The difference between two graphic cards (GTX 295 and Radeon HD 7850)

[johnney5]

Hi

I've never bought a dedicated graphic card before and I don't know too much about them. I've seen two graphic cards here in the hot deals section that I am / have been considering --- the GTX 480 (~$210) and the Radeon HD 7850 ($~$240).

I looked at this comparison between the two cards and from what I've collected, the GTX 480 will be better with anti-aliasing and higher resolutions, but the Radeon HD 7850 is better when it comes to everything else.

I'm using a 19 inch monitor so resolution is not much of a concern.

I have been told that the Radeon HD 7850 is a great choice.

What confuses me though is that a friend once offered to sell me their old GTX 295 cheap, and I passed knowing that it's an older card and that in a while I could buy a much better card new at the same cost - when I look at a comparison the Radeon HD 7850 and the GTX 295, the GTX 295 beats Radeon HD 7850 in everything, aside from the fact that it consumes more power and only supports DirectX 10 (Radeon HD 7850 supports 11.1).

Is DirectX 11.1 support and the low power consumption highly sought after, and/or is there any other major differences between these two cards that I'm missing?

Thanks in advance.

 

[toyota]

it would be silly to get a power hungry 480 or an old dual gpu gtx295 at this point. a 7850 has much more overclocking headroom but even stock would be enough for 1280x1024 or 1440x900 as thats the only 19 inch resolutions that are common I believe.

that being said you need to list the rest of your computers specs including power supply when asking questions like this. also list the res not the size of your monitor.

 

[johnney5]

it would be silly to get a power hungry 480 or an old dual gpu gtx295 at this point. a 7850 has much more overclocking headroom but even stock would be enough for 1280x1024 or 1440x900 as thats the only 19 inch resolutions that are common I believe.

that being said you need to list the rest of your computers specs including power supply when asking questions like this. also list the res not the size of your monitor.

Ok, thanks. Well, my PSU should allow me to use the GTX 295, it's 80 Plus bronze Corsair 750W. The monitor resolution (max) is 1280x1024.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M68MT-D3
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
RAM: OCZ 4GB DDR3

Edit: I should've also mentioned that I'm trying to spend about $200 to $250 on a card and looking to play things like Left 4 Dead, Halo 2, Diablo 3, and maybe CS:GO when it comes out.

 

[toyota]

a gtx295 would be silly for 1280x1024. its a dual gpu card and at that low res it will not performance its best with the additional cpu overhead. you could end up getting little only the performance of one of the gpus in some cases.

even a stock a 7850 is plenty for modern games at 1280x1024 and has plenty of overclocking headroom. and for thoses game you mentioned even a slower card would be plenty for that low resolution.

tbh I would rather gouge my eyes at than to play modern games on a 5:4 screen. you are literally losing 1/3 of the games intended field of view or either getting huge black bars. either one sucks compared to having a modern widescreen.

 

[arkcom]

Unless you're upgrading your monitor soon, I would just get a 7770 or 6870, or similar. 7850 or 480 are kind of overkill for that res.

 

[blastingcap]

1280x1024 is 63% as many pixels as a 1080p screen. A 7850 is flat out overkill at that resolution, especially for less-demanding games like the ones you mentioned. You could just get a used 6850 or 7770 or GTX 460-1GB and be all set for half the asking price of the 7850.

Power-hungry, hot, lower-VRAM (might not matter to you but it impacts the resale value if you ever resell your card) older cards like the gtx 480 and gtx 295 are only worthwhile if you get them for VERY good prices. At ~$150 I might actually go for a used gtx 480 over a barely-used (since it's so new) 7850 despite all the power/noise/heat and lower VRAM. I would not buy a GTX 295 for any price; you get even worse power/noise/heat problems, AND multi-GPU incompatibilities and driver headaches.

 

[jacktesterson]

a used GTX 460 for $80 would be plenty for you.

 

[johnney5]

a gtx295 would be silly for 1280x1024. its a dual gpu card and at that low res it will not performance its best with the additional cpu overhead.

Power-hungry, hot, lower-VRAM (might not matter to you but it impacts the resale value if you ever resell your card) older cards like the gtx 480 and gtx 295 are only worthwhile if you get them for VERY good prices.

Ok, that clears up a lot of what I was wondering.

I would not buy a GTX 295 for any price; you get even worse power/noise/heat problems, AND multi-GPU incompatibilities and driver headaches.

I completely forgot that the multi gpu wasn't supported in all games. Good point.

tbh I would rather gouge my eyes at than to play modern games on a 5:4 screen. you are literally losing 1/3 of the games intended field of view or either getting huge black bars. either one sucks compared to having a modern widescreen.

I forgot to mention that I have a 26 inch HDTV (1080i) that I would be willing to try things out with. Honestly, the reason I've been looking into the better cards is because I am looking to buy one that I'll be able to use for a while without having to worry about upgrading. The truth is, it might be smarter for me to just buy one like GTX 460 (I'm checking prices on eBay) and then aim for buying a better one down the line.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Stock vs stock both are close. But once overclocked 7850 is significantly faster.

 

[Don Karnage]

For your res grab a 7770

 

[lavaheadache]

The microstutter alone would push me away from the 295