Video Card Recommendations?

[Chicken Patty]

Okay fellas. For more than one reason, I need another video card. I want something better than my 6850 I have ATM. However, what I am mostly interested in is that it does good at crunching those GPU WU's. I might go ahead and add it just in time for the new challenge we just got signed up for. I will post it up a little later today in the official Team Challenges page.

I keep seeing a lot of hype about the 7770 or something in regards to crunching. What's the deal with those?

 

[Jack1n]

Whats your budget? for less than 50$ more you could get a 1GB 7850.

 

[Radical_Edward]

I'm loving my 7970, just saying.

Works great for crunching, I got it for gaming originally though.

 

[Peter1986C]

I think it is because the HD 7770 cards do like 2-4 minutes on a WU with even multi-WUs enabled (I suggest verifying this, though), while they use like 60 or 70 watts peak and are therefore relatively good (dedicated) crunchers. And they are not that expensive for what you get.

 

[om3n-]

Here's something decent with a good price.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=86839&CatId=3669

 

[stinger608]

Here's something decent with a good price.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=86839&CatId=3669

The ATI counter parts seem to be better cards for video crunching though.

 

[Aquinus]

I think it is because the HD 7770 cards do like 2-4 minutes on a WU with even multi-WUs enabled (I suggest verifying this, though), while they use like 60 or 70 watts peak and are therefore relatively good (dedicated) crunchers. And they are not that expensive for what you get.

My 6870s overclocked with 1.3v will only draw ~75-watts a pop. I'm pretty sure that crunching doesn't utilize the entire GPU, which explains why power consumption stays so low even if the GPU reports 100% usage (clearly the entire SIMD engines aren't being fully utilized). Either way, 7000-series cards are pretty good at GPGPU, so either way no matter what 7-series card you get, it will crunch well. If you will be only crunching on it, the 7770 is probably your best bet and the best bang-for-your-buck deal, but I don't think it will be a night and day difference from your 6850 for crunching.

 

[mstenholm]

I wouldn't go all in and buy 7970 just yet unless you will use it for gaming when/if GPU crunching dries out. Sure they are great (just look at t_ski with two of them currently running in the top 5 for 1 PC) but a 7770 does 35k + for way less. On the other hand the overwhelming return that HCC got will spur other researchers to go the GPGPU way and then you are ready.

 

[Jack1n]

In my opinion you should never upgrade to 1 gen better when it comes to video cards always skip atleast 1 gen (from 6xxx to 8xxx ect).

 

[Daimus]

Maybe wait for 1-2 months? AMD promised to release 8xxx series.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Guess I'll wait a bit. Thing is I will need a another video card soon for another cruncher that should hopefully fire up soon so it was a good time to upgrade while at it.

The new GPU doesn't have to be great at gaming as it will be for the 3rd cruncher. If in the event that I end up getting a GPU better than my 6850, then I can put it in my primary rig and put the 6850 to my 3rd rig. But for now I will just wait a bit more. For sure thought he 7770 looks like a great choice.

 

[[Ion]]

Guess I'll wait a bit. Thing is I will need a another video card soon for another cruncher that should hopefully fire up soon so it was a good time to upgrade while at it.

The new GPU doesn't have to be great at gaming as it will be for the 3rd cruncher. If in the event that I end up getting a GPU better than my 6850, then I can put it in my primary rig and put the 6850 to my 3rd rig. But for now I will just wait a bit more. For sure thought he 7770 looks like a great choice.

I love my HD7770--it does ~20k PPD, runs extremely cool, and is silent. If I can get multi-WUs going, I should even be able to do ~30k. Not bad for a $120 card IMO

 

[Norton]

I love my HD7770--it does ~20k PPD, runs extremely cool, and is silent. If I can get multi-WUs going, I should even be able to do ~30k. Not bad for a $120 card IMO

I believe your MSI card, as well as the ones KieX is offering at 1/2 price don't have crossfire support so keep an eye out for that if you want to go Crossfire at a later date. 7770's in Crossfire are pretty close to a single 7950 iirc.

I would recommend the 7850... it's a great card for gaming (matches and sometimes beats a GTX 570 and a 6970), quick enough with the GPU wu's, and great on power consumption/heat (and price!)

Mad Shot has the 7850 I had- he should be able to give some insight on that card vs 6850's (single and crossfire)

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

My 6850's don't do a bad job either. I have 2 in my main rig.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

All you got to do is check my posts about what my 7970 did for my crunching results/scores. Boosted me up from an average of 14th place to a average of 9th place. That is until everyone joined up for the HCC Challenge.

 

[Norton]

All you got to do is check my posts about what my 7970 did for my crunching results/scores. Boosted me up from an average of 14th place to a average of 9th place. That is until everyone joined up for the HCC Challenge.

Lots of Radeon horsepower we have!

 

[Chicken Patty]

I was just about to ask, what about something a bit higher than the 7770 but not a 7900 series. I will do some research on the 7850 today and see what that has to offer.

 

[t_ski]

My 7970's rock out 4 wu's each in about 2:15, and the 7770 in the kids' rig does 4 in about 4:00. The higher the model number the faster the wu.

However, everything Ion was saying before was that the 7770's are the best bang for the buck.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Yeah, that's what I find enticing about the 7770, the price and how well they do.

 

[ChristTheGreat]

I was just about to ask, what about something a bit higher than the 7770 but not a 7900 series. I will do some research on the 7850 today and see what that has to offer.

I was able to find an HD7870 for 220$ a couple days ago, maybe you should look for that

if no gaming, just buy somethign at less price. if gaming a bit, for sure, an HD7870 would be a nice upgarde + Crunching

Edit: no gaming, go for HD7770 I guess, it's low price!

 

[Norton]

7770's are great cards but for $50 more you can get a much better card with the 7850

Rough comparison (7770 vs 7850):
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=675&card2=678

Avg US prices:
7770- $125
7850- $175
7870- $225

If you don't mind Crossfire then a pair of 7770's will give you 7950 performance for $250. At the current pricing, performance of these cards is nearly linear vs the $$$ spent.

 

[t_ski]

...and if you go Crossfire, you can run more WU's with the app_info.xml file

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

I was running 3 wu's on my 7850 and pulling down about 40k ppd.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Starting to lean more towards the 7850 now for that price.

 

[drdeathx]

I'm loving my 7970, just saying.

Works great for crunching, I got it for gaming originally though.

I love my triple 7970's... Just sayin!