Best Graphics Card for now

**Savoyard** · December 09, 2012, 06:09 PM

I'm updating my system and want to know what's a good card for the contemporary game.

**Hrothgar Óhreinsaður** · December 10, 2012, 02:44 PM

I'm using an XFX AMD Radeon HD 6770 and run all games (Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Mass Effect 2, and RAGE being the most system-intensive) smoothly at max graphics settings with no game-breaking issues. Few graphical anomalies have appeared: after several consecutive hours of playing Mass Effect 2, cut scenes begin to show tracers from character movement, and some characters haphazardly fly around during the video; also, I had a serious texture glitch with RAGE, but a driver update resolved it.

**Savoyard** · December 10, 2012, 04:03 PM

Sounds nice. I've been doing okay with my AMD 4XXX, but I tried War of the Roses and Planetside 2 and it's just not cutting it.

**The Useless Member** · December 10, 2012, 06:26 PM

When you mean "best", do you mean the best there is on the market?

**mrmouth** · December 10, 2012, 06:36 PM

This is generally the best, no BS source. 7850 looks to be the sweet spot for most people, but the 7870 is very intriguing for a just a bit more.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...view,3107.html

**The Useless Member** · December 10, 2012, 09:39 PM

Originally Posted by mrmouth

This is generally the best, no BS source. 7850 looks to be the sweet spot for most people, but the 7870 is very intriguing for a just a bit more.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...view,3107.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-pla-_-NA-_-NA

I have that one.

**GasMask** · December 10, 2012, 09:43 PM

I would say its between a HD 7970 & GTX 680

.

Both cards should last you a few years unless you want to use 3D Vision or AMD 3D.

**Darkpriest667** · December 11, 2012, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by mrmouth

This is generally the best, no BS source. 7850 looks to be the sweet spot for most people, but the 7870 is very intriguing for a just a bit more.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...view,3107.html

The 7870 is known to have issues compared to its brothers 7850 and 7950 best to one way or the other and avoid the 7870 there is a long thread on overclock.net about specific issues with the 7870.

Originally Posted by XTH3R1DDL3RP1NX

I would say its between a HD 7970 & GTX 680

.

Both cards should last you a few years unless you want to use 3D Vision or AMD 3D.

I agree but if you want to save some bucks you could buy a 7950 and OC it to a 7970 with very little effort.

Unfortunately Nvidia seems to be moving in the direction of voltage locks which means very little effective overclocking.

**Crazyeyesreaper** · December 11, 2012, 03:24 PM

or just buy the 7970 and if its an XFX version you get 4 games, sell the 4 games walk away with a 7970 for $280 give or take

**mrmouth** · December 11, 2012, 06:02 PM

I think The Basement forgets that most people are not looking for bleeding edge stuff and something around $160-170 with the performance of a 7850 looks awfully attractive for anyone not looking to max out Far Cry 3 on dual monitors of death.

It's like mission creep. If you are going to spend $220 on the 7870 you might as well spend $300 on the 7970 for frame rates you wont notice on your 24" monitor, and wont keep long enough to ever take full advantage of.

**gradeAhaze** · December 11, 2012, 06:38 PM

so than you'd say, with my 6950, should i just hold off for the next big thing?
Would it really be worth it for me personally to upgrade with my
i7 960 3.2 ghz?

**Totalheadache** · December 12, 2012, 04:17 AM

Originally Posted by gradeAhaze

so than you'd say, with my 6950, should i just hold off for the next big thing?
Would it really be worth it for me personally to upgrade with my
i7 960 3.2 ghz?

oc that cpu to around 4ghz and wait for next gen. then decide which amd/nvidia.

i am going to upgrade gpu but am not decided whether to do cpu (920+580).

**mrmouth** · December 13, 2012, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by gradeAhaze

so than you'd say, with my 6950, should i just hold off for the next big thing?

There are some things to consider beyond performance - like how much can you get for your current card in comparison to a logical upgrade? Does it make sense to ditch your current card because your warranty is going to expire and you can move into something with similar performance?

After this thread I looked at the resale price of my GTX 570 and saw that I could probably get $200 for it used, on ebay. So I listed it and it sold next day. Now I have an XFX HD 7870 coming tomorrow as an upgrade for $30 after the rebate. Also comes with a Hitman coupon that I will likely sell for $20-30. So I might break even.

Got rid of a card with an expiring warranty for a card that is a little better (an OC might get me close to 7970 levels), with a lifetime warranty. I sacrifice the Nvidia drivers.

And that is how you do that.

**gradeAhaze** · December 13, 2012, 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by mrmouth

There are some things to consider beyond performance - like how much can you get for your current card in comparison to a logical upgrade? Does it make sense to ditch your current card because your warranty is going to expire and you can move into something with similar performance?

After this thread I looked at the resale price of my GTX 570 and saw that I could probably get $200 for it used, on ebay. So I listed it and it sold next day. Now I have an XFX HD 7870 coming tomorrow as an upgrade for $30 after the rebate. Also comes with a Hitman coupon that I will likely sell for $20-30. So I might break even.

Got rid of a card with an expiring warranty for a card that is a little better (an OC might get me close to 7970 levels), with a lifetime warranty. I sacrifice the Nvidia drivers.

And that is how you do that.

Well, I'm not very sure on the warranty situation with my card. But I have looked and saw that I could get about 200 dollars for the card I currently own. If I spent 200-300 more, I could easily buy one of the best cards out there now.

Also as far as peformance, aren't the gtx 570 and ati hd 6950 similar??

**Lord William** · December 13, 2012, 11:48 AM

I own a GTX 680 lightening, what is the perfect size monitor for my graphics card and also what would difference from my current 22" inch monitor now

**karamazovmm** · December 13, 2012, 01:00 PM

the monitor size is up to you, I like the 27'' with 2560*1600 or in the 16:9 format.

**AtheistDane** · December 23, 2012, 06:09 PM

Nobody asked the OP what his budget is...

I personally like the MSI 670 Power Edition, for its good price to performance. And of course the MSI 680 Lightning for its power.

Taking this a little off-topic, my plan is to buy the best card on the market every two years, which means that I'm going to skip the 600-series and maybe even the 700-series, due to Maxwell's release in 2014, what do you guys think about this plan.

Merry Christmas everyone,
AtheistDane