Will the 7850 make the stuff of legend?

[VulgarDisplay]

But it was significantly cheaper than the 480, less power hungry...

Funny, because the 680 is slower than the 7970 ghz ed... and by your logic, the 7970 should be the better card because the 680 is slower. the 7970 shares with the 480 the same power hunger, and yet the same performance gains.

There is no comparison between the power usage of the gtx480 and the 7970. None whatsoever, and I can't understand why people keep stating this. This entire generation uses much less power than last gen's flagships, but people still quote massive power usage as a negative. 28nm GPU's in general don't use a lot of power compared to the gtx480/gtx580.

 

[badb0y]

The most recent card to gain legendary status in my opinion are the 5850/5870.

These suckers just won't go away and they came out like in 2009 lol.

 

[Olikan]

don't really find the cards today "legendary"....but the 7970 will be in the hall of fame for breaking the 1Ghz barrier

 

[JechtShot]

8800 gt >>>>>>>>>>>>> 8800 gtx on the legendary scale.

Bingo, this is how I remember it....Excellent price/performance ratio

 

[SPBHM]

the 9500NP was a sub $200 (around 150 I think) card, which could be unlocked and oced into a 9700PRO, which was by far the fastest card available at the time,

that's legendary for me...

 

[zaydq]

There is no comparison between the power usage of the gtx480 and the 7970. None whatsoever, and I can't understand why people keep stating this. This entire generation uses much less power than last gen's flagships, but people still quote massive power usage as a negative. 28nm GPU's in general don't use a lot of power compared to the gtx480/gtx580.

I wasn't voting against the 7970, and I'm quite aware that the 28nm chips are quite frugal compared to the gtx 480/580. I was simply applying Siberian's logic to today's gen and making a farce out of his statement. I'm team red this generation.

 

[zaydq]

There is no comparison between the power usage of the gtx480 and the 7970. None whatsoever, and I can't understand why people keep stating this. This entire generation uses much less power than last gen's flagships, but people still quote massive power usage as a negative. 28nm GPU's in general don't use a lot of power compared to the gtx480/gtx580.

I wasn't voting against the 7970, and I'm quite aware that the 28nm chips are quite frugal compared to the GTX 480/580. I was simply applying Siberian's logic to today's gen and making a farce out of his statement. I'm team red this generation.

 

[zaydq]

Bingo, this is how I remember it....Excellent price/performance ratio

I concur, even though I owned an 8800GTX, the 8800GT was the legend that generation, not the GTX.

 

[Kodongo]

This round goes to the 670. It kept up with AMD's flagship part even though it is a midrange chip and cost much less. If you look at the steam survey I think everyone agrees as it is outselling any other 7 series card. The 6 series is easily the best chip since the 8800.

A midrange chip is the top chip in each lineup which isn't made from the same die as the flagship.

For AMD this is 7870 and for nVidia this is the 660.

 

[swilli89]

9500NP with the pipelines mod and OC (as fast/faster than a 9700pro) was legendary

This.

Remember, only the ones with the L-shaped memory could mod up to 8 pipelines!

 

[skipsneeky2]

Bingo, this is how I remember it....Excellent price/performance ratio

Very true,i even had enough cash at the time to even buy a 8800gtx and i jumped all over the 8800gts 512mb.

I tried out a 320mb 8800gts and found its 320mb vram to be to little,the 640mb version was high up there in msrp and when the 512mb came out,it was a perfect match in my eyes,ideal amount of vram and a cheap price.

 

[Corporate Thug]

the 9500NP was a sub $200 (around 150 I think) card, which could be unlocked and oced into a 9700PRO, which was by far the fastest card available at the time,

that's legendary for me...

I agree w/ this if we can take unlocking into account.

 

[Haserath]

Legendary implies 'too good to be true' and 'well-known' to me.

I haven't been around long(GTX 280/HD 4870 release), but I've heard about the 8800GTX, 9700 pro, and Voodoo cards plenty of times.

Voodoo seems to have revolutionized gaming as we know it. The 9700 pro was ATI's ace during the DX9 days, and the 8800 brought astonishing improvements in newer games.

Those are probably the 3 most legendary cards.

The 4870, 5870, and 7970 ended up really good for AMD price for performance wise. The 470 and 480 weren't too bad on price for performance either(after their infamous beginning), but Nvidia cards are usually harder to get the same price/performance. Nothing revolutionary though.

 

[Haserath]

derp

 

[Leyawiin]

Nah - more like the GTX 460. Good deal for its time.

 

[Silverforce11]

Very true,i even had enough cash at the time to even buy a 8800gtx and i jumped all over the 8800gts 512mb.

I tried out a 320mb 8800gts and found its 320mb vram to be to little,the 640mb version was high up there in msrp and when the 512mb came out,it was a perfect match in my eyes,ideal amount of vram and a cheap price.

Heh same boat.. got a 320mb 8800gts.. but it sucked horribly, so i got a few 8800 GTs to replace it.

One of the best NV gpu ever.

 

[exar333]

Pc gamers have always had their most popular favorite cards,like the 9700 pro and the 8800gtx for example,or perhaps a bang for buck that blew away the competition.

Will the 7850 make the list of the dreams or be another forgotten card in a sea of has beens?

The 7850 overclocks,the performance to power consumption seems fair and its price for performance currently seems unrivaled...i love nostalgia and perhaps 10 years from now this could fall under many gamers fan favorites.

No.

 

[BoFox]

(Copied-n-pasted over from http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=21797&start=290#p72391)

My quick opinion of the biggest single-GPU "leaps" in in the last 10 years:

1) Geforce 7900GTX --> 8800GTX (2.3x faster, also 2x faster than X1950XTX - all on the same node within 1 year!!!) Plus DX10!
--- the caveat being that it was monstrous in silicon size, yet it only ate about 10-20W more than the X1950XTX which was half as fast, while being even quieter!! Compared against the fastest single GPU of the previous 110nm generation, the 7800GTX-512, it was over 2.5x faster!!

2) Radeon 8500 --> 9700 Pro (2.3x faster, also around 70% faster than the same-node flagship Geforce4 4600 Ti) Plus DX9!
--- there was a lot more silicon, maybe 30-50% more power consumption and heat output, though, but it was not an issue though! Compared against the fastest single GPU of the previous 0.18 micron generation, the Geforce 2 Ultra, it was over 3x faster!!

3a) Geforce 5950 Ultra --> 6800 Ultra (80% faster - same node - also over 70% faster than the previous node flagship 9800XT)
--- although not exactly as fast overall as the single-slot X800XT launched at around the same time, it brought DX9.0c and also brought SLI back!!!

3b) Radeon 9800XT --> X800XT (80% faster - at 0.13 micron vs 0.15 micron - also almost 90% faster than the same-node flagship Geforce FX 5950 Ultra)
--- similar size, power envelope, and noise output - one of the last cards to do all of this at once from flagship to flagship, while virtually doubling the performance!

4) Geforce 8800 Ultra --> GTX 280 (61% faster - at 65nm vs 90nm - also over 70% faster than the 65nm 9800GTX)
--- the biggest GPU ever, yet not too shabby gains in power draw or noise output - the 8800 Ultra really pushed the power envelope anyways

5) Radeon HD 4890 --> HD 5870 (52% faster - at 40nm vs 55nm - also over 30% faster than GTX 285)
--- it would not have made the list if it were not for the introduction of DX11 that it brought, while actually remaining within the similar size and power envelope as the 4890 (Bonus, HD 5970 based on the same chip did what AMD could not do with HD 3870X2 - dominate with grace and ease, unlike when HD 4870X2 had to do it at such a tradeoff of considerable noise and power draw.... if not for DX11, 7800GTX-512 would've taken this spot)

------------

As for the greatest bang-4-buck ever (IMHO):
1) GTX 460 1GB which could have been grabbed with special discounts as low as $120. Faster than the flagship GPU from the previous generation (GTX 285) that cost $500. Imagine something faster than GTX 580 (as fast as GTX 660 Ti or HD 7950) today for $119 after rebate?

2) HD 4890 which was deep-discounted to around $130 right after HD 5870 was launched at a not-so-bad $399. It was already over 50% faster than the previous-gen's flagship 8800 Ultra which went for $700+ a little over a year earlier.

 

[Eureka]

None of the cards this generation would really be "legendary". There are some that got quite popular, but nothing stands out (most of these cards were iterative step-ups).

Very good resource, BoFox.

 

[BoFox]

Thanks, and I agree with you about this gen...

Unless Nvidia unleashes a monster GK110/112. Unless GTX 680 is deep-discounted to under $200.. (which will never happen)

Unless AMD unleashes an impressive Sea Islands at least 25% faster than GTX 680 that really surprises us like HD 4870 did, coming so close to Nvidia's monster GPU for only $300 or so. Ahhh... that was the legendary stuff.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

In my view the 5870 is the legend, not the 5850. I bought it for $299 on launch day and I'm still using it to this day.. everyone will decide their own 'legends' (for me the 3dfx Voodoo1, GF2 MX, GF4 ti4200, 8800GTX, 5870 are legends. All served me well for a long time at great pricepoints.

I've had nearly every video card released including the 9700Pro, Voodoo3, GF3, GF5, GF6, GF7 you name it until recently when I've come to realize the 5870 does what I need and has lasted longer than any card before.
Progress is slowing down unless you game over 1920x1200 and most of us are topping out at that.

5870 launch MSRP was $379.99, if you only paid $299 without a MIR, you were incredibly lucky or are remembering things wrong.

Whereas the 5850 was $259.99 and ultimately not that much slower, especially considering both reference designs allowed for digital voltage control and thus each could hit 1+GHz with relative ease.

Whats more, if IIRC, is that the 5850 design was a tad better for modding (I was able to add an Acceler S1 cooler to it while keeping the base plate on to cool the memory and, more importantly, the VRMs) to be able to better hit that 1+GHz while keeping temps/noise in check.

While the 5870 @ $299 might have been legendary to you, for most people the 5850 was clearly the better buy, not unlike the 8800GT vs. G92 8800GTS