Gtx 580 or 7870 at $400 price point.

[Majcric]

I'm not considering newegg for their return policy, no refunds. With that aside looking at these two cards, would you go with the old architecture(gtx 580) or the newer 7870. I'm not concerned about power usage, but noise can be issue. My rez is 1680x1050 or I might swing for an even better card. Anyway what do you guys think?

 

[Lepton87]

Do you want to OC or not? If you do I would just buy 7870 and OC it, those cards after OC should perform similarly but 7870 has all the advantages of 28nm. If you don't OC then buying factory oced 7870 would probably be best although if you could find factory oced GTX580 it would be slightly faster, still I don't think it is worth the increased heat and noise.

 

[Avalon]

I'd check the Anandtech bench for all benches at 1680x1050 res. I don't even think you need that much GPU power there. If you still consider a 7870, I'd wait a little to see if there's going to be a series wide price drop now that the Geforce GTX 680 is out and is beating AMD's lineup for less.

 

[Rvenger]

If you can get a 580 for under the $350 threshold, then that would be the better deal.

EDIT: the 7870 does have 2gb and I hear they have a ton of overclocking potential plus they run much cooler. So I change my mind, the 7870 is a better buy. The sapphire OC model with the dual fans seem to have very good reviews.

EDIT again: At your res, go for the 7850

 

[Majcric]

Honestly, it's quite suprising how much GPU is needed at even 1680x1050, some games already on the market BF3, GTA4, Dragon AGE 2, Metro2033, Crysis, Crysis warhead, Crysis 2 with High res texture pak. and then of course some of the newer games to be released. (experience from my old GTX 560 ti)

Anyway, If I chose the GTX 580 I'm partially to reference cards and EVGA as a brand.
As for the 7870, I don't know much about AMD, but I know the min Vram I will comnsider is 1.5 (BF3 and games with tex packs are proof of this)and the 7870 has 2gb, which would be a plus there

 

[Mopetar]

I'd check the Anandtech bench for all benches at 1680x1050 res. I don't even think you need that much GPU power there. If you still consider a 7870, I'd wait a little to see if there's going to be a series wide price drop now that the Geforce GTX 680 is out and is beating AMD's lineup for less.

I doubt that they'll drop the price of the 7870 as there isn't any direct competition to it at this point. Perhaps they will once the 660 is released, but who knows when that will be.

 

[Nintendesert]

I doubt that they'll drop the price of the 7870 as there isn't any direct competition to it at this point. Perhaps they will once the 660 is released, but who knows when that will be.

AMD will have to drop the price of the 7970 and that should shift everything else down too. AMD had to compete against their own products as well.

 

[Silverforce11]

120W with similar performance vs 250W?
Easy 20% OC headroom on stock volts, OC ~140W vs gtx580 OC 350W?

No even a contest.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Anyone who recommends a 580 at this point is a hypocrite, considering all the bangwagoning that goes on for the 680 because of it being cooler, quieter etc, which becomes A LOT more obvious between 580 and 7870

Even though the 7870 is overpriced overall, it still is the better card

 

[Xed]

Have you thought about getting a new monitor anytime soon? If so it might be worth the extra $100 to get the 680. If not you might want to look at an overclocked 7850 instead for your res and save the $140.

 

[kami]

Either card is not going to be a dramatic real-world upgrade from your 560ti (assuming its for the same system) at 1680x1050. I was gonna say just drop in a second 560ti cause your PSU could handle them but if you are concerned about noise I guess SLI isn't the answer.

If I was in your shoes I'd spend money on a new monitor first. Just IMO. If you are set on choosing between these two then 7870 makes more sense right now. Any 580s that are the same price as 7870 still seem to be with MIR. MIRs can go die in a fire.

 

[dynaboom]

If you can find a 7870 for the same price as a 580 then it would be a tossup. Each card has its pros and cons but they are of equal value.

 

[Silverforce11]

I'm pretty sure its a dramatic upgrade even at 1680 res. Moreso if you plan to OC.

 

[cplusplus]

AMD will have to drop the price of the 7970 and that should shift everything else down too. AMD had to compete against their own products as well.

Not really, especially with how small the performance gap is between the 7950 and the 7870. They could drop the 7970 to $500, the 7950 to $400-425, and leave the rest of the lineup the way it is.

 

[imaheadcase]

Anyone who recommends a 580 at this point is a hypocrite, considering all the bangwagoning that goes on for the 680 because of it being cooler, quieter etc, which becomes A LOT more obvious between 580 and 7870

Even though the 7870 is overpriced overall, it still is the better card

except for the fact you can pick up a GTX 580 CHEAPER than the two you mentioned.

 

[omeds]

580 > 7870 for many reasons, but yes its faster too.

 

[TemjinGold]

Have you thought about more ram and an SSD? I'm surprised you are feeling slowdown in that rez with your card...

 

[DeeJayeS]

580 < 7870 for many reasons, but yes its faster too.

fixed

 

[Majcric]

Have you thought about more ram and an SSD? I'm surprised you are feeling slowdown in that rez with your card...

Thanks Guys, so it looks like the AMD 7870 by a pretty good margin. I guess my other option might be a A GTX 680 for a $100 more(and later upgrade my monitor) Off-topic, but anybody know any places competitive with Newegg prices, that offer refunds?





(I don't know how the scaling is with non-native 1680x1050 monitors, but with my native 1680x1050 while this card(my old GTX 560ti) got the job done in most games it had some problems in some of the ones mentioned in my earlier post. Folks, believe it or not 1680x1050 still calls for more horses, more horse in a lot of games; especially in games that use hi-res tex paks. Also i like playing as close to 60 fps as possible. )

 

[Lepton87]

Thanks Guys, so it looks like the AMD 7870 by a pretty good margin. I guess my other option might be a A GTX 680 for a $100 more(and later upgrade my monitor) Off-topic, but anybody know any places competitive with Newegg prices, that offer refunds?

GTX680 is about 40% faster than 7870 so for a 100 more it would be a better value but I thought the actual prices are 350 for 7870 and 500 for 680? At those prices they provide virtually the same value.

 

[Majcric]

GTX680 is about 40% faster than 7870 so for a 100 more it would be a better value but I thought the actual prices are 350 for 7870 and 500 for 680? At those prices they provide virtually the same value.

The 7870 can be had for around $350 on Newegg(not a fan of Newegg return policy) but everywhere else they're around the $400 mark at least from what i've seen. Someone here suggested a GTX 680 and since I was antcipating it somewhat anyway, I thought I might spend a $100 more and be even more future proof.

 

[omeds]

fixed

no sorry I think you mean you broke it.

 

[Nintendesert]

AMD prices are ridiculous right now, if you can't wait for a price adjustment in reaction to the 680 from AMD I'd pay the $100 more and get a far superior card to the 7870. In fact I did just that.

 

[Majcric]

You just helped me make my decision. GTX 680 it is!!!

 

[Nintendesert]

Now you'll need a 120hz monitor.