7870 the card to go with? Build and specs listed inside

clueless1126 · Mar 15, 2013

Looking at a few GPU cards on newegg for my current PC. Using a HIS radeon 6850 but I am not sure if I would want to buy another HIS card because my current has some fan bearing problems, etc.

My build:
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: ECS P67H2-A2 SLI (B3) ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 6850 1GB Video Card
Case: NZXT Gamma Classic (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V PSU
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Full (32/64-bit)
Ram: G-Skill 8gig
optical drive and the likes

What I'm looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127722
MSI R7870-2GD5T/OC Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418
GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150605
XFX Double D FX-787A-CDFC Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5

Also, any cards a little cheaper with even a hardly noticeable difference worth looking into? I plan on crossfiring 2 gigabyte cards at some point but am just looking to run a single 2 gig for a year or so.

Norlag · Mar 15, 2013

Out of those I would either get the gigabyte or the msi. The gigabyte is the best out of the three, and that would be my pick.

Also ram is not additive in crossfire. 2 2gb cards will only give you 2 gb of vram.

AlienIsGOD · Mar 15, 2013

Sapphire has excellent 7870s. i have the 2GB OC 7870 and the temps are wonderful, 32 C at idle and no more than 55-60 C while playing BF 3

EzioAs · Mar 15, 2013

Huh...haven't seen that particular cooler from MSI before. Seems similar to the Twin Frozr except with different shroud design. I'd recommend MSI or Gigabyte or Sapphire if you haven't looked into one.

bigshootr8 · Mar 15, 2013

Hmm, something kind of boggles my mind a bit here did you have a lower end chip prior to the 3570k because a p67 motherboard would need to be flashed to accept ivy bridge cpu's.

Also have you thought about the 7870XT models? They are around the same price as the cards you listed but perform stronger. The sapphire card was out of stock but there is a powercolor card to. Otherwise I would go with the MSI card then gigabyte then xfx.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131484&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202024&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

clueless1126 · Mar 15, 2013

bigshootr8 :

Yea, I had an i3 2120. Bought a i5 3570k to find out my mobo didn't support ivy bridge. But I downloaded a BIOS update from their site and flashed my mobo like you said an it is compatible and works great now!

I'll take a look at it, the only one I found was a sapphire on newegg but it was discontinued.

completelyrandomname · Mar 15, 2013

I suggest you get a SAPPHIRE 7870 XT or a POWERCOLOR 7870 MYST. They feature the Tahiti LE chip which means it's a crippled 7950 without paying the premium.

bigshootr8 · Mar 15, 2013

Also, as a point of reference for the tahiti 7870's here is toms review/look at it.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tahiti-le-7870-7930-benchmark,3401.html

Also that makes sense that with your i3. how's the transition been?

clueless1126 · Mar 15, 2013

bigshootr8 :

Great. happily running arma 3 much better, and a hell of a lot better than dropping another $150 on a compatible motherboard +reinstalling everything in my PC

I actually used to have a corsair 430w which was pretty low for my build, but upgraded to a seasonic modular 750w gold which I'm also loving the hybrid mode and quiet fan.

I'm actually looking into that powercolor gpu, but I've never owned a powercolor so will check into that link you posted

bigshootr8 · Mar 15, 2013

Course! Honestly though I would prefer the Sapphire solution it has stronger cooling in my mind there are some left on Amazon I found

!
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-11199-20-20G/dp/B00AWKYB1M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363379556&sr=8-1&keywords=7870xt

clueless1126 · Mar 15, 2013

bigshootr8 :

Ugh I want this card but I almost don't want to pass up the free bioshock and tomb raider gifts on newegg

And yes I agree, I don't like that the powercolor has only 1 fan.

bigshootr8 · Mar 15, 2013

If you read the amazon page you do get the never settle bundle

to the right of the AMD logo just do a control+F and type in Never Settle.

AlienIsGOD · Mar 15, 2013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=50001561&IsNodeId=1&Description=7870&name=Sapphire%20Tech&Order=BESTMATCH has the games offer.

My bad that other link is a 7870XT. But if you do go regular 7870, this is the same one that i have and its great. Overclocked to 1150/1300 from 1050/1250.

clueless1126 · Mar 15, 2013

AlienIsGOD :

Can you tell me what the difference between the 2 are? The flex is 20 dollars more but the other one actually looks better performance wise

bigshootr8 · Mar 15, 2013

The flex is able to handle 4 screens instead of 3 in eyefinity they are essentially the same thing however one can handle more screens then the other.

And the tahiti 7870 is more or less a 7930.

clueless1126 · Mar 15, 2013

Ok I think I've made up my mind between 2, the $5 dollar cheaper one looks better although i'm not technical with GPU's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131484
$239.99
Core Clock: 925MHz
Boost Clock: 975MHz
Effective Memory Clock: 1500MHz (6.0Gbps)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131487
$234.99
Core Clock: 925MHz
Boost Clock: 975MHz
Effective Memory Clock: 1500x4 MHz (6.0 Gbps)
^
What does the PCS stand for? and why does the cheaper one look better? I decided to just buy a cheap case fan with this one because I have spots to put more fans on my case on each GPU slots so I will get one blowing on the GPU

EDIT: it looks like my mobo only has one case fan slot according to this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135283 (not home right now) so is there any way around this (ie a splitter of sorts or something)

bigshootr8 · Mar 15, 2013

To enable more fans I would get a fan controller of some sort. Something like this which would enable you to connect multiple fans to the unit plus you could control the speeds via the nobs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811992007

I don't know what the pcs naming refers to its a naming code with power color. I would assume that the + is the stronger of the two cards.

completelyrandomname · Mar 15, 2013

clueless1126 :

I read a post somewhere a while ago but I can't remember what it was. They are pretty much identical though so I would get the cheaper one.

clueless1126 · Mar 15, 2013

completelyrandomname :

I went ahead and ordered the more expensive one (just in case that $5 makes the difference

and that other fan thing shootr linked.. but forgot to order the fan.. lol, not too worried right now I don't expect it to have any heating issues since I wont be modifying it at all until i'm ready to do so. Plus I just dropped a decent amount of money the past few days, a $10 fan can wait.

bigshootr8 · Mar 15, 2013

Most certainly. I would however suggest if you go off and buy fans for your computer I would look towards these premium fans are the way to go. I use the cougar fans I like the look and how quiet and how much air they push.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608026&Tpk=nf-f12&IsVirtualParent=1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181022
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553002&Tpk=CF-V12HP&IsVirtualParent=1

Dark Lord of Tech · Mar 15, 2013

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-11199-20-20G/dp/B00AWKYB1M

7870 the card to go with? Build and specs listed inside

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