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.

 

[sam_p_lay]

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.

Might be a good idea - the launch of the top Radeon 8000s early next year should push down current gen prices a bit.

 

[bigshootr8]

You may see 670's hit that range around the time the next gen cards come out probably on ebay more so and may even retailers its really hard to tell. This all could changed with where stuffs going economically though sadly ><

 

[ismail1993]

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.

if you wanna talk about the clock speed is so necessary for gaming to be exactly and i guess the 7870 is faster than the gtx 660 ti... but they still so close to each other at the end of the day i guess (( im not saying that because that imma an AMD fan )) but the 7870 is better than the 660 ti

 

[sam_p_lay]

Er... no it's not. And could you rephrase the rest of it, not sure what you mean?

 

[dennis555]

if you wanna talk about the clock speed is so necessary for gaming to be exactly and i guess the 7870 is faster than the gtx 660 ti... but they still so close to each other at the end of the day i guess (( im not saying that because that imma an AMD fan )) but the 7870 is better than the 660 ti

I thought the 7870 was equivalent to the gtx 660 and the 7950 was comparable to the gtx 660 ti.

 

[sam_p_lay]

I thought the 7870 was equivalent to the gtx 660 and the 7950 was comparable to the gtx 660 ti.

That's exactly right. AMD driver updates helped the 7870 catch up with the GTX660 Ti in some games and the AMD fanboys started saying that means 7870 is equal to the GTX660 Ti. Since then, nVidia have released their own driver updates too. And both companies will of course make further optimisations in the future.

Probably doesn't help that the 7950 is very close to the 7870 anyway and the GTX660 Ti is very close to the non-Ti GTX660. There's really not a huge difference between these models that you could actually see in the real world.

Which is why if you want noticeable more performance, I'd say step right up to GTX670 for a performance jump you can actually see. Especially with card like the 6870. If you had some old 3850 or GTS250 or something then any of these GPUs is a huge upgrade, but the 6870 is not a bad GPU by modern standards anyway. If it's me upgrading, I'd always shoot for a 50% gain so I can really notice the improvement. 50% is enough to turn 25fps into 37fps. Depends on how much you want/expect from an upgrade of course.

 

[dennis555]

That's exactly right. AMD driver updates helped the 7870 catch up with the GTX660 Ti in some games and the AMD fanboys started saying that means 7870 is equal to the GTX660 Ti. Since then, nVidia have released their own driver updates too. And both companies will of course make further optimisations in the future.

Probably doesn't help that the 7950 is very close to the 7870 anyway and the GTX660 Ti is very close to the non-Ti GTX660. There's really not a huge difference between these models that you could actually see in the real world.

Which is why if you want noticeable more performance, I'd say step right up to GTX670 for a performance jump you can actually see. Especially with card like the 6870. If you had some old 3850 or GTS250 or something then any of these GPUs is a huge upgrade, but the 6870 is not a bad GPU by modern standards anyway. If it's me upgrading, I'd always shoot for a 50% gain so I can really notice the improvement. 50% is enough to turn 25fps into 37fps. Depends on how much you want/expect from an upgrade of course.

The way I was thinking when the urge to upgrade started was that If I sold my current 6870 for at least $100 I'd be able to have a newer gen gfx card for less (around 35% performance increase). I also was interested in the free games that these cards came with (farcry 3 for AMD and Assasins creed 3 for Nvidia). So if I sold my 6870 for a $120 the 660TI or 7870 would have been only $100 to $109 without including the free $50 games.

 

[bigshootr8]

I agree with sams logic that it makes sense to make sure that your upgrade is actually felt rather than make a side grade. I had 2 560 ti's and I sold them both and I bought a 660Ti I was kicking myself a little bit because the I didn't spend the money to get the 670 so I ended up returning the 660Ti and got the 670. Now what you can afford budget wise is really up to you honestly if a low to mid 300 dollar card is out of your range it is but I would say its worth it over the the 660Ti.

 

[dennis555]

I agree with sams logic that it makes sense to make sure that your upgrade is actually felt rather than make a side grade. I had 2 560 ti's and I sold them both and I bought a 660Ti I was kicking myself a little bit because the I didn't spend the money to get the 670 so I ended up returning the 660Ti and got the 670. Now what you can afford budget wise is really up to you honestly if a low to mid 300 dollar card is out of your range it is but I would say its worth it over the the 660Ti.

Well that was a mistake since the performance gain is nonexistent if there (don't know about 560 TI sli). But I'm upgrading from a 6870 which performs worse than your 560 TI (about 1000 points less in passmark). So in my scenario a it wouldn't be so much as a side grade. http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

 

[bigshootr8]

two 560 ti's in sli was a little slower then what I have now but I'm using lower power that was the main goal honestly since the power consumption was much higher with the 2 cards. It would be a upgrade no doubt but what I mean is you are staying to the mid level card range which provides an experience that will more then likely last this generation of games a some into next with no problem running on high where as with the 670/680 7970 you have cards that will go to the distance a bit more.

 

[dennis555]

IMO anything with near performance to a gtx 580 is a significant improvement. I used to drool over that card when I got my 6870. So if I could get 580 performance with the 660 TI I'd be happy.

 

[bigshootr8]

Most certainly the only real difference is the memory bit its not bad it won't hold you back in games. It won't produce as much as the the 670 which has 256 bit memory instead of the 192. And I also think that is key to is getting graphics that fit your needs really if all you need is a 660Ti by all means get that

 

[dennis555]

Most certainly the only real difference is the memory bit its not bad it won't hold you back in games. It won't produce as much as the the 670 which has 256 bit memory instead of the 192. And I also think that is key to is getting graphics that fit your needs really if all you need is a 660Ti by all means get that

I just read your sig and realized that you too have an i5 2500k and an asrock motherboard (different but still sandybridge). Since you have the 660 TI may I ask how well it performs in games (in FPS), of course assuming you play games.

 

[bigshootr8]

I had the 660Ti 😛 I ended up returning mainly due to the article that Toms put out honestly. And then I spend the extra on the 670.

Frame wise it was really good I play bf3, sc2, batman aa, ac, borderlands 2. I could toss just about everything at those games and have it handle it. I never really bench marked it I had similar performance to what I had with my 560ti's in Sli but with one card.