What GPU to get????????

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andegramisu

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Feb 18, 2013
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Ok, I am torn!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've purchased most of the parts to build a new rig.

Asus Sabertooth 990fx
Phenom ii x6 1075t
8gb (2x4gb kit) kingston 1866 cl9
h80i cooler (pissed because I wanted h100i but it won't fit in the case I bought - Thermaltake Overseer RX-1)
256gb corsair SSD SATA III (Main)
500gb WD 7200rpm (Secondary)
27" 1920x1080 ASUS MX279H 5ms (GTG)
Cooler Master Silent Pro 850w psu


I read a TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON of reviews before making decisions. 600w psu or 900w? 16gb of ram or 8gb....FX8350 or Phenom II x6.....Radon vs GTX. Back and forth back and forth. I want a system that I won't WANT to upgrade for at least 3 years possibly 5.

Now I'm at the point where I don't know what the heck to pick for my GPU. Oh...FYI: I don't do crazy rendering. I play mid to high end games and I want them to run on higher settings while still getting 50-60ish FPS steady.

I have never OC'd anything, and probably won't start now. Also, even with the 990fx's 4 pci-e 16 slots I probably won't do SLI or XFire so I need 1 card to get the job done.

I've read 2gb is more than enough........for now. What about 2 yrs from now?? I originally picked the Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2gb OC edition for $199...nice price, but now I'm looking at the 7970 3gb line for closer to $450 and I just can not decide (not only on which card but also which brand!).

I need to just buckle down and make the decision within a day or two because once my money comes in I'm spending it!! LMAO!

ANY insight at all will be greatly appreciated!!! PLEASE HELP! THANKS!!! (BTW: Sorry for being so wordy...thanks for reading this whole thing...lol)
 
Solution
You're probably going to get a slight (10-15 fps) bottleneck with that CPU and a 7950 in CPU intensive games. I'm telling you now that saving your money and buying a better CPU and GPU is going to be better for you, you could probably sell that Phenom on eBay or Craigslist. I was getting bottlenecked pretty bad with my 670 (even with my 560Ti 2500k users at stock clocks had better benchmarks than me) and an overclocked 3.9GHz Phenom II x4 965BE in Skyrim, Battlefield, heck, even minecraft benefitted a bit from a new CPU. I love my i5 3570k now and I'd recommend avoiding that Phenom if you can, hardware is only going to get newer and more efficient, and that Phenom is already becoming outdated, you'll be kicking yourself in a year or two...
PowerColor 7870 Myst for $200 is pretty much better than a 7850 2gb OC for the same price.. And a 7950 or gtx 660ti is around $280-$300+... those are better GPU's than your current pick and more future proof if you plan to SLI/Crossfire..
 
have you purchased all that stuff already? if you read a ton of reviews before you purchased you should have got an i5 3570k, and should certainly have gone a an 8350 over the phenom x6. and you bought a board thats designed for overclocking and crossfire yet you wont do either? you could save a lot of money there to put toward a better gpu. get the fastst single gpu you can afford, thats the bottom line. if you can afford the 7970 then get it. as for brands just read some reviews and get the one with best cooling and warranty, but you generally cant go wrong with gigabyte or asus. A very confusing build you have there. good luck.
 
Gamerxtreme - the 7850 was my original choice for budget....7870 was a thought...but now I'm really looking into 7950/7970's...outside budget but I think worth it in the long run.
iam2thecrowe - I am an AMD guy 100%. Intel isn't really in the budget. I bought the sabertooth with the 1075 because it was a combo deal for a good price ($300) and I do plan to attempt an OC on the CPU having the liquid cooling eases my fears a bit on that. But to OC a GPU where all I read are reviews saying they already run 60c+ I don't want to chance burning it out. Also, all the reviews I read said the FX 8350 are not true 8 core CPU's but only come in as 6 cores with 8 modules and you need to OC them to get any performance. By OC'ing the 1075 I can have a true 6 core with higher cache rates and more performance for half the price.

Again, I'm an AMD guy. I've always used Radeon (in the 17 years I've been building rigs...always AMD / Radeon) I researched a few and saw benchmarks for 660 vs 7850 and the GTX won out in some areas like FPS, but so many people come back saying that GTX's tend to blur text...odd I know...

So I think I'm really leaning towards the triple fan Gigabyte 7950 $299
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125414

 
If you've really been building for 17 years, why come for advice here for what should be very obvious choices? If future-proofing is what you're after for gaming, Intel > AMD for CPUs all day. And the 7950 is a fine choice; also, 60c temps are nothing to worry about, unless those are idle temps 🙁
 
Building PC's is my hobby. By trade I am a cook. I try to keep up but technology moves too damn quick and for every piece of tech out there is 5000 conflicting opinions on performance.

I agree doubletake that Intel has some very very nice benchmarks out there, but I just want the most bang for the least buck.

This will probably be my guinea pig rig when it comes to OC'ing and pushing limits. I think I will go with the 7950. 3gb will do just fine for at least a couple years.

Thanks for the input guys.
 
LOL Thanks ikes9711. No need to start a conflict though. Intel VS AMD will be the hatfield / mccoy of the 21st century I'm sure.

If anyone is still paying attention...I have to assume that GPU bus speed is replaced by the new "core clock" term? I know, like I said I haven't paid attention to new tech in awhile. Is it that important?

Gigabyte 7950 - 900 mhz
Sapphire 7950 - 850 mhz

Does it really make much of a difference????
 
You're probably going to get a slight (10-15 fps) bottleneck with that CPU and a 7950 in CPU intensive games. I'm telling you now that saving your money and buying a better CPU and GPU is going to be better for you, you could probably sell that Phenom on eBay or Craigslist. I was getting bottlenecked pretty bad with my 670 (even with my 560Ti 2500k users at stock clocks had better benchmarks than me) and an overclocked 3.9GHz Phenom II x4 965BE in Skyrim, Battlefield, heck, even minecraft benefitted a bit from a new CPU. I love my i5 3570k now and I'd recommend avoiding that Phenom if you can, hardware is only going to get newer and more efficient, and that Phenom is already becoming outdated, you'll be kicking yourself in a year or two when that CPU is almost completely obselete.

Look at these:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Phenom+II+X6+1075T

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/357132-28-phenom-1075t-intel-3570k-worth
 
Solution


It is relative to the performance of the GPU, yes, but you can always overclock the card to well above 1 GHz if you choose.
 


Ok...so I googled it and found a few threads that say a 7970 would only be slightly bottlenecked by the 1075...but I want this sytem to have no hiccups. I emailed the company (portatech.com) that I purchased the 1075 / sabertooth 990fx combo from and I'm looking into swapping out the 1075 for the FX 8350. I wish I had looked at their site before I made the purchase. The 1075 combo is 350, the 8350 combo is only 450.

So the 8350 teamed with the 7950 Gigabyte.....with a little tweaking on the cpu and gpu this system should go balls to the walls! I'm so excited :-D
 
Good choice, 8350's overclock very well too, you could even shut off cores to go higher, but there's not much of a point in doing that. I think you'll find that in the long run, heeding my advice will benefit you a lot. Enjoy your system!
 
I just hope I'm not stuck with the 1075 and have to spend $200 on an 8350...lol. If that's the case, I'll spend the rest of my savings to build a generic 1075 low end gaming rig and sell it to one of my coworkers.
 
Reopening thread...I hope you guys are still reading...lmao.

Ok...instead of the Gigabyte 7950 ($299).....now I'm looking at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202003
Sapphire Vapor-X 7950. ($339)

I'm not doing any eyefinity for gaming...and I don't have multiple monitors (yet) I just want something that can handle any games that come around for the next two years and I can alt-tab in and out back and forth (cuz that's what I do constantly).

Save the $40 and stick with the gigabyte????
 



What do you mean? The Vapor-X? It says it's in stock. I'm thinking that one because it seems like sapphire quality but with a better cooling system. $40 is worth my peace of mind of not overheating. I regret now not getting the complete water cooling kit for cpu memory and gpu....Oh well...the H80i will be enough.
 


Sorry I meant to say the Gigabyte specifically. They're all the same, Gigabyte coolers are actually quite good, it's really down to personal preference.
If I were choosing a card, it'd be this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121716&Tpk=Asus%207950 all the way. If you are not going for an SLI option these DirectCUII coolers are amazing. I have a dual slot version on my 670 and it puts other cards to shame, it's absolutely silent and keeps the temps way down.
 


I was doing a side-by-side comparison on newegg with sapphire, vapor-x, xfx, and that asus card. the asus seemed the most impressive, but looking at one review

Cons: Size.. Wont fit in every case.
Software is buggy.. Use Radeon Catalyst Drivers.. Do NOT run the stuff that comes with the card, or expect to have some serious Windows Application glitches.
Card was Discontinued.
No where near as Dazzling as the Sapphire card Trixx software.
Higher price.


I am almost positive it won't have a problem fitting into the 990fx board, but why was it discontinued? why is the included software garbage? That just turned me away. I know I'm a pain in the ass, but when I start reading reviews, I go straight for negative ones (obviously ignoring DOA...those don't really count unless it happens too frequently) and usually one or two bad reviews don't outweigh 100 good ones....lol.
 
Not sure what he means by discontinued? Maybe they were back-ordered or he's referring to a TOP version? Anyways the software he's referring to isn't Asus', unless he's using their overclocking software, he should be using MSI afterburner anyways, it's clearly the best. I can link you to the proper drivers, I'm sure that guy is just a numbskull and trying to use the driver disk that came with the card that you NEVER should use. Anyways, they're all great, if you've got a feeling one is bettr than the other by all means go for it, it's your build after all. And good job being a pain lol, it's good to be thorough. The card will fit fine in your case and with your board I can guarantee you that.
 
LOL Mclovits! You jinxed me. The Asus is out of stock now. Next cheapest is tigerdirect for $350ish. I think I'm going a little more budget and drop to the 7870. Still get decent performance for $100 less. Thanks for all the help!
 
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