How much video card do I really need?

[DietDrThunder]

I'm not an ultimate gamer, but I like playing BF3 alot. I'd like to play it on ultra settings but I will never run more than one monitor. The monitor I have (listed below) max settings is 1920x1080.

Here is my rig:

MSI 890GXM-G65 AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE
OCZ Agility Series OCZSSD2-1AGT60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Hitachi 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
NZXT M59 - 001BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard
Logitech G300 Black/Gray 9 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical Gaming Mouse
SAMSUNG P2770FH ToC Rose Black 27" 1ms Full HD HDMI LCD Monitor
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

What video cards would you guys suggest buying? I don't want to buy more than I need but I don't want to buy too little of a card either.

 

[nforce4max]

Just settle for a 660 or a 7850 2gb edition.

 

[dmoney1980]

Just settle for a 660 or a 7850 2gb edition.

+1

the 7850 2GB card is a great choice, and it can be had for a great price these days

 

[Greenlepricon]

If you are willing to turn down some settings (anti-aliasing is the big one) then a 7850 is your best bet. If you want to turn everything up and get pretty good frame rates then the least you should get is probably the 7870. If you can find a last gen card like the 6950/6970 for really cheap then that will work as well, but I would really recommend sticking to one of the first two listed if possible.

 

[mango123]

I used to have almost your same system in my main rig, and i was running a 6950 unlocked 6970 toxic. It would not play on ultra without noticable slowdown at 1600x900. 7970's look like theyre going for around 300, IMHO you can't go wrong with one of those. IF you look at the benches for 7850/70 you will see that it dips below 60 which is not what I am into personally. For me minimum frate rate is just as if maybe more important than max frame rate.

 

[wand3r3r]

I got the impression he'd (or she'd) like the max settings without compromising. Correct me if I'm wrong OP.

I think your best option is the 7970 for the above $300 range, or else the hd 7950 for a bit under $300. If you go with any lesser card you will be dropping well below 60 FPS which in my opinion has a huge affect on your game in multiplayer. I'd personally probably go 7950 and OC it with the current market situation.

If you go with the 7850 you will have drops into questionable (competitive) playability and that is for you to decide. The 670 and 680 are priced too high at the moment, and anything less is dominated by AMD.

 

[lehtv]

BF3 plays smoothly (constant 60fps) on a 7850 with no MSAA and medium-high settings.

 

[spinejam]

If you buy a new card once every couple of years, get a 7950 -- Great bang/$ and it comes w/ some nice games. You'll be set for a while at your resolution.

 

[Termie]

The OP didn't provide a budget, which would have helped target the suggestions a bit more. It would also be really helpful if he's tell us what he previously played BF3 on - for instance, does he currently have a GPU that he's not satisfied with?

People saying "7970 for $300" are a bit out of touch. It's much closer to $400, and given the OP's system, I'm guessing that's not what he's looking to spend.

If the OP's budget is ~$200, the HD7870 is the best option.

If the OP's budget is ~$300, the HD7950 is the best option, if and only if he is going to overclock his 2.8GHZ AMD CPU. That chip is going to be a significant bottleneck to the 7950, and possibly the 7870 as well.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Really depends on your budget, goals, and how long you want to keep the card. Generally a higher end card will last a bit longer before it would be time to upgrade since the next generation will only leapfrog it by so much. A more mid-range card will be pushed further down the charts more rapidly. It also depends a fair bit on the software side. How much they can get out of drivers and how quickly the devs can release the next title that makes you long for more power.

For example a GTX 670 or HD7950 today will probably be outclassed in the spring by whatever comes out then. At that point lets say it's a 15% improvement, 15% can equate to 9fps if you are getting an average of 60. So you might go from 60fps to 69fps which is not that much of a bump. A 7850 might be getting less than 60fps average in a given game and resolution and suddenly instead of say 15fps between it and the top of the line we now see it's 24fps which is pretty large. Now I did make up these numbers but I hope it illustrates my point. Only you can decide if the higher performance cards are worth it in the long term. They may be if you think about longevity.

 

[DietDrThunder]

As far as what graphics card I'm using to play BF3, I'm just using the inboard ATI Radeon HD 4290 on minimum settings. Still playable, but definitely not the best.

As far as how long do I plan to use the new video card before I upgrade? Probably when I can no longer play new games. I tend to keep systems I build for a long time. Heck, I still use my 10 year old 8K7A system, but I did just turn it into a NAS.

What's my budget? That is hard to say since I will probably have to buy a second card to put in my daughter's identical PC. I'd probably say $350ish? But, I can go a little higher in order to play BF3 on max settings.

 

[jacktesterson]

id go 670 or 7950 and oc them.

personally id go 7950 but i play lots of different games but bf3 likes kepler

 

[Termie]

As far as what graphics card I'm using to play BF3, I'm just using the inboard ATI Radeon HD 4290 on minimum settings. Still playable, but definitely not the best.

As far as how long do I plan to use the new video card before I upgrade? Probably when I can no longer play new games. I tend to keep systems I build for a long time. Heck, I still use my 10 year old 8K7A system, but I did just turn it into a NAS.

What's my budget? That is hard to say since I will probably have to buy a second card to put in my daughter's identical PC. I'd probably say $350ish? But, I can go a little higher in order to play BF3 on max settings.

OMG - if you're coming from that (which I suspected but frankly couldn't imagine), then a 7850/7870 is going to be the hugest jump you could possibly imagine.

Honestly, the 7950 is popular, but there's no reason you need to spend the extra money on it. It's at least $60 more than the 7870. Use that money to buy an HD7750 for your daughter's PC.

 

[raghu78]

OP if you want to play BF3 at Ultra settings with 4X MSAA at 1920 x 1080 the HD 7950 boost is the card. if you are ok to playing BF3 at Ultra settings without MSAA then HD 7850 is good enough.

 

[Termie]

OP if you want to play BF3 at Ultra settings with 4X MSAA at 1920 x 1080 the HD 7950 boost is the card. if you are ok to playing BF3 at Ultra settings without MSAA then HD 7850 is good enough.

His CPU will be a huge bottleneck at those settings. 7870 vs. 7950 won't make a difference.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Sounds like a 7850 is the way to go.

 

[raghu78]

His CPU will be a huge bottleneck at those settings. 7870 vs. 7950 won't make a difference.

http://techreport.com/review/23750/amd-fx-8350-processor-reviewed/7

a variety of CPUs from core i7, core i5 , phenom II X4 , FX and core i3 are all able to run the HD 7950 very well. BF3 performance is limited almost entirely by GPU power.

the phenom ii x6 with a slight overclock to 3.4 ghz should be enough.

 

[Termie]

http://techreport.com/review/23750/amd-fx-8350-processor-reviewed/7

a variety of CPUs from core i7, core i5 , phenom II X4 , FX and core i3 are all able to run the HD 7950 very well. BF3 performance is limited almost entirely by GPU power.

the phenom ii x6 with a slight overclock to 3.4 ghz should be ebough.

This is entirely correct for singleplayer, but almost entirely incorrect for multiplayer.

The 7950 is too much for his CPU unless he overclocks it by at least 25%.

 

[DietDrThunder]

This is entirely correct for singleplayer, but almost entirely incorrect for multiplayer.

The 7950 is too much for his CPU unless he overclocks it by at least 25%.

So if I'm going to be CPU limited in multiplayer, how exactly will this effect game playability?
Will there be artifacts? Jitter? Please explain.

So by 25% overclock, you mean an overclock to 3.5Ghz? I'll have to do some research to see what I'd have to do to overclock it that high. I currently have the cpu at a stable 3.2GHz on the stock fan/heatsink, but I never tried it any higher.

 

[Termie]

So if I'm going to be CPU limited in multiplayer, how exactly will this effect game playability?
Will there be artifacts? Jitter? Please explain.

No, you won't get errors in the game, and in fact it will play just fine, because you'll be able to achieve playable frames per second, at least 50fps with a 7870. But the CPU will put a cap on the average fps you'll achieve with any card, and the cap will very likely be well below what the 7950 can provide at 1080p, which would be closer to 65fps.

In other words, your CPU is powerful enough to play BF3 multiplayer, but not powerful enough to take advantage of the potential of high-end graphics cards. The only advantage of such cards is higher frame rates and slightly smoother gameplay, unless you drop below a certain threshold, which probably will not happen on your system. Below about 40fps, the game would start to become unplayable.

 

[DietDrThunder]

No, you won't get errors in the game, and in fact it will play just fine, because you'll be able to achieve playable frames per second, at least 50fps with a 7870. But the CPU will put a cap on the average fps you'll achieve with any card, and the cap will very likely be well below what the 7950 can provide at 1080p, which would be closer to 65fps.

In other words, your CPU is powerful enough to play BF3 multiplayer, but not powerful enough to take advantage of the potential of high-end graphics cards. The only advantage of such cards is higher frame rates and slightly smoother gameplay, unless you drop below a certain threshold, which probably will not happen on your system. Below about 40fps, the game would start to become unplayable.

I found over at Overclock.net that guys with the same MB have the 1055T running stable at 4GHz, so I think I should be able to comfortably overclock to 3.6GHz. Thanks for your input.

 

[wand3r3r]

The OP didn't provide a budget, which would have helped target the suggestions a bit more. It would also be really helpful if he's tell us what he previously played BF3 on - for instance, does he currently have a GPU that he's not satisfied with?

People saying "7970 for $300" are a bit out of touch. It's much closer to $400, and given the OP's system, I'm guessing that's not what he's looking to spend.

If the OP's budget is ~$200, the HD7870 is the best option.

If the OP's budget is ~$300, the HD7950 is the best option, if and only if he is going to overclock his 2.8GHZ AMD CPU. That chip is going to be a significant bottleneck to the 7950, and possibly the 7870 as well.

There have been deals lately, for example this thread had a 7970 for $329. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2285305&highlight=7970
Another card (7970) was $312
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2273141&highlight=7970

I suspect we will continue to see better deals as the holidays approach and pass.

Back to the other topic you brought up, the CPU. If that can't feed the 7970 properly then there is no point.

I guess you've already filled him in on that end, but anyways the point about the pricing isn't that far off (above $300), albeit on sales.

 

[Keeper]

Dont know if this is a HIJACK..... But here goes.
I upgraded recently. Win 7 and I scored that insane I5 3.4 quad core ($99) with an Asroc Z77 Mobo

I got the itch for a video card. I am an NVIDEA fan. Never had luck/pleased with Radeons.

Is there any love out there for the 560 cards?
Best Buy has a GTX 560 DDR 5 (2 MB) PCIe 2 Superclocked (or OC) on clearance for 137.....
I posted earlier that Video cards are HORRID to buy. I dont understand how its "Cool" to put 660's out there that score lower than this 560
The one website I use a lot the GTX 560 smokes certain versions of 660's and 670's.
THATS BS.
That type of SALES strategy so locks in "Buyer BEWARE".
I hate it. So I come to you guys for help.

 

[Eureka]

Yes this is a hijack. It has nothing to do with the OP's topic.

For a nvidia fan, you don't seem to be able to spell their brand.

And whoever told you about the 560 is wrong. Very wrong: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/543?vs=660

Start a new thread if you want to discuss this.

 

[Keeper]

Yes this is a hijack. It has nothing to do with the OP's topic.

For a nvidia fan, you don't seem to be able to spell their brand.

And whoever told you about the 560 is wrong. Very wrong: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/543?vs=660

Start a new thread if you want to discuss this.

XO.
For every website you show me that proves me wrong, I can show you one or two that counter it..... Hence why I said SOME versions. I was looking for real world experiance.
Every website is a data base entered by humans. And we can make statistics say ANYTHING we want...

Here is a link to show your link is wrong.... VERY WRONG..
Search GTX 560 and then scroll down to 670M or 675M.... Significantly LOWER than the 560


http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php


I was also looking perhaps to give/get the OP more info on card he is not considering....
So I reject your decision that it is a hijack....