~$300 for a nice Video Card

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phrazel

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What would you get? I have been out of the loop on video cards for a while and want to upgrade my 6870. What would be my best bet? Or should I wait?

To go with

i7 3770k
Asus sabertooth
8gb ram
156gb ssd
 
I guess this would depend on what monitor resolution, games and settings you use to game.
 
AMD will give u more bang for ur buck and beats Nvidia in most benchmarks. I have seen 7970's go for around 300 on here.
 
At your price point, most gamers here including myself will point your towards the 7950 as your best option. With your system and a little overclocking, you will have a monster gaming rig!
 
Yeah I'd opt for the 7950 as well as its the fastest card at $300 especiallyconsidering you ccan often find it on sale for like $275'ish.
 
Well, I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon and suggest at 7950 as well. The game bundle is a good way to justify the cost, with Bioshock Infinite and Crysis 3 still costing about $60 each. The 670 is a good choice as well, though not as cost effective as the 7950.

Either card paired with your current set up should net you a large performance gain. Take your pick, your $300 budget might be the deciding factor here.
 
HD7950. If you can't find any under $300, wait for discount offers from newegg. You will surely get one.
 
Came here to post the tiger direct link that Kueller posted. It's what I will be getting or the 7970 if I sell my card first.
 
Dat high ms/latency that makes 60fps feel more like 30fps on AMD gpu.
 
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Elmy said:
AMD will give u more bang for ur buck and beats Nvidia in most benchmarks. I have seen 7970's go for around 300 on here.
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^^ this is something else to think about.

As long as you go with a manufacturer that has a transferable warranty, you can save some $$ by buying used.
 
2 7970's in the FS section right now for cheaper than $340. I know just a bit higher in price but really good deals none the less.
 
TroyX said:
Dat high ms/latency that makes 60fps feel more like 30fps on AMD gpu.
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? Maybe with xfire, but not when running a single card.

As with the rest in this thread, a 7950 will give you the best bang for your buck.
 
Thanks, Doug. I usually go with Sapphire, but good to know since I love ASUS and MSI's other products. (Well, and EVGA in case I go Green again)
 
I'd suggest a Radeon 7930, especially if you haven't gotten Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider yet.

Here's a link to the Sapphire version (they named it the Radeon 7870 XT, but it's really a 7930, due to being based on the same Tahiti chip as the 7970 and 7950)

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=AT-7870XT2

As per the [H] review this card is a solid step above the GTX660Ti, and on average $50 cheaper and comes with two amazing games. I got two, overclocked them both to 1200Mhz(Radeon 7970-ish performance level, as per Tomshardware) and they are extraordinarily competitive with my GTX670 from the games I tested.
 
Rauelius said:
I'd suggest a Radeon 7930, especially if you haven't gotten Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider yet.

Here's a link to the Sapphire version (they named it the Radeon 7870 XT, but it's really a 7930, due to being based on the same Tahiti chip as the 7970 and 7950)

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=AT-7870XT2

As per the [H] review this card is a solid step above the GTX660Ti, and on average $50 cheaper and comes with two amazing games. I got two, overclocked them both to 1200Mhz(Radeon 7970-ish performance level, as per Tomshardware) and they are extraordinarily competitive with my GTX670 from the games I tested.
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Could you link that review? Having trouble finding anything comparing 7870 to 660 ti. Thanks!
 
gmohr said:
Could you link that review? Having trouble finding anything comparing 7870 to 660 ti. Thanks!
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http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013...eon_hd_7870_myst_edition_review/#.UWRN3JPbM3R

It's the Powercolor version of the card (the one I got) it's the same card, but the Sapphire version has a better HSF.

Excerpt from the end of that review:

The PowerColor HD 7870 MYST is available for $259.99. The Radeon HD 7870 GHz edition can be had for $209.99 after a $20 mail in rebate. GTX 660 Ti cards start at $239.00 after a $30 mail in rebate.

Compared to the reference Radeon HD 7870 GHz edition, the PowerColor HD 7870 MYST represents a step up in performance from both the Radeon HD 7870 GHz edition and the GTX 660 Ti. At the same time, it is very near the performance level of a Radeon HD 7950, which start at $274.99 after a $20 mail in rebate.

You can achieve almost comparable performance for a lower price, and definitely faster than a stock GTX 660 Ti for the same price with this new video card. If it was the intent for this card to be a "GTX 660 Ti Killer" then it has been successful at carrying that out. If you are in the market for a card capable of delivering a great game play experience at 1920x1080 resolutions, then look no further than the PowerColor HD 7870 MYST as it provides near Radeon HD 7950 level performance for Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition pricing.
 
Thanks! Although I have to say, the diff between this card and the 660 TI is pretty trivial. The Asus 660 Ti runs cooler, quieter, and can also be OC'd nicely. Without that amazing game bundle (and it is amazing, but out of stock at the egg rite now), these two are really closely matched.

One note though, nvidia's software these days is just better than ATI, with more features, and a history of better stability. I'm just coming off an annoying experience with ATI where the driver would simply not install on a PC with a re-located My Documents directory. So I'm a bit of a h8r atm :)
 
gmohr said:
Thanks! Although I have to say, the diff between this card and the 660 TI is pretty trivial. The Asus 660 Ti runs cooler, quieter, and can also be OC'd nicely. Without that amazing game bundle (and it is amazing, but out of stock at the egg rite now), these two are really closely matched.

One note though, nvidia's software these days is just better than ATI, with more features, and a history of better stability. I'm just coming off an annoying experience with ATI where the driver would simply not install on a PC with a re-located My Documents directory. So I'm a bit of a h8r atm :)
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Well, you can take general hearsay from the internets and make an opinion on it, but I own and use both the 7930 and GTX670(a step up from the GTX660ti) and found them comparable in performance when the 7930 is @ 1200Mhz. Using both very extensively I have no driver issues with either. The Kepler's DO run MUCH cooler than the Tahiti cards, I originally had the 7930 in my Media PC and it got WAY to toasty in there (86c!!), gonna install a GTX650Ti/Boost in there, and moved the 7930 to my FX 8350 machine in an Antec 300. In a normal sized case with good airflow, I had no Temperature issues with the 7930, so If you have a case with good air flow, temp is nothing to worry about with this card. Considering that the cheapest GTX660Ti on negg is $260 vs $235 for the 7930 on SuperBiiz(not even mentioning the two games), it's kinda silly to spend $25 more for 7-10% lower performance. Also, keep in mind it was easy to make the 7930 act like a 7970(OC it to 1200Mhz), but not easy to make the GTX660Ti act like a GTX680..
 
Those numbers are comparing a stock 660ti to an oc'd 7930. Stock to stock they are neck and neck. I'm currently running an Asus 660ti with an easy 10% OC, and it runs anything out there flawlessly smooth. My previous three cards were two 6950's and a 580. My experience with the 580 was far less problematic over a range of titles, and greatly less dependant on getting the golden driver from the vendor to avoid visual artifacts or inconsistent crappy performance.

Heat isn't just about cooling the case BTW, it's also about cooling the room. With two people, two gaming rigs and three dogs, watts matter to me. So do decibels.

Anyways, while I already admitted a bit of an anti ATI bias, it's built on my experience, not internet rumors as you put it. While ATI discounts their product over nVidia, they are doing that because they have to, not because they want to.
 
gmohr said:
Those numbers are comparing a stock 660ti to an oc'd 7930. Stock to stock they are neck and neck. I'm currently running an Asus 660ti with an easy 10% OC, and it runs anything out there flawlessly smooth. My previous three cards were two 6950's and a 580. My experience with the 580 was far less problematic over a range of titles, and greatly less dependant on getting the golden driver from the vendor to avoid visual artifacts or inconsistent crappy performance.

Heat isn't just about cooling the case BTW, it's also about cooling the room. With two people, two gaming rigs and three dogs, watts matter to me. So do decibels.

Anyways, while I already admitted a bit of an anti ATI bias, it's built on my experience, not internet rumors as you put it. While ATI discounts their product over nVidia, they are doing that because they have to, not because they want to.
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LOL, one of the reasons I got the 8350 was to warm up my room during some gaming over the winter....didn't get as hot as I expected and the chip performs much better than the internets would lead you to believe :(
 
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