Help me choose a card please

[MJK4Y]

System Specifications:

I. Processor/CPU: i5 2500k
II. Current Graphics Card: None, new build
III. Display Resolution: Currently 1440 x 900, upgrading soon, 1920x1080 or so.
IV. Power Supply Unit Specification (Brand, Wattage, Ampage, Age). If possible, please provide a link to a website containing the power supply specifications:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687
V. Case Specifications(N/A, Model, Length, Low Profile, Cooling, HTPC, Water, Silent): HAF 912, 4x120mm fans (rear/top exhaust, front/side intake)


Purchase Details:

I. Budget? Please be sure to include currency (If not USD), retailer preferences & specify whether rebates are a viable option: Was originally ideally <$300, willing to stretch it in this case to ensure it keeps up with gaming moving forward.

II. Any particular preferences (Manufacturer[nV or AMD], Brand[XFX, Sapphire, EVGA, etc], Cooling Solutions): No

III. Do you plan to have any Multi-GPU solutions such as Crossfire or SLI?
No, I'd like to avoid it if possible.

IV. Have you previously looked at a product(s) which you feel would fit your needs?
Yes

V. What are your needs for this GPU? Which games(If any)do you intend to play? If you have this information at hand, what are the desired detail levels: Gaming at as high of a quality as I can, with the knowledge that as games progress this card won't be able to perform at max levels all of the time. No particular games at the moment, Borderlands 2 maybe, any/all FPS games. Just games, ya know?

VI. Do you plan on overclocking the card you intend to purchase?
Would prefer to buy a factory OC, I don't know much about OC'ing myself. But yes, if need be.


Additional Notes

I've given a lot of thought to the 7870. I like how cool it is and how quiet it runs. Seems like solid performance. Price is a bit steep, but I can't wait around too much longer and just hope the price drops in reaction to the 680 and however that affects 79xx and 78xx pricing.

570 was another thought, but if I'm not mistaken, the 7870 outperforms the 570 and is much cooler and quieter. I know the 570 will be cheaper, but will it serve my needs moving forward? I'd like to play at max quality at that 1920 x 1080 res. 7850 has a nice price, but the 570 outperforms it, so...

 

[OCGuy]

GTX570 just had a pretty steep price cut and is a great card for $285.

 

[MJK4Y]

7850 factory OC is cheaper than the $285 570. Is there a big enough gap in performance to warrant going with the 570?

I can't find any benchmarks comparing the two...

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Nope, 7850 is faster once overclocked. I recommend a 7870 to you, overclock it and you have a card faster than a gtx 580

 

[Termie]

7850 factory OC is cheaper than the $285 570. Is there a big enough gap in performance to warrant going with the 570?

I can't find any benchmarks comparing the two...

Even with a huge overclock, the 7850 will still usually be slower than a 570: http://www.techspot.com/review/504-amd-radeon-7870-7850/page11.html

With a factory overclock...hard to say. Flip through that review for more info. In general, it is slower than a 570 and the factory OC won't put it over the top, but in some games, it's faster than a 570 at stock. In short, where the 570 wins, it wins by a lot, where 7850 wins, it barely wins.

FYI, I differentiate between "factory OC" and benchmark overclocks because factory OCs are generally quite tame. This Gigabyte OC, however, is equal to the TechSpot review OC in terms of core speed (not memory): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125419

But you can get a 570 for the same price AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814162075

 

[MJK4Y]

Alright sounds good to me.

I suppose I can use the money saved from NOT buying the 7870 to put towards an SLI motherboard. Maybe one day I'll actually throw a second 570 in there. I feel like I would definitely need to look at some beefed up cooling in order to do that, though, no?

 

[Arachnotronic]

GTX 570 at these prices is pretty great...