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Rebbig
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Budget Video Card

Tue Nov 20, 2012 9:23 pm

Hello,
I am currently working on building a PC and I would like to spend between $200-$250 on a graphics card. My impression is that the HD7870 is a good choice in this range (for instance: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125418). Please let me know if I am mistaken (or if you have other recommendations). Now, if the 7870 does seem to be the best option, do any of you also have recommendations regarding which manufacturer to get? The XFX lifetime warranty does seem to be pretty interesting to me. I've also heard the Gigabyte OC version (link above) is quite good, quiet, and keeps cool. Let me know your thoughts! Thank you.
 
MadManOriginal
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Re: Budget Video Card

Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:36 pm

I would be more tempted by a GTX 660 or GTX 660 Ti in that price range. I am a tiny bit partial to NVidia because ime their drivers are less troublesome but that's maybe a tossup. Objectively, the GTX 660 Ti in particular at least matches the 7870 in average FPS and beats it in 99th percentile frametimes while using less power, with deals it's right at the top of your price range though, the non-Ti is slower in average FPS but the same in 99th percentile frametimes, costs less and uses less power. Something to consider at least.
 
pandelta
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Re: Budget Video Card

Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:52 pm

I have bought from both AMD/ATI and Nvidia for many many years. It really depends on entirely what you are going to do with the card. If you going to do only gaming then a Nvidia is the best way to go, better drivers and generally more stable. If your doing number crunching such as GPU BOINC task and some games then AMD is the way to go. Even a $250 7850 card will outperform a $400 GTX 670 on task such as BOINC (World Computing Grid) Help Conquer Cancer (HCC) research, but when it comes to games Nvidia will kicks its butt. The same holds even for the $100 7770 card too.
 
Rebbig
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Re: Budget Video Card

Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:35 am

The 660 Ti seems to be $300, which is a bit out of my price range. I agree that the 660 falls nicely within my range, though for some reason I've gotten the impression that the 7870 can out perform the 660 (I know this is a generalization).
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: Budget Video Card

Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:23 am

Consider a Radeon HD7850 2GB or a Radeon HD7950.
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MadManOriginal
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Re: Budget Video Card

Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:51 am

Ok, there are just a few GTX 660 Ti on Newegg that are at or barely below $250 with MIRs. I only looked at a few and figured more were...you have to do the 'see price in cart' thing to see the price though.
 
MrBojangles
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Re: Budget Video Card

Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:32 am

Like the others i would say it depends on your needs. The 7870 is the best single card performance in your price range. If your going for the most potential performance i would suggest 2x7770 as a possibility. It would give you the best overall performance for your money...but with much higher heat,power draw, and all the issues that may arise with CF or SLI setups. If your interested in the nvidia only perks like physx...ect the stock 660 would be your best bet. All though it is a slight notch down in performance from the 7870.

On a Side note IME when some one lists a budget range for part suggestions ie 2-250 it's usually meant literally. They want to spend only $200 to $250 out there pocket for a part right now. So why do these posts always get littered with "In your price range...after mir" suggestions? A $300 card with a $50 mir is not $250..it's still going to cost them out of pocket $300. Granted this one hasn't been bad, but i have seen some were literally ever suggestion (outside of weeks of waiting for a non guaranteed rebate check) is way out of the price range.
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