Budget GPU for MMO-centric use

Avelict · May 25, 2012

So I'm building a rig for my little brother as a graduation gift since he graduated as Valedictorian for his class. He mostly plays MMO's (WoW/Rift/GW2 when it releases) and I don't make enough to gift him a $500 graphics card, I was thinking with going with the Sapphire 7770 Vapor-X seeing as they're $150 a pop. Opinions?

Any other suggestions would be welcomed!

W1zzard · May 25, 2012

hd 6870 is best price/performance right now at $150 or so

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/HD_7850_Power_Edition/30.html

AlienIsGOD · May 25, 2012

W1zzard said:
hd 6870 is best price/performance right now at $150 or so

Agreed, i have a 6870 and couldn't be happier with its performance @ 1080P in Diablo 3 and WoW. BF3 also plays nice at high settings on a 6870 (not that its an MMO, but a game that pushes hardware).

Avelict · May 25, 2012

Which vendor makes the better 6870? Im partial to Sapphire due to their cooling system, but I don't know much about others like MSI/HIS/XFX/Asus.

AlienIsGOD · May 26, 2012

I've always used Sapphire for AMD cards, great build quality, good cooling as you said, and my 6870 is capable of a 975mhz on air from 900 (thats me being conservative and not touching voltage). Also i think the Dirt 3 edition that I have is the standard cooling for the ref 6870 now.

Norton · May 26, 2012

I have the MSI 6870 Hawk- it costs a bit more than a standard 6870 but well worth the extra $50 (factory overclocked, improved power circuit, great cooler)

Runs great and looks awesome!!!

System Name	Middleman
Processor	i5-3570k @ 4.8Ghz
Motherboard	ASUS P8Z77-V LX
Cooling	Noctua NH-D14
Memory	Samsung 8GB 1600MHz
Video Card(s)	Sapphire 7870
Storage	WD Caviar Black 1TB / OCZ Vertex 4 128GB
Case	Cooler Master Haf XM
Audio Device(s)	Integrated
Power Supply	Corsair 800W
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

System Name	Aliens Ryzen Rig \| 2nd Hand Omen
Processor	Ryzen R5 5600 \| Ryzen R5 3600
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite (F61 BIOS) \| B450 matx
Cooling	DeepCool Castle EX V2 240mm AIO\| stock for now
Memory	8GB X 2 DDR4 3000mhz Team Group Vulcan \| 16GB DDR4
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse RX 5700 8GB \| GTX 1650 4GB
Storage	Adata XPG 8200 PRO 512GB SSD OS / 240 SSD + 2TB M.2 SSD Games / 1000 GB Data \| SSD + HDD
Display(s)	Acer ED273 27" VA 144hz Freesync \|TCL 32" 1080P w/ HDR
Case	NZXT H500 Black \| HP Omen Obelisk
Audio Device(s)	Onboard Realtek \| Onboard Realtek
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650w 80+ Gold \| 500w
Mouse	Steelseries Rival 500 15 button mouse w/ Razor Goliathus Chroma XL mousemat \| Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech G910 Orion Spark RGB w/ Romer G tactile keys \| Logitech G513 Carbon w/ Romer G tactile keys
Software	Windows 10 Pro \| Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Middleman
Processor	i5-3570k @ 4.8Ghz
Motherboard	ASUS P8Z77-V LX
Cooling	Noctua NH-D14
Memory	Samsung 8GB 1600MHz
Video Card(s)	Sapphire 7870
Storage	WD Caviar Black 1TB / OCZ Vertex 4 128GB
Case	Cooler Master Haf XM
Audio Device(s)	Integrated
Power Supply	Corsair 800W
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit

System Name	Aliens Ryzen Rig \| 2nd Hand Omen
Processor	Ryzen R5 5600 \| Ryzen R5 3600
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite (F61 BIOS) \| B450 matx
Cooling	DeepCool Castle EX V2 240mm AIO\| stock for now
Memory	8GB X 2 DDR4 3000mhz Team Group Vulcan \| 16GB DDR4
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse RX 5700 8GB \| GTX 1650 4GB
Storage	Adata XPG 8200 PRO 512GB SSD OS / 240 SSD + 2TB M.2 SSD Games / 1000 GB Data \| SSD + HDD
Display(s)	Acer ED273 27" VA 144hz Freesync \|TCL 32" 1080P w/ HDR
Case	NZXT H500 Black \| HP Omen Obelisk
Audio Device(s)	Onboard Realtek \| Onboard Realtek
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650w 80+ Gold \| 500w
Mouse	Steelseries Rival 500 15 button mouse w/ Razor Goliathus Chroma XL mousemat \| Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech G910 Orion Spark RGB w/ Romer G tactile keys \| Logitech G513 Carbon w/ Romer G tactile keys
Software	Windows 10 Pro \| Windows 10 Pro

Budget GPU for MMO-centric use

Avelict

W1zzard

Administrator

AlienIsGOD

Vanguard Beta Tester

Avelict

AlienIsGOD

Vanguard Beta Tester

Norton

Moderator - Returning from the Darkness

System Name	Main PC- Gamer- Main Cruncher/Folder and too many crunching/folding rigs
Processor	Ryzen 5900X- Ryzen 5950X- Ryzen 3950X and etc...
Motherboard	Asrock X570 Extreme4- MSI X570S Tomahawk MAX WiFi- MSI B450M Bazooka Max and etc...
Cooling	Noctua NH-U14S (dual fan)- EK 360 AIO with push/pull fans- Corsair H115i RGB Pro XT and etc...
Memory	2x16GB GSkill FlareX 3200/c14- 4x8GB Corsair Vengeance 3600/c16- 2x16GB Team 3600/c18 and etc..
Video Card(s)	MSI Gaming RX 6800- Asus RTX 3070 TUF OC- MSI Ventus GTX 1660Ti and etc...
Storage	Main PC (1TB WD SN850- 2TB PNY CS 3040- 2TB Seagate Firecuda) and etc...
Display(s)	Main PC (2x24" Dell UltraSharp U2414H)
Case	Phanteks P600s- Seasonic Q704- Fractal Meshify C and etc...
Audio Device(s)	Logitech Z625 THX 2.1 speakers
Power Supply	EVGA 750 G3- SeaSonic DGC 750- EVGA P2 850 and etc...
Mouse	G300s
Keyboard	Corsair K65
VR HMD	N/A
Software	Windows 10 Pro or Ubuntu
Benchmark Scores	Why sit on the Bench when you can get in the game and Crunch!!!