a GTX 580.

Looking at it again it's a tough call. It's all going to depend on the price and will depend on what goes on sale where I live.

I doubt it can match a GTX 580 looking at the AnandTech Bench numbers.

 

[Arzachel]

Looking at it again it's a tough call. It's all going to depend on the price and will depend on what goes on sale where I live.

I doubt it can match a GTX 580 looking at the AnandTech Bench numbers.

I was going off this thread:http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18389760

A 1200 core HD 7870 should meat or beat a GTX 580, but again overclocking is a YMMV.

HD 7850's are actually cheaper than GTX 560 Ti 448's (hate that name) where I live... good thing I have no spare funds to sink into hardware impulse buys I guess

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I recommend 7850

 

[BallaTheFeared]

448 is like a 470, but they clock a lot better on air. When they first came out a lot of people were hitting 900-950 on air, I dunno if they were just lucky, or if it's typical but my 470s eclipse the 6950/6970 in a lot of titles at those speeds.

The 448 will exceed the 580 if you overclock it, you can't go wrong with many of those selections though it's just personal preference and which games you play really.

 

[Lepton87]

I would buy GF560 and then another for SLI. It seems like a huge improvement for 60$ over Ti448.

 

[Concillian]

7850 bump voltage and overclock if $250 is in your price range. ASUS directcu 7850s were $250 free ship at amazon until they went OOS. Most of what's in stock now seems to be ~$260.

6950 makes sense if bought used and significantly cheaper.

New prices do not make sense with the 7850 having such *huge* overclocking margin (+30% core is pretty reasonable to expect from what I've seen on various forums, which puts it above a GTX580 in most cases.)

 

[blckgrffn]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130750

If you don't really game much, this might be a boring answer, but a cost efficient one

Save that dough for a Kepler or AMD competitor later this year or early next... My $.02.

Edit: NVM. You want better performance.

I then vote for the 448. It seems like a great blend of performance and price.

Edit. I change my vote again.

Looks like a 7850 (including a Gigabyte dual fan model with 970 mhz core clock) is super close in price and I think that that the larger frame buffer is going to give the card a longer life span.

What is with 7870s being ~$100 more than than the 7850? Seems like they should be $299-$329 or so, not $350-wtfomgbbq.

Clearly I have not shopped for video cards above $200 for quite some time... If only the 7850 was ~$200 and the ~7870 was $250, then things might be interesting

 

[Arzachel]

Clearly I have not shopped for video cards above $200 for quite some time... If only the 7850 was ~$200 and the ~7870 was $250, then things might be interesting

Those prices are only disappointing if you won't ever overclock. Both cards seem to be capable of 1100-1300mhz on air stepping on the heels of much more expensive cards.

 

[Concillian]

The sad thing about the pricing is that even though I feel the 7850 should be cheaper, it overclocks so well that it negates every other option in the $200+ range.

My $ per FPS calculations, when I take into account power for ~2 years has the 7850 overclocked beating everything else quite handily. A GTX570 overclocked needs to be around $190-200 to give similar performance per cost. A 6950 that unlocks and OCs to 6970 speeds has a better ratio, and would need to be priced ~$210 to equal a 7850 FPS per total $.

Now money up front does matter, more to some than others, but when I run the long term cost numbers, the 7850 comes out a clear winner, even at $250.

Hard to say what resale value would do to that calculation. Since I hand down my hardware to my wife's computer or my teenage nephew's, I assume no resale value after I'm done with it, so that doesn't factor into my numbers. I also use 15 cents / kWh which is higher than many power costs.

The 7850 is sandbagged out of the box, though. You need to be willing to OC. I don't think there's ever been a card that can OC so well. The 460 is the last card I knew that would routinely do 20+% core / 20+% memory out of the box. Not really in the same league though.

 

[blckgrffn]

Those prices are only disappointing if you won't ever overclock. Both cards seem to be capable of 1100-1300mhz on air stepping on the heels of much more expensive cards.

Gotcha. I am still in the camp of "it should come from the factory like that if those clock speeds are guaranteed" but I understand your point.

The sad thing about the pricing is that even though I feel the 7850 should be cheaper, it overclocks so well that it negates every other option in the $200+ range.

My $ per FPS calculations, when I take into account power for ~2 years has the 7850 overclocked beating everything else quite handily. A GTX570 overclocked needs to be around $190-200 to give similar performance per cost. A 6950 that unlocks and OCs to 6970 speeds has a better ratio, and would need to be priced ~$210 to equal a 7850 FPS per total $.

Now money up front does matter, more to some than others, but when I run the long term cost numbers, the 7850 comes out a clear winner, even at $250.

Hard to say what resale value would do to that calculation. Since I hand down my hardware to my wife's computer or my teenage nephew's, I assume no resale value after I'm done with it, so that doesn't factor into my numbers. I also use 15 cents / kWh which is higher than many power costs.

How many load hours per day do you use for your calculations?

I have no doubt about your conclusions...

 

[Concillian]

How many load hours per day do you use for your calculations?

I have no doubt about your conclusions...

I use 2 hours load, 3 hours idle. per day @ 330 days per year.

I got my numbers from when I was only playing WoW and looking at /played time over a few month period. Now I play a larger variety of games, but spend about the same amount of time doing so. The idle time is more of a guess.

 

[Charlie98]

You missed the eVGA 560ti/448 last week for $215 AR at Newegg... but I didn't!

With the new stuff coming out, I'm seeing the 560's come down in price, Newegg/eVGA has the rebate thing going on until the end of the month, I would expect to see another 448 sale in the next week or so. I know the 448 is sort of an 'odd man out' card, but I don't plan to SLI or anything and it works well for me.

 

[NIGELG]

570 GTX or AMD 7850.

 

[neocpp]

Thank you for this thread, my 470 has up and died (well it actually still works at 2D clocks, but any 3D program will cause it to artifact and crash) and I'm looking at the same cards as you.

 

[blckgrffn]

Thank you for this thread, my 470 has up and died (well it actually still works at 2D clocks, but any 3D program will cause it to artifact and crash) and I'm looking at the same cards as you.

PSU is still good?

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Thank you for this thread, my 470 has up and died (well it actually still works at 2D clocks, but any 3D program will cause it to artifact and crash) and I'm looking at the same cards as you.

GTX 560 Ti 448 is nearly the same as a 470, the 570 has one extra cluster, nothing to write home about.

You should try using the warranty through RMA, most cards have at least a three year warranty. True replacement cards aren't really out yet.

 

[SickBeast]

Thanks everyone for their input into this thread, especially those who talked about the 7850. I ordered one for $230 shipped and it should arrive early next week.

I'm quite excited about it. I hope it's an overclocking monster like Concillan says.

 

[BoFox]

Congrats on getting a HIGH-END class card (in a high-end category in the Voodoopower ratings)!! Hehe..

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I only has middle mid ranged