Help me out

[Max_Xman]

I'm thinking about possibly upgrading my Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card to either the 7870 or the 7870 LE. I have a few concerns though. First of all if I was to buy the 7870 LE, would it fit my case? - NZXT Apollo Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case. The card's dimensions are 10.5" x 4.38" x 1.5" (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131484&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=6146996&SID=18kiuybgmunk0), which seems fine as the case supports up to 10.5 at most, but I want to be a 100% sure.

Second of all, will I really see that much of a performance improvement when compared to my 7770 or will my CPU (which I don't plan on upgrading any time soon) be the limit in this case?

I've started playing Batman A.C. recently and even at medium settings the game drops quite a bit in FPS. The same is the case in Killing Floor (on some of the newer maps) at highest settings and a few other titles as well.

Here are my specs:

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card
Case: NZXT Apollo Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply

And one last question, how does the 7870 compare to the 7870 LE. Significant performance difference or just a couple of FPS here and there?

 

[TheGreatHoylando]

Hi Max_Xman,
Okay, now the case is 22" long overall and the 7870 LE is about 10". But youve got to take into consideration the drive bays which, filled take up about 5" or 6" and the cables which take up a few more inches. So purely off estimation, that'll leave you with a good 12" to 14" inches of space for your GPU.

Now for the performance increase. in theory and on paper the HD 7870 is quite a bit more powerful than the HD 7770. Also the HD 7870 is an excellent card that is a good few designations ahead of the HD 7770. But a noticeable performance increase may not be seen for some games. The HD 7870 will perform better than the HD 7770 on more graphically demanding games, like Crysis for example. But in less graphically demanding games like Minecraft and retro games, you will probably not see a much of a big difference.
Overall though it is a 'better' and more poweful card, by quite a margin.
Here's a theoretical comparison based on performance: http://www.hwcompare.com/12188/radeon-hd-7770-vs-radeon-hd-7870/
Hope this helps

Regards,
Dan.

 

[sanilmahambre]

Hi Max_Xman,
Okay, now the case is 22" long overall and the 7870 LE is about 10". But youve got to take into consideration the drive bays which, filled take up about 5" or 6" and the cables which take up a few more inches. So purely off estimation, that'll leave you with a good 12" to 14" inches of space for your GPU.

Now for the performance increase. in theory and on paper the HD 7870 is quite a bit more powerful than the HD 7770. Also the HD 7870 is an excellent card that is a good few designations ahead of the HD 7770. But a noticeable performance increase may not be seen for some games. The HD 7870 will perform better than the HD 7770 on more graphically demanding games, like Crysis for example. But in less graphically demanding games like Minecraft and retro games, you will probably not see a much of a big difference.
Overall though it is a 'better' and more poweful card, by quite a margin.
Here's a theoretical comparison based on performance: http://www.hwcompare.com/12188/radeon-hd-7770-vs-radeon-hd-7870/
Hope this helps

Regards,
Dan.

+1

 

[TheGreatHoylando]

+1

Thank you very much

 

[Onus]

I have both of those cards. The HD7870 is notably stronger.
I would NOT get the HD7870LE on your PSU. As http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tahiti-le-7870-7930-benchmark,3401.html shows, that card sucks down a lot more juice. It's not over 500W, but the V2 "Builder" was made by CWT using some inferior Samxon capacitors that don't like heat, and are subject to early failure. I would not suggest running it near its limit, where it will heat up and likely shorten the life of those caps, or cause them to fail outright.
Another option to consider is the GTX660. Perhaps slightly weaker overall, it trades blows with the HD7870 depending on the game, but uses a LOT less power under load.

 

[Max_Xman]

Thanks to both of you TheGreatHoylando and onus. So onus, you're basically saying that the GTX660 might be a better option as it has lower wattage use than the 7870, right? I've also looked at some benchmarks here (The Black Ops 2 in particular got my attention where the 660 scored better than the 7870).

With that said there are a lot of options there at newegg. Some appear to be factory overclocked.

This one in particular got my attention http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125443 as the price seems decent enough.

Would that particular one perform better than this one? > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150605&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Video+Cards-_-XFX-_-14150605

 

[ikaz]

Just to through my hat into the Ring, I'm currently running the power color 7870 LE on a Antec 450w basiq PSU using the same exact MB with a FX-8320 for the last two months with Zero problems I have a SSD OS drive and a 1.5 TB data drive. While I don't know much about your PSU I haven't had any issues.

The standard 7870 use less power than the 7870 LE =7950 in power usage. You may want to see when those benchmarks were run for blackops anything pre 12.11 drivers for AMD are not reflective on the curent performance (that being I would assume the 660's driver would also be old if the review is old).

 

[Max_Xman]

So based on this> http://www.hwcompare.com/13302/geforce-gtx-660-vs-radeon-hd-7870/

I would have better performance with the 7870 than the GTX 660, but at the same time the 7870 would be 35 watts more power hungry.

 

[Max_Xman]

Thanks ikaz, just saw your response right after I posted mine. All these options...

So, now I have it narrowed down to 3 different cards.

7870
7870 LE
GTX 660

 

[ikaz]

Welcome and just to note I went from a 6850 (similar in performance to a 7770) to the 7870 Le because I wanted a good jump in performance and 2Gig card. I was going to go with a normal 7870 but they were running for about $220 and the LE card was only $20 more but with a lot more performance. While it does have a good about of power draw that really only when in use i.e playing games which is fine by me also all 7800's come with two free game I got Far Cry 3 and Sleeping dogs but the new bundle is bio shock and tomb raider both AAA games.

here's a review of the power color card.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tahiti-le-7870-7930-benchmark,3401.html

 

[Onus]

A HD7870 or GTX660 would be safe on your PSU, but the HD7870LE might be a little much, especially long term.
Check out the specific games you play. For example, BF3 favors the GTX660, but I believe there are more others that favor the HD7870. A lot depends on settings; the HD7870 will handle lots of AA better, but if you don't care about AA, they'll be similar or the GTX660 may be a little better.
I'm having trouble getting to Newegg links right now, possible because I'm still at work, although usually they are accessible.

 

[Max_Xman]

That's the thing. I mean at this point I'm leaning more towards the 7870 LE, because I like to play most of my games maxed out and while I realize that GPU isn't the only factor (the CPU plays a major role as well), the 7870 LE is actually $10 cheaper on newegg than the 7870 and it should give be better in game performance. I want to buy something more future proof that would let me play this years AAA titles (GTA V, Bioshock and a bunch of others) at high settings.

My only concern is the power that this GPU draws. I mean I'm the kind of person that does a lot of gaming, so that might be a problem. Then again, ikaz has a 450W PSU and says it works smooth.

 

[Onus]

His VP-450 is a better PSU than your Corsair "Builder," made with all Japanese 105C capacitors. Yours is made with a mix that includes some of the Samxon "GF" line that don't like heat and have been found to cause early failures (the author "c.hegge" does reviews for an Aussie site, and also re-caps PSUs, and says he has seen a lot of these).

 

[Max_Xman]

Okay, so after all the advice that you guys gave me (thanks BTW) it looks like I'll be going with the HD7870 as it should (based on some of the benchmarks and what you guys told me) perform better than the GTX660 and at the same time be safe for my PSU.

Just curious whether I should pick this one> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150605&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Video+Cards-_-XFX-_-14150605 or is there a better one?

Also, based on the specs that I've given, what do you guys think would be the most FPS (I'm looking for a rough estimate) I could pull off with the HD7870 in games like the Witcher 2, Batman Arkham City, Crysis 2 and Metro 2033? Do you think 40-50 FPS on high settings with little to no FPS drops is a reasonable expectation?

Edit: BTW, since I didn't write that before, I'm gaming at 1920X1080 resolution.

 

[Onus]

That's the one I have. I reviewed it on 07/05/2012. As to those games, on "high," I suspect you will get better than 40-50FPS. If you check http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/548 you will see that in the few places it doesn't, a higher resolution (1900x1200) and/or higher (e.g. "ultra") settings were used.