Please help me upgrade from this AMD 6770

[kiljosh]

Hi guys.

So I'm looking to upgrade from this entry level card because I feel it is the weak link in my system at this point. I have made a list here for you to easily review what I have.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rcL3

I want better performance while playing Planetside 2. Using the ingame FPS meter, I feel I could attain this by buying a new graphics card along with an aftermarket CPU cooler. So any recommendations on either would be much appreciated.

I would like to play in 1920x1080 resolution. I'm looking for a good deal. I could easily go and spend 400-500 and get what I'm looking for, but my price range is more along the lines of 200-300.

So any recommendations? I am an AMD fan but Nvidia is not out of the question. Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[Guest]

actually i have the same card as you bro, i have the 6770 series wich is good to play all games at medium setings, but i think im gonna go with this one

http://www.zotacusa.com/geforce-gtx-660-ti-amp-zt-60804-10p.html

it is around $300 and it will fit in small cases like the one i got, so

 

[bc5]

Well the best 'bang for your buck' options currently are the 7850, GTX660 and 7870. Performancewise there's very little difference as you move up, so with that in mind, 7850 would be my recommendation purely on framerates and cost. The nVidia option however gives you more in the form of adaptive vsync (for improved framerates when using vsync and your framerate drops below 60, since it won't restrict sub-refresh rate framerates like regular vsync), as well as FXAA, TXAA, PhysX etc...

FXAA is pretty cool - high quality AA (since it's a post-process technique, so anti-aliases the entire frame, including alpha textures) with almost zero performance impact. It's developer-dependent - you can force it but you get best results where it's been properly implemented. Max Payne 3 is a great example of it. We should be seeing a lot more of it moving forward. Plus GTX660 is a little bit faster than the 7850. So all in all a really excellent option!

 

[djangoringo]

For prices :

MSI TF 660 gtx : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127702 best 220$ range.


ASUS GTX660 TI DCUII : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121653 Best 280$ range.

 

[MajinCry]

@BC5 What are you on about? FXAA has a performance impact. You can expect to lose anywhere from 5 frames to 20 frames, depending on what is happening. Granted, it is much better than MSAA.

But even better, is SMAA. That AA injector is better than FXAA (No blur) whilst having an even smaller performance impact.

 

[sam_p_lay]

@BC5 What are you on about? FXAA has a performance impact. You can expect to lose anywhere from 5 frames to 20 frames, depending on what is happening. Granted, it is much better than MSAA.

But even better, is SMAA. That AA injector is better than FXAA (No blur) whilst having an even smaller performance impact.

Do you have a benchmark to back that up? What you describe is nothing like what I've seen. Also, better to use % than absolute fps values. 5-20fps is a massive loss from 30fps. From 100fps, not such a big deal.

 

[kiljosh]

Hey guys so I have read your replies, I appreciate your feedback. I checked out the AMD 7850 and found one that I think would look great with my black themed pc guts. I also included a 660 that meets my aesthetic needs but they have different specs so it's hard for me to compare it to an AMD card.

Check it out. Card Comparison

Do you think this is worth the $195 for the 7850 or should I splurge the extra 60 or so dollars and go up to the 7870? Or just spend the extra $25 and grab the 660(with only 192 bit memory). Does the extra speed from a 256bit card help at 1920x1080 resolutions or is it something I don't really need to worry about unless I'm running multiple monitors? Was told this by a friend but he's one of those people that just taloks to hear himself talk!

Also do you have any thoughts on this CPU Cooler?

As I said I want to try to have things looks right in my case and already have a Black Mobo and Black RAM so both of these cards and the cooler looked great and seem to have the nuts to back up the price. Plus black is just sexy. Just want some advice from the experts! GPU's are a big purchase and I have never messed around with aftermarket cooling.

 

[bc5]

The bus width thing is actually completely irrelevant - it's bandwidth that really matters. Check this out for a good explanation:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/378279-15-gtx660-7850-7870

EDIT: I mean check out the second post, best answer.

 

[kiljosh]

Best answer selected by kiljosh.