Next Gen Gaming at 1600x900

alkingrey

Distinguished
Aug 29, 2012
31
0
18,540
I'm about to start ordering new parts for my comp until I have a new complete pc. I don't play at super High Res. so I'm curious what graphics card would I need to get to play games such as battlefield 4(i know specs aren't out, but what would be a safe bet) on ultra at 1600x900 and other next gen games,
My build is
AMD FX-8350
990fx Gigabyte mobo
8-gigs of corsair ram
850 Power Supply
???? Video Card lol
SO thanks in advance for the help

Edit: was considering a few cards below $300 if possible, maybe SLI 650ti boosts or 7000 series AMD, wouldn't be able to SLI at first have to spread the purchases out over a month or two, don't make a lot of money and i have bills lol.
 
Click the link below so see benchmarks of various cards ranging from $170 to $390. The article is from December 2012 so price may be different now. 1600x900 resolution is not benchmarked, so you will need to look at the benchmarks for 1680x1050 and use that to approximate what the performance might be. For a very rough estimate simply take the benchmarks and multiply by 1.25. Why? 1680x1050 has 25% more pixels than 1600x900 resolution.

Another method is to simply add the benchmarks number for 1280x800 and 1680x1050 and then divide by 2. Why? 1600x900 equals 1.44 million pixels. The sum of 1680x1050 + 1280x800 equals to 2.79 million pixels which is almost 2x more than 1600x900.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Club_3D/HD_7870_jokerCard_Tahiti_LE/1.html

Note that the test rig uses an Intel Core i7-3770K @ 4.6 GHz. That means game that are CPU dependent will likely have lower FPS with a slower CPU.
 
Battlefield 4 will be using a tweaked version of the Frostbite 2 game engine to the best of my knowledge. Sorry, I don't play nor do I follow BF3. Based on the below chart for BF3 @ 1680x1050, the Radeon HD 7950 and GTX 660 Ti both provide the same performance a stock speed Radeon HD 7870 provides slightly lower performance, while the OC'ed Radeon HD 7870 provides marginly better performance.

Like I stated before, either multiply the 1680x1050 benchmarks by 1.25 for approximate performance at the lower 1600x900 resolution, or add the benchmarks for 1280x800 and 1680x1050, then divide by 2.

bf3_1680_1050.gif


The following Ti is the least expense GTX 660 Ti on newegg selling for $245 after rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133466


The least expensive Radeon HD 7950 sells for $280 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202026

The least expensive 1GHz edition Radeon HD 7870 sells for $210
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418

Any of those card should suit your needs. Based on the following chart overall, the stock speed nVidia GTX 660 Ti is more powerful than an overclocked Radoen HD 7870 as well as being slightly faster than a stock speed Radeon HD 7950.

My recommendation is:

#1 - Buy the 1GHz Radeon HD 7870 which is $70 less expensive than the Radeon HD 7950. Buying a HD 7950 will give you 2% performance increase.

#2 - Buy the GTX 660 Ti because it is that fastest of all 3 cards. While cheaper than the Radeon HD 7950, it is also more expensive than the 1GHz Radeon HD 7870 while only providing 3% better performance.

#3 - Buy the Radeon HD 7950 because it is the most expensive of the three and by a slim margin of being 2% faster than the Radeon HD 7870 and 1% slower than the GTX 660 Ti, it is 2nd most powerful graphics card of the three... whoopie...

perfrel_1680.gif
 

alkingrey

Distinguished
Aug 29, 2012
31
0
18,540
Thanks for all the answers guys
Really helps
Edit: Sorry one more question, I have ALWAYS used evga Nvidia cards, my last one has lasted me 5~6 years, so I am a little biased, yet on Tom's Hardware I see AMD cards promoted alot, am I missing something? Every PC I've ever had has been AMD powered, just never a AMD GPU.
 
I recommend cards based on the performance level for the amount of money the OP. I don't care if it is AMD or nVidia. All that matters to me is that the card I recommend best suits the OP's needs.

OP = Original Poster which from what I was told was originally PO or Post Originator.

They probably should not be combined otherwise you might be referring to a PO OP or Pissed Off Original Poster. That can further lead to POOP or sh*t.