78xx series worth it?

[munchlaxkid]

okay, so i have a few questions:

i only use my pc for gaming, and for a new graphics card, my budget is around $200-300 (with the possibility of crossfire later)

1. i have a 450w psu, will this be enough to power the card? (i'm definitely going to upgrade it, if i get a 7850 i'll get a second one and xfire them)

2. is the 2gb vram worth it? i dont use eyefinity, but i run games in 1080p.

3. is the last generation (68xx) better price/performance-wise? i feel like it would be better to get two 6870s and xfire them.

i'm honestly really stuck here :/

any feedback will be appreciated,

thanks

 

[yassarikhan786]

I would go for the 7850 and it should be fine on the 450w PSU mate.

 

[Pr3d4t0r]

7850 is a good choice but personally id go with a single card such as 6970, although if you plan to CF in future then the 7xxx series is alot better for that

450W is pretty much bare minimum, what brand?

 

[Ru5ty_t00l]

I'd go for 2 6850s and get also a "bigger" psu

 

[PEXON]

I wouldn't go for the 6850, you can always upgrade to 2x 78XX in the future.

 

[munchlaxkid]

7850 is a good choice but personally id go with a single card such as 6970, although if you plan to CF in future then the 7xxx series is alot better for that

450W is pretty much bare minimum, what brand?

it's a thermaltake 450w,

it came with my old case (thermaltake v2)

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1308&ID=2045

also about the 6970, would it be better to get a 6950 and flash it to a 6970?

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

it's a thermaltake 450w,

it came with my old case (thermaltake v2)

http://www.thermalta...?S=1308&ID=2045

also about the 6970, would it be better to get a 6950 and flash it to a 6970?

So long as the PCB has dual bios else you risk a bricked card if it goes wrong

 

[MaXiMiZe]

A 450w would be ok but it's better to upgrade your psu.

 

[munchlaxkid]

A 450w would be ok but it's better to upgrade your psu.

I've decided to get a 6950, as i can just get one that allows flashing to 6970. (i'd also eventually xfire)

what kind of psu would i need for a 6970 xfire?

I've googled around for "6970 crossfire power requirements" but I can't seem to get a straightforward answer.

thanks

 

[Lauralarry]

he should get a 7850 then when the price drops he can buy another psu + another 7850, if he buys a 6970 he'll waste so much that's a pci 2 card those are gonna be a thing of the past soon

 

[Coxey]

Although this thread was made before the amd 7000 series price drop, It's still quite relevant

With the new price drop I think the 7800 is a better choice over a 6000 series. You can't go wrong with new tech, especially as the 7000 series brings much lower power consumption to the table. Plus with better power consumption, it makes the 7800 series a nicer option for future crossfire.

However depending on the age of your PSU I'd seek a replacement before investing in either a 6000 or 7000 series card. I wasn't too far from purchasing a 7870/7950, and my PSU died this weekend just gone.

Although if your on about Single GPU vs Single GPU (7850 vs 6950 for example) it's probably best to refer to some benchmarks to see the performance differences (pointless quoting them all in this thread)

 

[munchlaxkid]

Although this thread was made before the amd 7000 series price drop, It's still quite relevant

With the new price drop I think the 7800 is a better choice over a 6000 series. You can't go wrong with new tech, especially as the 7000 series brings much lower power consumption to the table. Plus with better power consumption, it makes the 7800 series a nicer option for future crossfire.

However depending on the age of your PSU I'd seek a replacement before investing in either a 6000 or 7000 series card. I wasn't too far from purchasing a 7870/7950, and my PSU died this weekend just gone.

Although if your on about Single GPU vs Single GPU (7850 vs 6950 for example) it's probably best to refer to some benchmarks to see the performance differences (pointless quoting them all in this thread)

i have looked at of a lot of benchmarks, and when it came to 7850 vs. 6950, the 6950 seems like a better buy (except for the fact that my power supply couldn't power it, ending up costing more in the long run) just because i can flash to 6970 which beats the 7850.

also, dumb question, what price drop?

everywhere i've looked the prices are the same as the last time i checked.

 

[Coxey]

what price drop?

everywhere i've looked the prices are the same as the last time i checked.

I guess it may depend on what websites your browsing, however within the last 3-4 days for sure (I can't exactly remember) there was a significant price drop of around... (THIS VARIES) £20-50 (Rough personal guess).

Not sure if I can name drop companies but there are 2-3 quite popular sites that have introduced this drop.

(7950s for as little as £299.99, 7870s down from £280ish to around £250ish)

Like I say.. depends where you browse.

 

[Pr3d4t0r]

he should get a 7850 then when the price drops he can buy another psu + another 7850, if he buys a 6970 he'll waste so much that's a pci 2 card those are gonna be a thing of the past soon

o rly? as even the 7970 only benefits from pcie 3 by maybe 10 fps max the bandwidth of pcie 2 at 8x is MORE than enough to drive top high end cards

 

[Pr3d4t0r]

i have looked at of a lot of benchmarks, and when it came to 7850 vs. 6950, the 6950 seems like a better buy (except for the fact that my power supply couldn't power it, ending up costing more in the long run) just because i can flash to 6970 which beats the 7850.

also, dumb question, what price drop?

everywhere i've looked the prices are the same as the last time i checked.

7970 around 40-55£ depends on brand

7950 around 40ish aswell

and 7770 by around 30, very very cheap now only 100 quid at some places like aria etc.

no 78-- series drops though as they were very cheap form the start and the only reason amd drooped the prices was because of the nvidia announcing price drops on the 680, even though they dont have great sales

and are still stocking up o them as they released it bit soon because of the 79-- series, but lets not get into that, we get stuff cheaper that's what matters :]

since you wanted 78-- to begin with then these dont really matter to you, also sorry for late response but yeah, 6950 to 6970 is a great advantage that saves you around 30-50 pounds depends on brand, but be very ware that it can be very dangerous without dual bios, so make sure you get a dual bios card, as long as you follow the firm flash step by step you should be fine

for CF 6950/70 i recomend atleast 600W, someting like Corsairs TX750 would be a good choice, best brand(personal opinion) out there and also doesnt overprice the items also having a plenty of wattage spare means you can add those ssd raids in future.

 

[aneesh99]

I picked up a Sapphire 7870 for my main rig, I'm liking it so far, I expected a little more horsepower but that'll come with drivers. Overclocks nicely (to rival a 7950 in some circumstances), doesn't draw masses of power, and is good value for money, though real bang for buck would the 7850