HD 7770 vs. GTX 650 Ti vs. HD 7850 (Which?)

[lghost]

Hey.

I'm not very knowledgeable about video cards so bare with me.

I made the mistake of overpaying for my first video card and while it has served me well, I know that I could have gotten something way better and even cheaper at the time. (GT-240 in 2010) Now I'm ready and need to buy a new one, while money is tight, I would like to get a decent one. I started off committing to the 650 Ti and would have bought it tonight if I had the time but luckily I didn't as more research (reading comments) shows that the HD 7850 is MUCH faster and is right around the same price. I also read that the HD 7770 could be overclocked to perform as well as the 650 Ti.

Right now, I'm leaning towards the HD 7850 because I have never overclocked anything before. I would love to get the HD 7770 if it is true that it could perform as good as the 650 Ti when overclocked and if I can even overclock it, the savings in money is definitely worth it to me.

All I really know about overclocking is that it pushes more power out while drawing a lot more heat, that's literally all I know. If the HD 7770 could be pushed that much, what all would I need to do this?

I have this case, http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1277&ID=1404 - with a fan in the front, on top, behind PSU, and a big one on the door. I have space for one more in the back.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

I'd say go for GTX 650 Ti 2GB card.

 

[cainy1991]

with 2GB 7850's selling at $190
and 2GB 650ti's seling at $224

(the difference in australia) I would go for the 7850

+ the performance diff...
http://videocardz.com/35351/full-geforce-gtx-650-ti-review-leaks-out

(realizes link is damn old..) oh well the 7850 still wins in most games (apart from batman)

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

Here (India) GTX 650 Ti 2GB is cheaper than 1GB 7850. :lol:

Well, Every Nvidia card is Cheap here than the competitive AMD Card.
Like 7870 is even costly than the GTX 660 Ti here. Same price as 7950 range.

 

[daeder]

I would go for the 7850 as it is much faster and a better buy.

 

[cainy1991]

Here (India) GTX 650 Ti 2GB is cheaper than 1GB 7850. :lol:

Well, Every Nvidia card is Cheap here than the competitive AMD Card.
Like 7870 is even costly than the GTX 660 Ti here. Same price as 7950 range.

:O wow...
usually nvidia reems every country with prices!
*if I ever buy an nvidia card I will order from India, cause hear and in the US they are way more expensive*
thanks for the info man may come in handy very soon as Im considering an upgrade.

 

[lghost]

Thanks. I'm probably going to buy a 1GB card as I only use 1 monitor and it is a 1080i tv so I don't think I'll need 2GB.

I'm still researching the subject so more advice is welcome

 

[cainy1991]

well Im using a 1080p screen... with a 2gb card... and I run out of VRAM often.

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

Well when you'll play at 1080p at High. Then your card will cross 1GB.
So better to get 2gb version.

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

:O wow...
usually nvidia reems every country with prices!
*if I ever buy an nvidia card I will order from India, cause hear and in the US they are way more expensive*
thanks for the info man may come in handy very soon as Im considering an upgrade.

Consider it getting from America.
Prices here are actually more than their price in America.
But due to lack of International shipping and all, I chose to get it from a Local Shop in the city.

And I still don't know why is 7870 so overpriced here

 

[griptwister]

HD 7850... but if you want Physx, go with the 650 Ti. But the HD 7850 is the best perfroming card.

YOU WILL NEED 2GB!!! You won't get the full graphical textures and settings you want. Unless if you go for a decent 2Gb card. Infact, a few games are going over 2.2Gb vram. Go for the 2Gb versions... You'll regret not buying one... My friend is learning his lesson.

 

[lghost]

I'll see if I can afford the 2GB then when I decide. Stupid 1080i sucks though, messes with my eyes, I usually have to put it on 720p when not playing games. Plus, I don't even get the full 1080, get like 992 or something. I'm sure that still is close enough to go with the 2GB though.

Do anyone know if it is possible to OC the 7770 to perform as good as the 650 Ti?

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

Maybe you are not familiar with 1080p. When you are new to that Res. you feel uncomfortable. But you'll get comfy after some days.

That 650 Ti is not going to pull games on highest most settings. So getting a 1GB may do the trick.
If you can then get 2GB or else 1GB is enough.

 

[griptwister]

I'll see if I can afford the 2GB then when I decide. Stupid 1080i sucks though, messes with my eyes, I usually have to put it on 720p when not playing games. Plus, I don't even get the full 1080, get like 992 or something. I'm sure that still is close enough to go with the 2GB though.

Do anyone know if it is possible to OC the 7770 to perform as good as the 650 Ti?

720p? Ignore all my previous advice! You won't need 2Gb... lol, I'd go with a 560. Those are going cheap... as much as the HD 7770 costs, and You'll have more power to run games. And if you must, Go with the HD 7770, It's a great little card. I preffer Nvidia just because of the game support. But the HD 7770 1Gb performs very well.

 

[cainy1991]

Consider it getting from America.
Prices here are actually more than their price in America.
But due to lack of International shipping and all, I chose to get it from a Local Shop in the city.

And I still don't know why is 7870 so overpriced here

AHH

I thought it might have been like EA selling battlefield 3 in russia for $15usd because of thier economic climate
and selling it at $45+ basically everywhere else...

but alas no will definitely be sticking with my idea of 7950's then

 

[lghost]

720p? You won't need 2Gb... lol, I'd go with a 560 Ti. Those are going cheap... as much as the HD 7770 costs. and You'll have more power to run games.

You misread what I wrote, I use 720p outside of games and videos. Besides, I keep the TV\monitor at regular tv distant when using it. It's a 42 inch

Maybe you are not familiar with 1080p. When you are new to that Res. you feel uncomfortable. But you'll get comfy after some days.

That 650 Ti is not going to pull games on highest most settings. So getting a 1GB may do the trick.
If you can then get 2GB or else 1GB is enough.

I've been using it for 3 years now and I have gotten used to it but when I pay attention to the details I notice the lines shake, it's very hard to explain but I've tried everything to correct it, that is what strains my eyes out. I'm pretty sure it is because I have a 1080i and not a true 1080p.

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

AHH

I thought it might have been like EA selling battlefield 3 in russia for $15usd because of thier economic climate
and selling it at $45+ basically everywhere else...

but alas no will definitely be sticking with my idea of 7950's then

Thats it! I'm shifting to Russia. :lol:

 

[atavanhalen]

Here in the Philippines you can get the PowerColor HD7850 2GB for like $191 dollars. Its the reference one. I bet you can get it with a better deal over there.

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

If you are not a Hardcore gamer. And just want to play at decent Graphics. Get 1GB.

Get that 7850 1GB Card. Its very good for the price.

 

[griptwister]

Okay, HD 7850 is the way to go... 1080i for gaming... You'll probably be able to get away with a HD 7770 too. One of my friends was able to run FC3 on Med-High settings with a HD 7750.

 

[hapkido]

In terms of performance 7850 > 650ti > 7770. Get the 7850 if you can afford it. 2GB is preferable, but if you can't afford the 7850 2GB model, the 1GB model is still superior to a 2GB 650ti since the 650ti isn't powerful enough to need 2GB anyway (i.e. the GPU cores will run out of processing power before they run out of memory). 1GB is still enough for nearly all games at 1080p. Even in a vram demanding game like Battlefield 3, 7850 is going to be about the range where the GPU cores start to outpace 1GB memory capacity. Anything more than that and I'd say get a 2GB card, but 1GB will be fine for 7850 and lower.

For everyone else, 1080i and 1080p are not the same thing. 1080i is interlaced, so only half the rows update every refresh. 1080i 60hz is basically the same as 1080p 30hz. That really has nothing to do with the computer itself, but I could see why OP gets strained with that output.

 

[griptwister]

The HD 7770 and 650 Ti will be able to run games at 1080p, but the HD 7850 1Gb provides insurence...

 

[lghost]

Best answer selected by lghost.

 

[lghost]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I'm going to get the 7850, and I'll try to get the 2GB if I can afford it!

In terms of performance 7850 > 650ti > 7770. Get the 7850 if you can afford it. 2GB is preferable, but if you can't afford the 7850 2GB model, the 1GB model is still superior to a 2GB 650ti since the 650ti isn't powerful enough to need 2GB anyway (i.e. the GPU cores will run out of processing power before they run out of memory). 1GB is still enough for nearly all games at 1080p. Even in a vram demanding game like Battlefield 3, 7850 is going to be about the range where the GPU cores start to outpace 1GB memory capacity. Anything more than that and I'd say get a 2GB card, but 1GB will be fine for 7850 and lower.

For everyone else, 1080i and 1080p are not the same thing. 1080i is interlaced, so only half the rows update every refresh. 1080i 60hz is basically the same as 1080p 30hz. That really has nothing to do with the computer itself, but I could see why OP gets strained with that output.

Thanks for the informative answer.

I wish I would have knew the difference before I got this TV back in 06', it was very expensive back then, plus more because I got it from a Aarons. I had the computer hooked to a 1080p for a few days last year but never even thought to see if I could see a difference, it did seem like a nicer experience relatively though. It's just the horizontal lines that mess with my eyes, it's either them shaking or maybe their just refreshing too slow to where I can notice them. I wish I could figure it out. The only resolutions that work and use up the full screen are, 1768*992 & one that is just below the 720p mark.