HD7850 died - upgrade options for $200-250 (£150)?

Matt Lawson · Sep 25, 2015

Hi all,

My Radeon HD7850 has died. Was glitching for ages, causing driver crashes, and going to various screens of death.

I've taken it out, and now my PC is working fine, suggesting it has given up the ghost.

My budget for a replacement is $200-250.

My PC specs without the GPU are:

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (4 X 4GB)
[strike]2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable[/strike]
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER

I'm not a massive gamer, but would like to play games comfortably if I see fit. I'm into Cities: Skylines at the moment, and also like to play Skyrim from time to time. In other words, I don't want to DOWNgrade from my HD7850, and would be interested in improving on it if its within budget.

Any thoughts? At a push, I could rise to $300 (£200), but only if I would see a remarkable improvement.

Please note: although I am based in the UK, I will be in the USA for the next two weeks, and it is possible I could purchase something while I am there if it is cheaper than Britain. Regardless, I am looking to purchase by 15th October.

Many thanks.

ChumP · Sep 25, 2015

The R9 380 would be a great upgrade:

MSI Radeon R9 380 4G - 224.99$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127879&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Matt Lawson · Sep 25, 2015

Thanks - what's the difference (on the UK Newegg website) between these two please?

http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127879&cm_re=MSI_Radeon_R9_380_4G-_-14-127-879-_-Product

and...

http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127878&cm_re=MSI_Radeon_R9_380_4G-_-14-127-878-_-Product

ChumP · Sep 25, 2015

Matt Lawson :

There's not too much difference , only 25 MHz more on the core. Get the cheaper version the difference between those 2 card is very small.

Matt Lawson · Sep 25, 2015

Thanks for the prompt reply - looks like a great option for the price!

ChumP · Sep 25, 2015

No problem!

Schweet · Oct 1, 2015

I'd also go with the 4GB r9 380, Sapphire specifically, but whatever brand.

But, if you are willing to spend as much as $300 you could look into an r9 290, which would be a significant jump over the 380, and a much more noticeable upgrade over a 7850. It also wouldn't be bottlenecked by your system at all.

Matt Lawson · Oct 1, 2015

Schweet :

Thanks - would this one do the trick? http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150697&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-150-697-_-Product

Schweet · Oct 1, 2015

Matt Lawson :

That one should do, typically there isn't some huge difference between the different brands. it's more fanboying, or a particular look, or maybe a better fan that lets you overclock slightly more, or better temps or better customer service or whatever, but they will all be within a few fps of one another in terms of actual performance. Sapphire is kind of like the best, EVGA if you will, of AMD cards, but it will cost you more.

I'd look at this model as well:
http://www.amazon.com/Club-3D-Royal-Graphics-CGAX-R9298SO/dp/B00NUKISTW/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1443730439&sr=1-2&keywords=r9+290&refinements=p_36%3A25000-31000%2Cp_72%3A1248879011%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_five_browse-bin%3A8259091011
Which is comparable to the 290x in some benchmarks:
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/club3d_r9_290_royal_ace_review/7

And here's a 299.99 R9 290x:
http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Multimedia-Memory-Graphics-R9290XD54GV2/dp/B00J5EZIJ0/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1443730439&sr=1-4&keywords=r9+290&refinements=p_36%3A25000-31000%2Cp_72%3A1248879011%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_five_browse-bin%3A8259091011

here's a benchmark that compares the 290 and 380, just fyi:
http://www.legitreviews.com/sapphire-nitro-r9-390-8gb-nitro-r9-380-4gb-video-card-review_166123/8

the 290 will get you near gtx 970 like performance for 50 bucks cheaper.

And here's your DD XFX version on amazon with lots of good reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/XFX-Double-947MHz-Graphics-R9290AEDFD/dp/B00HHIPM5Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1443730439&sr=1-1&keywords=r9+290&refinements=p_36%3A25000-31000%2Cp_72%3A1248879011%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_five_browse-bin%3A8259091011

010TheMaster010 · Oct 1, 2015

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/6W2Z3C
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/6W2Z3C/by_merchant/

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 390 8GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $299.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-01 16:47 EDT-0400
At your budget you can actually afford this 390!

Schweet · Oct 1, 2015

010TheMaster010 :

nice!

Matt Lawson · Oct 4, 2015

Thanks all.

Found the Sapphire 4GB version for £224 (just within my budget), but says it required 750W power. Likewise with the 8GB mentioned above. I have 650W. Is this a problem?

Schweet · Oct 4, 2015

Matt Lawson :

Which Sapphire 4GB? THe r9 290? 390? 290x?

Matt Lawson · Oct 4, 2015

http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202145&cm_re=r9_290x-_-14-202-145-_-Product

R9 290x Tri-X

Schweet · Oct 4, 2015

Matt Lawson :

750W is a lot for one card, especially one that's not top enthusiast end, and your PSU is excellent quality, so it should be fine. Here are some threads discussing the same question with the same gpu:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2168165/sapphire-tri-290x-4gb-gddr5-power-supply.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/290x-with-650w-psu.197003/

They say 750w just cuz there are so many inefficient PSU's out there, but yours isn't one of them. Should work

You can check by inputting your system to pcpartpicker just to be sure. In fact, here it is:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/X7L2yc
and it comes out to 485W, so 650W on an efficient PSU like yours should be more than fine.

Matt Lawson · Oct 4, 2015

Sweet, thanks.

So if you were to purchase a GPU to last, would the Sapphire R9 290x Tri-X float your boat?

Is it the best one mentioned in this thread thus far?

Schweet · Oct 5, 2015

Matt Lawson :

The 390 is the newest one, but the 290x still outperforms it a little:
http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/1984-amd-r9-390-380-benchmark-review/Page-2

Matt Lawson · Oct 5, 2015

Thanks very much again.

Thinking of future proofing though, with a possible upgrade to 1440p monitor next year, would the 390 be a better option if its the same price?

I'm torn between 290x and 390, as all the websites I've looked at seem to have a different winner each time.

Schweet · Oct 5, 2015

Matt Lawson :

The 390 is the newer card that will probably improve with time as the software and drivers catch up and start to benefit from the newer technology. The 390 has the 8GB VRAM which will become more important in the coming years, perhaps vitally so. In 1440p and with DX12 the 390 is the winner because of this, definitely. It's more future proof for sure.

The 290x will win a little in many fps gaming benchmarks atm though. You honestly probably won't notice the difference

They're both good cards, can't really go wrong, but all else being roughly equal, I'd say go for the 390 given the future and 1440p advantages.

The 390 may also use less power according to pcpartpicker.

Matt Lawson · Oct 5, 2015

Thanks - and being brutally honest, I'm not a massive gamer, but when I do game, I like it to look good. I'm of the opinion that if I'm spending £30-40 on a game, it has to look good. You wouldn't buy a book and only read every other line, right?

My main gaming for this year will be Cities: Skylines and Rollercoaster Tycoon World, and maybe a little FIFA, so I think the 290x or 390 are both overkill for now, but like you said, future advantages.

I think it would be silly to buy a cheap 7850 replacement when the opportunity has arisen to upgrade my system.

HD7850 died - upgrade options for $200-250 (£150)?

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