AMD Radeon XFX7850 1GB Core edition or Sapphire 6950 2GB

l2iceman · Oct 14, 2014

hey guys, so I'm building a budget PC, and have been reading about VRAM usage. I can get either of these two cards for free from a friend's old PC. Which would be the better option? I know the 7850 is more efficient and overall slightly faster, but this particular one is the 1GB model, vs the 6950 2GB model.

Other specs:
AMD Phenom x4 965 BE
MSI 970-G46
16gb ram
128gb SSD
850W PSU (overkill, but it was given to me)

MeteorsRaining · Oct 14, 2014

HD 6950 is better, solely due to more VRAM, even if 7850 was A LOT faster (which it isn't), 1GB VRAM would cap it on FHD. Also, HD 6950 is b/w R9 270 and 270X, so it'd be a worthwhile GPU over HD 7850 which's R9 265 if I'm not wrong.

junkeymonkey · Oct 14, 2014

may as well go for the newer release card-- tell him you want to test them out and see witch one works out the best for your needs and benches better on your rig

TopLuca · Oct 14, 2014

I agree with Meteors , I have the 6950 and at the time of the purchase back in 2012 I was in the same situation as the OP's and what I've done is that I bought the 6950 2gb due to the overall more Vram and the faster performance.

The 6950 is exactly ( with 10% difference according to the equipment used in benchmarking and drivers ) as fast as 7870 Ghz edition. I've tested both and couldn't really notice any difference except for 5-10% due to the 6950's age and old drivers.

For me the 6950 is still a very solid card and It'll definitely take my recommendation.

junkeymonkey · Oct 14, 2014

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/708123-7850-vs-6950

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-7850-vs-Radeon-HD-6950

http://www.hwcompare.com/12077/radeon-hd-6950-vs-radeon-hd-7850/

just try them out and pick the one that works the best in you rig

''. The performance difference between the two cards doesn't seem to be that significant, but I do like that the 7850 runs cooler, quieter, and on less power''

TopLuca · Oct 14, 2014

If you want benchmarks of the 6950 vs the 7870 Ghz Edition then I can provide that with my own testing

However you'll need to wait till friday as the 7870 Rig isn't with me now.

MeteorsRaining · Oct 14, 2014

GPUboss and HWcompare are some of the worst sites to compare GPUs. Benchmarks matter more than what is there on paper. And many benchmarks suggest 6950 is on par with 270, if not more, and definately better than HD 7850. The cooling and less power won't really be great if you don't get the performance vs its competitors.

junkeymonkey · Oct 14, 2014

wheres your links to all that??

MeteorsRaining · Oct 14, 2014

NOTE: They're all with 2GB version of 7850, imagine what cutting off a GB of VRAM would do.

junkeymonkey · Oct 14, 2014

well looks the same to me between the two and as far as 1gb to 2gb , I don't see any big improvements here with my cards as far as all that goes its splitting hairs

then you get to power and cooling or lets say overall efficiency 7000 cards got that beat newer release but like I said he needs to get the two cards and test them out on HIS rig to see what he likes or works out the best on it

MeteorsRaining · Oct 14, 2014

To be honest, you're simply not getting the difference 1GB would make in FHD gaming, any capable card wil be SEVERLY bottlenecked by its own VRAM at 1GB. GTX 750 gets bottlenecked at 1GB, GTX 770 gets bottlenecked at 2GB, 780 Ti gets bottlenecked at 3GB of VRAM. No matter how good the card itself is, the VRAM is indeed a BIG limiting factor, the graphics will not get space to be processed, resulting in lower performance than expected, and that is why, cooling and power factors won't come into existance.
Performance comes first, doesn't it? Look up for the differnece in 1 and 2GB VRAM for capable cards.

junkeymonkey · Oct 14, 2014

where did the gtx 780 come from ??? that's a long way from the 2 cards at issue

and like I said he just needs to get both cards and test them out and see whats what of them

its that easy

junkeymonkey · Oct 14, 2014

I see here where the 7850 1gb card is hurting [not]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6359/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-review/6

TopLuca · Oct 14, 2014

Junkey , I've played with both the 7870 Ghz edition ( Faster than a 270 but slower than the 270x for the most part ) and I can assure you its minimally faster than the 6950 , the 6950 beats the 7850 1GB any day of the week for me.

junkeymonkey · Oct 14, 2014

if you say so just cant seem to find anything that really backs you up on that

I own several of these cards 7870 7850 6950 6850 and so on so I really don't know what your basing this on

like I aske above post your links to show what you mean on this so I can see

junkeymonkey · Oct 14, 2014

P.S as I said above he needs to get both cards and test them on his rig and see what works the best for him between the two

TopLuca · Oct 14, 2014

Meteor's Links are quite clear for everybody , since I can't benchmark now due to the limited availability of time I have and I can't really have my hands on the 7870 Ghz Edition rig I'll rely on Meteor's link to prove me right.

The 7850 1GB will struggle on high textures quality with 1080p for the simple fact that it will reach the limit of the Vram available before its potential usually quite the opposite with the 4gb version of the 270X where the card runs out of performance before Vram is used up that's why people never recommend it.

I'll try and see If I have a spare 7850 1gb that I can use , if not then its going all to be theoretical .

About the 7870 I'll try and get the numbers , hopefully the rig is still there and isn't used by somebody else as otherwise I wouldn't be able to test with it.

Update : You can see that the 6970 is almost on par with the 7870 , with always 10% difference .

The overclocked 6950 ( with hacked bios ) can reach 6970 levels easily.

TopLuca · Oct 14, 2014

The site is doing weird things , always saying

404 - Page Not Found
404
Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.
Perhaps you can find what you are looking for by using our search feature?

I don't know really why its doing that , however what I wanted to add is that 7870 is only stronger by something very marginal and not really worth the extra money.

junkeymonkey · Oct 14, 2014

the op said '' I can get either of these two cards for free from a friend's old PC. Which would be the better option?'''

so get the newer release card

TopLuca · Oct 14, 2014

I respect your opinion Junkey but I see no reason for going with something that's weaker , you can argue that its not any weaker but believe it or not the 1GB difference in Vram will make huger differences.

BF4 Vram Usage on 2Gb Cards : 1.75 Gb/2Gb

Bioshock Infinite : 1.3 GB of Vram usage.

TopLuca · Oct 14, 2014

Very old picture back in the day and it proves the 10% difference I was talking about , Notice the 6970 beats the 7850 and is only 10% the 7870

The 6950 is essentially a 6970 with locked shaders that can be unlocked with slight bios tweaking

TopLuca · Oct 14, 2014

Also the based on the picture the difference between the 6950 and 7850 2gb is very very minimal so you'd have to assume that the 7850 1gb will fall behind especially in newer games like Skyrim , Battlefield , AC and others which have a big enough world that you'd have to use up all of the Vram available.

The 770 on AC:IV is a big example with the 2gb version not being able to handle the game.

junkeymonkey · Oct 14, 2014

up top its a 6950 ?? what thread are you looking at ?? this one is about

AMD Radeon XFX7850 1GB Core edition or Sapphire 6950 2GB

TopLuca · Oct 14, 2014

My anawer is very clear sir and the examples are used for demonstration , 1Gb isn't enough anymore for HD Gaming .Skyrim and battlefield are big examples , See for yourself

Why I mentoin the 6970 is that you can unlock the 6950's Bios to match its grade.

I haven't lost my mind yet , sir ; I know exactly which thread I am postong in .

AMD Radeon XFX7850 1GB Core edition or Sapphire 6950 2GB

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