New card for approximatelty $150

[Yuriman]

I'm considering swapping my CF HD4870's for a single card solution. I think I can get a 7850 for around $160 after rebate or a 6950 for about $150. I realize that neither of my above choices is really a huge increase in raw performance when CF is working properly, but this is mainly an upgrade to get better framerates in windows games (afaik CF doesn't work in windowed mode). Any other cards I should consider in this range?

 

[Eureka]

You're about on spot for the $150 range... you'll want to find a 2GB version if you're going to do an upgrade. nvidia doesn't have a comparable card at that price point so you're looking at a used 69x0 or 570, or a new 7850 2GB. I would do the 7850 just because you get lower power draw, newer tech and a warranty. If you can talk a 69x0 or a 570 down below 130, it would be competitive.

 

[Yuriman]

It's hard to judge exactly what the performance difference will be in full-screen games as there aren't too many charts that have older cards in crossfire, but what I'm gathering is that 2x 4870 is on average 5-10% faster than a single 7850 (at stock) when everything is working properly, and so far I haven't run into any games that crossfire doesn't work in.


Is it worth going with the 6950 with the hopes of unlocking it, or is the overclocking potential of the 7850 worth more?

 

[Jimzz]

Yea the 7850 overclocks really well.

I would get a good 7850.

 

[Eureka]

It's hard to judge exactly what the performance difference will be in full-screen games as there aren't too many charts that have older cards in crossfire, but what I'm gathering is that 2x 4870 is on average 5-10% faster than a single 7850 (at stock) when everything is working properly, and so far I haven't run into any games that crossfire doesn't work in.


Is it worth going with the 6950 with the hopes of unlocking it, or is the overclocking potential of the 7850 worth more?

Even an unlocked 6950 is best on par with a 7850.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

You'd be really going in a side-grade in terms of processing power. IF, you have no issues with your 4870 x2 then I would keep it for a while longer. The change will be in QOL for you, so it's up to you to decide.

You could also try to sell the pair, you should get able to get a decent amount for the pair, give or take (I haven't seen 4870s in FS/FT lately, so I can't really comment.). If you want a real upgrade, I would look into the 7950 or 670 at minimum.

 

[Yuriman]

I was planning to sell them, this will probably be a ~$50 "upgrade" in total.

EDIT:

Another reason for the upgrade is that although my framerates are fine in most of my games, I sometimes need to leave AA off due to lack of vram. Do you think 1GB going to be enough to last me several years?

 

[raghu78]

first of all raw shader power is useless without a strong architecture. the HD 7000 series GCN architecture is an extremely powerful state of the art GPU architecture. to compare a HD 4870 CF to a HD 7850 is of no use. the HD 4870 cards do not have the latest DX11 feature set which means you miss out on the latest games in terms of features and image quality. the GCN architecture has very good performance in DX11 tesselation and DirectCompute .

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/GTX_670_FTW_Signature_2/27.html

1920 X 1200

HD 6950 - 59
HD 7850 - 63
HD 6970 - 68
HD 7870 - 74

HD 4870 CF = HD 5870 < HD 6950 < HD 7850. You have to remember that AMD HD 4000 series have reached legacy status.

Also HD 7850 has excellent OC headrom. HD 7850 (1.15 Ghz) matches HD 7870 performance. also definitely a single GPU provides consistent performance and a much better experience without multi GPU issues like micro stuttering , poor or even negative CF scaling in few games.

Save up a bit more and go for a HD 7850 2GB. the 1GB will bottleneck such a powerful GPU as you would run out of VRAM in games like BF3 at Ulra 4x MSAA at 1080p.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161405

 

[Yuriman]

first of all raw shader power is useless without a strong architecture. the HD 7000 series GCN architecture is an extremely powerful state of the art GPU architecture. to compare a HD 4870 CF to a HD 7850 is of no use. the HD 4870 cards do not have the latest DX11 feature set which means you miss out on the latest games in terms of features and image quality. the GCN architecture has very good performance in DX11 tesselation and DirectCompute .

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/GTX_670_FTW_Signature_2/27.html

1920 X 1200

HD 6950 - 59
HD 7850 - 63
HD 6970 - 68
HD 7870 - 74

HD 4870 CF = HD 5870 < HD 6950 < HD 7850. You have to remember that AMD HD 4000 series have reached legacy status.

Also HD 7850 has excellent OC headrom. HD 7850 (1.15 Ghz) matches HD 7870 performance. also definitely a single GPU provides consistent performance and a much better experience without multi GPU issues like micro stuttering , poor or even negative CF scaling in few games.

Save up a bit more and go for a HD 7850 2GB. the 1GB will bottleneck such a powerful GPU as you would run out of VRAM in games like BF3 at Ulra 4x MSAA at 1080p.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161405

Agreed on most points, I'm looking forward to lower power consumption and being able to use DX11, but 4870CF is now significantly faster than a 5870 as scaling has improved since then. I'm not comparing shaders to shaders, I'm comparing frames per second to frames per second, and 4870CF generally beats 7850's at stock, and often DX11 brings performance improvements rather than better image quality so that's already taken into account.

I've already justified the purchase because I like to run my games windowed when I can, and CF doesn't work for me for that.

Money is pretty tight, so if you had to choose between a 1GB 7850 and a 2GB 6950, which would it be?

 

[notty22]

I would just wait and visit your favorite etailer every day, and a 2gb 7850 deal will come along. The rest of your rig is solid for those several years, you hope to be 'good' for.

 

[raghu78]

I would just wait and visit your favorite etailer every day, and a 2gb 7850 deal will come along. The rest of your rig is solid for those several years, you hope to be 'good' for.

well said. no point in going for HD 6950 as its performance in DX11 games is much lesser than HD 7850. in fact in DX11 games like BF3, Crysis 2 a HD 7850 can beat even a HD 6970. so scout for a good deal and grab when you get one on the HD 7850 2GB .

 

[aaksheytalwar]

A single oced 7850 will be 1.5-2+ times the performance of a 4850cf, maybe even more

 

[Yuriman]

Sounds good. I'll wait for an HD7850 2GB to go on sale and snatch it up then. Will do some benching when it arrives.