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Midrange cards? $200 or less

S

StormUP

Gawd
Joined
May 19, 2005
Messages
628
So at the high end Nvidia released the Titan and AMD doesn't seem to have plans for anything this year. Any rumors I missed about what's happening this year in the mid range to low end? $200 or less. New chips? Old chips in lower price ranges? Increased clock speeds or increased amounts of RAM?

I've been working my way through my 2006-2008 era game backlog (and Portal 2) while waiting to see what happens. I'd been thinking about picking up a 7750 low profile (the fastest low profile available) so I could get a really small SFF case, but I think I'm going to get a slightly larger SFF case which has a full height slot so now I have more options on what I can stuff in it. I've probably got another month or so before I get back into games of the 2010-2011 era that will stress my 3850.
 
Get the Zotac GTX 660. Cheapest 660 and it has the smallest profile of any card around the $200 range. Will max out most games at 1080p, save the top-end games, so it's perfect for to the 2011 era. 7870 is also in that price range, but is much bigger, hotter and more power, but will overclock better giving you a total higher performance.

For SFF, I would say 660 over 7870.
 
what case are you buying. the Sapphire HD 7870 XT (Tahiti LE) is available for usd 245 after rebate. its performance is on par with GTX 660 Ti / HD 7950(800 Mhz). overclocked to 1.2 ghz it performs on par with HD 7970(925 mhz). its got a good cooler. but it will draw quite a bit of power. so you need a quality psu 500w - 550w with 36A - 40A on +12v rail. also your case needs to fit the card as it would be 275 mm long

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1160&pid=1790&psn=&lid=1&leg=0

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

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

the PCS+ HD 7870 for USD 220 (190 after rebate) is also a good option . compact card at 242 mm. decent cooler.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=79571
http://www.powercolor.com/Global/products_features.asp?id=397

both cards come with bioshock infinite and tombraider. amazing value. if you won't play these games sell the coupons for 30 bucks each.
 
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All the tahiti LE cards are over $200 at msrp, hard to get, and most importantly, run hot. They run hotter than a 7950. Not to mention they're a big card, and with a noisier reference cooler. All this in a SFF case?

I'd recommend the Tahiti LE chip but not for this requirement.
 
Eureka! said:
All the tahiti LE cards are over $200 at msrp, hard to get, and most importantly, run hot. They run hotter than a 7950. Not to mention they're a big card, and with a noisier reference cooler. All this in a SFF case?

I'd recommend the Tahiti LE chip but not for this requirement.
Click to expand...

the sapphire hd 7870 xt does draw a lot of power. but the dual x cooler keeps the card in the mid 60s. users on ocn have had overclocked cards at 1.2 ghz running at 70c. look at this review where the HD 7870 XT has lower temps than MSI GTX 660 OC

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-hd7870-w-boost-tahiti-le-review/15/

if the OP does not want the games he could sell it easily bringing his cost below USD 200. if he likes the games then he is getting usd 120 worth of games. so either way its good.
 
raghu78 said:
the sapphire hd 7870 xt does draw a lot of power. but the dual x cooler keeps the card in the mid 60s. users on ocn have had overclocked cards at 1.2 ghz running at 70c. look at this review where the HD 7870 XT has lower temps than MSI GTX 660 OC

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-hd7870-w-boost-tahiti-le-review/15/

if the OP does not want the games he could sell it easily bringing his cost below USD 200. if he likes the games then he is getting usd 120 worth of games. so either way its good.
Click to expand...

Sapphire Vapor is voltage locked, negating the benefit of getting a Tahiti Le. The Powercolor is the one to look at, and in a 800D case (massive case), it's still reaching hot temps:

GPGPUTemp.png


Not to mention, we want performance/watt here when dealing with SFF. If you've ever built or looked into SFF cases, power supplies are relatively small and so is heat dissipation. We don't care how hot the chip gets, we need to know how hot the area around the chip gets. Most SFF cases have pretty poor airflow and even the ones with better airflow are marginal at best. If the chip is hotter by design, it's more work to cool. nvidia chips are better for SFF just because of their better perf/W at the moment and smaller PCBs. The Zotac in particular is 6" long, how long do you think those Tahiti LE cards are? Even if you fit one in, it's more work to route around a big card than it is a little card in most case designs.
 
Both the GTX660 / 7870 can be found for $200 after MIR usually.

If you really want a solid value under $200, the 7850 is where it's at (~$175).
 
Lets just throw the Coolermaster 120 Elite out there as the theoretical case because:

1) it's cheap and takes a full size power supply eliminating really low power considerations.
2) it's the largest thing I would consider
3) It doesn't cool that great so it sets a bounding line regarding heat.
4) If I felt like spending more for better cooling I would have that option, but it's hard to start with an awesome cooling $150 SFF case, pick components for that and then change my mind to a case that doesn't cool as well.
 
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Lets also assume for the moment that I keep my current PSU -- an Antec HCG 400w with 30A on the +12v rail. Stuffing much more power than that into an ITX tends to be either excessively loud or excessively hot IMO.

I'm for sure keeping my AsRock z77e-itx and my i5 3570k.
 
StormUP said:
Lets just throw the Coolermaster 120 Elite out there as the theoretical case because:

1) it's cheap and takes a full size power supply eliminating power considerations.
2) it's the largest thing I would consider
3) It doesn't cool that great so it sets a bounding line regarding heat.
4) If I felt like spending more for better cooling I would have that option, but it's hard to start with an awesome cooling $150 SFF case, pick components for that and then change my mind to a case that doesn't cool as well.
Click to expand...

Just for a size comparison...

GTX 660:
http://www.vortez.net/index.php?ct=articles&action=file&id=17824

7870:
http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/upload/pictures/AMD-Radeon-HD7870-PCB.jpg

The Zotac dual-silencer fan is quiet. It's dead quiet. My roommate went with a SFF build and when we turned it on we weren't sure if it was DOA because of how quiet it was. Which means when it has to speed up to dissipate heat, it doesn't get nearly as loud as other coolers. Which you will need because in a SFF case, heat tends to linger. The 660 has a TDP of 140W, the 7870 has a TDP of 175W. The 7870 requires two power connectors when the 660 only requires one. It's obvious which one is more efficient, even if the 7870 can get to higher levels.
 
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Based on comments so far, lets throw out the 7870. It sounds like it has a higher TDP than I really want to deal with. So 7850 and below and GTX 660 seems to be what is out there right now. What are the good 7850's I should compare to the Zotac (or other) GTX 660?
 
StormUP said:
Based on comments so far, lets throw out the 7870. It sounds like it has a higher TDP than I really want to deal with. So 7850 and below and GTX 660 seems to be what is out there right now. What are the good 7850's I should compare to the Zotac (or other) GTX 660?
Click to expand...

You'll want a 2GB 7850, 1GB is out of the range. Any games from now to the future is going to want more than 1GB. Sapphire has some hit or misses, XFX generally misses, everything else is OK. You don't want to pay more than $170 for a 2GB 7850, and no more than $200 for a 660/7870. Asus DCU2 is generally known to be the best cooler, but that's because it's big and heavy. MSI and Gigabyte are two heavy hitting brands too.
 
Yeah, I was doing some looking and saw this factory OCd Gigabyte 7850 @ 180 after rebate. I'd already knocked off the 1 GB versions of 7850s as the 2 GB ones weren't much more for double the RAM.

The 7870 would be a no brainer if it just used a bit less power. Hopefully concentration on mobile development over the next few years leads to lower power desktop GPUs as well so that the next time I buy I'm not in the same situation of looking at power requirements instead of just plopping down a pile of money.
 
Eureka! said:
Sapphire Vapor is voltage locked, negating the benefit of getting a Tahiti Le. The Powercolor is the one to look at, and in a 800D case (massive case), it's still reaching hot temps:

GPGPUTemp.png
Click to expand...

It's not a Vapor. Its the Tahiti LE. 7870 with Tahiti GPU and Sapphire


I read at the sapphire tech forums that voltage can be unlocked with software or different bios but sapphire hasn't done anything yet to make it happen.


May be possible to get sapphire XT HD7870 and flash it to Myst and then unlock voltage.

The PowerColor looks better and cost less. I would get the Powercolor HD7870. Been under $200 recently with MIR. Good card for the money and right now with the game bundle its a great deal.
 
18*11.5*10.5 inches isn't exactly small. 2173.5 cubic inches. That's barely 200 cubic inches less than my current midtower case which fits a full sized ATX board. And the "SFF" you propose actually has a BIGGER footprint on the desk. Just because it's cube shaped doesn't make it SFF.
 
Storm,
The GTX660 can't be beat if you team up physical size / performance.

The 7850 / 7870s are simply larger cards (and arguably warmer running).
 
I vote 7850 2gb. Doesn't break the bank, overclocks well and you can find some small cards depending on the brand
 
Leaning towards the 7850.

Length of card doesn't seem to be an issue so long as it fits and this seems like it will.

1) 10W lower TDP than the 660
2) Comes with games.

We'll see what changes in the next month or two as I work through my old game backlog. Maybe nVidia will also have a game bundle out by then.
 
Looking at this 7850 from MSI. 900 Mhz clock from the factory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127663
And it's under 8" long. 7.76" x 4.37" x 1.5"

I'd previously been looking at this Gigabyte card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125419 which is clocked a bit higher at 975 Mhz from the factory. It's also a bit larger at 9.49" x 5.39" x 1.67"

Anyone have recent experience with MSI? My previous experiences with MSI have been bad and Gigabyte has always been good, but it's been a while since I've purchased a product from either.
 
How important are memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate (ROPs x clock rate) in modern video cards.

The 7790 appears to have equal texture and shading performance and an 85W TDP which is appealing. I'd pretty much settled on a 7850 based on the earlier discussion in this thread, but haven't yet made the purchase so now I have to reevaluate again.
 
cookiehead2 said:
I did it:

Case: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00001664

Prettier one: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00000217
Click to expand...


I think the Cooler Master hals xb is the all around best case for the bulky lanbox, for hte person who wants room to grow.

HAF XB LAN Box and Test Bench Computer Case

I just did one up for my son and put my skulltrail, a thermalright 1250w and 2 GTX460's in it.....

the beauty is that is has such good airflow that water is really not needed but it you went with a matx or even a atx you would easy have room for 240mm radiator and the rest of hte watercooling stuff...

i LOVE THIS CASE!

i'll post some pics's tomorrow...

Features
  • Direct front to back airflow over CPU and mainboard for extreme cooling performance.
  • Supports 240mm radiators with extra clearance for thick performance radiators or push-pull fan configurations.
  • Supports Tower CPU coolers with a height of up to 180mm and up to 334mm long high end graphics cards.
  • Motherboard Tray can be removed to install, remove or swap components.
  • The first Case that quickly and easily transforms into a Testbench – Ideal for Enthusiasts and Overclockers.
  • Dual USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports and X-Dock slots at the front panel for lightning fast plug-n-play I/O.
  • Rigid carry handles on the side panels.
Click to expand...
1__67246_1353362041_1280_1280.jpg
 
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