I need some help on choosing which graphics card would be best for me. - Page 2

Actually 1GB of vram will still go a long way even at @ 1080p. While its possible to run of vram in some games if you run @ 2560 x1600 is quite rare and the 7850 does not have the GPU power for thous kind of resolutions anyway, at least not if you want to have some settings turned up and have decent frame rates.


As an example we can use BF3 that is the most vram hungry game out there at the moment. See how the FPS is the same for the 1GB card and the 2GB card @ 1920x 1200 with 4xAA


And its only at 2560 x1600 4xAA that the 1GB starts to suffer. But regardless neither the 1GB card or the 2GB variant has enough power to run at thous settings.


And remember BF3 is an extreme case. Most games current and probably thous that come in the near future will run fine with 1GB

Just look at CoD 4. Even with 5760x1080p and 4xAA there is still no difference between 1GB and 2GB.



Is 2GB more future proof? Yes but keep in mind that you might need a faster card before the 1GB vram becomes a limitation. However for crossfire the 2GB version is hands down better.

source-->http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Club_3D/HD_7850_RoyalQueen/6.html
Edited by Bit_reaper - 10/1/12 at 2:15am

first there are reviews which have clearly shown graphics cards run out of VRAM in BF3 Ultra 4X MSAA at 1920 x 1080 and even 1680 x 1050. what happens is min fps suffers horribly with very bad stuttering. here is the GTX 560 Ti which is basically unplayable with Ultra 4x MSAA because of 1 GB. Look at the fps drops to around 10 fps . thats in no way playable.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/AMD-Radeon-HD-7870-2GB-and-HD-7850-2GB-Pitcairn-Review/Battlefield-3-Radeon-0

You have to understand that HD 7850 is a very powerful GPU. Its performance scales brilliantly with overclocking. It can match GTX 580 at 1.2+ Ghz. Why would somebody want to handicap such a powerful GPU with 1 GB VRAM ??


FYI my friend recently purchased the MSI HD 7850 PE and is running the card with a slight overclock to 1 Ghz and is rocking BF3 at 1080p Ultra 4x MSAA at 45 -50 fps. This would not be possible with a 1 GB HD 7850.

If you have a HD 7850 1GB its a good example of enough GPU power but handicapped by VRAM.
Edited by raghu78 - 10/1/12 at 2:22am

OP I advise you to get the 2GB version. With a powerful card like HD 7850 it would be a pity if you cannot run the latest games like BF3 at Ultra 4x MSAA because you ran out of VRAM. Games like Skyrim with mods easily can use upto 2GB VRAM. Do not try to save 10 or 20 bucks. Get the HD 7850 2GB . you will be happy you did. If you have any doubts ask in the HD 7800 users thread

And how exactly are you going to explain those horrible, unplayable stutters not showing up at all in the average FPS by TPU? Since the 1GB card is actually a teeny bit faster than the 2GB version, it can't have suffered too bad anywhere in that test. Could it be that the 560 Ti 1GB suffering is not proof of 7850 1GB suffering?

That being said, taking the 1GB version might be fine for a while playing at 1680x1050 but sure enough that card will eventually lose its value compared to the 2GB version. That is both the user value and resale value. I would go for the 2GB.

Like I said BF3 is an extreme example as its much more vram hungry then other games. Sill I'm not sure what the hell they did to get it to run out at 1920 x 1080 much less 1680 x 1050. Form what I have seen BF3 runs fine on even 1GB @ 1080p. It might be that the 4xAA is able to push over the 1GB in some rare areas (remember AA is a huge memory hog). But even so you don't want to be playing BF3 in the 30-40FPS range anyway so you would drop that AA down to x2 or disable it to get 45-55 or 50-60 FPS.

Don't get me wrong having 2GB is good but 1GB is not as bad as you make it out to be. The point I was trying to make was that even with 1GB of memory the 7850 is still a better choice then a 6950 2gb. So sure if you can afford it then 2GB is better but the difference will only start to really show if you overclock a lot or run crossfire (or or if that one benchmark is to be belived in BF3). I would also like point out that new games use less and less traditional vram heavy AA as most new games opt for post-proceccing AA like FXAA that use very little vram.

Do you know where I can find a youtube video or something demonstrating the fps drop with a 560 ti 1GB?

I looked at some videos and most 560 ti 1GB users seam to play quite smoothly @ 1080p x2 AA ULTRA --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsNd2YVZeAU
Edited by Bit_reaper - 10/1/12 at 3:24am

Ok First off don't get a old inefficient card. Any Video card thats not a 7000 or 600 series card should be ignored. They just use to much power and dump to much heat into your room to be worth the trouble these days. Now When It comes to memory the thing you got to remember is extra memory will do nothing for you if you don't need it. The Card has the same performance no matter if its 1gb or 2gb. Now what does matter is if your game is using more ram then you have you will have decreased performance and frame drops which is not a good thing. 1GB of video memory is not a lot and really at 1080p can be a nuisance as your so close to that 100% lead of video memory for most games. I have a 1gb GTX465 in my HTPC and with games like BF3 you have to take steps to keep the game in the 1gb of ram. If you think your gonna play BF3 @1080p with ultra textures on with a 1gb card then enjoy having frames drop from it eating your memory away.

The 7850 is better then a 6970, even more so if you start overclocking that 7850. Uses less power and wont dump as much heat into your room and CGN handles stability in frames better then the old vliw4-5 tech I think. Nvidia has a pretty poor lower end lineup and don't recommend them. Hell anything lower then the gtx670 and you may as well pick up a AMD card as they are not only faster for cheaper but also tend to have more bandwidth. The only Nvidia card I would recommend right now if picking up a used GTX460 1gb for under $120. Though OC vs OC the 7770 beats out a gtx460, I know this because my brothers 7770 does 1300mhz and it gets pretty close to my GTX465 @ 850 which is faster then a gtx460 @ 950 and getting 950 on most gtx460's is damn near impossible, Though don't expect every 7770 to do 1300mhz ether.


Hope this helps
Edited by DzillaXx - 10/1/12 at 4:02pm