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need card @ about $100

A

ANGRYEAGLE

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Messages
275
My 4870 is giving it up and has been warning me for the past 2 weeks. I am getting small green flickers, which I assume is the memory. According to CCC card is running @ 78 c. I have underclocked it to no avail. It happens after the card heats up. I have pulled card, dusted the card and the computer, and reinstalled. I have upgraded drivers. I am partial to AMD. This is just what I have always run. I am not playing games right now, unless it's poker. But would like the ability to upgrade to Crossfire later when i get a larger screen. Right now I use a 1680x1050 dell monitor. Any ideas? I haven't kept up with the latest card releases. I'm not expecting AWESOME gaming performance for what I have to spend. I turn to Hard community, because it is the best in the business! Thanks for your help.
 
6770

Can be had for under $100 on ebay or $100 on newegg. 2 of them do amazingly well for $200 too. I was just using a couple and was quite impressed for the price.
 
WIth 2 of them I could run BF3 @ high with ultra textures and AA off @ 1080p and get and average above 70-80fps.
 
If you don't mind used, you could probably get a 6790 or 6850 for that price. Try Amazon Warehouse, its used but primarily just returns that were retested or refurbished.
 
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You could probably get a used 6870 for about $100. Otherwise, the above posters' suggestions should lead you in the right direction.
 
5770 is also viable and you can cross-fire. Can probably find 2 in the $120-150 range.
 
isnt' the 5770 and 6770 basically the same card, also doesn't the 5770 basically give you 4870 performance, or am i misinformed?
 
Those do come and go, the 6850 I've seen for $119 which is the route I would go.

However, price 'bang for the buck' my hat is off to the 550 Ti. I've seen them as low as $89.99 free shipping on newegg. the performance is 'eh' with the 6770.
http://www.hwcompare.com/9712/geforce-gtx-550-ti-vs-radeon-hd-6770/

Right now the 6870 is on sale at newegg for $139.99 after rebates. It is an XFX, those tend to have love or hate associated with them:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561
 
skeeder said:
However, price 'bang for the buck' my hat is off to the 550 Ti. I've seen them as low as $89.99 free shipping on newegg. the performance is 'eh' with the 6770.
http://www.hwcompare.com/9712/geforce-gtx-550-ti-vs-radeon-hd-6770/
Click to expand...

The problem with the 550Ti is that the memory bandwidth is falsely reported. It ends up under performing in real world scenarios (just like the GTX 460 v2). I almost bought one but ended up not doing so due to some good posts on this forum. Basically, it uses an oddball memory configuration where you don't really have the equivalent of 192-bit. Since Nvidia doesn't detail how they made this configuration work, all we can do is speculate. Here's an example:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4221/nvidias-gtx-550-ti-coming-up-short-at-150/2

This marks the first time we’ve seen such a memory configuration on a video card, and as such raises a number of questions. Our primary concern at this point in time is performance, as it’s mathematically impossible to organize the memory in such a way that the card always has access to its full theoretical memory bandwidth. The best case scenario is always going to be that the entire 192-bit bus is in use, giving the card 98.5GB/sec of memory bandwidth (192bit * 4104MHz / 8), meanwhile the worst case scenario is that only 1 64-bit memory controller is in use, reducing memory bandwidth to a much more modest 32.8GB/sec.
Click to expand...
 
As many others have said the 6870 at $140AR is probably the best of the sub $150 cards. If you really want to stay closer to $100 I would choose the $110 Gigabyte 7750 OC . The reference 7750 heat sink is garbage which is why even passively cooled revisions are better. With a decent HS and fan it is a good performer for its price.
 
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I've been reading this thread with interest because I'd like to replace my 4850 with something newer and more power efficient. I don't game much, and when I do, the most demanding games I play are Oblivion and Dragon Age--and that's on a 1680X1050 monitor.

It looks like a 7750 would give me equivalent or better performance and lots of power savings. Is that correct?
 
Towermax said:
I've been reading this thread with interest because I'd like to replace my 4850 with something newer and more power efficient. I don't game much, and when I do, the most demanding games I play are Oblivion and Dragon Age--and that's on a 1680X1050 monitor.

It looks like a 7750 would give me equivalent or better performance and lots of power savings. Is that correct?
Click to expand...
It would definitely offer a performance and power improvement over your 4850. It is hard to say if it would be the best upgrade in your situation. If you want to maximize performance in those specific games you may find an Nvidia solution to be better. I cannot say for sure since I do not know if either company has driver issues in those games. There are also very few reviews of OC 7750s online so benchmarks are scarce, but it performs roughly the same as a 6790 or 5770 in the benchmarks I have seen. So you can use those models on comparison sites in lieu of the reference 7750 800 ghz model numbers. I have been following the 7750 for SFF HTPC purposes so I have read quite a few articles online. As a gaming card is is really bottom of the barrel for today's games but that is where it is priced.
 
I wouldn't recommend replacing a 4850 with a 7750. It's true you'll get power savings, but if you ever decide to get bigger monitor, you'll have to change the video card again. A 6870 around $150 AR should give the best performance while still saving power compared to 4850 (and while still being an upgrade that'll survive 1920x1200 or 1920x1080). In Canada, there's also 7770s for $139 now.
 
Tirilwen said:
I wouldn't recommend replacing a 4850 with a 7750. It's true you'll get power savings, but if you ever decide to get bigger monitor, you'll have to change the video card again. A 6870 around $150 AR should give the best performance while still saving power compared to 4850 (and while still being an upgrade that'll survive 1920x1200 or 1920x1080). In Canada, there's also 7770s for $139 now.
Click to expand...
We have those in the US too $140 7770 The $140AR 6870 is a better deal but only if you want to spend the extra $30 which may be important to someone with a $100 budget.
 
I understand the budget constraints. I'm just offering my opinion that it's better to spend $30 more to get an upgrade, rather than $110 on a card that's not one. So if the budget is really tight, I would not upgrade. Sadly, the 7750's OC gains aren't noticeable.
 
OK, thanks for all the input. I'll look at the 7770, 6850, and 6870, as well as the 7750. I'm a quiet pc fanatic, so the 7750 really appeals to me, but good points have been made that I might want to go a bit farther up the ladder.

I'm in no hurry, so I can watch for good deals . . .
 
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