Is a 7850 a worthwhile upgrade from a 6770?

[Brent916]

Around a year ago I purchased a HD6770 card and installed it in my computer.

My specs are:

AMD a6 quad core processor at 2.2hz
Radeon HD6770
8gigs of ram
windows 7 64bit

I'm looking to get the 7850 card and upgrading my PSU to a
thermaltake tr2 750 watt


Would it be worthwhile to upgrade to a 7850 from the 6770, and would the difference in performance be substantial?

 

[blazorthon]

I'd be a little worried about your CPU. It might be a limiting factor for you.

However, the 7850 is a very good card and it ahs a good price. I'd watch the 7870 more closely because some 7870 models drop into the 7850 price range occasionally and that's about as good as a deal gets with graphics cards.

 

[obsama1]

The APU will bottleneck it. It's based on an older architecture, so you won't see the full potential of the 7850.

 

[gamerkila57]

yes it is and jallenlabs is correct 600-650W is plenty

i recommend a Seasonic, Corsair, or Antec psu


HD 5770/6770 vs HD 7850

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/538?vs=549

Edit: also the APU will hold it back

 

[blazorthon]

The APU will bottleneck it. It's based on an older architecture, so you won't see the full potential of the 7850.

The architecture isn't the issue. The Phenom II x4s have the same CPU architecture and would be far better because they'd have higher frequencies and L3 cache. The problem is the lack of L3 cache and very low frequency for the architecture.

 

[Brent916]

I do understand I'm limited by my CPU.

What I'm wondering about is if I should shell out 300+ dollars, or just settle with my current performance.

regardless to the limitations of my CPU, should my system specs including the 7850 or the 7870 be able to handle more modern games at a higher quality as compared to my 6770 for the price I'm paying?

 

[obsama1]

The 7850 is great, and sometimes the 7870 does drop down to 7850 prices. You could get an i3 and mobo for $200 for a good upgrade.

 

[Surgeking]

Yes it is worth it! The 6770 is a great card but the 78xx are like 4 tiers up and a great value, You can grab it (or the 7870) now for an upgrade and if you ever upgrade the rest (go with intel cpu) you can swap the card and have a very nice rig.

 

[spentshells]

The 7850 is great, and sometimes the 7870 does drop down to 7850 prices. You could get an i3 and mobo for $200 for a good upgrade.

I like this suggestion, ivy pentium G2120 for 99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116777

or spare another 20 bucks

Sandy i3 2100 119
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115078

and

45 for a low end mobo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157315

or be a smart guy and learn to overclock what you have as best you can.

6770 isn't a bad card you can play games and enjoy them at med 1080 with a little more cpu power

 

[DieselDawgBeast]

I'm running an 1100t at stock speed, 16GB 1600Mhz Patriot, and a 6770. I can play bf3, guild wars 2, borderlands 2, fifa 13, skyrim, lotro, etc. etc. etc. completely maxxed out on my 30 inch dell ultrasharp at 1920x1200 with no flaws with my 1 6770. Filtering maxxed, everything maxxed all at 1920x1200. and i'm doing all of that with a crappy rocketfish 500watt modular psu. everything works perfectly with win 7 ultimate 64 bit. you would be amazed at how much you can get out of your 6770.. so my answer would 100 percent be no.. do not upgrade your graphics.. you definitely need another cpu/mobo/ram combo.

 

[gamerkila57]

I'm running an 1100t at stock speed, 16GB 1600Mhz Patriot, and a 6770. I can play bf3, guild wars 2, borderlands 2, fifa 13, skyrim, lotro, etc. etc. etc. completely maxxed out on my 30 inch dell ultrasharp at 1920x1200 with no flaws with my 1 6770. Filtering maxxed, everything maxxed all at 1920x1200. and i'm doing all of that with a crappy rocketfish 500watt modular psu. everything works perfectly with win 7 ultimate 64 bit. you would be amazed at how much you can get out of your 6770.. so my answer would 100 percent be no.. do not upgrade your graphics.. you definitely need another cpu/mobo/ram combo.

this is completely BS as i can't even fully max BF3 at 1920x1080 and i have a HD 6950 2GB which demolishes the HD 6770. and Skyrim maxed on a HD 6770 will lag like sh*t due to the Low FPS

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/538?vs=510

BF3 1920x1200 Ultra + FXAA High

HD 6770 30 FPS <---- Unplayable - HD 6950 2GB 50 FPS <----- playable

Skyrim 1920x1200 Very High Quality + 4xMSAA/16xAF

HD 6770 22 FPS <------ Very Unplayable - HD 6950 2GB 67 FPS <------ Playable

 

[blazorthon]

I have to agree with gamerkila57 on that. I find it hard to believe that you can max out BF3 MP with a 6770 in 1080p when even my 7850 struggles to hit over around 60FPS without its overclock unless you consider around average 35-40FPS or so to be "maxing out".

However, gamerkila57, AA/AF generally aren't involved in maxing out and the resolution here is 1080p, not 1920x1200, so maybe he/she wasn't including them. Maxing out usually refers to texture quality and in that case, it is possible that he/she is getting respectable FPS.

 

[gamerkila57]

I have to agree with gamerkila57 on that. I find it hard to believe that you can max out BF3 MP with a 6770 in 1080p when even my 7850 struggles to hit over around 60FPS without its overclock unless you consider around average 35-40FPS or so to be "maxing out".

However, gamerkila57, AA/AF generally aren't involved in maxing out and the resolution here is 1080p, not 1920x1200, so maybe he/she wasn't including them. Maxing out usually refers to texture quality and in that case, it is possible that he/she is getting respectable FPS.

i game at 1920x1080 and i still only get 55 FPS and 30 if i use AA and when some one says maxed out that generally means everthing is set to the highest it can go including AA/AF

 

[blazorthon]

i game at 1920x1080 and i still only get 55 FPS and 30 if i use AA and when some one says maxed out that generally means everthing is set to the highest it can go including AA/AF

Not in my experience. Maxing out means maxing out the texture quality in my experience. If AA was included in that, then some games that can use 32xCSAA or 4xSSAA and the like could simply decimate even the most incredible graphics configurations (four GTX 680s or four Radeon 7970 GHz Editions, all overclocked greatly) with decent resolutions.

 

[gamerkila57]

Not in my experience. Maxing out means maxing out the texture quality in my experience. If AA was included in that, then some games that can use 32xCSAA or 4xSSAA and the like could simply decimate even the most incredible graphics configurations (four GTX 680s or four Radeon 7970 GHz Editions, all overclocked greatly) with decent resolutions.

even if the Ultra on BF3 won't be playable on a HD 6770 as even a HD 6850 can't do Ultra at 1080p

 

[blazorthon]

even if the Ultra on BF3 won't be playable on a HD 6770 as even a HD 6850 can't do Ultra at 1080p

You'r ignoring FPS in your assumptions. Maybe he/she is happy with around 35-45 average FPS, which is likely where it'd be.

 

[gamerkila57]

You'r ignoring FPS in your assumptions. Maybe he/she is happy with around 35-45 average FPS, which is likely where it'd be.

that could be true but that's still misleading to the OP as he wants the best for his money

 

[blazorthon]

that could be true but that's still misleading to the OP as he wants the best for his money

Now that I can agree with.