Best bang for the bucks 550ti vs 650ti vs 7770

[Vinylscratchgamer]

check here this comparison on newegg i am wondering what is the best performance for the price and if you think a refurb or open box card is a safe idea.
also i will mostly be using these to run need for speed most wanted battlefield and some steam games
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=7770&bop=And&CompareItemList=-1%7C14-127-710%5E14-127-710-TS%2C14-121-630R%5E14-121-630-Z01%2C14-121-435R%5E14-121-435-Z01%2C14-130-744%5E14-130-744-TS%2C14-127-664%5E14-127-664-TS

 

[completelyrandomname]

The best card for around that price point ($120-$140) would be the GTX 650 Ti. The 7770 would come in next after it. I recommend the 650 Ti.
Check this out: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/536?vs=680

 

[munjoo238]

GTX 650 Ti or 7770. 550 Ti is definitely out of the equation

 

[completelyrandomname]

The 7770 and 650 Ti respectively:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162127

 

[EzioAs]

The HD7770 has the best performance per dollar ratio among those 3. However, the GTX650ti is the faster card. Get either the GTX650ti or HD7770 depending on how much you can spend

 

[master_chen]

HIS' HD 7770 is the best HD 7770, so if choosing HD 7770, definitely worth getting only that one (it doesn't matter much if iCooler, or "IceQ X", since, even though "IceQ X" is a slightly better Cooler overall, it's louder and consumes a little bit more energy, and for HD 7770 it's all about "energy economy-to-performance", since it's THE most energy efficient modern GPU on the market right now, out of them ALL!).
650Ti is a better performer than HD 7770, but it will eat quite more energy and be much louder too, so, personally, I'd won't be recommending that, since it already means that you'll pay more for the performance (and quite more, actually. I'm talking "25~30$ more" difference here...), rather than for overall quality.
550Ti performs worse than even the most lower-level HD 7770 (Gigabyte's one is the worst one, if compared to other HD 7770s) and it's louder and consumes more energy at the same time (even though costs a couple of $ less), so it's a definite NO.

My personal opinion on it would be:
If you can afford to spend 150+$ at one time and need PhysX badly, get GTX 650 Ti.
If you can't afford spending that much on the performance (because you won't be getting large benefits at sound and energy efficiency, only a slight additional performance boost), get HIS' HD 7770 and you're good to go. And if you'll need PhysX badly, you could always buy cheap GT 640 (MSi's "N640 2GB" is the best one) later and make a "HD 7770+GT 640" HPX setup just fine, so, as you can see, you won't be stripped of the ability "to PhysX" in both cases, but in HD 7770's case you can choose if to get it or not (and it will be a much cheaper setup than two GeForces). %)

 

[blazorthon]

Wouldn't a GTX 650 Ti be a lot cheaper than a Radeon 7770 plus a GT 640, making the latter combination less practical?

 

[master_chen]

Wouldn't a GTX 650 Ti be a lot cheaper than a Radeon 7770 plus a GT 640, making the latter combination less practical?

You missed (or deliberately ignored) the "if you'll need PhysX badly, you could always buy cheap GT 640 later". :\
I never said that he SHOULD buy them together at once right off the bat, I just pointed a suggestion for him, because usually people who choose between GeForce and Radeons tend to select GeForces in the end simply because they have PhysX, not knowing that Radeon setups can have PhysX just fine too (and sometimes they'll even work much better than "GeForce-only PhysX" setups).
And besides, if I remember correctly, "HD 7770+GT 640 dedicated solely for PhysX" HPX setup would perform quite better in both overall performance and PhysX-performance means, than a single GTX 650 Ti that will have to do all the calculations only by itself. :\

 

[blazorthon]

IDK if it'd perform too differently from the 650 Ti in PhysX. It might be better, but I don't think it'd be a big difference, granted I am not an expert on the performance impact of PhysX for these graphics solutions.

For example, the 650 Ti has a lot of its considerable GPU performance that is held back by its memory and IIRC, PhysX is a lot of heavier on the GPU than it is on the memory, so it may switch the bottle-neck more towards the GPU without a huge impact on FPS. The 7770 is at a moderate disadvantage to start off and although it shouldn't take much, if any hit at all from PhysX since that job would be handled by the GT 640, I'm not sure if the 650 Ti would be hit so hard that the 7770+GT 640 solution would really overtake it.

That's why I was asking if the price difference would offset the practicality compared to a single 650 Ti, because I just don't know and would like to.

 

[Vinylscratchgamer]

PhysX isnt a huge dilemma and also i was considering the 550 ti for sli
keep in ming i have a 430 watt power supply
and of the 650 tis which would be best it seems that the msi and evga ones are popular
and im not sure if you can crossfire with the his icooler one

 

[Vinylscratchgamer]

also what games would perform better with physX? would the 7770 be sufficeint for playing most games on at least medium settings?
Also to note i am using linux mint so would i still be able to crossfire/sli and how would i get drivers? (game compatibility is not an issue because of steam for linux and wine/playonlinux

 

[completelyrandomname]

DO NOT GET THE 550 ti. Why consider it when both cards are more powerful than it. You cannot SLI the 650 Ti. You can crossfire the 7770. What is your budget? Why not get a single more powerful card rather than SLI/CFX 2 weaker cards. Games do not perform better with Physx, they take a performance hit. To get around this performance hit you should get an NVIDIA gpu because they support Physx. The 7770 is a great choice for entry-mid level gaming. What is your monitor resolution?

 

[Vinylscratchgamer]

im going to go with either the sapphire or his icooler 7770 which would be better?

 

[completelyrandomname]

Neither are bad choices though I would get the SAPPHIRE one due to their reputation. It also looks cuter.

 

[Vinylscratchgamer]

alright i will probably go with that thanks!

 

[Vinylscratchgamer]

Best answer selected by Vinylscratchgamer.

 

[master_chen]

Games do not perform better with PhysX, they take a performance hit.

Oh yeah? How about NO? :\

I would get the Sapphire's one due to their reputation.

Sapphire's cards rule in high and top segments (HD 7870~7970), but not in low segment, so, personally, I'd wouldn't be recommending getting Sapphire's HD 7770 unless it's "Flex" (but it's my own preference based on personal experience of dealing with their low-end cards), but it doesn't mean that OP shouldn't get it, it might work just perfectly for him.

 

[completelyrandomname]

How will games perform better by adding physx to it? You will need a better gpu so that is why I said that it takes a performance hit. Everything I have said has been solely based on my opinion. I still recommend SAPPHIRE, muahahahhaaah (evil laugh) !!!

 

[Adam Landsberg]

all of these cards are slow... and have little value.

If you have ever bought a 6600gt - 7600gt - 8600gt -9600gt - 450gts - 550ti or 650ti then you agree with me that they are all a waste of money