Looking for new card for bf3/crysis 3

[newbie1337]

My current specs are;

intel i5 650
8gb ddr3 ram @ 1333hz
amd sapphire 6870

I just bought battlefield premium and when playing my fps was around 40-50 on low settings which on the stock maps was usually above 60 fps in most cases and also when playing the crysis 3 beta i saw fps as low as 30 when playing with and average of 43 fps.
As these are the 2 games i plan to play the most i am wondering if i updated my gpu would i get 60+ fps on both of these games at low settings or would i have a bottle neck with my cpu. The cards I am looking at are the gtx 660ti and the amd 7950.

 

[Novuake]

My current specs are;

intel i5 650
8gb ddr3 ram @ 1333hz
amd sapphire 6870

I just bought battlefield premium and when playing my fps was around 40-50 on low settings which on the stock maps was usually above 60 fps in most cases and also when playing the crysis 3 beta i saw fps as low as 30 when playing with and average of 43 fps.
As these are the 2 games i plan to play the most i am wondering if i updated my gpu would i get 60+ fps on both of these games at low settings or would i have a bottle neck with my cpu. The cards I am looking at are the gtx 660ti and the amd 7950.

The beta is exactly that, still in Beta, so performance may very A LOT after release. But I am pretty sure you will be better of with a GTX660ti or an AMD HD7950. Personally I greatly prefer the AMD HD7950 above the GTX660ti.

Pros of the GTX660ti :
Has PhysX(neither of those 2 games use PhysX, but some nice games look awesome with it)
Slightly smoother in most games.

Pros for HD7950 :
Larger memory bus(better at AA and texture filtering)
More VRAM(much better at higher resolutions than the 660ti, should also play upcoming games better)
FREE GAMES! LOL Crysis 3 and another game will be bundled with this GPU if you buy it at the right place.

Personally depending on what games you play, that is the brand you pick. For your games definitely the AMD.

VERY nice AMD version of HD7950 :

Below : nice cooling, very good PCB and caps, OCs like a beast. Secondary BIOS too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

Below : Slightly better cooling that quite a bit more silent. Not as good caps, but still VERY good. Also has an auto boost function :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202003

Some nice Nvidia version of GTX660ti :

Great cooling and awesome look, fast factory OC clock speed.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500269

Asus is one of the most reliable brands that will never disappoint. Excellent cooling and great components.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121653

 

[newbie1337]

The beta is exactly that, still in Beta, so performance may very A LOT after release. But I am pretty sure you will be better of with a GTX660ti or an AMD HD7950. Personally I greatly prefer the AMD HD7950 above the GTX660ti.

Pros of the GTX660ti :
Has PhysX(neither of those 2 games use PhysX, but some nice games look awesome with it)
Slightly smoother in most games.

Pros for HD7950 :
Larger memory bus(better at AA and texture filtering)
More VRAM(much better at higher resolutions than the 660ti, should also play upcoming games better)
FREE GAMES! LOL Crysis 3 and another game will be bundled with this GPU if you buy it at the right place.

Personally depending on what games you play, that is the brand you pick. For your games definitely the AMD.

VERY nice AMD version of HD7950 :

Below : nice cooling, very good PCB and caps, OCs like a beast. Secondary BIOS too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

Below : Slightly better cooling that quite a bit more silent. Not as good caps, but still VERY good. Also has an auto boost function :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202003

Some nice Nvidia version of GTX660ti :

Great cooling and awesome look, fast factory OC clock speed.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500269

Asus is one of the most reliable brands that will never disappoint. Excellent cooling and great components.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121653

Although i agree with this, the problem lies which I should of stated early with my psu being a coolermaster gx450, 35A @ 12v+ (420w) If i where to choose the 7950 I would also have to upgrade my psu but the free games do look good.

 

[jessterman21]

GTX 660 would be a nice upgrade, too - but your framerate will still drop to about the same levels in multiplayer because of your CPU.

 

[Novuake]

Although i agree with this, the problem lies which I should of stated early with my psu being a coolermaster gx450, 35A @ 12v+ (420w) If i where to choose the 7950 I would also have to upgrade my psu but the free games do look good.

Although I agree that it would be better to upgrade your PSU, you can run it till you are able to do so.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6159/the-geforce-gtx-660-ti-review/18

As you can see the max LOAD for a high end system with a GTX660ti and a HD7950 are both under 450W.

The GX450 is an excellent PSU despite being a Coolermaster, it easily provides the rated 450w under high temps and is VERY stable too. See below.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-GX-450-W-Power-Supply-Review/1234/1

So yeah, you are safe getting either GPU, if you want to OC then you will need a better PSU though.

As far as bottlenecking goes, its a limited occurrence that you will see in Multi-player for BF3 and MAYBE Crysis 3 Multi-player too. You will still see a sizable improvement in Multi-player with iether the GTX660ti or HD7950.

 

[newbie1337]

Would it be better for me to upgrade the rest of my system first then my gpu? Like would i see a noticable fps difference with my current card if i where to upgrade to lets say a i5 3570k, 8gb kingston hyperx beast @ 2400mhz, asrock extreme 4 mobo?

 

[Novuake]

Would it be better for me to upgrade the rest of my system first then my gpu? Like would i see a noticable fps difference with my current card if i where to upgrade to lets say a i5 3570k, 8gb kingston hyperx beast @ 2400mhz, asrock extreme 4 mobo?

Not really, you will see SOME improvement in MP BF3, but not the same as a new GPU. Considering that a new system without a GPU would cost much more than just a new GPU and would not give you the same improvement.

Oh and DO NOT GET get faster RAM than 1866MHz for Ivy. Its pointless, the massive price dif is not worth the minuscule improvement in performance.

BUT yes building a WHOLE new system makes sense, but still not that much with Hasswell just around the corner.

 

[static1120]

I Have a EVGA 650 1Gb video card It cost me $120 but I think I have seen it for $100
I can Play Battlefield 3 on ultra settings at 1980x1080 with framerates from 25-40
I have a Corsair Cx430 so max watt output for that is 430
And my Cpu is a Amd Fx-8150 8 core @3.6Ghz it uses 125 watts all the time and my system runs stable anyway because the EVGA 650 uses low watts I believe

 

[newbie1337]

Not really, you will see SOME improvement in MP BF3, but not the same as a new GPU. Considering that a new system without a GPU would cost much more than just a new GPU and would not give you the same improvement.

Oh and DO NOT GET get faster RAM than 1866MHz for Ivy. Its pointless, the massive price dif is not worth the minuscule improvement in performance.

BUT yes building a WHOLE new system makes sense, but still not that much with Hasswell just around the corner.

In the uk 2400 mhz ram is about the same price as most 8gb kits http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Technology-Series-2400MHz-Desktop/dp/B00A771ZWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360505948&sr=8-1

at £45 pound the price difference is barley noticeable

I think i'm going to go with the gtx 660ti as the 7950 needs a 8pin pci-e connector which my current psu doesn't have

 

[Novuake]

In the uk 2400 mhz ram is about the same price as most 8gb kits http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Technology-Series-2400MHz-Desktop/dp/B00A771ZWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360505948&sr=8-1

at £45 pound the price difference is barley noticeable

I think i'm going to go with the gtx 660ti as the 7950 needs a 8pin pci-e connector which my current psu doesn't have

The Sapphire ships with an adapter. Molex to PCI-e power.

 

[scragnoff]

I think i'm going to go with the gtx 660ti

I'll second you on that one, even without the 8-pin connector issue, because the 660ti outperforms the 7950. This benchmark article shows the performance between the two.

 

[Novuake]

I think i'm going to go with the gtx 660ti

I'll second you on that one, even without the 8-pin connector issue, because the 660ti outperforms the 7950. This benchmark article shows the performance between the two.

LOL you are soooooooooo behind the times...

Here is a discussion we had on EXACTLY that.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=33&post=386945&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

 

[Novuake]

They are equal MOSTLY at 1080p resolution. In some titles one beats the other.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/645?vs=647

The games TR used were very few and selective. They were not even comparing FPS, they were testing for latency issues which was sorted out by Cat13.2 beta drivers.

So please I ask you nicely, DO NOT SPREAD misinformation. I am SOOOO sick of having to argue with fanboys or people who think they know because they have read ONE article that I can puke.

 

[scragnoff]

I was not attempting to spread misinformation. I apologize if I have insulted your intelligence, sir, and I will endeavor to do more research in the future.

 

[newbie1337]

They are equal MOSTLY at 1080p resolution. In some titles one beats the other.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/645?vs=647

The games TR used were very few and selective. They were not even comparing FPS, they were testing for latency issues which was sorted out by Cat13.2 beta drivers.

So please I ask you nicely, DO NOT SPREAD misinformation. I am SOOOO sick of having to argue with fanboys or people who think they know because they have read ONE article that I can puke.

I'm just looking for the best value for my money and according to that link 660ti performs better that the 7950 in all instances. It also seems to perform better in most the games i play. although i may upgrade my psu as with the 7950 i get free games the make up for the expense of the psu. Still not quite sure yet both have there pro's and con's

 

[Novuake]

I'm just looking for the best value for my money and according to that link 660ti performs better that the 7950 in all instances. It also seems to perform better in most the games i play. although i may upgrade my psu as with the 7950 i get free games the make up for the expense of the psu. Still not quite sure yet both have there pro's and con's

The link he posted or the anandtech i posted? In the anandtech I posted the HD7950 and GTX660ti trade blows in games.

Both the GTX660ti and HD7950 will work on your PSU. Like I said the HD7950 comes with an adapter for the 8-pin power connector.

Please read the discussion I posted earlier if you want to see the most active users on this forums opinion on the link that scragnoff posted.

 

[Novuake]

I was not attempting to spread misinformation. I apologize if I have insulted your intelligence, sir, and I will endeavor to do more research in the future.

You did not insult me, sorry, I may have overreacted a bit .

 

[newbie1337]

The link he posted or the anandtech i posted? In the anandtech I posted the HD7950 and GTX660ti trade blows in games.

Both the GTX660ti and HD7950 will work on your PSU. Like I said the HD7950 comes with an adapter for the 8-pin power connector.

Please read the discussion I posted earlier if you want to see the most active users on this forums opinion on the link that scragnoff posted.

In the anandtech link you posted and I shall thanks

 

[Novuake]

In the anandtech link you posted and I shall thanks

Cool. You could always wait for the official Crysis 3 benches. They will be out soon.

 

[newbie1337]

I ended up purchasing the zotac 660 ti amp edition. Although i am very disapointed as i haven't seen much of an improvement on any of my games if there was one therfore my cpu must be bottlenecking the card :/ guess ill have to wait till next payday to purchase a new one