Help choosing a GPU

[RageValley]

I'm looking for a suitable replacement of my 7750 thats starting to struggle when playing some games.I have around £150 to spend

I was initially leaning towards HIS HD 7870 IceQ X(£143.99), but then the re badged AMD card was released, Sapphire Radeon R9 270X Boost OC(£157.99) which obviously has the better clock speed for the extra few quid.

Alternatively there is the NVIDIA alternative, MSI GeForce GTX 660 Black Knight (£149.99).

I have no idea how to compare the like for life of the different brands but initial googling is pointing towards the 7870.

Finally, i could go down the pre-owned route and get a Gigabyte 7950 Windforce for £160 or XFX Core Edition 7950 for £145... is it worth going pre-owned for the performance boost? the 270X has higher clock speeds but pre owned has more memory and shader cores.

Sorry for all the options, i'm just not sure what direction to go in..

 

[MrK6]

It's always best to consider all your options, so no worries. What resolution are you at? Personally, I don't think there's a big enough difference with a 7950 at <1080p (and even 1080p in some cases) to grab it over a 7870. The GTX 660 is similar to the 7870 in performance. However, I think the new 270X would probably be the way to go given the small differences in price, most reviews show it pretty favorably: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_270X/26.html

 

[NTMBK]

The best place to start is the Anandtech Bench: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU13/583

This lets you compare the performance of graphics cards on a variety of different games. For instance, here is a comparison of the HD 7870 vs the HD 7950: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/855?vs=857

Unfortunately the R9 benchmark results have not been added yet, but as you point out the cards released so far are all rebadges.

 

[NTMBK]

By the way, another option to look at might be the 7870 Myst (also known as 7870 LE): http://www.ebuyer.com/501262-exdisp...gddr5-dvi-hdmi-dual-ebr2-ax78702gbd5-2dhppv3e Despite the name, it is actually a cut down version of the 7970, not a high clocked 7870. It is a bit faster than the 7870 but not as fast as the 7950, which seems to be the niche you're interested in.

 

[RageValley]

It's always best to consider all your options, so no worries. What resolution are you at? Personally, I don't think there's a big enough difference with a 7950 at <1080p (and even 1080p in some cases) to grab it over a 7870. The GTX 660 is similar to the 7870 in performance. However, I think the new 270X would probably be the way to go given the small differences in price, most reviews show it pretty favorably: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_270X/26.html

1080p on a 42" TV. I've been playing Grid 2 and Black Ops 2 on my 7750 1GB and performance is great (no AA on BO2) so i think anything is going to be an improvement, but i'd like something thats capable of running BF4 and Ghosts.

By the way, another option to look at might be the 7870 Myst (also known as 7870 LE): http://www.ebuyer.com/501262-exdisp...gddr5-dvi-hdmi-dual-ebr2-ax78702gbd5-2dhppv3e Despite the name, it is actually a cut down version of the 7970, not a high clocked 7870. It is a bit faster than the 7870 but not as fast as the 7950, which seems to be the niche you're interested in.

That sounds good i will look into it thanks i noticed that particular model is a refurbished exdisplay model.

Failing that, it's looking like it's not worth going pre-owned so the 270X would be the best bet?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[raghu78]

OP i suggest you get a new HD 7950. comes with 3 free games which you can play and enjoy or sell to cut costs. :thumbsup:

VTX HD 7950 X-edition (880 mhz) - 170
www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-008-VX

http://translate.google.com/transla...adeon-hd-7950-x-edition-v3-boost.html?start=5

PCS+ HD 7950 (880 mhz) - 180
http://pcupgrade.co.uk/productdetails.asp?ProductID=14343&categoryid=116

both have good coolers and unlocked voltage. overclocking to 1100 mhz is quite common with a bit of voltage tweaking.

 

[RageValley]

OP i suggest you get a new HD 7950. comes with 3 free games which you can play and enjoy or sell to cut costs. :thumbsup:

VTX HD 7950 X-edition (880 mhz) - 170
www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-008-VX

http://translate.google.com/transla...adeon-hd-7950-x-edition-v3-boost.html?start=5

PCS+ HD 7950 (880 mhz) - 180
http://pcupgrade.co.uk/productdetails.asp?ProductID=14343&categoryid=116

both have good coolers and unlocked voltage. overclocking to 1100 mhz is quite common with a bit of voltage tweaking.

thats very tempting, extra few quid for 3 games.

How is VTX as a brand?

 

[raghu78]

thats very tempting, extra few quid for 3 games.

How is VTX as a brand?

VTX and Powercolor are owned by TUL corporation. so you don't need to worry about support.

http://www.techpowerup.com/95993/tul-creates-a-new-ati-graphics-card-brand-vtx.html

http://www.tul.com.tw/global/about_tul_glance.aspx

http://www.vtx3d.com/comp_aboutus.asp

http://www.vtx3d.com/news_content/090602/TUL%20Corporation%20Introduced%20a%20New%20Expected%20Brand%20in%20AMDATI%20family%20VTX3D.pdf

you can see the VTX3D HD 7970 x edition having a quiet cooler. same cooler on the VTX3D HD 7950

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/vtx3d-radeon-hd7970-x-edition-review/17/

 

[toyota]

since no one has bothered to even ask, please list ALL your current specs in detail including exact power supply.

 

[RageValley]

since no one has bothered to even ask, please list ALL your current specs in detail including exact power supply.

Intel Core i5 4440, S 1150, Haswell
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance
MSI H87M-G43, Intel H87

Power supply is irrelevant as i'm going to upgrade this as well when i've decided on a graphics card... currently looking at this:

Akasa Cobra Power 650W Modular Power Supply PSU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-070-AK&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2597

 

[joelthakkar]

Intel Core i5 4440, S 1150, Haswell
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance
MSI H87M-G43, Intel H87

Power supply is irrelevant as i'm going to upgrade this as well when i've decided on a graphics card... currently looking at this:

Akasa Cobra Power 650W Modular Power Supply PSU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-070-AK&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2597

wow...sorry for bumping up an old thread..but i am currently making the same PC


Process is same, MoBo is same and even ram is also corsair...however i am buying 4 gb just now and 4 gb after couple of months...will look into graphics card later however...

Can you please tell me the exact corsair ram model you used in your system>