Radeon 7870 or GTX 660 - which is best for these games?

[Figueroa419]

My son's video card is old and needing replaced (gts 250). I am looking to spend in the $200 range and came to these two cards.

Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 $190/MSI Radeon 7870 $250
or
Gigabyte GTX 660 $190/Zotac GTX 600 $200

1) Can anyone here tell me which is best or will one of these be bad for any of the games he plays?

I dont know them all but he is 16 & has played/is playing/is wanting to play:
(some on Steam, some not I think)
...World Of Warcraft
...Minecraft
...Far Cry (3?)
...Bioshock
...Sleeping Dogs
...Portal 2
...Skyrim
...Assassin's Creed
...Borderlands

2) Is there a difference in who makes it?
For example, when I go to Newegg I see the 7870 - one is by Sapphire for $190 and one is MSI for $250. All of the specs look exactly the same.

3) Which is more important - memory clock or memory interface?
For the 7870 the clock is 4800mhz and the interface is 256-bit, where the 660 clock is higher at 6600mhz but lower with 192-bit interface.

4) Right now he has the side of the computer off with a fan blowing inside. Would it be a good idea to buy a cooler now to go with the card or do you think its just because its an old card (gts 250) and cant handle the load that the newer card will?

Thank you for any help in this decision!

 

[david cassar]

My son's video card is old and needing replaced (gts 250). I am looking to spend in the $200 range and came to these two cards.

Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 $190/MSI Radeon 7870 $250
or
Gigabyte GTX 660 $190/Zotac GTX 600 $200

1) Can anyone here tell me which is best or will one of these be bad for any of the games he plays?

I dont know them all but he is 16 & has played/is playing/is wanting to play:
(some on Steam, some not I think)
...World Of Warcraft
...Minecraft
...Far Cry (3?)
...Bioshock
...Sleeping Dogs
...Portal 2
...Skyrim
...Assassin's Creed
...Borderlands

2) Is there a difference in who makes it?
For example, when I go to Newegg I see the 7870 - one is by Sapphire for $190 and one is MSI for $250. All of the specs look exactly the same.

3) Which is more important - memory clock or memory interface?
For the 7870 the clock is 4800mhz and the interface is 256-bit, where the 660 clock is higher at 6600mhz but lower with 192-bit interface.

4) Right now he has the side of the computer off with a fan blowing inside. Would it be a good idea to buy a cooler now to go with the card or do you think its just because its an old card (gts 250) and cant handle the load that the newer card will?

Thank you for any help in this decision!

The gtx 660 will be significantly better in bioshock infinite,borderlands, portal, assassin's creed and world of warcraft. Skyrim, sleeping dogs and far cry 3 will be better with the hd 7870.

 

[nguyenm]

HD7870 ghz is the way to go. Pick your poison:
http://us.hardware.info/comparisontable/products/156027-166260-166982-148837

 

[david cassar]

here are some benchmarks of those games: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Inno3D/iChill_GTX_650_Ti_Boost/23.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Inno3D/iChill_GTX_650_Ti_Boost/15.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Inno3D/iChill_GTX_650_Ti_Boost/21.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Inno3D/iChill_GTX_650_Ti_Boost/9.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Inno3D/iChill_GTX_650_Ti_Boost/10.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Inno3D/iChill_GTX_650_Ti_Boost/6.html

 

[dan000]

If you are willing to go this high the 7950 is a great price-to-performance card, probably the best. Here it is for 259.99 with rebate at Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131478&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID= and right now it comes with 4 free games.

 

[Fishwithadeagle]

7870, Portal does not need demanding video cards to run, and the other games that a previous user mentioned are only better on the 660 because of the physx chip. I believe that with the upcoming console generation, we will see more physics being offloaded to the cpu instead of the gpu.