GFX card upgrade from AMD 7850

[sunnyrokxx]

AMD FX 8350
2x4gb Crosair Vengence RAM
ASUS 88 Motherboard
AMD raedon HD 7850 2gb
1 TB Segate HD
550w Corsair PSU
Windows 8.1 64 bit

I want to upgrade my GFX card, i have GTX 960 in mind.

Do you think it will be a good upgrade or do i need to consider GTX 970 ?

Here in India, the price difference is huge between the 960 & 970.

For reference here are some links.

http://www.flipkart.com/asus-nvidia-strix-gtx-970-4-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itmef97fpjvwpghg?q=Asus+NVIDIA+Strix+GTX+970+4+GB+4+GB+GDDR5+Graphics+Card&as=on&as-show=on&otracker=start&as-pos=p_2_970&pid=GRCEF97EV9URN7FH

http://www.flipkart.com/msi-nvidia-geforce-gtx-960-gaming-2-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itme45xqsn4tebzh?pid=GRCE45XQHB6RADHZ

Please advice

 

[Suztera]

You could consider the R9 280X:
http://www.flipkart.com/xfx-r9-280x-dd-3-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdrfpegvzctkw5?pid=GRCDRFPEGVZCTKW5&otracker=from-search&srno=t_5&query=R9+280X&ref=001f3c24-97e4-4e08-b52f-5403ebb41590

 

[Archaic59]

The Asus GTX970 is cheaper at theitdepot-

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Asus+Strix+Geforce+GTX970+4GB+DDR5+Nvdia+PCI+E+Graphic+Card++%28STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5%29_C45P22930.html

 

[sunnyrokxx]

You could consider the R9 280X:
http://www.flipkart.com/xfx-r9-280x-dd-3-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdrfpegvzctkw5?pid=GRCDRFPEGVZCTKW5&otracker=from-search&srno=t_5&query=R9+280X&ref=001f3c24-97e4-4e08-b52f-5403ebb41590

The Problem is, I have a 550W PSU and 280X needs more. Hence I would not have gone with GTX options.

 

[Ra_V_en]

GTX 960 is certainly faster than 7850 but would i go for this upgrade? No. While it's indeed faster, the difference might not be so obvious for the cash surplus. I would probably go for at least GTX970 / R9 290, but thats my personal feeling.

Edit: With quality 550W PSU you can put 280X as well but as said above I'm not sure that upgrade would matter that much. With GTX970 the story looks a bit better both in performance and power consumption aspects... the thing is its price.

 

[sunnyrokxx]

I recently upgraded my CPU from Phenom X4 970 to FX 8350.

GTX970 right now will be tough for me. But looks like GTX 970 is the best option, that is when I have the money for it.

Just a side track but related question:
Do you think my current setup can run witcher 3 at high 1080p ? I know without the game released its hypothetical to comment.

 

[VincentP]

GTX 960 / R9 280 / R9 285 are not enough of an upgrade over the HD 7850.
You want to jump at least 3 tiers on the hierarchy to make it worthwhile:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

There is a big price difference between the GTX 960 and GTX 970, but there is also a massive difference in performance:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-960,4038-4.html

Your HD 7850 is a little slower than the GTX 760 in these benchmarks.

 

[Ra_V_en]

I recently upgraded my CPU from Phenom X4 970 to FX 8350.

GTX970 right now will be tough for me. But looks like GTX 970 is the best option, that is when I have the money for it.

Just a side track but related question:
Do you think my current setup can run witcher 3 at high 1080p ? I know without the game released its hypothetical to comment.

Recommended System Requirements
Intel CPU Core i7 3770 3,4 GHz
AMD CPU AMD FX-8350 4 GHz
Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 770
AMD GPU Radeon R9 290
RAM 8GB
OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)
DirectX 11
HDD Space 40 GB

I guess with 290X / GTX970 it would be possible to run 1080p @ High but thats just pure speculation right now.

 

[Undying89]

Its funny they recommend 770 or 290 while difference is like so big between those two. FC4 did the same system req. and later ingame 290 end up having 40% higher fps.

 

[VincentP]

Its funny they recommend 770 or 290 while difference is like so big between those two. FC4 did the same system req. and later ingame 290 end up having 40% higher fps.

It could be based on minimum frame rates, rather than average frame rates.
It is the time variance and minimum frame rate that has a much bigger impact on how smooth a game feels.
Nvidia caters to this better, even with slower cards, through driver optimisation.
This is especially noticeable with slower CPUs.

You can't easily get the GTX 770 anymore anyway, and the GTX 970 that replaces it matches or beats the R9 290 in both minimum and average frame rates.

 

[Icaraeus]

Unless you get the GTX 970 or equivalent minimum then you won't notice as much of a difference.

 

[Undying89]

970 costs almost 100$ more than 290, comparison isnt really fair. Also, those two are trading blows in most games, 970 isnt superior in any way (except power consumption), it even have less Vram than 290.

 

[Icaraeus]

Again, unless you get GPUs that are at least that strong then you won't really notice a difference. Very wrong - GTX 970 has 4GB GDDR5. It's just that due to architecture the last 0.5GB is gimped.