Need Advice on HD 7870 vs. HD 7950 vs. GTX660ti for first build

[sonicguy11]

Hi guys,

I need some serious help choosing my first graphics card. I've been looking for two weeks now and the more I read the more confused I get so I thought turning to the professionals would be a good idea. Here are my specs and such with a bit more info about my requirements.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 16th or 17th Aug once the 660 ti has been released.

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming (BF3, Witcher 2, Batman AC at 1920x1080 res and ultra/high settings initially). Office applications in addition to Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, multiple spreadsheets, documents and adobe windows will need to be open at once. General web browsing.

SYSTEM SPECS: Intel i5-3750K, Corsair Vengeance 8GB RAM, Asus P8Z77-V mobo, Corsair 750W M. The case is a NZXT Phantom 410.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Prices are at current exchange rates.
HD 7950;
MSI Overclocked Twin Frozr III (88MHZ) (scan.co.uk) (£269.75/$423)
GIGABYTE OC (900MHz) (novatech.co.uk) (£275/$431)
Sapphire Dual-X (scan.co.uk) (£263.75/$414)

HD 7870;
Sapphire OC (1050MHz) (novatech.co.uk) (£229.99/$360)
Gigabyte OC (1100MHz) (scan.co.uk) (£239.74/$376)
MSI Twin Frozer III OC (scan.co.uk) (£227.74/$357)
MSI Hawk (overclockers.co.uk) (£230/$360)

GTX 660 ti (£??? but probably comparable to HD 7870 in the UK)

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe in the future

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

Okay everyone, what this boils down to is which card will serve me the best in the long run (3+ years) as I don't intend to change this setup once I've bought the card.

Is spending the extra on the HD 7950 worth it in the long run or will the cheaper cards last me? If the latter is the case should I wait for the 660 ti or buy a 7870? Lastly can you recommend any of the cards listed above, currently I am looking at either the MSI or Gigabyte 7950s and either the MSI Hawk or the Gigabyte 7870.

I know that there are a fair few questions there but I would really appreciate any advice you have.

Cheers

 

[refillable]

For now, 7870. But, if you would want to wait for the 660 Ti to come at decent Prices (I would still recommend it even when it cost just a bit more than the 7950 (say £280).

 

[michaelmk86]

2 weeks ago i saw the Asus HD 7950 TOP for £239 but now it is £279 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-275-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673 I sugest you to keep an eye on this in case it goes down again to £239.

 

[verbalizer]

Spoiler

[flash=560,315]http://www.youtube.com/v/-1v4pL6U9pA?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash]

 

[AceofSpades117]

I would say the 660 ti. Over here in the US it's cheaper or the same price (depending on the manufacturer) as a 7870 but offers performance comparable to the 7950 and even the 7970.

 

[gamerkila57]

HD 7950

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-benchmark-review,3279-17.html

"I for one was disappointed by the GTX 660TI. For a card advertised to compete with HD 7950 for less, it falls woefully short. According to Tom's it's actually 5%-10% slower then the HD 7870 which is now $20-$30 cheaper. "

 

[AceofSpades117]

Whoops I didn't look at all the benchmarks yet. gamerkila57 is correct. Disregard my above post as it only applied to Battlefield 3. Now, how do you delete a post?

 

[ncasolo]

I chose the 7950 over the 7870. Specifically I chose the HIS IceQ Turbo 7950. The article on Toms benchmarking the 660Ti also suggested the 7950 does out perform the 660Ti in the circumstances they tested. However, it is my understanding that NVidia does better with BF3 than AMD.

With that said unless you plan to crossfire/SLI in the future you don't need a 750W power supply. That's overkill for the system you have suggested. 650W should be plenty and even that is probably more than you really need.

 

[Guest]

The GTX-660Ti is the best "bang for the buck" at the moment.

 

[sonicguy11]

Thanks for the helpful tips everyone. After much consideration I ended up going for the Gigabyte WindForce 660 Ti. I managed to get it for £250 with Borderlands 2 thrown in.

 

[refillable]

Oh yes, review coming up, take out my last post. The best for you is the 7950, the most expensive card that you can get. I think it's the best for now, especially they now has a BIOS update that can run it faster .

 

[Bean007]

I would have to say the 7870 as well. Currently I'm running the eVga GTX 460 SC EE and the gpu wouldn't throttle up when I would play my games so did the RMA thing and I guess they still had some lying around cause there sending me another GTX 460. When the GTX 660Ti came out my eyes opened and I really wanted to get one just to replace my 460 but after seeing so many reviews with the 7870 added as part of the compare I'm having a change of heart and thinking about getting the 7870.

I doubt the prices will be coming down within the next month or so cause the 7870 has been out a little bit longer and if nVidia really wanted to bring some AMD people over they should have priced it to make it look intresting. I've never owned a ATI/AMD card ever even though I'm using my friends old 5450 right now. I've always been a nVidia fan since my 1st build which was a AMD K7 750Mhz but now I might be switching over. I know I don't want a reference cooling card cause I really think that don't do really good jobs like the non reference coolers.