Purchasing Advice needed - Is Radeon 7950 suitable?

[wiltedchameleon]

Hi, I'm an enthusiast programmer and gamer. I've tried to follow the template provided in the sticky but the quote option isn't working so I've had to drop BBCode formatting (I doubt this matters too much, just it's a little bit less readable)

System Specifications:

I. Processor/CPU: AMD FX 4100 @ 3,6 x 4


II. Current Graphics Card: Radeon 6670. Need to play most new games on minimum graphics for playable framerate.


III. Display Resolution: 1920 1080


IV. Power Supply Unit Specification (Brand, Wattage, Ampage, Age). If possible, please provide a link to a website containing the power supply specifications: Upgraded from generic last week. My current one is: an OCZ ZS 750 W. I have, if I remember, two 6+8 pin and two 6 pin, so I should be able to chuck pretty much any graphics card into it.


V. Case Specifications(N/A, Model, Length, Low Profile, Cooling, HTPC, Water, Silent): front fan, PSU fan blowing onto the motherboard (Probably not a good idea but it was that or it touching the top of the case), a CPU fan and I think it just about fits an ATX and some drive racks width-width, depth wise it is fine, height, it fits an ATX, a pretty big PSU and about 10-20 centimetersof space.

My motherboard's PCI-e 16x has a lot of empty space around it so a wide graphics card shouldn't be a problem.


Purchase Details:

I. Budget? Please be sure to include currency (If not USD), retailer preferences & specify whether rebates are a viable option.

About £250 maximum. Preferably £240 to take into account shipping. I am more than happy to buy it off auction sites like eBay providing it works and is new or nearly new.


II. Any particular preferences (Manufacturer[nV or AMD], Brand[XFX, Sapphire, EVGA, etc], Cooling Solutions)?

Not too bothered, as long as it isn't too hard to install.


III. Do you plan to have any Multi-GPU solutions such as Crossfire or SLI?

Not in the immediate future. I'm looking for a decently high end card so this shouldn't be much of a worry to accommodate in anyway.

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

Yeah, see title.


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?

Black Ops II, Planetside II, League of Legends (Shouldn't be much of a strain), Command and Conquer, TF2, CS:GO, Dota 2, etc.

Black Ops and Planetside strain my current card, even on low . I just want to be able to get about 40-60 FPS on highest graphics, but my main concern is paying all this money and still not getting a future proof card that can play today's games well.

VI. Do you plan on overclocking the card you intend to purchase?

Don't see why not if necessary.

 

[Silverforce11]

Way overkill for your setup.

A 7850 or 660 is enough. Id lean towards 7850 if u enjoy to OC, otherwise 660.

 

[dma0991]

Sure, get the HD7950. Regardless of the fact that you're playing on 1080P resolution, the extra performance will come in handy in the future.

 

[wiltedchameleon]

If it helps, this is a readout of the COD BO II advanced graphics menu:

Texture Quality: Low/Mid/High/Extra
Texture Filtering: Low/Mid/High
AA: 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x
FXAA: On/Off
Ambient Occlusion: On/Off
Depth of Field: Low/Mid/High


I'd consider at least 30 FPS playable and would prefer about 50 FPS if possible so that I have a bit of leeway with keeping other things open

Edit:
Holy crap you guys responded fast! Thanks!

 

[wiltedchameleon]

Way overkill for your setup.

A 7850 or 660 is enough. Id lean towards 7850 if u enjoy to OC, otherwise 660.

I'm a little bit confused by what you mean when you say overkill for my setup.

Are you referring to the fact that it's overkill for what I plan to use it for, or that if I get a 7950 then the bottleneck would be the other components in my computer, or?

 

[Jaydip]

I'm a little bit confused by what you mean when you say overkill for my setup.

Are you referring to the fact that it's overkill for what I plan to use it for, or that if I get a 7950 then the bottleneck would be the other components in my computer, or?

I think he means that your CPU will be a bottleneck for 7950.

 

[wiltedchameleon]

I hear a lot of criticism on the FX series, but I've always considered 3,6 to be a high clock speed and four cores to be enough for most use, is the main bottleneck here the cores, the speed or some other factor?

 

[Jaydip]

I hear a lot of criticism on the FX series, but I've always considered 3,6 to be a high clock speed and four cores to be enough for most use, is the main bottleneck here the cores, the speed or some other factor?

Clock speed,core count is fine but the IPC is not high.

 

[Greenlepricon]

I hear a lot of criticism on the FX series, but I've always considered 3,6 to be a high clock speed and four cores to be enough for most use, is the main bottleneck here the cores, the speed or some other factor?

It isn't necessarily a speed or number of cores thing. The amount of data the cpu moves just isn't up to par, even at higher clock speeds. Frequency is important but useless if the cores aren't beefy enough.

 

[wiltedchameleon]

So if I get a 7950, I should be able to play any game right now at very high/high graphics with a decent FPS, and then my next upgrade would be my processor?

 

[Greenlepricon]

So if I get a 7950, I should be able to play any game right now at very high/high graphics with a decent FPS, and then my next upgrade would be my processor?

Exactly! See how you like it first. I think you'll still get pretty good frames even with your processor, but if you do see a bottleneck the new vishera cpu's are doing pretty decently if your motherboard and psu can take it.

 

[Rast]

So if I get a 7950, I should be able to play any game right now at very high/high graphics with a decent FPS, and then my next upgrade would be my processor?

yep,

 

[dma0991]

The FX-4100 may be lacking compared to Intel's offerings but it doesn't mean that it isn't good enough to handle most games with a HD7950. If it is truly bottlenecking the GPU, bump the CPU clockspeed a few notches.

What conclusions can we draw from all this? First of all, AMD’s FX-4100 isn't necessarily the disappointment it appeared to be in our sub-$200 gaming processor comparison if you match it up to a comparably entry-level graphics card. Equipped with anything slower than a Radeon HD 6950, you can set your resolution and detail settings as high as possible to maintain a 30 FPS minimum, and in most cases, the graphics card will emerge as your bottleneck. With a higher-end GPU installed (or a CrossFire/SLI arrangement), the CPU's limitations are more likely to be exposed.

Source

 

[wiltedchameleon]

Thanks for the assistance guys, I think I'll go with a 7950. It should be future proof for a few years at least, and I might get a better CPU at some point in 2013.

I appreciate your advice and the time you took posting, thank you