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Best GPU for about $300

F

FramePointer

n00b
Joined
Dec 8, 2011
Messages
37
I've been having a lot of difficulty with trying to pick a GPU for about 300 USD. I see there are some 7870s for 300 after MIR but I'm just not sure if the 7870 is even worth 50 over the 7850 which seem to overclock well past the stock 7870 performance. The 300 dollar price point seems kind of weird in the current market.

I game at 1080p and don't use any multi-display setups. I know the 7850 will handle anything at 1080p but I like to keep my graphic cards for a minimum of 2 years and I'm worried about the 7850 handling games at that resolution in a year or two.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what card to consider? For the 7850 I've been trying to decide between the MSI Twin Frozr III and the Asus DirectCUII. All the reviews I find for the MSI is for the power edition which costs the same as a 7870 here in the US which is a complete rip off.

My current system is in my signature. I am upgrading from a HD5770 which can no longer handle games at 1080p maxed out. I am open to both ATI/AMD and nVidia.
 
FramePointer said:
I've been having a lot of difficulty with trying to pick a GPU for about 300 USD. I see there are some 7870s for 300 after MIR but I'm just not sure if the 7870 is even worth 50 over the 7850 which seem to overclock well past the stock 7870 performance. The 300 dollar price point seems kind of weird in the current market.

I game at 1080p and don't use any multi-display setups. I know the 7850 will handle anything at 1080p but I like to keep my graphic cards for a minimum of 2 years and I'm worried about the 7850 handling games at that resolution in a year or two.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what card to consider? For the 7850 I've been trying to decide between the MSI Twin Frozr III and the Asus DirectCUII. All the reviews I find for the MSI is for the power edition which costs the same as a 7870 here in the US which is a complete rip off.

My current system is in my signature. I am upgrading from a HD5770 which can no longer handle games at 1080p maxed out. I am open to both ATI/AMD and nVidia.
Click to expand...

I have to say that a HD 7870 at USD 300 is a very good deal. As a HD 7850 can be overclocked so can a HD 7870 be. In fact a HD 7870 overclocked to 1250 Mhz will get you in the high end cards range (USD 400 or above). Here are a few comparisons

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/HD_7870_HAWK/31.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_7850_PCS_Plus/31.html

BF3 1920 X 1200 4X AA
Powercolor HD 7850 (1245) - avg 50.2
GTX 580 - avg 51.7
MSI HD 7870 (1260) - avg 62.5
HD 7970 - avg 64.4


http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/26/sapphire_hd_7870_oc_edition_video_card_review/4

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/10/sapphire_hd_7970_oc_edition_video_card_review/7

BF3 2560 X 1200 Ultra 2X MSAA

Sapphire HD 7970 (1270) - avg 44.3 min 27 fps
Sapphire HD 7970 (950) - avg 47.3 min 28 fps
GTX 680 - avg 49.4 min 24 fps

Batman AC 2560 X 1600 FXAA High

Sapphire HD 7870 (1270) - avg 46.1 min 33 fps
Sapphire HD 7970 (950 ) - avg 49.9 min 33 fps
Sapphire HD 7970 (1280) - avg 62.2 min min 36 fps

Obviously HD 7970 overclocked will be faster. But it costs USD 200 more.so don't even think about it . go for the HD 7870. :)

Here a few good deals

Sapphire HD 7870 - USD 325 (USD 310 after mail in rebate)
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Rade...e=UTF8&qid=1339814593&sr=1-2&keywords=hd+7870

Sapphire HD 7870 - USD 330 (USD 310 after mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102981

The sapphire card is a very good card. fantastic cooling solution.
 
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It's you're already at $330, might as well step up to a 7950 for $339:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1699376
XFX Double D FX-795A-TDFC Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
$399.99 - $40.00 promo code "HARDOCPX613C" (10%) - $20.00MIR = $339.99 with free shipping

At stock clocks 7950 performance is nothing impressive, but a 50% overclock is not unreasonable and can make quite a difference in real world performance.
 
7850 if you don't mind overclocking, 7870 otherwise if you can catch a deal on one.
 
Kueller said:
It's you're already at $330, might as well step up to a 7950 for $339:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1699376
XFX Double D FX-795A-TDFC Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
$399.99 - $40.00 promo code "HARDOCPX613C" (10%) - $20.00MIR = $339.99 with free shipping

At stock clocks 7950 performance is nothing impressive, but a 50% overclock is not unreasonable and can make quite a difference in real world performance.
Click to expand...

Thats a really good deal on a fantastic card. clock for clock the HD 7950 is close to HD 7970, maybe 5% slower. This card will do 1 Ghz at stock volts. With voltage tweaking 1150 Mhz is achievable.

You can check out the hardocp review of XFX HD 7950 Black edition. thats the overclocked card at 900 Mhz

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/01/xfx_radeon_hd_7950_black_edition_video_card_review/8
 
I was in the same situation OP a couple of weeks ago. I first chose to get a 7850 Asus DC2 card, which ran cool and silent when fan was not above 40%. However, it gave me fits with random black screen freezes ( freezing if the computer was idle for a while). Performance wise, it was slower at stock than my gtx 570, and louder under load (fan above 40%) but much cooler. I finally RMAd it after a week of trying clean installing different driver sets to fix the problem, and nothing worked.
I chose then to spend a bit more, (well about $140 more) and try the Evga gtx 670 ftw. I cannot tell you to spend it if you don't have it, and I honestly felt a bit uneasy about the price, but man, the performance is stunning. Had if for a couple of days and no issues.
 
Well best Value is the cheap 6950 2Gb cards seeing them for 180 used on forums.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. I went with the XFX HD 7950 Double D for 304 after MIR! Outstanding deal. (359.99 - 10% - 20 USD rebate).
Thanks for linking me Kueller.

This is the first time I've ever bought a high end card so I'm very curious to see how hard this thing can blow my HD5770 out of the water.
 
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FramePointer said:
Thanks for the responses everyone. I went with the XFX HD 7950 Double D for 304 after MIR! Outstanding deal. (359.99 - 10% - 20 USD rebate).
Thanks for linking me Kueller.

This is the first time I've ever bought a high end card so I'm very curious to see how hard this thing can blow my HD5770 out of the water.
Click to expand...


Yes!!! This deal just got hotter, its sitting in my cart right now with a take it out the door price of $323.99 ($303.99 After rebate!), not $339.99 plus it has the 3 game pack special. I dont need it, cant justify buying it with a gtx 670 coming from EVGA step-up and a 6950(unlocked) but its hard not to jump on this deal at that price.
 
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yea, I came here expecting to pay about 300 for a 7870 so I was pretty surprised to find a 7950 in that price range. Can't wait to test out this beast :D when it gets here.
 
FramePointer said:
Thanks for the responses everyone. I went with the XFX HD 7950 Double D for 304 after MIR! Outstanding deal. (359.99 - 10% - 20 USD rebate).
Thanks for linking me Kueller.

This is the first time I've ever bought a high end card so I'm very curious to see how hard this thing can blow my HD5770 out of the water.
Click to expand...

Damn, at that price I broke down and ordered one myself! It was still at $399 when I posted last night. I just missed out on a GTX 670 from neweggbusiness with their 15% off coupon last week. I had it in my cart, checking out when the coupon died. The 670 was still going to be $377 after code though. Much prefer this price point since OC'd 7950 vs OC 670'd is pretty much a dead heat, trading blows game by game.

Currently I have a 6950 2gb pushing my 2560 display, it's been rough...Anyone looking to buy an unlocked 6950 2gb?
 
7870 are NOT great cards. I've had to rma 3 of them. Poor overclocks , faulty Pcb capacitors ... the list could go on. Good luck to anyone risking it all to purchase one.
 
Well i don't know what the deals are down there, but here in Canada i just grabbed a evga gtx670 ftw for $324 (dead deal now). Had a 7950 in my cart just before i saw the deal for $309 after rebate. Lots deals to be had at the moment!
 
I am in the same boat and am thinking about a 7850 since it's a hell of a performance value.
 
Just ordered tonight as my 5850's fan just bit the dust. Anyone wanna buy a 5850 that needs the heatsink and fan replaced? Can't wait to see how the 7950 works in Diablo, Skyrim and BF3. This is for my business computer so I don't have time to monkey around with certain things sometimes.
 
glenn37216 said:
7870 are NOT great cards. I've had to rma 3 of them. Poor overclocks , faulty Pcb capacitors ... the list could go on. Good luck to anyone risking it all to purchase one.
Click to expand...

Poor overclocks are not a sign of a defective card. What issues did you have with the capacitors?
 
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