New GPU for my wife

djscribbles

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I've been planning on upgrading my wife's GPU from a nVidia 6600 (or something close to that) for a while and I'm trying to decide between the 7770 and the 7750.

I haven't done a ton of research on the low-end cards of this gen, so I figured I'd just ask :)


The PSU is solid and can handle either. She'll have a Phenom2 985 (IIRC) with 12GB ram to back it up. She mostly plays casual games, Sims3, and potentially diablo3. She doesn't really care about graphics settings much, but I'd like it to run medium-well at 1680x1050, and probably want to run the card for 4 or 5 years or more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129231

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129232

Are the likely candidates, mostly for the lifetime warranty (I've used a visiontek warranty in the past to get me thru to the 7xxx generation of cards). Money isn't really a problem, and the cards won't be OC'd.
 
Solution


If the definition of "bang for the buck" is "cost per frame, that's a hard argument for me to accept.

The 7870 costs $ 360.00 and garners 701 fps in Guru3D's 2012 game test suite for a cost of $0.51 per frame
The 7850 costs $ 260.00 and garners 596 fps in Guru3D's 2012 game test suite for a cost of $0.44 per frame
The 7770 costs $ 150.00 and garners 375 fps in Guru3D's 2012 game test suite for a cost of $0.40 per frame
The 7750 costs $ 110.00 and garners 291 fps in Guru3D's 2012 game test suite for a cost of $0.38 per frame

The 7770 gives you...

ussra2

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I would reccomend the XFX 7770 Ghz Edition with a slight overclock and very good heatsink and double fan. It runs quite and has great performance. I have always had great luck with XFX, their support is awesome and if you register the card, then you get a lifetime warranty and if you sell it or give to someone else, they can register it and get the lifetime warranty too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150599
$159 on newegg.
 

PCgamer81

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Personally, I would recommend the 7870. It is a bit more expensive than the cards mentioned, but if you indeed want a card that will play games for 4 or 5 years into the future (at least well), I would recommend a card at least that powerful.

The 7870 is by far and away the best bang for buck GPU on the market, at least in my opinion. Your wife would definitely be maxing games in 1680x1050 for some time to come with that card.

With that said, I think for 1680x1050, Sims 3 and Diablo 3 at medium settings, a 6670 would be all you would need and then some.

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-HD6670-PCI-Express-HD667XZHF3/dp/B004Z5GRW6
 
I am with gamer81, the 6670 is likely plenty of horsepower for this rig maxing out casual/medium load games, but if you want the rig to last then you will want to spend a little bit more and the 7770 is a pretty good deal ($/performance) and should last just about forever at that resolution (well... forever in computer time, which is 4-6 years). However, the 7870 is simply overkill for these types of games no matter how you slice it.

That being said, the rest of the GTX line will be coming out over the next several weeks, and prices may drop a bit further than they already have during that time. They are not going to halve in price or anything, but they will steadily go down a bit more before stabilizing if you are not in a rush.
 


If the definition of "bang for the buck" is "cost per frame, that's a hard argument for me to accept.

The 7870 costs $ 360.00 and garners 701 fps in Guru3D's 2012 game test suite for a cost of $0.51 per frame
The 7850 costs $ 260.00 and garners 596 fps in Guru3D's 2012 game test suite for a cost of $0.44 per frame
The 7770 costs $ 150.00 and garners 375 fps in Guru3D's 2012 game test suite for a cost of $0.40 per frame
The 7750 costs $ 110.00 and garners 291 fps in Guru3D's 2012 game test suite for a cost of $0.38 per frame

The 7770 gives you 29% more performance for a 5% increase in cost per frame over the 7750 (almost 6:1)
The 7850 gives you 59% more performance for a 10% increase in cost per frame over the 7770 (almost 6:1)
The 7870 gives you 18% more performance for a 16% increase in cost per frame over the 7850 (Just over 1:1)

Given the law of diminishing returns, ya expect to pay more per frame for more performance.....the above has me liking the cost and performance of the 7770 and 7850 a lot more than the 7870 as that final cost bump doesn't bring as big of a return as the previous ones do. I'd have to recommend putting DJ's wifie in the 7770 at this point.

nVidia won't have current generation competition for the 78xx and 77xx series till next month. It's hard to do a direct comparison as Guru3D's game test suite has changed but using the 5 games common to both the 2011 and 2012 test suites....

The 7850 costs $ 260.00 and garners 360 fps in the common 5 games for a cost of $0.72 per frame
The 560 Ti costs $ 200.00 and garners 342 fps in the common 5 games for a cost of $0.59 per frame
The 560 Ti 900Mhz model costs $ 210.00 and garners 372 fps in the common 5 games for a cost of $0.56 per frame

That has me still liking the 560 Ti cost per frame numbers a bit better than the 7850's for similar performance. I'd really like the 7850 but it' gotta come down a bit in price to get into my April - early May builds.
 
Solution

vitornob

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I went to this review that have both HD7850 and GTX 560Ti.. usually HD7850 comes at top (thx God! Since this card is $50 bucks more)
AMD Radeon HD 7850 and 7870 review
 

PCgamer81

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^ :lol:

That's a lot of math just to prove him wrong.....
Honestly I do think the HD7750 is the best card, not sure if there's still HD6670s in stock
He didn't prove me wrong.

The 7870 is priced at the same point as a 6970 and 570 but performs at a 580 level. That is bang for buck.

If you want to get technical, the cheaper cards are going to net more frames per second dollar to dollar. But once you get into the high-end range, every increase in quality and performance is going to be paid for. In that respect, the 7870 is the best.

But for the games mentioned, the 6670 is all he will need. However, he also mentioned 4 or 5 years into the future. I would say the 7870 would be good in that regard.
 

djscribbles

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Thanks for all the replies (not to mention the detailed FPS/$ list). I had forgotten I actually posted this (I thought I just skipped posting it). I wound up getting the 7770; haven't installed it yet though, been very busy with wrapping up Rebound Rumble.

Also, while I don't dispute that the 7870 is a great card, I have a 7870 myself; but for my wife, it's wayyyyyy more than she would ever need, and by the time games would her games tax the 7770 to the point that I tell her she needs an upgrade, then another 150$ card will be available, and probably outpacing the 7870.

I also puchased visiontek for the lifetime warranty, my previous card (a 4870) was a visionTek, and their warranty saved my bacon when the card died last september; I'm glad the 7xxx series was worth the wait :D

Edit: Best answer for the datums :) despite $/frame not really being the absolute best metric (there is no best metric), it made me lul, and took quite a lot of effort; which is appreciated.