Graphic card advice

razalas

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Sep 26, 2012
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Hello i have this recent build http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xKYy and after i receive and RMA 2 sapphire 7870 graphic cards due to black screen problem i am here to ask what graphic card should i get if i dont want more trouble... It's been 3 months since i bought all this and this is the time that pixmania took to give me the money back.
Any advice please? I am willing to pay a close price to the one i had (sapphire 7870).

Thanks.
 

razalas

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Sep 26, 2012
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10,530
my only problem is that my motherboard supports crossfire so in the future i could get one more AMD graphic card... but dunno if it's worth the risk.... Are there such common problem with nvidia aswell?
 
Well let me ask you a few questions.

1. Do you use one monitor if so!
a. It is horribly overkill to get more then one graphic card.
b. SLi/CF scaling has improved over time but there is no need for multiple cards
b2. People often times run into issues with stuttering or what people call a non-smooth experience with there cards in SLi/CF.
2. Based on the performance that your 7870 was able to dish out if you were to go Nvidia I would go with the 660Ti it competes against the 7950.
http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited/4
a. if you want the best long term value the 670 is the way to go. However not everyone can put a 300-400 dollar card.
(prices of both cards from top to bottom)
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=113,101&r=2048&sort=a5
3. Also with all this out there and suggestions from left and right what does your system comprise of.
CPU:
MOTHERBOARD:
RAM:
VIDEO CARD: WIP (work in progress)
POWER SUPPLY:
CASE: (Helpful in advising a card that would best suite your needs on cooling)

If you have a store bought computer please provide the following.
COMPANY NAME:
MODEL NUMBER:

 


I used to think that way too about SLI/Crossfire till i realized that when my card got to the point i would need to upgrade it for more graphics power that there was always a better single newer gen card solution(sell old card to buy new high end card, ended up being less money out of pocket than buying a second older card for pretty much the same performance as the SLI/CF setup).
 

razalas

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Sep 26, 2012
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10,530
I can now get Gigabyte 7870, MSI 7870 or ASUS GTX660 . But i check on newegg and there is not a single graphic card who has no complains of DOA or that it broke after some time... Any advice? I just don't want trouble again T_T . I game in my computer every single day for many hours so dunno if some of those is more stable and more reliable.
 


It is a very small percent of cards that will be DOA or need to be RMA'd you just got extreamly unlucky. You also have to keep in mind the people are much more likely to write reviews on a card when something has gone wrong... Just as an example with no facts backing my numbers : Assume you have 100 people with fully functioning cards with no issues... you might have 5-10 of them post a positive review... Where as if you had 100 people with faulty cards you might have closer to 75-80 people write a review on the product.

So you will have to make that decision on your own. All of the cards you listed will perform close enough to the same that you won't be able to tell a difference, if you are hesitant to go with AMD due to your experience with them - getting the GTX 660 seems like a good solution to me.
 
I agree I feel user error is more common with products that get bad reviews at times from customers. There are cards that are DOA but few and far between.

I think the 660 is great I would go with the 660Ti as its kind of in the same ballpark as the 7870 price wise.
I've sorted out the cards 7870, 660, and 660Ti through pcpartpicker this is a good way to monitor prices on video cards.
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=114,113,82&sort=a5
 


Err i seem to be following you around and arguing with everything you post lol.. It is nothing against you.

the GTX 660TI is priced in the $270-$330 range 7870 is $210-$250 and the GTX 660 is $200-$230..

The GTX 660ti is more of a comparison to the AMD 7950 not 7870...

The GTX 660 is about 2-5% slower than the 7870 but has other features the 7870 does not have such as adaptive sync, physx, 3d vision, and so on as well as costing 10% less
 
Well price wise the way I see it is you are right the GTX660 is against the 7850 and the GTX660Ti is slated around the 7950. I look at the 7870 as kind of the wild card where its not really a mid range card but not necessarily a competitor its kind of in its own space. So here is my logic if you are spending near the money for a 7870 then perhaps you should look at either the 7950 or the GTX660Ti and the GTX660Ti tends to be the cheaper option. So I'm basically saying I write off the 7870 because it kind of stands on its own its better then the GTX660 but not the GTX660Ti. I don't think we argue with one another or disagree its more of a debate everyone see's things a little differently it doesn't offend me.