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Test for Graphics Card Experts: The Best Graphics Card in the List

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I have shortlisted the following graphics cards for my gaming pc for which I am currently choosing the parts. I will be using a core i5 2500K processor and 4GB RAM. I shall be using a motherboard with P67, Z68, or the Z77 chipset. I need help in selecting the best out of these graphics cards in terms of price and performance.

HIS AMD/ATI Radeon HD 6870 IceQ GPU 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
XFX AMD/ATI Radeon HD 6870 1 GB DDR5 Graphics Card
PowerColor AMD/ATI Radeon HD6870 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
Sapphire AMD/ATI Radeon HD 6870 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
Zotac NVIDIA Geforce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
MSI NVIDIA N560GTX-Ti M2D1GD5/OC 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
Forsa NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB DDR5 Graphics Card
Sparkle NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560Ti 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card

I feel I should not go with Zotac NVIDIA Geforce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card giving 950Mhz since it is very costly and I get almost the same performance with the AMD cards which give me 900Mhz. Just for 50Mhz paying that difference of money is not something I would like. The Zotac NVIDIA Geforce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card provides the 3D support. I would like to know what it is.
I need help as I am in a complete state of confusion.

I would also like to know what are CUDA cores, and what is their utility in a gaming experience????!!!

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Graphics card Master

I would suggest getting a 2GB version of the cards you listed, or even possibly the newer generation cards such as the 7850 and above. You can also wait for the 660 when it comes out.

3D support is for games that support 3D games, you have to wear special glasses.

CUDA is Nvidia's computing architecture (computing engine):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUDA
Graphics card Master

akhr said:

I feel I should not go with Zotac NVIDIA Geforce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card giving 950Mhz since it is very costly and I get almost the same performance with the AMD cards which give me 900Mhz. Just for 50Mhz paying that difference of money is not something I would like.


Just like CPUs, speed means nothing. you cannot compare by clock rate outside of the same architecture, especially between nvidia and AMD. They are completely different designs. You need to look at actual benchmarks.

The competition for the 560Ti is the 6950 not the 6870. The 6870 is NOT at the same performance as a 560Ti its a level below. Since the 6950 is out of production, and the 560Ti is last Gen I'd recommend a 7850
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But when I was checking the minimum requirements of some AMD Radeon HD graphics cards, it said that a Bluray was needed and For an AMD CrossFireX System, A Second Same AMD Radeon Graphics Card, An AMD CrossFireX Ready Motherboard and One AMD CrossFireX Bridge Interconnect Cable per Graphics Card was needed. I think I should go with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics card, since I am not that hardcore gamer. I usually like to play games like fifa and GTA 4.

I shall probably assembling the parts of my pc in last week of july or 1st week of august. I can wait till that time. Are there any graphics cards yet to come out???
My budget will be the same as of the Nvidia GeForce or Radeon 6950 at the maximum.
Please help.....
Graphics card Master

In two to three months, more Kepler cards will likely have appeared, and prices may be different. This makes the suggestions we give today of limited value.
unksol is correct though, that of the cards you have listed, the GTX560Ti is stronger.
What PSU are you getting? For one of either of those cards, you'll need a high quality 450W-500W PSU.
And, BluRay is not "needed;" AMD cards from the 6000 series are able to decode BluRay, so if you have BluRay, the CPU will not need to do all the work. Similarly, you do not need to run more than one graphics card (CrossfireX); if you wanted to do that, you'd need a compatible motherboard and the CrossfireX bridge. That is not needed for a single card.
Graphics card Master

There are always graphics card that will come out in the future, but there won't be any for at least 2 months.

Going with GTX 560 Ti is a wise choice. The Zotac 950 MHz version is very fast card. Take a look here:



It's 12% faster than stock GTX 560 Ti.

Of course, if it's too expensive, you can go for other GTX 560 Ti cards. I'd advice against going with HD 6870 - GTX 560 Ti is much faster. You can't really go wrong with it.

akhr, I use a GTX 560 Ti and it's a good performer imo. As to cards released soon, the rumor mill says the GTX 660 Ti will be next and it will surely beat the 560 Ti but the only ones that know when are Nvidia and they aren't saying.

Sunius said:
There are always graphics card that will come out in the future, but there won't be any for at least 2 months.

Going with GTX 560 Ti is a wise choice. The Zotac 950 MHz version is very fast card. Take a look here:

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti_Amp_Edition/images/perfrel.gif

It's 12% faster than stock GTX 560 Ti.

Of course, if it's too expensive, you can go for other GTX 560 Ti cards. I'd advice against going with HD 6870 - GTX 560 Ti is much faster. You can't really go wrong with it.


Should I go with the Radeon 7850????

Desert Eagle said:
akhr, I use a GTX 560 Ti and it's a good performer imo. As to cards released soon, the rumor mill says the GTX 660 Ti will be next and it will surely beat the 560 Ti but the only ones that know when are Nvidia and they aren't saying.



Should I go with the Radeon 7850????

Onus said:
In two to three months, more Kepler cards will likely have appeared, and prices may be different. This makes the suggestions we give today of limited value.
unksol is correct though, that of the cards you have listed, the GTX560Ti is stronger.
What PSU are you getting? For one of either of those cards, you'll need a high quality 450W-500W PSU.
And, BluRay is not "needed;" AMD cards from the 6000 series are able to decode BluRay, so if you have BluRay, the CPU will not need to do all the work. Similarly, you do not need to run more than one graphics card (CrossfireX); if you wanted to do that, you'd need a compatible motherboard and the CrossfireX bridge. That is not needed for a single card.



I will be using a PSU which has >600W
Graphics card Master

I'll give you a comparison between GTX 560 Ti and HD 7850.

Their performance compares are follows:


As you can see, HD 7850 is around 8.75% faster.

Sapphire HD 7850: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - $249.99
Zotac GTX 560 Ti: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - $209.99

So for 19% increased price you get 8.75% faster card.

That's still not the whole story. The power consumption of HD 7850 is less than the power consumption of GTX 560 Ti.


That's 96W vs 159W. So GTX 560 Ti uses 63W more, which means 0.063 kWh more an hour. I personally pay $0.16 per kWh, so it would take me $40/($0.16/kWh * 0.063 kWh/h) ~= 4000 gaming hours to make them cost equal. That's around 2 years if you play 6 hours a day.

Now it's all up to you which one you choose :) .
Graphics card Master

akhr said:
I will be using a PSU which has >600W

What brand and model? Anyone can slap a "600W" label on a PSU (companies like Logisys and Diablotek do just that, because there are no consequences for wrongdoing), but if you get a quality unit, 500W is all you need; maybe less.

Sunius said:
I'll give you a comparison between GTX 560 Ti and HD 7850.

Their performance compares are follows:
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/images/perfrel.gif

As you can see, HD 7850 is around 8.75% faster.

Sapphire HD 7850: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - $249.99
Zotac GTX 560 Ti: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - $209.99

So for 19% increased price you get 8.75% faster card.

That's still not the whole story. The power consumption of HD 7850 is less than the power consumption of GTX 560 Ti.
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/images/power_peak.gif

That's 96W vs 159W. So GTX 560 Ti uses 63W more, which means 0.063 kWh more an hour. I personally pay $0.16 per kWh, so it would take me $40/($0.16/kWh * 0.063 kWh/h) ~= 4000 gaming hours to make them cost equal. That's around 2 years if you play 6 hours a day.

Now it's all up to you which one you choose :) .



Earlier when you had answered, the image posted by you showed Zotac GeForce 560 Ti at 100% and 7850
is only at 87%.......why pay more and get less???
Graphics card Master

akhr said:
Earlier when you had answered, the image posted by you showed Zotac GeForce 560 Ti at 100% and 7850
is only at 87%.......why pay more and get less???


What you see in those charts is relative performance. In my first link they made Zotac GTX 560 Ti to be at 100%, so they rated all other cards in relation to that. In the second picture, HD 7870 is rated at 100%.

If you transfer Zotac GTX 560 Ti to the second picture, it will be at around 80*100/89 ~= 89%. It means that Zotac GTX 560 Ti AMP! overclocked version exceeds STOCK HD 7850 performance by 2%. However, HD 7850 may be overclocked as well so it exceeds the GTX 560 Ti even further.

In my second post I showed you comparing of stock cards, because there's little point comparing stock vs overclocked.
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