6850 vs 7770 for power supply

[nonewsgoodnews]

I have a 400w Corsair power supply in my current pc. AMD phenom II x3 710 and 4gig DDR2 memory.
I want to upgrade my graphics but I don't want to blow the pc up.

I want to spend no more than 150(only want to order from amazon). Here are the cards I'm looking at:

6850
www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-Radeon-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-GV-R685OC-1GD/dp/B004F6GJAU/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1342551439&sr=1-2&keywords=6850

6850
http://www.amazon.com/HIS-Radeon-Eyefinity-DisplayPort-Express/dp/B005D6P0N8/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1342551439&sr=1-3&keywords=6850

7770
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-11201-00-20G-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics/dp/B00782U10W/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1342551825&sr=1-1&keywords=7770

What would you guys get? I'm open to other cards at this price point if you have a better suggestion. Thanks.

 

[nonewsgoodnews]

Here is my power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008

I think its about 3 years old. PC runs like a champ though.

 

[mactronix]

I would go for the Gigabyte 6850 Your PSU will be fine to power it and its the best card there.

Mactronix

 

[bucknutty]

The 6850 is only rated to draw 130 watts. It will be fine on your 400watt.

 

[raytseng]

"IF" you can get over your restriction to amazon, I would try or at least research this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102993

It's got a good review on techpowerup, and for me has a criteria for being quiet. This is important to me. If noise doesn't matter for you, then maybe take a look at 6870s.

It is overclocked 8% so it makes it about even to the 6850

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_7770_Vapor-X/27.html

About 15watts less power consumption over the 6850 if that matters

 

[bawchicawawa]

recommended psu for a 6850 is 500w
recommended psu for the 7770 is 450w

I'd go with the 7770, it's on par with the performance of the 6850, but when they are both overclocked, the 7770 pulls ahead.

 

[nonewsgoodnews]

I read the review of that OCed 7770. It beat the stock 6850 in many games but its more expensive on amazon. I see other OCed versions of the 7770 for less:

gigabyte
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GV-R777OC-1GD-mini-Displayport-PCI-Express-Graphic/dp/B0079XWPF4/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1342564688&sr=8-6&keywords=7770+oc

Is there a big difference between the two? I don't care about noise just performance. I use a headset most of the time.

 

[mousseng]

I read the review of that OCed 7770. It beat the stock 6850 in many games but its more expensive on amazon. Is there a big difference between the two? I don't care about noise just performance. I use a headset most of the time.

The reason the Sapphire Vapor-X is more expensive is because it employs a vapor chamber cooling system, which keeps it cooler than a traditional dual-axial fan design. This allows it to overclock even higher than other 7770s (most of which will probably plateau out at 1100MHz - which is where the Vapor-X is clocked). The highest I've seen the Vapor-X go is 1215MHz (21.5% higher than stock), stable. To boot, it's much quieter and cooler than other video cards.

You should check out the reviews from TechPowerUp, Overclocker's Club, and Neoseeker. I'd say go for the Sapphire.

 

[nonewsgoodnews]

I like the vapor card, but I'm not sure its worth 50 more than the gigabyte I linked to. I found a review of the gigabyte here:
http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rid=218210

It beat the 6850 too and its a lot cheaper. I don't really want to overclock anyway. I'm not super hard up for cash but $40 cheaper for the same performance has me wondering?

edit:
that card didn't beat the 6850 in all games, just some.

edit again:
Just noticed the gigabyte has a $20 rebate on amazon as well. Still worth the price difference?
I'm not trying to argue just looking for value in performance/price. I will pay the difference if its worth it.

 

[nonewsgoodnews]

Ok well I went ahead and bought the gigabyte. I had about $40 left on a amazon gift card. Pair that with the rebate once I get it and the card will have cost me $50. Plus I just got an email that I got a free copy of DIRT showdown for steam with my purchase. Game is $40 on steam!

This steam sale is killing me. I missed bastion for $3.00 and Skyrim for 29.99. Hopefully they rerun the sale on the last day!
Always been a console guy but these prices are killing me!

 

[mousseng]

If you don't want to overclock, then the Gigabyte is probably the better choice for price/performance. But yeah, AMD cards come with either Dirt3 or Dirt Showdown.

But I'm there with you on Steam's sale. If I could, I'd just give you my copy of Bastion, but it's already tied to my account. We've still got about 5 days of sales left, so I'm sure there'll be some re-runs.