Which GPU do I get?

Iron124

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I'm wondering what GPU is recommended with my budget of $115. (Basically $100, I'll allow another $15 for shipping, absolutely no more.)

Cards within my budget (used condition) appear to be around the 250 - 260x range. I saw a 2GB 260x for $93 w/ free shipping just yesterday, but it seems prices have jumped around $20 to $30 overnight. That same card is not running about $120, something I'm not willing to pay.

Back to searching has left me with very little options left. The 250 is far too weak for any real gaming purposes, I'd at least like to get high settings with 50FPS on modern titles, and at least 2 years out of the card (obviously being forced to drop the quality as time goes on.)

My search has left me with 2 options that I can find, a 260x for $108, which still seems like an okay deal, but hurts to have to pay another $15 for an identical card that I just saw yesterday. There's also a PowerColor 7850 for about $110 that I saw, but seeing as it's already the "older generation" of cards, I'm unsure of it's future-proofing potential. Still, it's 256 vs 128bit on the 260X, and the same amount of memory.

My preferred vendor is Amazon, but I'll begrudgingly allow other websites if the deal is good enough. Except Ebay. No Ebay. Ever.

Funny, a month ago I saw a 270 for $99. Wish I had grabbed it when I saw it, prices only seem to be going up.

What's the best route?
 
Solution
HD 7850 is stronger than the r7 260x. AMD so cleverly rebranded the HD 7790 into the 260x and the 7850 into the 265. But yeah the 256 bit bus will help a lot epecially with AA/AF. Not to mention HD 7850 overclocks like a beast, typically 1200core/1500mem.

Anyways with that budget you could snag a 270 (rebranded 7870) if you are patient and watch pcpartpicker daily for sales. If not, then just snag the 7850.
HD 7850 is stronger than the r7 260x. AMD so cleverly rebranded the HD 7790 into the 260x and the 7850 into the 265. But yeah the 256 bit bus will help a lot epecially with AA/AF. Not to mention HD 7850 overclocks like a beast, typically 1200core/1500mem.

Anyways with that budget you could snag a 270 (rebranded 7870) if you are patient and watch pcpartpicker daily for sales. If not, then just snag the 7850.
 
Solution

Iron124

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Just saw another 7850 posted for $100. Very very tempted, but would really like to go with a 270 if at all possible. The 260x is out of the running, I wasn't aware that it was basically a re-branded card. (I thought they added things like TrueAudio and Mantle? Maybe the older cards support this as well).

If I don't see anything within the next couple of days, I'll definitely go with the 7850, as it seems like a pretty good deal for the price.
 


I would definitely get the AMD HD 7850 since an "older generation" wouldn't matter much.
 

aasimas

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amd 7850 is far better than the r7 260x Just to let u know that the hd 7850 is the same card as the r7 265 except a few features since r7 265 is a rebrand. the r7 260x is not so good on the other hand. I would go with the 7850. U do the math r7 265 (same as 7850)> 260x (hint look at the numbers 26
5 and 260)