HD 7850 or HD 7870 ?

Muks2386

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Aug 27, 2012
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Hey guys , my budget is really tight so I need help .

To get a Core i5 3570k with a HD 7850 2GB or to get an i5 3470 with a HD 7870 2GB ?
 

larrym

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Oct 29, 2012
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Did you already get the MOBO? I would get the 3570K with 7850, and overclock both, but that would require an after market cooler which would drive your price up along with MOBO that can be overclocked.
 

9a3iqa

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Jan 5, 2012
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If you are playing at 1080p or higher get the 7870 with the i5 3470 because the higher the resolution the more important the graphics card becomes and the less important the processor becomes. If you are playing at lower than 1080p (900p and less) then I recommend you get the 7850 with the i5 3570k.
 

Mahisse

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lol. Well that isn't quite true now is it. I mean it's a question of what the game requires. Yes in this case where we are talking about the 3570K you can probably say that the better the GPU, the better perfomance. But this in most cases you want to make sure you have a good CPU before even starting considering the GPU.
 

rdc85

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well in that case it harder to pick...

just keep in mind that O.C. cames with it's own risk...
u may need to buy better aftermarket cooler and good mobo & PSU for O.C. -ing

Hmm.... I still go with 7870, if the game not cpu dependant then the better gpu will give u better fps
 

tgrech

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Feb 23, 2013
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In most games, you'll be better off getting the HD7870, since apart from a couple the GPU is normally the bottleneck, i5-3470 is also only very slightly slower than a 3570K, while the HD7870 is a fair amount faster than the HD7850. Have you considered an FX8320? recent benchmarks with the latest hotfixes and drivers show the FX8350 as being faster than the 3570K in quite a few games(Especially well threaded ones like ARMA2/DayZ), and the FX8320 is easily OC'able to the FX8350s level on a stock cooler, while costing a lot less than both the i5 and FX8350. This means you can spend more on your GPU while only hampering performance in the few CPU bound, badly threaded games. It's also great on Linux(Especially with the right cflags).
 

tgrech

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You'd be better off getting a HD7870 XT/Tahiti LE than a HD7950 at 1080p. It performs just as well or better in some cases unless you go to high resolutions, and it's only around £10 more than a HD7870(Around £170-£200)
 

furry87

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Yh true depending on what he wants like you said i use the 7950 and must say its a pretty amazing card.
 

tgrech

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I'd go i5-3470 and HD7870XT, or consider going AMD. In Crysis 3, the FX6300 beat the i5-2500K, and the FX8350 beat the i5-3570K, and in some situations the i7-3770K. The FX-8350 is around £30 cheaper, and the FX8320(Easily OC'able to FX8350 speeds, even on stock cooler) is around £60 cheaper. Crysis 3 isn't an exception either, with modern drivers and hotfixes, the FX8350 often trades blows with the 3570K and 3770K, while costing considerably less. The biggest delta is probably seen in ArmA2/DayZ, where the FX8350 does a noticeable amount better.