I'm in the market for a new GPU! I need help deciding which has the best bang for my buck.

Lt Mashumaro

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So, I've been looking for a new graphics card, as my current one (a Sapphire Radeon 6450 HD) is no longer cutting it for all of the different games that I play. It's fine for day-do-day computing, but I really only play games on here. I'd really love to be able to play them the way they were meant to be played; with beautiful, lag-free graphics. :D I mainly play World of Warcraft, Skyrim, Oblivion and other games that aren't as graphically demanding, so I was looking for something that would be around the $200-$250 range. I've really had my eye on the MSI R9 270X HAWK, but as you all may see, it's out of stock currently. I am torn between that and the one that is $10 cheaper, because I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between the two, other than the colors. :pt1cable:
I am also looking to future-proof my computer for a while too, and have started that by getting a much better CPU recently. XDD Anyway, I really do like those two graphics cards, but I'm not sure which to get, or even if either of those are the best for what they are. I've read that they are from a family of new-generation graphics cards, so I'm sure they'd be better than what I did want to get, which was a HIS Radeon 7850 2GB with IceQ. Any input at all would be great. Income tax season is abound!
Thanks for any assistance for a hardware noob like myself. :p
 
we are currently playing a waiting game for 3rd party coolers atm on the R7 and R9 gpu's
the 7850 is a lightly less powerful than the 7870 which is very close to the r9 270x. the faster clocks on the 270x set it apart.
as for performance difference between the r9 270x's you list there minimal. both us military class and Japanese capacitors and chokes so there over all performance deltas wold be very similar.
noise may be a factor due to different fans but other than that there pretty much identical as far as gaming performance goes. so get the cheaper if its no louder

ps. i like the way you embedded your links but the text colour makes them blend with the rest of the text instead of popping out.
 

Lt Mashumaro

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Oh, yeah. Sorry, I'm a purple-aholic. I didn't think about that as it was 5AM for me when I posted this, and I've got a program called f.lux that warms the screen's tone so it doesn't hurt my eyes late at night so the color looked a little different. :p And thanks for the compliment-- I try to make my posts clean so my question flows better.
 

Lt Mashumaro

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I'm not sure which answer to pick as the solution since every one of you said almost the exact same thing. I have decided on this here. I believe it's a good card, considering the massive amount of good reviews it has. Plus, I've also got a cheap $40 Sapphire card at the moment that has held up for the past 2 1/2 years that I've had it. It also seems to be the best 7870 in my price range that Newegg has in stock at the moment.
 
cant say im a fan of powercolour. i got my 5870 from them and the fan started grinding after 8 months. i tried to rma it but got the runaround, asking me to send it to a company that had nothing to do with the sale or making of it. even when i contacted this party they refused to accept the rma, saying its not there problem and they nolonger would handle powercolours rma's. went back to powercolour and they just stopped answering the emails.(yes i was polite). so buy it at your own risk...
 
I have never used a powercolor card personally, but I have built computers for people with them, and two years later they were running just fine. Everything has a risk. The sapphire is the next cheapest, and should run just fine, it has a nice cooler. Your choice, I won't make you get something you don't want.
 

Lt Mashumaro

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Yeah, I see what you're saying... but I'm going for build quality as well as power. I know Sapphire is great, because like I've said, I've had this one cheapo for 2 1/2 years and it hasn't failed me yet. Thanks for the suggestion though. :D
 

Lt Mashumaro

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While we're on the topic of GPUs, I have another quick question. (All of my specs are in my signature.)
If in case I wanted to crossfire two of the Sapphire 7870's in the near future, do you think my PSU would be able to handle them both? I watched a Benchmarking video for it on NeweggTV and the guy in the video says that when one isn't being used, like in the instance you're just doing 2D work, it turns off. I really like this idea... and when the monitor isn't being used at all, like in sleep mode, both turn off to save power. I think that's a genius idea, and I know I've got a decent power supply, but I'm not sure if it's THAT strong. :D
 

Lt Mashumaro

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Good idea. A had a friend suggest a 700w, but I wasn't sure if I would absolutely *need* one. Do you think it could run just one of these cards?