Is the 7770 a worthwhile upgrade for my current setup?

[MGSmaster101]

My machine is outdated, but I'm trying to squeeze a bit more strength out of it before I have to rebuild the whole thing. This is what I've got:

Wolfdale C2Duo E8400, OC.
Asrock P43DE3 board
4 gigs G.Skill DDR3 1600
Radeon HD 4850 (512mb of GDDR3 256bit BUS)
24' 1080p monitor

I'm trying to do a bit of modern-day gaming, but my graphics card is definitely slugging hard with any filtering or asset-heavy scenes on 1920x1080, an obvious problem with the card's small memory size. I'm sure my CPU is part of the bottleneck as well, but right now it's not my concern.

This is what I'm currently looking at as an upgrade. With my CPU being as outdated as it is, would I still see performence increase outside of the memory-induced spikes? If not, do you have any recommendations that would better suit my current machine?

 

[4745454b]

Not sure I'd bother. The 7770 while faster then your current card isn't that much faster. The extra memory will probably help more then the GPU. And if you will be upgrading soon you might not want to carry the 7770 over.

Up to you if you want to try it. It will provide a boost over current card, but its only around one or two cards better then what you already have. And if you build a new machine soon, it will be slower then everything else causing you to need to upgrade the GPU again. Might want to consider buying a 7850 now, and upgrading everything else in a few months.

 

[CaptainTom]

Not sure I'd bother. The 7770 while faster then your current card isn't that much faster. The extra memory will probably help more then the GPU. And if you will be upgrading soon you might not want to carry the 7770 over.

Up to you if you want to try it. It will provide a boost over current card, but its only around one or two cards better then what you already have. And if you build a new machine soon, it will be slower then everything else causing you to need to upgrade the GPU again. Might want to consider buying a 7850 now, and upgrading everything else in a few months.

I second this. The 7770 is definately quite a bit faster, but the 7850 2GB costs only ~$60 more and handles 1080p like butter...

 

[cuecuemore]

I'm with 4745454b, I wouldn't go for a 7770 as an upgrade to your current. And I wouldn't worry about the rest of your system, just go for the nicest card you can afford and worry about bottlenecking later.

 

[goldsauce]

Get the 7850 as it will be a much better performer compared to the 7770 and it will destroy your current graphics card.

7770 vs 7850

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/536?vs=549

As you can see in the benchmarks the 7850 comes close to double the performance the 7770 has in many games and in other games it is around 40% better.

 

[stickmansam]

If you're upgrading your platform soon grab a 7870
If you're not going to be upgrading your platform for a while grab a 7850

 

[MGSmaster101]

Thanks for the replies so far, extremely helpful. The problem is that the 7770 is already pretty expensive for my budget this year with other expenses, I'm just not able to spend that much. For <150$, I felt this was about the best I could do especially since it was recommended by the December GPU article.

As for upgrading the rest of my machine, I intended on doing that hopefully next summer if I had the money, so it's certainly not soon.

If it's such a large difference, would you then recommend me wait a month or two for price drops?

 

[mohit9206]

then get the GTX 650 Ti. its in your budget and faster than 7770

 

[4745454b]

Hmmm.

Next summer hopefully? I'm pretty sure we are getting new cards by then, or soon after depending on what month you consider to be summer. I second the idea for the GTX650TI. (not the GTX650) It should be under $150, and is faster then the 7770. The 7850 is what I was trying to steer you towards but if its too much then it too much. The 1GB 7850 is also great, but is usually around $180 so probably a no on that as well.

Now is also the time to buy btw. With the Cmas sales. Waiting a month or two won't help you any.

 

[CaptainTom]

then get the GTX 650 Ti. its in your budget and faster than 7770

The 650 Ti is only ~10% stronger than the 7770 and it costs 20% more. Price/performance wise the 7770 and 7850 1GB are king. You should just wait one month and get a 7870. It will be worth the small wait. Believe me I learned this the hard way...

 

[MGSmaster101]

Hey everyone, again I appreciate the replies and I'm taking your advice to heart. After looking around at benchmarks and reviews, I think I'm going to go ahead and aim for the 7850 if I can. Price varies a lot on Newegg per brand, and I'm hoping I can get a good recommendation. This one has caught my eye so far, and a free copy of Far Cry 3 (which I was intending on getting on steam sometime this winter) is almost too good to pass up. Despite that though, I'll take the cheapest you can find for up-front cost, including non-newegg stores.

 

[CaptainTom]

Hey everyone, again I appreciate the replies and I'm taking your advice to heart. After looking around at benchmarks and reviews, I think I'm going to go ahead and aim for the 7850 if I can. Price varies a lot on Newegg per brand, and I'm hoping I can get a good recommendation. This one has caught my eye so far, and a free copy of Far Cry 3 (which I was intending on getting on steam sometime this winter) is almost too good to pass up. Despite that though, I'll take the cheapest you can find for up-front cost, including non-newegg stores.

Yeah the one you found is the best one price wise. Also Far Cry 3 blew me away. So much better than I thought it would be! Possibly GOTY material!

It also comes with the new hitman which has gotten great rating too!

Edit: Consider the $185 2GB version. I know you want to save as much money as possible, but games use more than 1GB now at 1080p...

 

[MGSmaster101]

Edit: Consider the $185 2GB version. I know you want to save as much money as possible, but games use more than 1GB now at 1080p...

I don't think it'l be too big of a problem, Out of habit I typically keep AA at x2~x4 and AF at x4~x8, depending on the game. Any more and the performance decrease just doesn't seem worth it for the barely visible (for me, at least) increase in image quality.

 

[CaptainTom]

I don't think it'l be too big of a problem, Out of habit I typically keep AA at x2~x4 and AF at x4~x8, depending on the game. Any more and the performance decrease just doesn't seem worth it for the barely visible (for me, at least) increase in image quality.

If you think you are fine, go for it. But seriosly even AC3 (The definition of a console port) uses ~1100MB. Also how can you not afford $10 more dollars?

P.S. a GTX 660 is $190 on newegg now so that is even more recommended unless you hate AC3 and want FC3.

 

[MGSmaster101]

Best answer selected by MGSmaster101.