"Sweet Spot?"

[Questor]

While I do keep generally keep up with components/hardware, I have been concentrating on the study of power supplies, SSDs and cooling solutions as of late.

Point: It seems over the years in all models of AMD/ATI & NVIDIA video chipsets, there has been a "sweet spot" where price vs performance is superb. This is usually accompanied with reasonable overclocking headroom as well.

Question: Where is the current sweet spot with the new AMD 7800-7900 and NVIDIA 500/600 model series?
I am looking for overall and if no-one minds too drastically, per model series too.

 

[Smartazz]

The Radeon HD 6870 is low cost and a good value. The GTX 480 is a good value around $200, but produces a lot of heat. The HD 7850 is a good value if you're going to overclock it and costs a bit more than the GTX 480, while producing a lot less heat. Some HD 7950s, such as the MSI Twin Frozr offer a great value at over $300. Beyond that, bang for the buck performance drops off.

 

[Arkadrel]

Not really sure, depends on game and resolution you play at, and how much AA you use.

However there is a chart like this that shows Frames pr secound vs Cost of card:

You see a 6870 is very good value, esp considering its faster than some of the cards lower on the Performance pr Dollar chart.

To me the 3 cards that stand out the most are:

1: 6870
2: 7850
3: 670

These cards are the best bang for buck, in their price brackets.
I belive AMD since this artical cut prices abit on their cards,... so maybe a 7950 is better value buy than a 670 is now, but that kinda depends on the sales bargins you can find.


Theres a thread called "The Radeon 7850 is an overclocking beast"

If I had to get a new gen card, it would probably be a 7850 and then OC it, those cards once OC is factured into the picture beat everything else when it comes to bang-4-buck. The 7850 starts out a tiny bit slower than a 480, but then turns into a monster once OCed.

 

[RussianSensation]

GTX670 can't possibly be in the top 3 anymore since HD7950 MSI TwinFrozr III can be regularly found for $310-315 and has 1.1ghz overclocking headroom ~ GTX680.

I think right now HD6870 for ~ $150, HD7850 2GB for $210-220 and HD7950 for $310-320 are the best value. With GTX660/660Ti dropping soon, that might change.

 

[Arkadrel]

Honestly a 7850 can handle any game at 1920x1080 resolution, esp once you factor in the OCing.
I would think a card like this would be the "sweet spot".

Say BF3 at 1920x1080 with everything on ULTRA, and 4x MSAA.
A overclocked 7850 @1200mhz core, can hit into the ~55-60 fps range depending on CPU.

Turn off MSAA, and your above 70 fps np.
Theres alot of youtube videos show caseing this, just youtube search for 7850 OC + Battlefield 3.

 

[WiseUp216]

GTX 560ti 448 is a pretty nice card when you can find it around $250-270.

 

[RussianSensation]

GTX 560ti 448 is a pretty nice card when you can find it around $250-270.

Loses to both an overclocked HD7850 2GB and stock HD7870 for $250-260, while consuming more power than both and only has 1.28GB of VRAM. Also, unlike DX11.1 cards, it won't be as good for Windows 8 due to inability to accelerate 2D since it lacks of support for Partial Resident Textures.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

GTX 560ti 448 is a pretty nice card when you can find it around $250-270.

It is worth buying sub $150-$160 considering the 1gb 7850 is for 180ish or so.

 

[Grooveriding]

Radeon 7850.

 

[jacktesterson]

I think one of the following cards for Gaming:

1: 460 Low End (100.00 ish)
2: 6870 Lower Mid Range (140.00 ish)
3: 1GB 7850 Mid (190 ish)
4: 2GB 7850 Mid (240.00 ish)
5: 7950 Low High End (310.00 ish)
6: 670 High End (400.00 ish) or 7970 (on sale under $400)

These are best values currently in each class in my opinion.

Overall, the $300-320 3GB 7950's are probably the best overall deal available right now, especially if you OC.

Sweet Spot : 7850 overclocked. I had an Asus model that would hit 1300 Core, putting it a little faster than a 7950. Handled 1080p just fine.

 

[Silverforce11]

Honestly a 7850 can handle any game at 1920x1080 resolution, esp once you factor in the OCing.
I would think a card like this would be the "sweet spot".

Say BF3 at 1920x1080 with everything on ULTRA, and 4x MSAA.
A overclocked 7850 @1200mhz core, can hit into the ~55-60 fps range depending on CPU.

Turn off MSAA, and your above 70 fps np.
Theres alot of youtube videos show caseing this, just youtube search for 7850 OC + Battlefield 3.

I second this, and dont need youtube because I *just* had a 7850 @ 1.2ghz and playing BF3 MP (1080p, 4x MSAA) at 60 fps lock on vsync rarely dipping to the 40s during really intense explosions. Suprisingly fast for el cheapo.

 

[WiseUp216]

It is worth buying sub $150-$160 considering the 1gb 7850 is for 180ish or so.

Damn, you guys are right. I wasn't aware how far the 7000 series had fallen in price. After I bought my 670 I stopped paying attention

There was a thread here ~2 months ago about 560ti 448 vs 7850 and I remember a lot of people were claiming the ti 448 was the better card.

 

[Questor]

Not really sure, depends on game and resolution you play at, and how much AA you use.

Ah yes, sorry, I use 1920 x 1080.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

The 7850 with a good cooler is one of the best value cards on the market right now. It is possible to push these things past 1GHz with ease and for $260 it really cannot be beat.

 

[Questor]

Thank you all for the input. I appreciate all of you taking your time to help me catch up on the video cards.

Questors

 

[RussianSensation]

The 7850 with a good cooler is one of the best value cards on the market right now. It is possible to push these things past 1GHz with ease and for $260 it really cannot be beat.

$260 is way too much for an HD7850 since that's what the going rate is for many 7870s now. I think HD7850 for $210-230 is a good price but not much more. At $260, that's just $50 away from MSI TwinFrozr HD7950 that's much faster.