New Graphics Card Sub-£150? Wait for 8850?

[tombyrne94]

Hi guys, I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card for £100 - £150...
My current specs are:
i3 2100
8Gb Ram
GT 520 1Gb
1TB HDD
ASUS P8H61-M LE
Cooler Master GX Lite 700w

I was thinking about going for a 7770 or a 7850, what do you think?
When are the 8XXX series suppose to be released, is it worth waiting for them?

 

[snoogins]

I can only assume you are running @1080 or less resolution..

Based on that I would go with the 7850 right now, or save up a bit more for a 7950 if you can to get the most bang for the buck.

No one 'knows' when the 8xxx series will be released, so unless you want to wait around for months, I'd buy now.

 

[tombyrne94]

Thanks, forgot my mention my monitor is 1920x1080 1080p...
I could get the 7950 for my birthday in February but by then I think I might as well wait for the 8xxx...

 

[tombyrne94]

I could always go for a NV 6xx card, if they are better value.
Also is it worth getting the 2GB version of the card over the 1GB version? I may add another monitor in the future.

 

[tombyrne94]

How does the MSI Radeon HD 7850 OC 2048MB look for £150?

 

[EzioAs]

^ good. I prefer MSI myself

 

[tombyrne94]

Any more info about waiting for the 8xxx series or 1Gb vs 2Gb?

 

[sam_p_lay]

I'd spend £10 more and grab a GTX660. Or wait. Like you say, new stuff is coming up soon and you might regret buying a 2012 GPU when you see what the 2013 models can do. Radeon 8000s are expected Feb-March, but there's no guarantees of course. AMD hasn't made an official announcement about release dates.

 

[sam_p_lay]

^ good. I prefer MSI myself

And +1 to this. MSI mobo/graphics card I bought almost 10 years ago still running fine in my friend's parents' computer. I'm pretty impressed by that!

EDIT: And re 1GB vs 2GB, I'd definitely take a 2GB 7850 or GTX660 for more longevity.

 

[tombyrne94]

See the problem is my birthday is in Feb so if thats when the cards come out it would be perfect! Don't really want to wait much longer than that though... April+ is out of the question...

 

[sam_p_lay]

Maybe you're better off just buying now. First cards to launch will probably be the top-end models, with the mid-range and low-end stuff following later. And they will be overpriced just like last year's models until nVidia release their next-gen competition (probably March-May). So if you did wait, you'd really want to wait until GTX700s are out too, to drive down 8000 series prices.

 

[tombyrne94]

Think i'll push my budget to a 7870, I can get it with 5 free games atm...

 

[EzioAs]

^ good choice

 

[tombyrne94]

Would it be overkill to get a 7870 with an i3? Would a 7770 be more suitable or would I still get the full benefit of a 7870?

 

[EzioAs]

It's a good start. In some titles you won't see it's performance as good as you would've with an i5 but in other titles, they're pretty close and will still give you playable framerates

 

[sam_p_lay]

Yeah I'd say it's near enough fine. GTX660 would be a pretty perfect match I think. Core i3 is a capable enough little processor.