Will the 7850 be enough for future games @1366x768?

[otsoloffufgus]

Hey everyone, I am upgrading my graphics card and am wondering if the HD 7850 would be enough for 1366x768 res?
I am not going to upgrade my monitor.... I also want this card to last for ATLEAST one year, and i want to be able to play games at ultra settings with 60fps, I was also thinking of getting a gtx 660, but i read that if you overclock the 7850 it can be almost as good.
My specs:
Intel core i3 2100 @ 3.1 ghz
Intel integrated graphics :/
Antec VP 450w PSU
1 tb HD
Like I said, the most important thing to me is being able to play all the latest games at ultra settings with 60fps.
Should i get the HD 7850 or the gtx 660?? (the 7850 is 160$ and the 660 is 200$)
Im really confused.

 

[johnsonjohnson]

Yes I think the HD 7850 will last a year at that resolution. You don't need to go with a GTX 660 at that resolution.

 

[otsoloffufgus]

Even for games like GTA V?

 

[simmons33]

Same. Its hard to future proof more than a year anymore. Your I3 will most likely be the next upgrae required in the future after you get your 7850.

Well, Future Proof by retaining at least High Graphics In new games
Low>Med>High>Ultra If you catch my drift

=D

 

[otsoloffufgus]

Ya i was thinkin about upgrading to core i5 2500 pretty soon, but the graphics card is more important at the moment. But the 7850 should be good for a year then?

 

[simmons33]

Yeah, If were talking about GPU, 7850 will suit ya well =D

Was just throwing the CPU out there as Extra Info

 

[otsoloffufgus]

Ok great! Now one more question, would there be any point in me getting a gtx 660? would it last longer and be noticeably faster?

 

[johnsonjohnson]

The GTX 660 is commonly talked about at 1080p so I would say that there's no point in you getting it. The GTX 660 is probably going to last a little longer and be a little faster but remember that next gen cards are always just around the corner.

 

[simmons33]

If I remember correctly, The GTX 660 is somewhat Equal to a 7870.
Im also not "That" knowlegable on AMD cards and how they compare to NvIDIA cards. The above was what I read somewhere else.

It would be faster than your 7850 from what Ive read on various forums and benchmarking sites. Some people say that as you lower your resolution that more stress is put on your CPU. And that with a lowergrade CPU, you would eventually bottleneck yourself.

If your going to get a GTX 660 then I recommend also getting a 1920x1080 Monitor of some sort.

I use a GTX 660 and I can max out just about everything with 60FPS+ (Mind you that at such a high resoluion I only use FXAA or 2x MSAA)

As for how long it would last just depends on the manufactuer. I love Asus Cards, But ive seen some last 1 year, some last 4-5. Just depends on so many different variables

 

[otsoloffufgus]

so getting a 660 wouldnt be worth the extra 40$?

 

[simmons33]

Unless getting a 1080p Monitor, No

 

[azathoth]

I would recommend you upgrade your monitor as soon as you can if you purchase a 7850, 1366x768 is a considerably low resolution!

 

[otsoloffufgus]

I would recommend you upgrade your monitor as soon as you can if you purchase a 7850, 1366x768 is a considerably low resolution!

Ya i know its pretty low but to be honest, i dont really mind, iv used 1080p monitors before and i really dont see that much difference.

 

[rocknrollz]

I have the same res. never got what the hype was about with 1080p with games. Sometimes I wish I had 1080p when I video edit for more space, but for games it goes great. I think the 660 is the way to go. It will max all your games out at that res for a little while.

 

[sm620]

I would go with NVidia just because the 660 is faster than all of AMd's cards depending on the model you get. I have a 660 ti and play at 1080p with 60 fps at max settings. NVidia also passes tons of great driver updates that will optimise your card for whatever games you play. I highly suggest NVidia over AMd, but it really depends on the model of the card in most cases because your speed varies with different brands and models. If you read that the AMd card can overclock to the 660, it might have been a specific card. If you overclock the 660 it will likely out perform the overclocked AMd. I do not recomend overclocking if you don't know what you are doing, so I suggest the 660 over the other one. If I were you I'd be concerned about bottlenecking on your CPU. the low res with a high card means you are more likely to lose performance on a lower end CPU.

 

[yummerzzz]

I would go with NVidia just because the 660 is faster than all of AMd's cards depending on the model you get. I have a 660 ti and play at 1080p with 60 fps at max settings. NVidia also passes tons of great driver updates that will optimise your card for whatever games you play. I highly suggest NVidia over AMd, but it really depends on the model of the card in most cases because your speed varies with different brands and models. If you read that the AMd card can overclock to the 660, it might have been a specific card. If you overclock the 660 it will likely out perform the overclocked AMd. I do not recomend overclocking if you don't know what you are doing, so I suggest the 660 over the other one. If I were you I'd be concerned about bottlenecking on your CPU. the low res with a high card means you are more likely to lose performance on a lower end CPU.

Disregard this post.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/548?vs=660
Go higher up and the HD 7950 destroys it, especially with the new drivers.

 

[mohit9206]

you frankly wont need anymore than a 7850 to play games on high-max settings for atleast a couple of years at your resolution.
so the extra cost of 660 is not justified

 

[simmons33]

7950 Does Destory Both the 660, 7850 and 7870, But it also costs more and needs more POWER! UNLIMITED POWER!!!! ... Ahem...Sorry

Still I recommend the 7850. 660,7870,7950 for 1080P



7950 - 299.99 -319.99 USD ■500W (or greater) power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connectors recommended

660 - 219.99 -239.9 USD / 450W Minimum System Power Requirement (W) One 6-pin

7870 - 219.99 - 259.99 USD ■500W (or greater) power supply with one 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connector recommended

7850 - 189.99 (Sale 169.99) - 219.99 USD ■500W (or greater) power supply with one 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connector recommended

Taken from reference Cards. They are a little over zealous witht the PSU requirments but you get the point

Edit-

Thank you mohit9206

@sm620 (Below) I know right? My 660 is OC to 1110Mhz

 

[sm620]

that benchmark uses a medium end 660. I will admit I hadn't looked at the 660, and I was a little disapointed to see that the clock rate wasn't as fast as I expected. a 660 card can hit 1100 MHz and the benchmark uses a 980MHz card with the 7870 the benchmark uses a 1000 MHz card and the higher AMd ones get 1100 MHz. that 20MHz can account for some of the differences and a new NVidia driver came out that optimized some high performance games. the 660 ti is a lot faster than the 660 than I thought so the 660 is not faster than all AMd cards, I was wrong on that because I hadn't looked any products up. I still think that the 660 is faster and the 660 has more proccessors in it so it will speed up anything that uses CUDA cores more.

 

[sm620]

by the way the bottlenecking thing might affect you because of the low resolution and your proccessor. I haven't looked at i3 proccessors because I don't have time, but if you bottleneck you can pick any GPU it will lock at specific speed if your CPU can't handle it. The i3 is usually a dual core so I think you will bottleneck. I might be wrong because I am new to CPU's and I am still learning about them.

 

[simmons33]

His i3 is Hyperthreaded so that should save the OP with most games right now. (That is, as long as the program can use Hyperthreding)

If the CPU doesnt have enough speed to send the information it needs to, then your GPU can only go as fast as the CPU can send information.

7850/660 Shouldnt have this issue. Anything higher most likely will =/

 

[sm620]

I didn't think any games utilized HT Technology. I heard that from someone on a diferent thread when I was asking about CPU's and gaming. either way both cards should play on maximum settings and get above 30 fps especially with the monitor. I would get the card that is supposed to last the longest.

 

[simmons33]

Only one I know of is BF3. Havnt fully researched it yet =D

Still, Being a NvIDIA fanboy I would automatic recommend the 660. But thats a bit overkill for 1366/768 ( 1,049.088)

Most all 660s are used at 1920/1080 (2,073,600)

7850s Cheaper and is a perfect fit IMO for 1366/768 =D

And I mean, Just the difference from going Intel HD Graphics to a Mid Range GPU is just scary

 

[bigcyco1]

GPU I would recommend

MSI Twin Frozr 660 non ti.


http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_660_Twin_Frozr_III/

 

[otsoloffufgus]

GPU I would recommend

MSI Twin Frozr 660 non ti.


http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_660_Twin_Frozr_III/

That card does look nice but its quite a bit more expensive :/ I found a 7850 for 160$