Which GPU? ~ €200

..Brian..

Hey Guys,

Looking at GPUs more closely recently and am trying to get best bang for buck I can for my money. Other things I'm looking at are power consumption, heat and noise. OC ability and general future proof-ness incl possibility of SLI/Crossfire also... not much to ask I know! :pac:

Top three contenders I've managed to come up with;

HD 6950

HD 7850

Gtx 560Ti 448 Core

Their all around the same ball park price wise and seem to bench pretty close overall. I'll be playing all modern games at the highest level I can (although doesn't have to be ultra maxed out) at 1680x1050, may upgrade to 1080p down the line but eyefinity is not an option simply due to lack of space.

Anyhoo, which would you choose and why? I'm not too focused on the brand atm more the GPU itself. Or is there something better around the €200 mark I should be looking for?

Thanks in advance!

ShadowHearth

i would go for 7850. most modern of them all and has 2gb ram for future if you will go multymonitor setup CF or just 1440p. one of the reasons i had to sell gtx 570 was its low 1.2gb vram.

you might get 6950 too. it would be easyest to find one second hand for CF too, because it was quite popular card. 2gb vram helps it too.

keep in mind vram does not stack up in CF/Sli. you will just have 1 cards Vram.

Tea_Bag

the 7850 OCs like a beast on stock cooler, some lads on ocuk got to 1360Mhz or something. that's comparable to a 7950, which is far better than the others you mention.

daz801

Had the same dilemma last week, ended up going with the 7850. It's coming in the post tomorrow so will let you know then how it runs.

..Brian..

Excellent, thanks guys. Seems like 7850 is the way to go. Keep us up to date Daz!

daz801

Have just been reading thread on overclockers uk, the card is a little beast when it comes to overclocking. Saphire and msi ones seem to be best. I myself went with the msi as i like the look better. Will have a fun afternoon clocking it tomorrow.

..Brian..

daz801 wrote: »

Have just been reading thread on overclockers uk, the card is a little beast when it comes to overclocking. Saphire and msi ones seem to be best. I myself went with the msi as i like the look better. Will have a fun afternoon clocking it tomorrow.

Just been reading though that thread, 40 - 50% overclocks?! Defo the card to go for!

cherryghost

7850 for sure. GTX560 is now a poor buy at the prices its at. 6950 is decent but the 7850 is the way to go.

daz801

..Brian.. wrote: »

Just been reading though that thread, 40 - 50% overclocks?! Defo the card to go for!

Got mine today and have it running at 1200 did a heaven benchmark but forget the result, will do a full assault of tests a give you scores later. Also the msi version is very quiet.

ShadowHearth

daz801 wrote: »

Got mine today and have it running at 1200 did a heaven benchmark but forget the result, will do a full assault of tests a give you scores later. Also the msi version is very quiet.

can you do 3s mark 11 and heaven 2.5 m8? gives us spec please too. i am really interested to see real life results.

daz801

ShadowHearth wrote: »

can you do 3s mark 11 and heaven 2.5 m8? gives us spec please too. i am really interested to see real life results.

downloading 3d mark 11 now. it will take a bit my download speed is terrible at the moment :mad:
Reran heaven, not on a 1080 screen right now so that will make a difference but will do it again later at 1080

Heaven score
Average fps 67.5
min fps 29.6
max fps 129.3
max temp 69

score: 1701

ShadowHearth

daz801 wrote: »

downloading 3d mark 11 now. it will take a bit my download speed is terrible at the moment :mad:
Reran heaven, not on a 1080 screen right now so that will make a difference but will do it again later at 1080

Heaven score
Average fps 67.5
min fps 29.6
max fps 129.3
max temp 69

score: 1701

That is not on 1080p? Problem with heaven as there is n standart and for different setups you get different results. Will you be able to do it on 1080p with just opened and no settings changed? Non oced and oced?

3d mark 11 would be more accurate now.
What is the rest of your rig too?

daz801

ShadowHearth wrote: »

That is not on 1080p? Problem with heaven as there is n standart and for different setups you get different results. Will you be able to do it on 1080p with just opened and no settings changed? Non oced and oced?

3d mark 11 would be more accurate now.
What is the rest of your rig too?

i5 2500 (not checking if that k was there is the biggest regret of my life)
8gb corsair vengeance
msi z68a g45 g3
some crappy old hdd at the moment

another 40 min download on 3d mark 11 so it's gonna be a while before that's ready

daz801

ran 3d mark 11.........P score 6132
graphics score, 6311

ShadowHearth

daz801 wrote: »

ran 3d mark 11.........P score 6132
graphics score, 6311

Nice one m8. Thanks. Looks good, that's stock?

daz801

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Nice one m8. Thanks. Looks good, that's stock?

slight oc

daz801

Got up to a p score of 6200 is as high as i can go. unable to oc the card any further. Hopefully when afterburner catches up it'll be able to achieve a better oc.



ok have now got up to a p6307. still havn't got that 50% oc but am working on it.