[Arv3n]

Hello all,

I want to upgrade from a 6850 so I can play Battlefield 3 better. What should I upgrade to? My PSU only has 2 PCIE connectors and the 2 it has are already used on my 6850. Budget is $350.

System is:

Corsair 650D (I just bought it and love it!!)
Asus M5A99X Evo
8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz
XFX 6850 DD
Phenom II X4 975 OC'd to 3.9ghz
Seasonic 620W modular psu

 

[raghu78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arv3n

Hello all,
I want to upgrade from a 6850 so I can play Battlefield 3 better. What should I upgrade to? My PSU only has 2 PCIE connectors and the 2 it has are already used on my 6850. Budget is $350.
System is:
Corsair 650D (I just bought it and love it!!)
Asus M5A99X Evo
8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz
XFX 6850 DD
Phenom II X4 975 OC'd to 3.9ghz
Seasonic 620W modular psu

what resolution is your monitor ?

 

[Arv3n]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raghu78

what resolution is your monitor ?

1080P.

 

[ITS OVER 9000!]

I would get a 7850. Or I would crank that budget a little more and get a 7950-670

 

[Arv3n]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ITS OVER 9000!

I would get a 7850. Or I would crank that budget a little more and get a 7950-670

Why not a 7870?

 

[Ironman517]

Can you sell your 6850? if you can grab a 670

A 670 is one of the best cards to get for BF3. BF3 favors nvidia more when it comes to min-fps. And min fps is really the FPS that matters, max does not matter in gameplay. But having a high min fps will result in less noticable FPS lag.
For example:

GPU 1:
Max: 70 FPS
Average: 50 FPS
Min: 30 FPS

GPU 2:
Max: 55 FPS
Average: 50 FPS
Min: 45 FPS

Both GPUs have the same average but GPU 1 has more varying FPS results. You are more likely to notice FPS lag from GPU1 over GPU2 since in GPU2 the min FPS is so close to the max. The numbers I used are rather dramatic, but it was to prove a point.

 

[raghu78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arv3n

Why not a 7870?

spend a little bit more. get the sapphire HD 7950 950 Mhz edition . amazon price USD 390.

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-PCI-Express-version-Graphics-11196-10-40G/dp/B0082D58P4/ref=sr_1_23?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1338884367&sr=1-23

card uses ref HD 7970 PCB. 8 pin + 6 pin power. clock for clock HD 7950 is close to HD 7970 perf. a user has posted the card's pics , overclocks etc .

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1695577

http://www.overclock.net/t/1196856/official-amd-radeon-hd-7950-7970-owners-thread/11260#post_17357026

the user hit 1200 Mhz at stock volts. even if you don't get as good a card 1200 Mhz is achievable with sapphire trixx and bit of voltage tweaking.

A HD 7870 at 1200+ Mhz will be slower by atleast 25 - 30% to the HD 7950 at 1200 Mhz. HD 7950 (1200) will trade blows against a GTX 670 (1300)

 

[Swift Castiel]

670 for sure if you can manage to sell your current card. It's not that it's bad, but the 670 hits the price/performance sweet spot in the States at the moment. If you want to stay AMD, a 7850 to a 7950 would be fine. Personally I wouldn't bother with the 7870, since (from what I noticed on spec sheets), it's just clocked a bit faster (I'm probably wrong about that though).

 

[FromUndaChz]

7870 is in your price range and is a great card.

7950 is a beast if you OC it... but I think the GTX 670 is a better value if you jump to the $400 range.

 

[d6bmg]

Get a 7850 or 7870.
If you can increase your budget to ~$400, GTX670 would be the best choice.

 

[raghu78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FromUndaChz

7870 is in your price range and is a great card.
7950 is a beast if you OC it... but I think the GTX 670 is a better value if you jump to the $400 range.

OC'd both cards trade blows . so i don't understand the better value argument if both cards are at the same price point. gtx 670 has gaming perf and perf /watt. GTX 670 can be bandwidth constrained in a few games. hd 7950 has gaming perf, compute perf, bandwidth. but draws more power. so the choice depends on what the OP values more.

 

[FromUndaChz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raghu78

OC'd both cards trade blows . so i don't understand the better value argument if both cards are at the same price point. gtx 670 has gaming perf and perf /watt. GTX 670 can be bandwidth constrained in a few games. hd 7950 has gaming perf, compute perf, bandwidth. but draws more power. so the choice depends on what the OP values more.

I told him my opinion, you're welcome to tell him yours.. He did ask for our opinions, and the information provided is accurate. Stop being such an AMD fanboy and denying the facts.

 

[ITS OVER 9000!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FromUndaChz

I told him my opinion, you're welcome to tell him yours.. He did ask for our opinions, and the information provided is accurate. Stop being such an AMD fanboy and denying the facts.

"Fan boy" LOL!

He is not being a fan boy... All he is saying is once both cards are overclocked the difference is minimal (which the difference is very minimal). 7950-7970 and 670-680 Are extremely similar in performance this time around. ?Unlike 6970 vs 580. Give AMD some credit where credit is do.

 

[Ironman517]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ITS OVER 9000!

"Fan boy" LOL!
He is not being a fan boy... All he is saying is once both cards are overclocked the difference is minimal (which the difference is very minimal). 7950-7970 and 670-680 Are extremely similar in performance this time around. ?Unlike 6970 vs 580. Give AMD some credit where credit is do.

eh not really, it depends on the game. For the most part a 670 is on par with the 7970. What most benchmarks do not tell you is min FPS. Which is basically the FPS that you need to look for, here refer to my previous post. A majority of the time, the GTX 670 will have better min fps than a 7970.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironman517

Can you sell your 6850? if you can grab a 670

A 670 is one of the best cards to get for BF3. BF3 favors nvidia more when it comes to min-fps. And min fps is really the FPS that matters, max does not matter in gameplay. But having a high min fps will result in less noticable FPS lag.
For example:

GPU 1:
Max: 70 FPS
Average: 50 FPS
Min: 30 FPS
GPU 2:
Max: 55 FPS
Average: 50 FPS
Min: 45 FPS
Both GPUs have the same average but GPU 1 has more varying FPS results. You are more likely to notice FPS lag from GPU1 over GPU2 since in GPU2 the min FPS is so close to the max. The numbers I used are rather dramatic, but it was to prove a point.

 

[raghu78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironman517

eh not really, it depends on the game. For the most part a 670 is on par with the 7970. What most benchmarks do not tell you is min FPS. Which is basically the FPS that you need to look for, here refer to my previous post. A majority of the time, the GTX 670 will have better min fps than a 7970.

Let me tell you thats completely wrong. Let me take overclocked custom HD 7970 , custom GTX 670, custom GTX 680 in BF3 2560 X 1600 Ultra 4X MSAA

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/10/sapphire_hd_7970_oc_edition_video_card_review/7
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/06/04/galaxy_geforce_gtx_670_gc_video_card_review/4
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/05/21/asus_geforce_gtx_680_directcu_ii_top_gpu_review/4

GTX 670 (1281) - avg 48.4 min 28 fps
GTX 680 (1291) - avg 51.3 min 30
HD 7970 (1280) - avg 50.7 min 34

the fraps run and game patches are identical. so there is no truth to your statement.

 

[Ironman517]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raghu78

Let me tell you thats completely wrong. Let me take overclocked custom HD 7970 , custom GTX 670, custom GTX 680 in BF3 2560 X 1600 Ultra 4X MSAA
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/10/sapphire_hd_7970_oc_edition_video_card_review/7
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/06/04/galaxy_geforce_gtx_670_gc_video_card_review/4
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/05/21/asus_geforce_gtx_680_directcu_ii_top_gpu_review/4
GTX 670 (1281) - avg 48.4 min 28 fps
GTX 680 (1291) - avg 51.3 min 30
HD 7970 (1280) - avg 50.7 min 34
the fraps run and game patches are identical. so there is no truth to your statement.

Actually there is plenty of truth to my statement.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1455/pg6/asus-geforce-gtx-680-oc-vs-r7970-oc-vs-gtx-580-oc-performance-review-battlefield-3.html
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/05/21/asus_geforce_gtx_680_directcu_ii_top_gpu_review/5
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5699/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-review/9

Dont use just one site for comparison....