HD 7770, HD 6850 or others?

[Pedroc1999]

Well... I am thinking of buying a graphics card for a new build. I am thinking along the lines of a HD 7770. I know this card is a solid overclocker and packs lots of new technologys such as ZeroCore. But it sometimes gets beaten by the HD 6850. I am still leaning towards the 7770 because of the lower price and lower watts needed to run and because of that I can crossfire in the future without a new PSU. Is my decision right or wrong? And also are there any other cards around the same price that would be a better choice? (Not GTX 550ti)

PSU power isnt an issue as using the eXtreme Power Calculator i have more than enough power for a crossfireX for 2 HD 7770.

 

[Termie]

Welcome to the forums!

Can you provide details on the system this card would be going in?

Also, please list the prices available to you for each card, including the gtx650 ti.

 

[Tweak155]

I'd go a step up in model number before buying 2 x HD7770. Go a bit higher, 7870 even, and it will likely handle everything for you. Then down the road if you need more power get another 7870, as an example.

 

[Pedroc1999]

Ok, I will be using a FX-6300 with 1600MHz DDR3, a 500watt Quality PSU and a good case.

I may consider overclocking whatever card i get.

HD 7770 - £95.06

HD6870 - £122.00

I couldnt get a price for a 6850 as it is currently out of stock but here is a 6870

 

[yepp]

You can get a HD 7850 1GB for around £120-£130.

 

[Pedroc1999]

If i change the supplier i can find the 7850 for £120 and the 7770 for £86

 

[Termie]

If i change the supplier i can find the 7850 for £120 and the 7770 for £86

The 7850 for sure, if it's within your budget.

 

[Jimzz]

Yep single 7850 all day out of the options you listed.

 

[Pedroc1999]

I am thinking that too, my pc will be built with the essentials and an old X1600 pro (50fps in GTA SA ) so the GFX card will come at a later date. I am thinking of asking my dad about it in mid february, lets hope he says yes

 

[Pedroc1999]

What is the minimum wattage for 2 x 7850?

 

[Termie]

What is the minimum wattage for 2 x 7850?

Your 500w PSU is unlikely to be enough, and furthermore, you'll be horribly bottlenecked with that processor. I think you should just focus on the best single card for your budget right now, which is the 7850.

 

[Pedroc1999]

thats what i fought. would a single 7850 bottleneck it in any way? and i am still thinking about the £86 7770. it seems to fit my needs for what i want which is a pc that is ready to play gta v on fullish settings and i would like to experiment with cfx. i know it can lead to small problems but im still thinkinf if you know what i mean


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[lehtv]

You mean would your CPU bottleneck a single card? Not really. In some instances it probably would a little bit, e.g. dual threaded games (Alan Wake, Guild Wars 2, SC2 for example) or particularly CPU intensive quad threaded games (Planetside 2). FX-6300 is great for multithreaded performance on a budget but its performance per core is somewhat lacking without overclocking.

Bottleneck or not, I would probably get a $30 cooler like Hyper 212 Evo or Thermalright True Spirit 120, and OC to the highest long term stable clock the cooler can handle.

I don't think 7850 crossfire is a viable option for you. First off I don't know if your PSU is up for it (you haven't mentioned make/model), but there are already much faster single GPUs to upgrade to which make 7850 CF obsolete (7950 with overclocking), and this will be even more true by the time you think you need more performance. In addition, your CPU would bottleneck 7850 CF in all but the most GPU limited games.

 

[Pedroc1999]

Thank you guys, but i dont game with my PC much and i think a 7850 would really be overkill for my gaming needs. I like to play games like GTA's and minecraft etc and i think a 7770 would be enough for me and i would be able to get it at a sooner date. What do you think? i read on the internet that the 7770 is more than enough to play GTA IV on full settings and the same will apply to gta V, also if i do need the extra power CFX is also withing reach because of the low price of the card itself. What do you guys think?

 

[Termie]

Thank you guys, but i dont game with my PC much and i think a 7850 would really be overkill for my gaming needs. I like to play games like GTA's and minecraft etc and i think a 7770 would be enough for me and i would be able to get it at a sooner date. What do you think? i read on the internet that the 7770 is more than enough to play GTA IV on full settings and the same will apply to gta V, also if i do need the extra power CFX is also withing reach because of the low price of the card itself. What do you guys think?

I'm not sure about GTA V, but I can confirm that a 7770-class card is perfectly adequate to run GTA IV - I've run it on a similar setup in the past. Remember that the game is from 2008, so it was made with lesser GPUs in mind. You'll be able to run at high, if not maximum, quality settings with a 7770.

On the other hand, if GTA V is at all like Max Payne 3, by the same developer, an HD7770 would only be good enough for medium settings.

 

[Pedroc1999]

it has been proved that gta v will use the same game engine and the system requirments are the same. i dont game much on pc much because i also own a ps3 and ps2. i am getting gta v on pc because the graphics in a ps3 are ferrly low end and are similar to a nvidea 8800gts which on a pc problably wont be qble to play gta v on full settings


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[Pedroc1999]

well, i ahve made my mind up, the 7770 will do just fine, and when i get another one. I will be competitive with a GTX580 and it is proven that it will sometimes get double the performance from the 7770 when crossfired

 

[lehtv]

It won't make sense to go 7770 crossfire. Crossfire only makes sense when there aren't single GPUs on the market fast enough to compete with it.

By the time you feel the need to upgrade you'll have next generation GPUs to upgrade to, but even this generation has the 7950 which is faster than 7770 CF and very overclockable.

 

[Pedroc1999]

Yes... But i am on a budget and for now all i need is a 7770, if i need more power i know i wont have enough for a single higher end card, but with another 7770 i can match a solid medium-highish card, and it only costs me a smidge compared to a high end one

 

[Termie]

It won't make sense to go 7770 crossfire. Crossfire only makes sense when there aren't single GPUs on the market fast enough to compete with it.

By the time you feel the need to upgrade you'll have next generation GPUs to upgrade to, but even this generation has the 7950 which is faster than 7770 CF and very overclockable.

I really don't agree that crossfire doesn't make sense, especially in the situation the OP is in.

Yes... But i am on a budget and for now all i need is a 7770, if i need more power i know i wont have enough for a single higher end card, but with another 7770 i can match a solid medium-highish card, and it only costs me a smidge compared to a high end one

Just keep in mind that the 1GB of VRAM on a 7770 will limit crossfire performance in many new games. Down the line 7770 crossfire won't be a great solution despite its pure processing power, which is equivalent to an HD7870.

 

[Pedroc1999]

could you suggest a £110ish gfx card apart from a 6850/70


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[Pedroc1999]

sorry to double post but regarding ther vram. It has been benchmarked while in crossfire and it will perform very well but i am starting to lean towards another card for about £110. Any suggestions


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[Termie]

sorry to double post but regarding ther vram. It has been benchmarked while in crossfire and it will perform very well but i am starting to lean towards another card for about £110. Any suggestions


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What card? We've already recommend the HD7850 for £120.

1GB of VRAM is fine for a single mid-range card, except in Skyrim: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6359/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-review/6

On the other hand, 1GB of VRAM will not be fine for dual mid-range cards if you actually try to run them at settings fitting that much GPU power, i.e., high resolution with antialiasing.

 

[Pedroc1999]

what do you think of the 2gb GTX 650 and 650ti

 

[Termie]

what do you think of the 2gb GTX 650 and 650ti

The 650 2GB is very, very weak. Don't buy it at any price.

The 650Ti 2GB is ok, but you're almost certainly going to pay too much for the 2GB version versus the 1GB version, unlike the 7850, where the price difference is just over 5% (and well worth it). The other big reason to avoid the 650ti 2GB is that it doesn't offer SLI, so you'll never be able to use two cards, which would be the only compelling reason to have that much VRAM.