Faulty 7850, RMA'ing. What to get? Nvida or AMD

Snappshoota

[H]ard|Gawd
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Well Bought a Gigabyte 7850 2gb, and when it works its pretty damn good. But unfortunately getting it to work is the problem. (Constant Hard locks with sound looping, vertical lines of death, thought this was fixed.. WAY TO GO AMD!!)

Anyways, Im taking it back to microcenter Friday, was looking on site, and they have a few cards that caught my eye.

First is the eVga 660FTW for $235.00 (kinda leaning toward nvidia for physx and if that controller thing comes out, would like to try it.)

Then debating about another 7850, this time from Diamond, tho, I dunno how they are in this era.. For $209.00

Or third and last option, spend about 90 bucks after returning the card and getting a Asus 7870, for $260.

WWJD? (what would J00 Doo)
 
$209 for 7850.
$235 for 660.
$260 for 7870.
$290 for 660ti.

Man, do you really have to pay these premium prices?
 
?? Im lost..

The 660 FTW is the same price in store as it is online..

The diamond 7850 is 10 dollars more in store...

And the 7870 is the same price...

Plus Im only spending about 90 bucks out of my pocket after returning the faulty card..
 
?? Im lost..

The 660 FTW is the same price in store as it is online..

The diamond 7850 is 10 dollars more in store...

And the 7870 is the same price...

Plus Im only spending about 90 bucks out of my pocket after returning the faulty card..

Those aren't the best prices you can get. While you can usually only get the cheaper brands at these prices (Sapphire, XFX, Visiontek, Galaxy, etc), these are all new prices from Newegg, NCIX, or TigerDirect, after rebate.

$150 - 7850
$200 - 7870 or 660
$225 - 7870 LE
$280 - 7950 or 660 Ti
$310 - 670
$360 - 7970
$400 - 680

For example, this is the Zotac GTX 660:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500270

For $195 after rebate. And nearly the same performance as the 7870. I would actually get this exact card, because for price and value it is very good, and because it as an extremely quiet cooler. The small PCB and size also makes it easy to install and puts less strain on your card than one of those hulking 7870s. Not to mention, this one tends to be pretty reliable and I haven't heard of a DOA on a Zotac 660 yet.
 
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?? Im lost..

The 660 FTW is the same price in store as it is online..

The diamond 7850 is 10 dollars more in store...

And the 7870 is the same price...

Plus Im only spending about 90 bucks out of my pocket after returning the faulty card..

Sorry, I meant do you really have to buy from them after returning it?
 
it's not really an RMA if you drive it back to a B&M store. It's just a return.
 
at microcenter your options are lesser. can you return the card and get a full refund . if you cannot get a Gigabyte HD 7870 . excellent card.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/...n_HD_7870_2048MB_GDDR5_PCIe_30_x16_Video_Card

if you can get a refund do it. the sapphire HD 7870 XT with boost which uses the tahiti le chip is an excellent buy for USD 250.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202024

1536 stream processors. 975 mhz boost. 256 bit memory at 6 ghz (192 gb/s). 30% faster than than HD 7850 and 8 - 10% faster than HD 7870, both of which use the pitcairn chip. the sapphire card comes with excellent dual x cooler.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...iti-le-graphics-card-review-introduction.html

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/01/01/powercolor_radeon_hd_7870_myst_edition_review/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Club_3D/HD_7870_jokerCard_Tahiti_LE/31.html

when overclocked to 1.2 ghz performance is close to HD 7970(925 Mhz). :)
 
at microcenter your options are lesser. can you return the card and get a full refund . if you cannot get a Gigabyte HD 7870 . excellent card.

Wont touch another gigabyte card, and almost debating about even the 7xxx series in general..

And yea I dunno if im going to get a full refund or credit, never had to return anything to MC, thats why i was mainly looking on their site, just to be safe.

Was definitely leaning more and more towards the 660's. Gonna try and get up there tomorrow after work, so I guess ill see what happens..
 
Wont touch another gigabyte card, and almost debating about even the 7xxx series in general..

And yea I dunno if im going to get a full refund or credit, never had to return anything to MC, thats why i was mainly looking on their site, just to be safe.

Was definitely leaning more and more towards the 660's. Gonna try and get up there tomorrow after work, so I guess ill see what happens..

Get the Zotac GTX 660 from Newegg that I linked above. Solid brand and solid card. While a 7870 is nice... Sapphire cards are questionable. And paying $20-40 more for a 7870 over a 660 is silly.
 
Get the Zotac GTX 660 from Newegg that I linked above. Solid brand and solid card. While a 7870 is nice... Sapphire cards are questionable. And paying $20-40 more for a 7870 over a 660 is silly.

The Sapphire 7870 is going for $195, and I have owned it for over two months now. It is an amazing card, super quiet, runs very cool, and a great overclocker (like all 7870s). That said, it pummels the games so bad that I have not seen the point in overclocking yet.
 
Scew it, again.. Just bought a MSI GTX 660 Ti Twin Frozr IV :) Installing drivers now.. Hopefully no issues...
 
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