Looking to Upgrade My 7850 GPU - Need Help!

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Zanez

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Hey Everyone,

I've had my Radeon HD 7850 2GB Factory OC'd for almost 2 years now, and I'm looking to upgrade my GPU for some of the newer games that are coming out. I recently picked up Dying Light, and with the lowest settings (it still looks awesome, by the way), I'm ranging from 25-40 FPS while I play. I'm willing to pay about $300 for a new card, but I would like some opinions on whether or not it's worth upgrading at the moment, or if I should wait for some price drops.

Here are my PC Specs:

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card
Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case
XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)

Also, is my 550W PSU going to restrain my GPU choices?

Thanks in advance!
 
Solution
geofelt
A GTX970 is priced near your budget, and will be a significant jump in graphics capability.
The good thing is that it is power efficient and will run on 500w.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

The similarly performing R9-290 and 290X cards need more like 650w.
Your psu is excellent quality, and should have extra power available if you want to try it.
One advantage of sticking with amd is that you would not need to change drivers.
OTOH, many prefer the nvidia drivers.
I suggest the GTX970.
On newegg, I find a large proportion 20-30% of R9 users giving the cards 0-1 negative eggs.
On the vram issue for the GTX970,..... ignore it.
The performance speaks for itself. Designers always make tradeoffs.
Here is an...
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2Be_or_Not2Be

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The only decent upgrade near your price range is the GTX 970. It is more power-efficient than the 7850, so you shouldn't have any problems running it with your 550W PS.

Whether or not you feel the upgrade is worth would be up to you. Check out the reviews. You may find a gain of 20-40fps in some games; that alone may make it worthwhile to you for a more "smooth" gaming session.
 
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sincreator

sincreator

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How about this card? r9 290 $245.99 http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=104017&vpn=AXR9%20290%204GBD5-TDHE%2FOC%2FTDHEV2%2FOC&manufacture=PowerColor

It's a tiny bit slower than a stock gtx970, but around $100 less. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1068?vs=1355 r9 290 vs gtx970

and yes, this upgrade would be worth it. Here is the comparison between your current card and the r9 290: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1068?vs=1076 You will more than double your current performance. ;)

PS: Your 550w PSU should be fine as well. In the benchmark comparisons they showed the power usage of the full system to peak at 355w. This was measured during furmark, one of the most demanding benchmarks there is.
 
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Z

Zanez

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Thanks for the reply.

I have my eye on the GTX 970, but keep hearing about the memory issues. I wondering if that should stop me from getting it, or if it'll be fixed shortly.
 
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Z

Zanez

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Thanks so much for the detailed response! Looks like that R9 200 is on back order :(

I've been keeping my eye on the GTX 970, but am a bit worried about the memory issues they've been having. Do you think it's something I should stray away from? Or will this get patched?

Also, thanks for confirming my PSU question :) I was a bit worried that I would limit myself based on my wattage.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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A GTX970 is priced near your budget, and will be a significant jump in graphics capability.
The good thing is that it is power efficient and will run on 500w.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

The similarly performing R9-290 and 290X cards need more like 650w.
Your psu is excellent quality, and should have extra power available if you want to try it.
One advantage of sticking with amd is that you would not need to change drivers.
OTOH, many prefer the nvidia drivers.
I suggest the GTX970.
On newegg, I find a large proportion 20-30% of R9 users giving the cards 0-1 negative eggs.
On the vram issue for the GTX970,..... ignore it.
The performance speaks for itself. Designers always make tradeoffs.
Here is an explanation:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8931/nvidia-publishes-statement-on-geforce-gtx-970-memory-allocation

And... vram is not a performance issue anyway. read this.
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/
 
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2Be_or_Not2Be

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There's nothing to "fix" - the only correction is that the hardware has been properly described. The performance hasn't changed at all, and it's a really nice performer. So if you get it, you definitely won't have to worry about "fixes" to the actual hardware.
 
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sincreator

sincreator

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Since your power supply is of very good quality I don't think you will have to worry as long as you are not overclocking: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_radeon_r9_290_directcuii_oc_review,9.html

Your worries about the GTX970 are really not needed. The card is still excellent performance wise, and the issue only seems to affect people running multiple monitors or 4k resolution.

The big difference right now is the price honestly. If the GTX970 was sitting at $300 it would be more attractive, but with r9 290's hitting around the $250-260 mark and most GTX970's sitting at or around the $350 mark the r9 290 is the better bang for buck.

Here is another r9 290, but this one is a little bit more expensive. Not much more though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150697&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-150-697-_-Product

or this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131549&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-131-549-_-Product

PS: AMD's drivers have been very good the last couple years, and the last Catalyst Omega driver was excellent. They used to have a lot of driver issues, but they seem to have a better handle on things nowadays. Maybe that's because they hired the omega team that used to make all the modded drivers. Well that's what I had read somewhere anyway. The omega driver was supposed to be their first release I believe.
 
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madmatt30

madmatt30

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what everybody else has said - I had a 7850 in the past - it was my first real gaming card & I have fond memories of it, a superb card for its day & still decent for budget gaming now - the 970 is in another league though my friend - youre looking at near 3 times the raw power of your old 7850 - & as stated before the vram issue is a complete & utter nonentity unless your looking at sli & 1440p+ resolutions.
Buy one & enjoy it like the rest of us,
 
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Z

Zanez

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Thanks so much for all of this info! It seems as though the GTX 970 is more expensive, but seems like the route to go in terms of reliability. Thanks again!
 
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Z

Zanez

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Once again, thanks for your responses and guidance! I appreciate the help. This is making my search a lot easier. Thank you!

And, yes, you're right, Catalyst seems to be pretty good. I've been using it since the latest Omega driver.
 
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Z

Zanez

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Ah, it's good to hear that from a previous 7850 user. I keep hearing positive things about the 970, so I think that will be my choice. Thanks!
 
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