Which Graphic card should I upgrade to from a 6870.

[dennis555]

Sorry for another one of these threads but i'm in the market for a new video card at the >$250. The two cards I have my eye on is this 7870 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150605 and this 660TI http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130809 $220 and $230 respectively after rebate. Both have good reviews and are said to be a good step up from my 6870. I also do not plan to overclock either of them any time soon.

Here are my main system specs:
-core i5 2500k
-16gb ddr3 1600 g skill ripjaws
asrock extreme 3 gen 3 z68

I forgot to mention that my primary use for this new card will be gaming. I play games such as battlefield 3, planetside 2, and all total war games. The resolution I play at is 1920 x 1080p.

 

[bigshootr8]

In that price range the 660Ti is the best option for you the next above that would be a 7950 and after that shortly after that is the 670. What power supply are you current using?

 

[dennis555]

I have a corsair 750 watt corsair psu.

 

[bigshootr8]

Oh okay you should be just fine then if I were to take a guess its a TX750 no? 2nd guess would be HX.

 

[ismail1993]

if you can save some money for this one 7970 3gb 3gb 1000 mhz engine clock http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008
and you already have a really good CPU i guess its gonna be great specially that you like to play games in 1920X1080 resolution ! and its require 500 watts power supply and 4GB ddr3 RAM
and it can work on PCI 2.0

 

[dennis555]

Yeah I just checked the back of my pc. It's a TX750 that I was fortunate enough to acquire as a gift a couple years back.

 

[bigshootr8]

man quite the gift you have there When you look at the price difference between the 670 and the 7950 it would make more sense to stretch to the 670. You can get a 670 between $299 and $350 where as with the 7950 its $272 to $320.

But again he is on a budget and its best to respect it. Sure we would all love to push it but with a 660Ti I'm sure he will be more then happy and won't need anything higher than it with what he current is doing.

 

[dennis555]

The cheapest 670 I could find is this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162107. But I don't really trust Galaxy and their warranties as much as XFX and EVGA. Also here is the cheapest 7970 I could find after rebates http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814202008 . Again these cards are about 100-$120 overbudget. Is the performance gain over the 660TI or 7870 really worth that much? I don't need to max out every game at 60fps. I just want frame rate dips to be less at the med-high settings I'm playing games such as planetside 2 at.

 

[dennis555]

For some reason the galaxy gtx 670 I found wont show up. So here's a different one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127675

 

[bigshootr8]

No the 660Ti out performs the 7870. YOU are doing just fine by going with the 660Ti as the prices for the card have gone down to reasonable levels over the last few months.

 

[redeemer]

If your not overclocking than the 660ti has decent plug and play performance

 

[dennis555]

Okay, but I read about people complaining that the 660 TI has a small memory bus of 192 bit. Is that something I should worry about at 1920 x 1080p?

 

[bigshootr8]

It isn't anything really to worry about. There was another thread recently I had a 660Ti power edition from MSI before exchanging it for a 670 from gigabyte and there wasn't anything wrong performance wise with the 660Ti I was able to play BF3 on ultra pretty easily @1080p It's a good place for modern games the 670, 680, 7950, 7970 are more future proof cards. I think it was mouse who was talking about it the moderator maybe if he sees this he will comment on it please

 

[ismail1993]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-benchmark-review,3279-17.html
the 7870 is faster than the 660ti just a little bit
but for the prices
http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Multimedia-7870PE52G-Radeon-Graphics/dp/B007NTTJYO/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1356765558&sr=1-5&keywords=7870+hd


http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-2048MB-Graphics-02G-P4-3660-KR/dp/B008S15X3W/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1356765581&sr=1-4&keywords=660+ti+gtx

 

[bigshootr8]

That is from August those benchmarks I wouldn't take them seriously by any means. Nvidia just had driver updates on the 17th and before that sometime in September.

 

[ismail1993]

That is from August those benchmarks I wouldn't take them seriously by any means. Nvidia just had driver updates on the 17th and before that sometime in September.

for saving money i guess the 7870 is better and faster 😉 since the 12.11 update is out

 

[dennis555]

The 660 TI that I posted for 229 after rebate just shot up to $289. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130809&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Video+Cards-_-EVGA-_-14130809 269 after rebate..

 

[bigshootr8]

The nature of sales dennis They happen frequently but its knowing when to pull the trigger and both nvidia and amd have new drivers out.

 

[ismail1993]

if you can save also some money for the 7950 becuz its for 299 $ now
you can check it out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

 

[bigshootr8]

see ^ that will be up for a day or two and poof gone.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Haha Ismail sure likes his Radeons... as for bus width, people talk about this a lot (usually AMD fanboys) so I explained it in another thread, second post:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/378279-15-gtx660-7850-7870

You might find it useful. I can explain more if you want.

 

[sam_p_lay]

And if you can save money, wait until you have $1000 and get a GTX690 because it's the best :lol:

But seriously, the GTX660 Ti is an excellent choice and will serve you well. No need to exceed your budget.

 

[bigshootr8]

Oh so it was you Sam I'll have to favorite that thread I remember reading something on the 660Ti's memory bit from you.

 

[dennis555]

Is it worth it just waiting for the prices to drop on the 7970/gtx 670? I'd bite for one of those at the >$280 range.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Oh so it was you Sam I'll have to favorite that thread I remember reading something on the 660Ti's memory bit from you.

Yeah spread the word ;-) So many clueless people going on about how the '192-bit bus width cripples performance'... they always use the word 'cripples' too. ARGH!