Vid Card Recommendations $425 and less

ln8367

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Mar 13, 2012
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Have a new rig I built that I had to return the vid card on and was reimbursed so have 425 max to spend on a new one. I want to order within the week so no waiting for the 670 for me.

Current Specs:

I5 2500k
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
Corsair Vengeance 8 mb 1600mhz
Corsair 850 TX
Cooler Master HAF 932
Apple Cinema Display 27"

With the recent price decrease in the 7950 card I was leaning towards it since I have a higher res monitor (2560x1440). Figure the 3 gb VRAM it has would be nice for this resolution. The 7870 also looks like a winner although I am not opposed to a GTX card either.

Any suggestions?
 

slicedtoad

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Mar 29, 2011
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the 7870 is a better "bang for your buck" even with the price changes (which haven't completely happened yet). That said, the 7950 is also fine if you want a slightly better performing card. The only current game that needs that 3GB is BF3, and only with lots of AA.

Some questions:
-are you OCing (cpu or gpu)?
-do you have a cpu cooler? If not, grab a hyper 212 at the same time as the vid card.
 

ln8367

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Mar 13, 2012
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I do plan on OCing both the CPU and GPU. I in fact do have the Hyper 212 EVO already installed, sorry I didnt mention that.

I also realize not really any game currently utilizes the 3 GB VRAM but was thinking more for future proofing purposes if the 7950 would be the better route.
 

ln8367

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Mar 13, 2012
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Yea I had seen those benchmarks hence why I was on the fence between those 2 cards as the 7870 OCed could match pretty closely the 7950. However with the prices dropping even more like you just posted sounding more and more like the 7950 might be the way to go.
 

smoggy12345

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Aug 11, 2009
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if u have a Xfire mobo....go for the 3gb 7950....much more future proof, you could add a second 7950 in say 2yrs time and still have a sufficient amount of VRAM....

2gb might be broken by that point any then say bye bye to highest settings regardless of your cards horsepower!

Thats the problem I have with GTX470 sli at the moment....they have too little VRAM although the have the horsepower of a GTX680....i still cant play BF3 on ULTRA coz i have too little VRAM!!!!!!

Min. FPS is just as important as avg. FPS!!!

 

ln8367

Honorable
Mar 13, 2012
12
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Exactly why I was leaning towards the 7950 and I do have a mobo that can support Xfire. For future proofing at the resolution felt it was the way to go just wanted others input before I pulled the trigger as it is still a big chunk of change to throw down lol


Thanks all for the feedback sounds like the 7950 for that price is a winner.
 

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