What's the best GPU under $300?

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Vithar

Limp Gawd
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Mar 6, 2012
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I was thinking its this XFX 7950 because it has 3 GB of memory at 384 bits rather than the similarly priced 660 Ti which only has 2 GB at 192 bits. Even the 660 Ti that's $30 more with 3 GB still has a lower memory interface.
Though I'm not sure since Anandtech benchmarks point out that these two cards are quite evenly matched and that the 660 Ti is actually better at some games. So I just want some perspective as to whats the best card under $300 at the moment.
 
SIGH..

How many time must people be told that the 660ti isn't held back by the damn memory width bus.

Even so, I would say the 7950 is the better card of the two cause it can overclock like mad.
 
Thanks evilsofa now it makes perfect sense, so the 7950 is only slightly stronger than the 660 Ti, not noticeably, which means the only reason to get a 7950 is because its cheaper, right? Or did Phishy714 have a point when he said it overclocks like mad. Anyone willing to share their experiences?
 
The 660ti has more features like adaptive vsync, physx, superior multi card drivers. But I keep hearing most 7950's can overclock to stock 680 levels or close and it should theoretically handle higher resolutions slightly better due to the higher memory bandwidth, on paper at least. It's a tough call, if it were up to me I'd let the best deal at the time of purchase decide for me.
 
Phishy714 said:
SIGH..

How many time must people be told that the 660ti isn't held back by the damn memory width bus.

Even so, I would say the 7950 is the better card of the two cause it can overclock like mad.
Click to expand...
There's evidence that shows the GTX 660Ti is held back in some games: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-memory-bandwidth-anti-aliasing,3283-13.html .

The other thing is that if you're an overclocker, the 7950 has a higher headroom than the GTX660Ti and will signifcantly outpace it if both are overclocked, especially at higher resolutions. What resolution are you planning on using?

Featurewise it's an argument for what's important to you. A GTX 660 Ti has GPU PhysX and driver-enabled AO. A 7950 can make you $50+ a month mining bitcoins.
 
The 7950 really shows it's stride when oc'd past 1ghz or more on the core then it catches up very well with other high end cards. Can't say many nice things about amd's drivers hit n miss I don't like driver 12.8 right now =/ Occasionally, I have to make a special catalyst profile for certain games & all is well again. It's a decent card though if your considering it
 
Hardware-wise and especially if you are gonna have a resolution higher than 1920x1080/1200, you want the 7950.

If you want the least amount of driver headaches and are at 1920x1080 the Ti is great. The real reason I bought my 660 Ti is nVidias drivers having the edge over AMD.

When I was younger I was willing to tinker ALL the time to get that perfect OC and would be fine with AMD drivers as I'd find a way to make it work. Now I just want something to work with minimal fuss.

Maybe AMD should have two types of drivers-- enthusiast drivers with the possibility of having a buggy development cycle, and stable drivers that are SIMPLE, STABLE, and [most important] will recognize your card no matter how old it is and install.

It disturbs me that with PhysX we might be entering an era of having to pick one card or another for a specific game or another... however PhysX has been a pleasure (eyecandy) to have in Borderlands 2. I hope there can be a way that AMD can have its own PhysX instead of all this leading to AMD having several specific proprietary features and nVidia doing the same. "I bought this card for THAT game, but now with this other new game coming out, my card is the one at a disadvantage, argh!"
 
That Tom's hardware review is a bunch of crap.
The only thing that it proves is that the 660 and the 670 are memory bandwidth limited. At least according to their test.

get the 660ti for the out of box.
7950 if you want to mess around with OC and such.

I would got 660ti but I always been an nvidia fan.
 
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Okay so question about the 7950s then I like the XFX cards and I'm wondering are these 2 cards the same thing just one is overclocked:
1. 7950 Double D
2. 7950 Black Edition Double D

Also will overclocking an XFX card void my warranty or do they replace ur card even if u damage it with overclocking?
 
All manufacturers have disclaimers saying they do not cover overclock warranty. However, they usually won't know unless you actually tell them.

And yes, they're both essentially the same thing.
 
Supposedly the Black Edition has better binning [therefore better chance at a higher OC]. But this is not a given.

If you can afford it get the BE, but if bang for the buck is important the Double D is the way to go.

When I reviewed XFX I had lots of concerns about the negative reviews, so check those out especially the ones that concern warranty support. You can tell from those whether its the type of warranty you can accept or not.
 
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