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Possible bad advice....

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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Upon reading the May suggestions for graphics cards I was puzzled. The recommendation for 260$ was the Radeon HD 7850. I read the specs and compared them to the Radeon HD 6950 and it would seem that both are equal in price but the Radeon HD 6950 was victorious in specifications. Now I understand that the article was written in May but I would still like to clear things up. Is there some unforeseen spec. that I am missing? Below is a list of the specs from both cards:

Radeon HD 7850

Universal Shaders: 1024
Texture Units: 64
ROPs: 32
Core Speed: 860 MHz
Memory Speed: 1200 MHz

Radeon HD 6950

Universal Shaders: 1408
Texture Units: 88
ROPs: 32
Core Speed: 800 MHz
Memory Speed: 1250 MHz

Please tell if I am wrong in this judgment because I am wanting to buy a graphics card at around 250$.

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Graphics card Authority

That's not wrong. 7850 runs cooler because of the die size reduction so it has more room for overclocking, but stock vs stock they trade blows, with the 7850 winning more than the 6950:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=510

but, now there is a 6950 on newegg for $200 ($190 after rebate) which is the clear price/performance winner. (~$250 7850 vs $190 6950)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Plus you get two free games.
Graphics card Authority

Memory speed and core speed can really only be compared within generations. Once you go to a new generation of GPU, the only way to compare them is via benchmarks of the same software.
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Graphics card Master

overclocking potential, power consumption, and ability to sli. you can crossfire 2 7850's easily with a 650w psu because its a low power consumption card and the 7850 only requires 1 6 pin connector to work, and is smaller. Being a lower power consumption card makes it cooler, and a combination of power consumption and temperature makes it one of the best overclockers for its price, other than the fact that it currently can utilize the very minute change of PCI-E 3.0.

the 6950 requires 2 6 pins and can turn into a 6970 if your willing the brick chance, its thicker, but at the current price sale of 200$, its not a bad choice.
Graphics card Master

If I were spending that amount, I'd consider a GTX 570. As the prices have decreased on the GTX 570, they are outclassing everything in this price range. They perform just under a 7870 for the same price as a 7850:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Review:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/...

I'm simply considering framerates for your money. Maybe there are some other criteria others are going by in that price range, but not me.
Graphics card Authority

Quote:
I have a 2.0 motherboard. Will the bandwidth go down with the 7850?


The 7850 won't saturate PCIe 2.0 x 16, so you wouldn't notice a slowdown.

And yes, 7850 does use less power too.

I have a 900w power supply so power is not a problem with the 6950, but overclocking is. I could crossfire 6950s but by the time I can afford a second it would be outdated. I guess I'll go with the modern one.
Graphics card Authority

Quote:
If I were spending that amount, I'd consider a GTX 570. As the prices have decreased on the GTX 570, they are outclassing everything in this price range. They perform just under a 7870 for the same price as a 7850:


This is true. If you aren't overclocking. 7850 & 7870 have incredible overclocking headroom, but if you don't want to mess with your stock clocks the 570 is a good value.

Still, performance per dollar is best with a 6950 @ $190.

If you look at the over all performance chart:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/...

using percent performance of 7870 as arbitrary "performance units"

570: 97/$260 = 0.37 perf/$$
6950: 90/$190 = 0.47 perf/$$
Graphics card Master

blade061188 said:
Quote:
If I were spending that amount, I'd consider a GTX 570. As the prices have decreased on the GTX 570, they are outclassing everything in this price range. They perform just under a 7870 for the same price as a 7850:


This is true. If you aren't overclocking. 7850 & 7870 have incredible overclocking headroom, but if you don't want to mess with your stock clocks the 570 is a good value.

Still, performance per dollar is best with a 6950 @ $190.

If you look at the over all performance chart:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/...

using percent performance of 7870 as arbitrary "performance units"

570: 97/$260 = 0.37 perf/$$
6950: 90/$190 = 0.47 perf/$$

Performance/dollar is always lower as the dollar amount is higher with just about anything.

For me, the bottom line is this... If I have $260-280 to spend on a video card, I'm going with the highest performance I can get in that price range. The GTX 570 is going to produce more frames per second than anything at that price. Well beyond the 6950 and 7850. As a buyer, that's what I consider.

I'm not sure I care that something under that level of performance is going to give me greater performance per dollar or I'd start looking at a Geforce 210 or Radeon 5450.
Graphics card Authority

Quote:
For me, the bottom line is this... If I have $260-280 to spend on a video card, I'm going with the highest performance I can get in that price range. The GTX 570 is going to produce more frames per second than anything at that price. Well beyond the 6950 and 7850. As a buyer, that's what I consider.


Sure. But both would give you playable framerates with at 1920x1080. Just worth mentioning that you get more bang for your buck with the 6950. Not arguing that you'd get better performance.

If you want to spend your whole budget, then 570 is the way to go, unless you overclock, like i mentioned before.
Graphics card Master

blade061188 said:
Quote:
For me, the bottom line is this... If I have $260-280 to spend on a video card, I'm going with the highest performance I can get in that price range. The GTX 570 is going to produce more frames per second than anything at that price. Well beyond the 6950 and 7850. As a buyer, that's what I consider.


Sure. But both would give you playable framerates with at 1920x1080. Just worth mentioning that you get more bang for your buck with the 6950. Not arguing that you'd get better performance.

If you want to spend your whole budget, then 570 is the way to go, unless you overclock, like i mentioned before.

570s are pretty good overclockers as well:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/evga_gt...

Are you even going to be overclocking the card, wl589?

You won't need to and you can keep your warranty with the GTX 570 by not overclocking. Though if you want to, the review shows it is quite capable.

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Graphics card Master

wl589 said:
I might be overclocking but it is not extremely important. You are making the 570 look good but should I just cough up the extra 50 bucks and spend 300$?

The card I linked is $270/$260 after MIR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Also, is one of the last EVGAs with the lifetime warranty as they recently changed all their warranties to 3-year (which is still good).

Choose this one if you need an HDMI out:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

It's $275/$265 after MIR.
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