ready to finally buy a gpu

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hardennoob

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Feb 8, 2012
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hey guys, i posted awhile ago when i was building my computer and now i am done building other than the gpu.

with the release of the new nvidia cards, i am not entirely sure which card to buy. i can spend up to 400 on a gpu since i will be using 100 in amazon credit, which will bring the card down to 300.

so reading the forums, it appears as though the asus gtx 670 dc2 and gigabyte windforce is the cream of the crop for the 670 series.

for radeons, the sapphire 7950 dual x is the best.

so here i am asking for your help. it doesnt have to the above cards, and i will take into consideration other cards. even the gtx 570 or gtx 560 ti 448 is fine with me.

i game at a max resolution of 1080p and would like a single gpu setup. i do not plan to overclock and would like to keep the default settings out the box. current games i play is only diablo 3 and sc2. i would like to start playing other gpu hungry games such as skyrim, max payne 3, etc. personally, i never played games with max AA stuff cause my current gpu cant handle it but i would like to try getting a good card that can do all that.

i see that amazon priced the xfx 7950 and sapphire to 389.99. would they be a good card for me? or should i wait a little more until the gtx 660 comes out? or...should i buy the gtx 670 from asus/evga/gigabyte? :confused:
 
Both the 670s you listed are great choices. After trying one recently, I'm not an AMD/ATi supporter. Keep in mind in Skyrim and other graphics-heavy games, you will likely fall below 60 FPS with an non-OC'd 670.
 
so i guess the ideal gpu for me would be the gtx 670? i was going and forth with the price dropped 7950's on amazon.

yeah, my gts 250 is still chugging along but i am in dire need of an upgrade
 
if you a going for a Single GPU, using 1 screen, i feel nvidia will offer the best performance. if you plan on going to multible screens no doubt eyefinity is the best and easist way to go.
 
hardennoob said:
i game at a max resolution of 1080p and would like a single gpu setup. i do not plan to overclock and would like to keep the default settings out the box. current games i play is only diablo 3 and sc2. i would like to start playing other gpu hungry games such as skyrim, max payne 3, etc. personally, i never played games with max AA stuff cause my current gpu cant handle it but i would like to try getting a good card that can do all that.

i see that amazon priced the xfx 7950 and sapphire to 389.99. would they be a good card for me? or should i wait a little more until the gtx 660 comes out? or...should i buy the gtx 670 from asus/evga/gigabyte? :confused:
Click to expand...

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-PCI-...58P4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1338696814&sr=8-3

Sapphire HD 7950 OC 950 Mhz edition. uses the HD 7970 ref PCB. 8pin + 6 pin power. you can see the pics posted here by user sonDa5. you can message the user for his feedback about the card.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1695577

You can overclock if required in games like max payne 3 or BF3. overclocking this card with sapphire trixx to 1150+ Mhz should be easy. gives you that extra perf buffer which would come in handy in the most demanding games. :)
 
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Cool beans with the $100 amazon gift card.

GTX560 ti 448s are a little low on vram but very capable cards but kind of pricey right now.

You are searching for a card that isn't over clocked but if you go with the GTX670 you will not get that since it uses boost to help it automatically over clock and perform better while improving overall power usage.

I think you should consider over clocking your card that you choose to get the most out of it.

The Sapphire Dual X 950mhz is the card that I would choose at the high end of your budget and it is designed to overclock as well. Might as well over clock it and get your moneys worth.

If you want to save some more money the new MSI Power Edition HD7850 is a great card for the money and again I think you should consider over clocking it to get your moneys worth.

If you just want to max your budget and get a card that performs well without manually over clocking get a $400 GTX670 if you can find one. Just don't disable the boost on it.
 
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SonDa5 said:
Cool beans with the $100 amazon gift card.

GTX560 ti 448s are a little low on vram but very capable cards but kind of pricey right now.

You are searching for a card that isn't over clocked but if you go with the GTX670 you will not get that since it uses boost to help it automatically over clock and perform better while improving overall power usage.

I think you should consider over clocking your card that you choose to get the most out of it.

The Sapphire Dual X 950mhz is the card that I would choose at the high end of your budget and it is designed to overclock as well. Might as well over clock it and get your moneys worth.

If you want to save some more money the new MSI Power Edition HD7850 is a great card for the money and again I think you should consider over clocking it to get your moneys worth.

If you just want to max your budget and get a card that performs well without manually over clocking get a $400 GTX670 if you can find one. Just don't disable the boost on it.
Click to expand...

Not really sure what you're getting at. 670 boost is part of the design, it's not like factory overclocked cards from random vendors, it's a built in algorithm from nvidia. Besides that, who cares? 1mhz is 1mhz weather you do it yourself or it comes that way from the factory.

670 is by by far the best option in this price range.
 
ok, so based on the response, it seems like its back to the 7950 vs 670.

the sapphire is currently 389 whereas the asus 670 dc2 is 429 (although it is sold out).

i guess i should just go with the sapphire? i dont plan to oc cause i have no idea how.
 
hardennoob said:
ok, so based on the response, it seems like its back to the 7950 vs 670.

the sapphire is currently 389 whereas the asus 670 dc2 is 429 (although it is sold out).

i guess i should just go with the sapphire? i dont plan to oc cause i have no idea how.
Click to expand...

First after installing the card and drivers test the card for stability at stock clocks. BF3, Crysis 2, Unigine Heaven are a few you could try. After it runs those tests in a stable manner open up the AMD Catalyst Control Center. There is an AMD Overdrive option under the Performance tab. check the "Enable graphics overdrive " option. Set the power control settings to +20%. you could step up the GPU core clock in 50 Mhz increments at stock volts and check for game stability at 1 Ghz, 1.05, 1.1 Ghz. My guess is speeds upto 1125 Mhz will be available in AMD CCC for this card. But you have to check for yourself. The sapphire HD 7950 950 Mhz edition should hit 1.1 Ghz at stock volts if AMD CCC allows. Since you are not well aware of overclocking , play safe and stick to overclocking in AMD CCC. :)
 
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TBH the 670 is the best card on the market at the moment for the price, the performance is amazing,

especially if your only running a single monitor or at least playing games in single monitor mode, not
Surround or eyefinity! Max Payne in 3D is still around 60fps!! Skyrim is around 100fps in 3d. ( 2500k oc 4.7ghz, 16gb ripjaw ram)

I just upgraded from a 560ti and the performance boost is astounding. Haven't come across a game that plays under 60fps at 1080p.

I purchased the galaxy windforce version. I however would wait till more of the aftermarket coolers come out rather than a reference card (the MSI Twin Frozr) that card has a great cooler on it and is very reliable, as my 560ti came with it.

If a year down the road its not enough you can purchase a second, as sli is becoming more and more stable for many newer games giving you the expected x2 performance. But if you haven't purchased a card in such a while then you'll be fine with one for a good amount of time!
 
So after reading about the faulty asus dcii gtx670, I decided to go with either the sapphire 7950 or the gigabyte gtx670.

But after waiting a few days, I couldn’t find a deal on the gigabyte and a different vendor was selling the sapphire 7950 on amazon, so I decided to go with the evga gtx670 ftw. Not sure if the extra 20 bucks is worth the premium but im happy that I finally settled on a video card.
 
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