HD 7850: Which brand to choose?

[Skirmantas]

Hello, community

I am a newcomer here and I do struggle in choosing a brand of AMD Radeon HD 7850 series.

Let me start with my PC specs:

PSU: Chieftec 500W
Motherboard: Asus M3A78
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 920 @ 2,8 Ghz
RAM: 4GB DDR2 CL5
GPU: Asus NGT 9600 Silent 256bit, GDDR3 512 MB

As you can see, I have a sufficient power supply, but I still uncertain if my motherboard will support that graphics card. The motherboard supports PCI 2.0 x16, but as far I am informed, it doesn't matter. But I do think maybe there is other any factories?

Mine graphics card is pretty old, but it actually really powerful among its opponents. The thing is - I would be satisfied with it, but it doesn't support DirectX 11 which is a new tendency in new-end products. I can't play anything that is released nowadays properly. Also the big problem of it - it runs at 50+ celsius even in idle mode. I suppose it's not that good when nowadays GPU's runs at 30 temperature in idle mode.

Ok, maybe I've gone to far with this all stuff. The basic thing I want to hear, apart from that is my mainboard capable of that GPU, is what brand to choose? MSI, Sapphire, Gigabyte? I am from Lithuania, btw, and the cheapest brand is MSI, the most expensive - Gigabyte. What do you suggest? I heard some bad thing about Sapphire, in particular OC version, it has some manufacturer spoilage that lead into hearing some sounds through out your audio devices. Like signals or something like this. That's why I am not ensure about this. Please help.

Looking forward to the answer.

Yours sincerely,
Skirmantas.

 

[stickmansam]

Choose a 2GB version with a custom cooler and judge based on price

MSI is a great choice since its got great quality as well as being the cheapest

These are my preferred brands though in no particular order

MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Powercolour, xfx, sapphire

 

[Skirmantas]

Well, you see I do use PC on 1280x1024 and I am satisfied with it. I was informed that there is no need to buy 2GB RAM version if you don't play beyond 1920x1080 reso. I also use monitor via DVI connector, so... So, I think it would be completely enough of purchasing 1GB RAM version. The thing is just about the brand. Basically I have these selections in stock here, in Lithuania:

1) http://www.msi.com/product/vga/R7850-1GD5-OC.html#?div=Specification - 156 euros
2) http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1160&pid=1674&psn=&lid=1&leg=0# - 158 euros
3) http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1160&pid=1644&psn=&lid=1&leg=0 - 164 euros
3) http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4347#sp - 165 euros

 

[stickmansam]

Depends how keen you are for overclocking your graphics card

No OC I would stick with the MSI one as the cooler is good enough for it

If you want to try OC, I would take the cheaper Sapphire card and OC it yourself since the 7850 can hit 1ghz really easily and even higher, around 1.1ghz without need for increasing voltage

 

[Skirmantas]

I would go for Sapphire, but I heard some problems with OC. Like buggy stuff and also overclocking gives some artifacts.

 

[stickmansam]

Only if your OC is not stable, I got mine to 1.1ghz but tuned it down to 1ghz since I don't need the speed yet

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2239216

 

[Skirmantas]

I think finally I will pick up the most expensive - Gigabyte. I feel some confident with that brand. Also I noticed that Gigabyte basically offers the best performance, maybe because of good cooling.

 

[stickmansam]

The MSI, gigabyte and sapphire (OC one) are clocked the same so same perf +/-1%

Cooling wise the gigabyte wins

 

[Skirmantas]

Btw which program do you use for OC your Gigabyte GPU? MSU Afterburned, AMD Overdrive or ASU GPU Tweak. I've read that the last one is the best option, because you have more room to do OC.

 

[stickmansam]

I would actually use Sapphire's GPU TRIXX as it has a limit of 1250mhz while all the rest have limits of 1050 unless you unlock them

http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=182403

 

[Skirmantas]

Ok, now I have a really big concern about MSI HD 7850 (http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/graphics-cards/14-best-graphics-cards-for-every-budget-654141/3#articleContent). I am not really OC guy, so I think it will be the best solution then.. Still I can OC, but it seems not that high with that one fan over GPU. Still I've read quite plenty about OC problems and it affects your gaming performance about 5-10fps better. Basically I see this card even not OC on your own performs really well. Also it's the cheapest. So, yeah.. I think I've made my final decision.

 

[stickmansam]

Okay thats good then, it's always up to you if you want to OC or not

 

[ndslite]

none 7870 LE