Ati HD 6850 XXX vs Nvidia GTX660 - Worth the upgrade?

[MrWhaleTrain]

Hi there,

Recently I have been considering to upgrade my 6850 to a GTX660. Would this be a worthy upgrade? I have seen they have the same ammount of cores but would this be an "upgrade" so to speak?

Specifically speaking, I have been looking at this particular graphics card:

http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/gpu-nvidia/geforce-gtx-660-pci-e-30-(-960-cores)

Adding to this, if the card isn't worth upgrading to, what do you think will be an "upgrade"?

Additionally, I mainly like doing 3D Gaming and general gaming too so performance you could say is important to me.

Relating to the 3D gaming, if I got an Nvidia card would 3D still work through my LG D2342P 3D Passive Monitor? I'm thinking I may have a smoother 3D experience through an Nvidia card as I spend more time configuring the monitor with the ATI card than actually utilising 3D! I find that ATI have done a shoddy job at implementing 3D and although it is cheaper I find it annoying sometimes. For example, I FINALLY just got BF3 to work with Stereoscopic 3D on my ATI card with an upgrade to Windows 8 (Refused to work on Windows 7 X64) but unfortunatley I cannot scale it and left with black bars around the screen leaving me with out 3D. The blurryness is there and joins when you put glasses on but because it isn't scaled properly there is no 3D. This is a main reason to me considering an Nvidia card, would these problems go as Nvidia 3D is much more supported and implemented better?

Thank-you for your time and any help is appreciated

 

[shoaibams]

If you want 3d gaming then you should go only with nvidia.
Never the less HD 6850 is a very good card for gaming at 720p and also at 1080p in some games considering you have a powerfull CPU and Ram.

So in my openion GTX 660 would not be worth upgrading from HD 6850 as there will not be any drastic increase in performance for non-3d gaming.

But if you have only 3d gaming in mind than go for 660ti or GTX 670.
ATI cards are not a good choice for 3d gaming as i am also having XFX HD 6850 and still experimenting it with my 3d tv without any sucess.If you can share how you got BF3 running with 3d it would be very nice.

 

[33mvet]

Google 3d gaming with 6860. If I remember correctly you'll need a 120Hz monitor, 3rd party software and you'll need to un the game at 120fps. the 120fps gets divided by 2 to allow the same image to appear twice but with differences to create the 3d effect.

 

[nforce4max]

I don't know if the 660 can really manage 3D in future games as it is and the upcoming Crysis 3 will easily put a gtx680 down to the floor 1680x1050 with only 30fps. I suggest that you find a cheap short term solution or find a fix for your problem. If it is really that bad and you have had enough then go for it but remember future games that are coming out next year won't be anything to laugh at.

 

[Quaddro]

6850 is on par with GTX460 and GTX560 SE..
But..
GTX660 sometimes beat GTX580 as a king of 5 series..
and
GTX660 is a direct competitor of 7870..

so, it IS an upgrade..

But actually..you'll need at least 4-5 tiers upgrade, to enjoy fps rocketing from your old graphics card..

According to Tomshardware's Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart,this is 3 tier differences between 6850 and GTX660

 

[redgarl]

I have two 6850 OC in CF... I can tell you that my PC is making any single GPU PC a run for their money...

People overlook dual GPU configuration when it is now a necessity that can save you hundreds of dollars.

Of course, if you put 3D into the picture, I don`t have a clue.

 

[samuelohagan]

What redgarl said was a good idea, a 6850 is so cheap nowadays you might as well get another.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150618

Or for single card solutions I would not upgrade to anything below radeon hd 7950/gtx 670 level.

 

[Sakkura]

Hi there,

Recently I have been considering to upgrade my 6850 to a GTX660. Would this be a worthy upgrade? I have seen they have the same ammount of cores but would this be an "upgrade" so to speak?

The number of cores is misleading since the architectures are so different. What each core is capable of is very different. The GTX 660 is superior to the Radeon HD 7850, which is superior to the Radeon HD 6870, which is superior to your Radeon HD 6850. So there is a noticeable upgrade there. But for 3D it might still not quite be good enough.

A second 6850 in Crossfire would provide better performance, BUT there are serious downsides to that. AMDs 3D support is shaky in itself - adding Crossfire to the mix does not help at all. The 6850 is also known for microstuttering in Crossfire.

I'd probably recommend you try overclocking your 6850. They tend to overclock pretty damn well. If that can help you live with a little longer it'll give you a chance to save up for something beefier than the GTX 660. Ideally a 670.

 

[MrWhaleTrain]

If you want 3d gaming then you should go only with nvidia.
Never the less HD 6850 is a very good card for gaming at 720p and also at 1080p in some games considering you have a powerfull CPU and Ram.

So in my openion GTX 660 would not be worth upgrading from HD 6850 as there will not be any drastic increase in performance for non-3d gaming.

But if you have only 3d gaming in mind than go for 660ti or GTX 670.
ATI cards are not a good choice for 3d gaming as i am also having XFX HD 6850 and still experimenting it with my 3d tv without any sucess.If you can share how you got BF3 running with 3d it would be very nice.

I just simply upgraded to Windows 8 and enabled 3D in the resolution settings. Like I said before, I've had trouble scaling it so there is no point on ATI I guess.

I may save up for the GTX660TI instead to give me that room for the future, maybe a GTX670. Resolution wise, I only play on 1920x1080. Crossfire isn't really what I want to do as I like to stay with single cards. If I did buy a GTX660 how long would it last me? Would it play say BF3 on Ultra or High now?

Performance wise my 6850 is ok it's just the real reason I want an Nvidia card is to get rid of the shoddy 3D from ATI. I find that half the games need to be scaled to my resolution but I am unable to achieve anything sa there are no scaling options in games. How could I scale games to the correct size to utilise 3D in AMD. If I could fix that then I may stay with my 6850 for another year or so.

 

[shoaibams]

I just simply upgraded to Windows 8 and enabled 3D in the resolution settings. Like I said before, I've had trouble scaling it so there is no point on ATI I guess.

I may save up for the GTX660TI instead to give me that room for the future, maybe a GTX670. Resolution wise, I only play on 1920x1080. Crossfire isn't really what I want to do as I like to stay with single cards. If I did buy a GTX660 how long would it last me? Would it play say BF3 on Ultra or High now?

Performance wise my 6850 is ok it's just the real reason I want an Nvidia card is to get rid of the shoddy 3D from ATI. I find that half the games need to be scaled to my resolution but I am unable to achieve anything sa there are no scaling options in games. How could I scale games to the correct size to utilise 3D in AMD. If I could fix that then I may stay with my 6850 for another year or so.

Yesterday i installed DDD (Tridef) v5.5 and i was able to play 3d games,movies,and pictures in full sterioscopic support with my HD 6850 and win 7 x64.I played MOH WF,Testament of sherlok holmes,Boderlanders 2 and The walking dead (All Ultra and High settings at 720p and 1080p resolution) .....whoaaaaaaaa

I would recommend you to wait for the next 6 months or a year and then go for a GPU upgrade.The upcoming games of 2013-14 will even make GTX 660ti and 670 feel the dust.

As of now HD 6850 is good card to run all games at Ultra and High so dont go for an upgrade.
Get DDD(Tridef 5.5) for better 3d support.First try a 14 day full trial version and if you are satisfied then buy it.

http://www.tridef.com/


I have heard that nvidia has an edge in 3d support but not seen it with my eyes.
so if one of your friend has an good nvidia (GTX660 or better) card than take your moniter to the friend or borrow his card and test the 3d effect before buying anything....

 

[MrWhaleTrain]

Yesterday i installed DDD (Tridef) v5.5 and i was able to play 3d games,movies,and pictures in full sterioscopic support with my HD 6850 and win 7 x64.I played MOH WF,Testament of sherlok holmes,Boderlanders 2 and The walking dead (All Ultra and High settings at 720p and 1080p resolution) .....whoaaaaaaaa

I would recommend you to wait for the next 6 months or a year and then go for a GPU upgrade.The upcoming games of 2013-14 will even make GTX 660ti and 670 feel the dust.

As of now HD 6850 is good card to run all games at Ultra and High so dont go for an upgrade.
Get DDD(Tridef 5.5) for better 3d support.First try a 14 day full trial version and if you are satisfied then buy it.

http://www.tridef.com/


I have heard that nvidia has an edge in 3d support but not seen it with my eyes.
so if one of your friend has an good nvidia (GTX660 or better) card than take your moniter to the friend or borrow his card and test the 3d effect before buying anything....

I currently have used Tridef and it is a temp solution but it is crap using it in BF3. I may have to start using it again to do my 3D. I may wait for the graphics card upgrade.

Also can I ask, did you use the AMD 50% offer for Tridef? I currently have the LG edition from my LG monitor but I want retail. If you did use the AMD 50% did was it the proper tridef 3D or a special AMD 3DHD edition? It says TriDef 3D for AMD HD3D so I'm presuming it's not the proper retail one?

 

[shoaibams]

I currently have used Tridef and it is a temp solution but it is crap using it in BF3. I may have to start using it again to do my 3D. I may wait for the graphics card upgrade.

Also can I ask, did you use the AMD 50% offer for Tridef? I currently have the LG edition from my LG monitor but I want retail. If you did use the AMD 50% did was it the proper tridef 3D or a special AMD 3DHD edition? It says TriDef 3D for AMD HD3D so I'm presuming it's not the proper retail one?

I have not purchased it yet.I am still on trial version with 10 days remaining.3d gaming quality was excelent with the trail version.I used catalyst 12.11 beta with it rather than 12.10 but 3d gaming was a real pain in eyes.I prefer normal gaming but still i will purchase it anyway.I will let you know once i purchase it about that 50% discount.