<£200 GTX 760 or HD 7950

[Mathius]

I tend to avoid posting these kind of threads because I see similar ones quite a lot.

Ok,
If you haven't already seen my Troubleshooting AMD thread, basically my graphics card is dying and I've had to seriously underclock it to be able to play any of my games... so a new card is in order!

I'm aware that the new Radeon line is right round the corner, and I'm hoping that my dying 4870 with last to the end of the month, I'll be gutted if I buy something and then 10 days later the price drops by £xx

My Monitor is a 22' 1680*1050 Cibox thing, meh it does the job, and have no interest really in upgrading it. (only run a single screen setup)

I've looked through the 7950 reviews here at OC3D, and the Royal King sounds amazing, but way OTT on the price.

A few I've selected out that are within range. (currently @£150, but should get to £200 in 2wks)

List from amazon
* Sapphire 7950 w/ Boost 3GB (£189)
* Asus GTX 760 DirectCU II OC 2GB (£199)
* VTX3D 7950 X-Edition 3GB (£189)
* VTX3D 7870 Tahiti 2GB (£156) - I very nearly impulse bought this, as I know they are great cards.

There are others but this is a few that jump out at me......there are other 7870's but up against the one above, its no match for it.

As I'm upgrading, I dont want anything around the 7750/70/90 as I want to see the performance gain, seeing as I want to eventually be able to play GTA V at recommended settings (the 7950) as its a fairly safe bet that it will come to PC.

Power Supplies I have available to me....
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w - dual 12v rail 25A
XFX ProSeries 550w - Single Rail @ 44A

I hope to use my OCZ as its Modular, but the single 44A on the XFX could well be the better choice.

Currently I cant make my mind up between the Sapphire and the VTX3D 7950's, both are really good considering...

Any hidden gem of a card that I've missed that is ~£200?

Thanks guys/gals

 

[WYP]

all those cards are good choices, i personally prefer amd atm due to their game bundles.

i'd go for the hd 7950 or hd 7870 tahiti, be sure to buy from a retailer which gives you never settle codes though.

as for the psu i'd buy the xfx

 

[Devo234]

for the resolution your running the asus 760 will do the job brilliantly mate.

as far as the psu goes ide use the xfx one. ocz have got a terrible failure rate

 

[jamesriley94]

Personally I'd go for the 760.

The Sapphire 7950 isn't a bad choice - but if you aren't bothered about the games, I'd go for the 760.

 

[Mathius]

oh, I will be, mainly for the warranty as I'm on a usage limit (15GB/month), last thing I want to do really is get a 'used' card without warranty unless its too good to miss.


***
HIS HD 7950 IceQ Boost @ £186 - Too good to miss ?

 

[Willock]

That VTX3D 7950 is on offer at the moment over at Aria for £179.99

I personally can vouch for Aria's customer sevice, plus they have a section here on the forums where RawZ will answer any queries you might have.

 

[Mathius]

1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) **Voltage Unlocked**
Total : £185.99 (includes shipping : FREE, I've met the requirements).

1 x VTX3D X-Edition Radeon HD 7950 OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Total : £179.99 + P&P as it is a SuperSpecial listing

The IceQ cooler is, from what I read, quite possibly the best cooler on the 7950

The boost clock on these two only differ by 5mhz, 930mhz on the VTX3D and 925mhz on the IceQ, given that, the quieter the better

 

[WYP]

1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) **Voltage Unlocked**
Total : £185.99 (includes shipping : FREE, I've met the requirements).

1 x VTX3D X-Edition Radeon HD 7950 OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Total : £179.99 + P&P as it is a SuperSpecial listing

The IceQ cooler is, from what I read, quite possibly the best cooler on the 7950

I'm not sure you would get the never settle codes of amazon, i'd go for the Ice-Q.

'EDIT' sorry i read SuperSaver delivery instead of SuperSpecial. Haha, had me mix up my retailers. l

 

[Mathius]

True, but until FEB 2014, I cant make use of game codes anyway.... (15gb/month)

I could sell them I suppose.......Choices, Choices

 

[WYP]

True, but until FEB 2014, I cant make use of game codes anyway.... (15gb/month)

I could sell them I suppose.......Choices, Choices

Both cards are similarly clocked but the Ice-Q has a better cooler and voltage control, it will likely overclock better (silicon lottery permitting).

there are a few games on the never settle i'm interested in, im sure others would be too if your selling the codes. Good opportunity to make a little money back.

 

[Willock]

Well tbh mate I'd just be patient and see what the new gen brings.
You have an iGPU so its not like you'd be completely offline or anything.

In terms of how soon we'll see the stuff, rumours point to mid October, but its all conjecture until we hear something from AMD.

 

[Mathius]

Its Official........my 4870 is dead, I was just about to move some files onto my phone when the PC just powered off.....

Open the case disconnected and reconnected the videocard, and powered on......

Yup, that dreaded puff of smoke, and absolutely horrible smell......

R.I.P PowerColor HD 4870 (512mb) you served me well for £40.

Replacement card is going to be a HIS HD 7950 IceQ Boost tonight if I cant sort the HD graphics out......I'm having problems with it even trying to load COD4

My Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo will be put in the Wanted section very soon


EDIT.
Bought the HIS 7950 IceQ, and downloading my Intel Graphics Driver...... :lol: via Intel's page was going to take 9+hours (136mb) - going through softpedia it'll take 15mins....


Anyone got a few ideas what I can do with my 4870 PCB ?

 

[Willock]

Its Official........my 4870 is dead, I was just about to move some files onto my phone when the PC just powered off.....

Open the case disconnected and reconnected the videocard, and powered on......

Yup, that dreaded puff of smoke, and absolutely horrible smell......

R.I.P PowerColor HD 4870 (512mb) you served me well for £40.

Replacement card is going to be a HIS HD 7950 IceQ Boost tonight if I cant sort the HD graphics out......I'm having problems with it even trying to load COD4

My Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo will be put in the Wanted section very soon


EDIT.
Bought the HIS 7950 IceQ, and downloading my Intel Graphics Driver...... :lol: via Intel's page was going to take 9+hours (136mb) - going through softpedia it'll take 15mins....


Anyone got a few ideas what I can do with my 4870 PCB ?

Well I'd have waited, but hey, its your funeral!

You'll need to take it down to your local recycling centre so they can dispose of it properly, unless your council picks up electricals like mine.

As a point of interest, have you tried the oven trick for the GPU? might revive it for long enough for the next gen to come. I had a GTX 570 Phantom that I did it to and it lasted another 6 months until I ebayed it, amazingly.

Then again, if you say there was smoke that's probably not going to help as something's obviously fried lol

 

[Mathius]

Well I managed to get the 7950 for £186 delivered. (£218 on Amazon)
I'm not really a hardened gamer so this card will hopefully last me 5yrs.

Was thinking about framing the 4870 PCB or giving it a viking burial......I dont really want to get rid of it, being my 1st ever graphics card.