HD6670 vs GT640

[ARCTICvnc]

I am looking for a graphics card around $90 for mid level gaming at med-high settings I am looking at two cards. It has com down to AMD vs. Nvidia. These are the cards:

GeForce GT 640 1GB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814162113

Radeon HD 6670 1GB DDR5:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127586

I'm leaning towards the GT640 it's a factory overclocked card with a faster memory and core clock. And my PSU is only 400w. My CPU is an AMD athlon II x3 450. 8GB RAM. Is there a big difference between DDR5 and DDR3 even if it is 2x faster? Also, what exactly do you look for when telling which one is better. The GT640 has a much higher core clock and memory clock. I compared the cards on this website even though they don't have the 1gb version:

http://www.hwcompare.com/12828/gefor...-6670-oem-1gb/

Is memory bandwidth more important to gaming than the texel/pixel rate? Also would 2gb DDR3 be better than 1 GB DDR5 if i'm only running one monitor?

 

[nbelote]

There is a rather large difference between DDR3 and GDDR5. It can make a card that's slower on paper faster than a card with DDR3 that's faster on paper (which is what you're talking about).

The difference is noticeable enough to make the 6670 slightly faster:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gt-640-review,3214-3.html

Edit: And 2GB would never be necessary with that level of GPU. When you start getting into GTX 670s and 680s with multiple monitors it would, so you can run AA on all of that and not blow it out of the water. And more != faster, not always.

 

[maestro0428]

The cards trade blows depending on the game. Read that whole article and look for the games you like and then make your decision.

 

[Ironslice]

I would go with the GT 640 just because it uses so little power and is a new card. Why buy an old card if there is a new one that is just as good?

EDIT: I would get this 1GB version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162113&name=Desktop-Graphics-Cards

 

[ARCTICvnc]

The cards trade blows depending on the game. Read that whole article and look for the games you like and then make your decision.

After looking at that article it's crazy how close these cards are performance wise. If only Nvidia made a DDR5 GT640. The game I was hoping to play is GTA IV which is not on that list I have no idea which will be better.

 

[nbelote]

You can do better and get a 7770 1GB for $109 after rebate:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2042277&CatId=7387

 

[ARCTICvnc]

Thats out of my range for my budget and my PSU is pretty weak.

 

[Onus]

How about a HD7750? It also sips power. What brand and model is your PSU?

 

[XXStavrosXX]

You buy none of them, instead go for this 7750:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131461&name=Desktop-Graphics-Cards

It is considerably stronger than both 640 and 6670, it costs about the same and will not stress your PSU

 

[ARCTICvnc]

Would a DDR3 HD7750 be better than the GT640 and 6670? I can't get the DDR5 because $99+shipping+tax is over my budget.

 

[Onus]

I don't believe there are any DDR3 versions of the HD7750.
If you can buy from Newegg, they've got one that's $89+shipping, and you only pay extortion if you're in a state like mine (TN) where they have a physical presence.
It would absolutely be worth saving up another $10-$20 to get that.

 

[ARCTICvnc]

I don't believe there are any DDR3 versions of the HD7750.
If you can buy from Newegg, they've got one that's $89+shipping, and you only pay extortion if you're in a state like mine (TN) where they have a physical presence.
It would absolutely be worth saving up another $10-$20 to get that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131481&name=Desktop-Graphics-Cards

This is the $89 DDR3 7750. In California you have to pay aswell.

 

[XXStavrosXX]

640 and 6670 are only $10-$20 cheaper. Try save some bucks for 7750 ddr5, it really worth it.

 

[Onus]

^Yes, definitely. A GDDR5 HD7750 can play most games on modest settings; a DDR3 version would likely perform so poorly you'd become very irritated at yourself for spending the money on it.

 

[ARCTICvnc]

^Yes, definitely. A GDDR5 HD7750 can play most games on modest settings; a DDR3 version would likely perform so poorly you'd become very irritated at yourself for spending the money on it.

I went out and bught A DDR5 7750 but it won't read. The image shows on the screen but my taskbar is diffent color. The fist time it said hardware was noticed and then I downloaded drivers and it didn't read it. My Windows Experience idex dropped to a 1. I thaught pcie 3.0 card can fit i 2.0 slots. My mobo is a biostar 0960g+

 

[mohit9206]

i suggest un installing the drivers using driver fusion and then re installating the drivers again. i dont think there's any problem with your pcie slot. 7750 should work on all older pcie slots as they are backwards compatible.

 

[ARCTICvnc]

i suggest un installing the drivers using driver fusion and then re installating the drivers again. i dont think there's any problem with your pcie slot. 7750 should work on all older pcie slots as they are backwards compatible.

Thanks, I'll be sure to try that out. How is your 7750?

 

[Onus]

I also have one; it's in a PC I plan to give away this Christmas. It works pretty well. No, it isn't a HD7870, but it can play games with reasonable settings.

 

[mohit9206]

plays games at high settings for me at 1440*900. so far tried burnout paradise, mafia 2, crysis 2, walking dead. all play butter smooth at max settings.
however one game is giving bad performance. thats saints row 3. its only giving me 25-30 fps at just medium settings.
but its just that the game is not well optimized for amd cards i have read.
all other mentioned games give me in range of 40-60 fps easily.

 

[ARCTICvnc]

Thank you so much for all the help everybody. I got the card up and running. It turns out the on-board graphics drivers were being installed by the auto-detect on the AMD website. I disabled the on-board graphics and downloaded the drivers manually.

 

[Onus]

Cool beans. All's well that ends well then.