Which card to buy?

[Miljan88]

Hey Folks!
Recently i was wondering which ATi GPU is best to buy atm....
Am running (poor) Powercolor 5830...which is tbh quite ok card for 1680x1050 resolution.
Since new ATi Cards came out recently i was wondering is it smart to buy HD 7770 or just get some older cards (6870 for example).
I have a good Case (NXZT phantom) so heat is not really a problem...but I am kinda confused since HD7770 is 128bit card...while on the other side 6870 is 256bit.
The thing is both cards kinda have same price...atm in my country i can get 7770 (Club3D) for 146E...and XFX dual fan 6870 for 147E.
Also is it possible to make some kind of CF setup with 7770/6870 and 5830...i was reading some reviews where people made this kind of CF...but performance wasnt really great .
Am asking this beacuse i cannot really sell this 5830 (dont ask why).
Thx in advance.

 

[Dent1]

Don't bother with the upgrade, the 5830 and 7770 are similar speed, even jumping to a 6870 isnt going to be mind blowing.

If you want to CF, the cards have to be in the same series. So you can CF the 5830 with a 5850 or 5870.

If your CPU isnt OC'd I would do that for extra performance.

 

[OneMoar]

Don't bother with the upgrade, the 5830 and 7770 are similar speed, even jumping to a 6870 isnt going to be mind blowing.

If you want to CF, the cards have to be in the same series. So you can CF the 5830 with a 5850 or 5870.

If your CPU isnt OC'd I would do that for extra performance.

uh....... I think you mean the 6870/7700
because both would kick the 5830 into the dirt....
and dual gpu setups are more trouble then they are worth ... 90% of the time anyway

 

[NdMk2o1o]

uh....... I think you mean the 6870/7700
because both would kick the 5830 into the dirt....
and dual gpu setups are more trouble then they are worth ... 90% of the time anyway

The 7700 does not kick the 5830 in the dirt whatsoever it's actually 15% better than a stock 5830, not exactly earth shattering I'd say and definatey not worth dropping $170 on at this moment in time, I would say grab a cheap used 5830 for CF or wait until kepler for the prices to come down

 

[Dent1]

4% difference between the 5830 and 7770 at 2560x1600
5% diffference between the 5830 and 7770 at 1920x1200
6% difference between the 5830 and 7770 averaged across a range of resolution


http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/HD_7770_DirectCU/images/perfrel_2560.gif
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/HD_7770_DirectCU/images/perfrel_1920.gif
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/HD_7770_DirectCU/images/perfrel.gif

In short, it's not an upgrade. Not even a sidegrade really.

 

[Crap Daddy]

Out of those two totally forget the 7770, expensive and useless. On the other hand the 6870 is a very good budget card, in fact the best there is. 6870 is on average around 30% faster than what you have now on your resolution, here's a good chart:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6870/29.html

If you want to stretch your budget you might consider the 6950 even the 1GB variant, that would be an important upgrade in case you don't like Nvidia and you don't want to wait more than 2 months to see what Kepler brings in the mid-range segment. The 7000 series will not bring any substantial improvements at the same price-point so I'd say grab while you can either a 6870 or a 6950 (I don't think crossfire with 5830 is a good option)

 

[epicy]

go for 7770 mate.

 

[Dent1]

go for 7770 mate.

You registered just to say that? lol

upto 6% increase as proven above is no reason to go 7770.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

If you're attached to getting something, then go for the 6870. Power usage will be higher than the 7770, but you pay a lot less at check out, for a very comparable performance level.

If you can wait a few months, then wait for Kepler. Nvidea launching product will force price competition from AMD, and will likely make that 7770 a much easier pill to swallow.

 

[Miljan88]

First of all thank you all for answers.
I don't know about Kepler and nVidia in general....i mean i have a laptop with nVidia GPU/Intel CPU and i had nVidia GPU's for other Desktop Machines before. It's not like i am a fanboy of AMD, but i always used to have ATi Card on AMD based Machine and all nVidia GPU's were on Intel based machines. Its just me .
I will probably wait and see whats up with 7850/7870....just gonna wait for TPU reviews and if performance is not really great ill either get 6870 or get some more cash and buy 6950.

Edit: I tried to search for another 5830 to make CF...but than again card itself its not really powerful and like OneMoar said MultiGPU setups are kinda more trouble than worth...
Well i never had one CF/SLi setup (i would like to tho) but definitely not with 5830.

Cheers

 

[OneMoar]

two things here u are comparing two cards that where released at separate price points
secondly the drivers for the 7xxx series are not mature ....yet
crossfire fire is more trouble then its worth ... game support ranges from hit and miss to horrid .....
edit wow: I am sicker then I thought ..

 

[Dent1]

two things here u are comparing two's care that where released at to separate price points
secondly the drivers for the 7xxx series are not mature ....yet
crossfire fire is more trouble then its worth ... game support ranges from hit and miss to horrid .....

Agreed, the drivers isn't matured, but with 6% difference currently, its unlikely drivers could double the performance. Even doubled to 12% isn't a jump worth pursuing.

OP either get the 79xxx or wait for the 78xx reviews. CF your 5830 with an 5850 is an alternative. You can find them cheap on Ebay second hand. Those are your best choices.

I run 5850 CF and I can't say I've had any driver issues or support issues outside of BF Bad company 2.

 

[happita]

I'd say that a 7870 would be a worthy upgrade. AMD is close to releasing them within the next month or so. But the 7770, not so much.