Help choosing the best card for my system.

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

stryder77

Honorable
Sep 23, 2013
18
0
10,510
Hi, I need help choosing the best card for my system. I am concerned the CPU and PSU maybe a problem for me.

I currently have the following:

CPU: i7 920 2.66 ghz
RAM: 12 GB
GPU: Radeon 5870
PSU: 525 Watt

I am considering a 7950 or a gtx 760 but I am open to suggestions and want to get the absolute best card my system can handle and take full advantage of. Thanks for the help, I'm a little overwhelmed with all the info out there and want to make the best choice I can.
 
Solution
C

A simple check on anandtech.com will show you that the 7970 and the 770 trade blows on nearly every game. The only games that the 770 really pulls ahead are games that use PhysX.

On the PSU, the brand...
Sort by date Sort by votes
C

Cryptik

Honorable
Sep 7, 2013
28
0
10,540
Both the 7950 and the 760 trade blows in terms of performance, so the question is, do you want to pay more and go nvidia, or pay a little less and go radeon. IMO the best bang for the buck right now is Radeon, as the price is lower, and you get 3 free games.

It is, of course, entirely your choice. If I were to go Nvidia, I would stick with EVGA, as none of my friends have never had huge issues with EVGA, and the one time my friend had to use their customer service, he had a positive experience.

For Radeon, my go to brand is XFX, but Sapphire and Asus both make great cards as well, and they all have pretty good customer service. I don't know much about the other brands, as I've never really dealt with them.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ACTechy

ACTechy

Distinguished
Oct 25, 2012
1,765
0
20,960
What brand/model PSU are you running? That will make a difference; crappy PSU will be bad for all components, especially if not delivering quality power to GPU. The GTX 760 is the more powerful of the two cards mentioned (http://www.anandtech.com/show/7103/nvidia-geforce-gtx-760-review/13), but also more expensive. What games/applications are you running?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

stryder77

Honorable
Sep 23, 2013
18
0
10,510
Cryptik,

Do you think the CPU would bottleneck on those? I honestly never thought about it till I read a thread where someone was looking at a Titan and found out his CPU couldn't handle it. I realize that is an elite high end card, but it made me concnered
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

Cryptik

Honorable
Sep 7, 2013
28
0
10,540


Depends on the quality of the PSU. If you have a solid PSU with at least a bronze rating, it should be fine. The card manufactures generally recommend an excess of wattage to give people plenty of headroom. I don't think the 770 would bottleneck on the i7, but I'm not 100% sure.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

Cryptik

Honorable
Sep 7, 2013
28
0
10,540


They looked pretty close on anandtechs benches. The 770 pulled ahead by a bit, which could easily be regained and surpassed by an oc of a 7950.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ACTechy

ACTechy

Distinguished
Oct 25, 2012
1,765
0
20,960


Sure, the 760 and 7950 were fairly close sometimes, but not the 770, that's a different class.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

Cryptik

Honorable
Sep 7, 2013
28
0
10,540


No, not really. At stock speeds? Ya, sure. It's a step above and I'll give you that. However, the 7950 can be easily OC'd the 7970 speeds, which does directly trade blows with a 770, unless the games use physx, which you know, sucks for amd.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ACTechy

ACTechy

Distinguished
Oct 25, 2012
1,765
0
20,960


Even overclocked to 7970(ish) speeds, you're still talking about an 8-10gps gap in almost all cases. And sure, AMD overclocks better, but that's not to say nvidia can't be overclocked for reasonable gains. I don't see a scenario where the 7950 is ever better than a 770, except price.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ACTechy

ACTechy

Distinguished
Oct 25, 2012
1,765
0
20,960


I'd update your PSU at that point. Look for something Seasonic, Corsair, XFX, Antec, etc. 550W-600W ought to be fine for any of the cards above.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

stryder77

Honorable
Sep 23, 2013
18
0
10,510


I found out the brand. Apparently the PSU was made by ATX. Is that a good brand?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

Cryptik

Honorable
Sep 7, 2013
28
0
10,540

A simple check on anandtech.com will show you that the 7970 and the 770 trade blows on nearly every game. The only games that the 770 really pulls ahead are games that use PhysX.

On the PSU, the brand should be on the side or bottom of the PSU. Look up the model number and see if it is a bronze rated PSU. If it isn't, I would recommend you get a bronze rated 600 watt PSU.

Your CPU should be fine.

TL;DR - OP, go with a 7950 and overclock the core to 7970 levels, which you should be able to do just fine without bumping up the voltage. The 7950 is the best bang for your buck, and you also get 3 free games.

On the PSU, the brand should be on the side or bottom of the PSU. Look up the model number and see if it is a bronze rated PSU. If it isn't, I would recommend you get a bronze rated 600 watt PSU.

Your CPU should be fine.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
ACTechy

ACTechy

Distinguished
Oct 25, 2012
1,765
0
20,960


I'm done arguing about this, especially since I'm sure OP doesn't care that much.

A 770 stock solidly beats a 7950 stock and a 770 OC solidly beats a 7950 OC. (http://www.anandtech.com/show/6994/nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-review/17). End of story.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

Cryptik

Honorable
Sep 7, 2013
28
0
10,540


Oh boy, you seem to be misunderstanding the whole point of the conversation. The OP was asking about the 7950 vs the 760. The 7950 is a better card than the 760 ,and the 7950 is easily overclocked to the 7970 core clock, which would put an OC'd 7950 on equal footing with a 770, which if you look up bench marks, will show a 7950 OC and a non OC'd 770 will trade blows, which ultimately makes the 7950 a better bang for the buck card for the op. I don't know how you managed to get a convoluted notion that said a 7950 OC is better then an OC'd 770. Look at the review you posted, and you'll see that I'm right. The facts are right there. An OC'd 7950 = a stock speed 770, for a much lower cost.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom