Help Choosing a card

[calvinxd]

Hello,

My current system build consist of the following specs and I need help choosing a graphic card. I am not an intense gamer and the most intense game as of now that I play is Diablo 3. Only thing is that I am a multi-tasker so I would like it if the graphic card can handle multiple application at once such as two games open at a given time or even three in the rare cases.

AMD FX 8320
8gb DDR3 Ram


1. Does the GDDR5 ram that comes with each card affect performance significantly? If it doesn't have enough ram, will the card use the system's ram?

2. The following three cards is around the same price range so which one will givesme the best performance for its cost?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2652129&CatId=7387
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2941929&CatId=7387
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5400618&CatId=7387

3. On the lower end of graphics card, will this be more worth it?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4501123&pagenumber=3&RSort=1&csid=ITD&recordsPerPage=5&body=REVIEWS#CustomerReviewsBlock

4. Lastly, if the above cards are not worth it, can you please recommend a card that is under $170.

 

[blazorthon]

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5400618&CatId=7387

The Radeon 7850 is much faster than the Radeon 7770 cards. The two Radeon 7770 cards would have pretty much identical performance.

If they run out of memory, they pretty much just run out- even if they use the system RAM, it's too slow and would congest the PCIe bus, so it wouldn't make much of a difference compared to if they didn't use the system RAM.

The Radeon 7770 is not fast enough for 1GB to ever be a bottle-neck for a single Radeon 7770. Two of them may run into some problems with only 1GB each, but not a single card.

The Radeon 7850 occasionally runs into issues with only 1GB of RAM that the 2GB versions of the 7850 do not run into, but it's usually not an issue to have only 1GB for the 7850. I recommend the 2GB version over the 1GB version, but only when they're at similar prices. If you get a 1GB version much cheaper than any 2GB version, then grab it up fast if you can.

That Radeon 7850 is pretty good for its price. I might find something a slightly better model for a similar price at another site, but that'd depend on you being open to using sites other than just Tigerdirect and it probably wouldn't make a big difference.

 

[calvinxd]

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5400618&CatId=7387

The Radeon 7850 is much faster than the Radeon 7770 cards. The two Radeon 7770 cards would have pretty much identical performance.

If they run out of memory, they pretty much just run out- even if they use the system RAM, it's too slow and would congest the PCIe bus, so it wouldn't make much of a difference compared to if they didn't use the system RAM.

The Radeon 7770 is not fast enough for 1GB to ever be a bottle-neck for a single Radeon 7770. Two of them may run into some problems with only 1GB each, but not a single card.

The Radeon 7850 occasionally runs into issues with only 1GB of RAM that the 2GB versions of the 7850 do not run into, but it's usually not an issue to have only 1GB for the 7850. I recommend the 2GB version over the 1GB version, but only when they're at similar prices. If you get a 1GB version much cheaper than any 2GB version, then grab it up fast if you can.

That Radeon 7850 is pretty good for its price. I might find something a slightly better model for a similar price at another site, but that'd depend on you being open to using sites other than just Tigerdirect and it probably wouldn't make a big difference.

Thanks for the reply. I will look around for a cheaper 7850. When it comes to the brand, is there one brand that is better than another?

Thanks

 

[blazorthon]

Well, it's generally best to avoid Powercolor, but otherwise, you generally can't go wrong choosing any brand for these cards. Some models you may want to watch out for, but that doesn't go by brand. Particular brands that are generally among the best for these cards would easily include Sapphire, Asus, and Gigabyte,