On a budget: 650 Ti or 660 or even 7870 XT

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nicholls63

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May 14, 2013
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I will be building this computer in a few days:
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/nicholls63/saved/1B6f

Most parts are ordered, just need to figure out the graphics card. I hope this computer will last me about 4-5 years.

I do not game a lot. The only games I foresee myself playing in the next little while are maybe Skyrim and Eve. I will also be playing on a 24 inch monitor (can't recall resolution).

I could get the Gigabyte GTX 650 Ti 2GB as a cheap option, but its pretty cheap.
The Gigabyte GTX 660 costs me about 40 bucks more at 186.70.
I could also get a Powercolor Radeon HD 7870 XT for 215 (so about 30 bucks more than 660), which also comes with 4 free games, which I don't anticipate playing ever.

For my gaming habits mentioned above, what card would guys recommend? If at some point down the road, say 2 years from now, I game more, I figure I could always get a better card at that time.

I would love something between a 650 Ti and a 660, but it seems the cards I looked at (650 Ti Boost and 7850) are the same price as the 660 where I am located (Canada).
 
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lostgamer_03

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Aug 4, 2012
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GTX 650 ti boost has the best value of any gaming GPU on the market at the moment.

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From a RAW performance perspective Radeon 7870 XT is ofc the fastest, but you will always get more performance, the more you pay.

From a software perspective and efficiency perspective the GTX 650 ti boost is just a beast compared to Radeon 7870 XT . Offering a adaptive vsync, PhysX, TXAA, CUDA and a really low TDP.

I wouldn't pick the GTX 660, as it is not much faster than a GTX 650 ti boost, so that isn't even up to consideration for the price you pay.

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BOTTOM LINE:

In my perspective GTX 650 ti boost is a more attractive option, just due to it's software and effiency. There is not long until new GPUs will arrive on the market, and spending a lot now seems stupid.

Future proofing is simply not realistic, so anyone that will tell you that one GPU is more future proof than the other is lying. However there are exceptions for example if you compare a GPU running with DX 10 compared to DX 11.1, or one MOBO features PCI-E 2.0 and one features PCI-E 3.0.

This case is no exception and technology will keep developing every day and better GPUs will arrive before you know, so to future proof something is not 'legit'.
 
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Onus

Onus

Titan
Jan 27, 2006
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I would have suggested the GTX650Ti Boost, but if the GTX660 is the same price, there's no point in it.
Your 24" monitor is most likely 1920x1080; I'm sure not less, and you'd probably remember if it were more (if only because you'd have paid a lot for it).
If you don't play a lot, don't mind lowered settings, and/or plan to upgrade in a couple of years anyway, the GTX650Ti might be enough. I have one and it is able to handle my games pretty well. Another option is the HD7790. If the GTX650Ti Boost is overpriced there (as opposed to the GTX660 being cheap), the HD7790 might be a good choice. Here, the HD7790 is generally the same price as the GTX650Ti Boost, which makes it an exceptionally bad deal.

GTX650Ti < HD7790 < HD7850 <= GTX650Ti Boost < GTX660
 
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jdowdy10

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Apr 12, 2013
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I would get the 660 if that and the 650 ti BOOST are priced the same.

I would also get the 660 if you are playing at 1080p resolution. Any resolution below that and I would get the 650 ti BOOST, regardless of performance per dollar.

It is diminishing returns as you go up in performance, but the 660 can be had for a good price if you catch it on sale and you never know when you may need to squeeze out some extra performance.

Also, I have Skyrim and had to make a bunch of ini file changes to make sure that the GPU didn't try to pre-load frames or else I would get graphical glitches. As you can see from the chart above, I get nine percent less performance that I'm sure I've made up in overclocking (I have a 7850 OC edition overclocked past that), but after these ini changes the game runs at 30 frames per second, not more, not less.

Point is, you may want that extra performance the 660 will give you if gaming at 1080p like I do.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I locked the game at 30 fps because it would jump up and down between 30-45 fps and this is on the Ultra Preset @1080p with VSync off.
 
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