7950, 7870, or 660?

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luminous

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Jun 10, 2006
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Current setup:
Case – Antec Sonata 2 with 450w PSU (2007)
Board – MSI 890 (2010)
CPU – Phenom II X6 1055t (2010)
RAM – 8gb Ripjaws (2012)
GPU – HD4850 (2008)
HDD – WD 640gb & Maxtor 500gb (2008)
Monitor – Dell 2407

I wanted to get a new video card, one thing led to another, and now I need a case and PSU as well.

I’ve all but decided on the Fractal R4 case, but I’m struggling to decide on a video card.

I was leaning toward the 7870 due to the free copy of Bioshock (don’t care about Tomb Raider), but, what the hell, for a few bucks more the 7950 includes Bioshock and Crysis3. It seems like a no-brainer, right?

Before I pull the trigger, I just want to make sure that a GTX660 or 660Ti is not the better choice. There isn’t a ton of difference in the benchmarks I’ve seen, so the 660 would have to be THAT much cooler, THAT much quieter, THAT much less power than the 7870/7950. If those things are a wash, then the free games are the deciding factor.

As for the power supply, I’ve seen a lot of Corsairs recently. I’m thinking like 600 watt Corsair modular. How does that sound?

Thanks!
 
The 7950 will get you the most performance/dollar, especially if you want/sell the games.

A 600w Corsair will be fine.
 
If your not overclocking your card, you'll never notice the fans making noise, depending on what you get.
 
the HD 7950 boost is a GTX 670 competitor. there is enough information on the web to prove that. the GTX 660 Ti is a class lower and competes with HD 7870 Tahiti LE.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/his_radeon_7950_x_iceq_review,1.html

at the same clocks HD 7950 is 5% slower than HD 7970

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7950_X2_Boost/31.html

HD 7950 at 1100 Mhz matches HD 7970 Ghz (1050 mhz). get the sapphire HD 7950 boost. model 11196-16-20G. reference AMD HD 7950 PCB. unlocked voltage . good cooler.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

as for PSU get a Rosewill capstone 550. very high quality 80 PLUS GOLD rated psu. massive 45amps on +12v rail (45 x 12 = 540w) . 5 year warranty.

http://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-CAPSTONE-Series-Certified-CAPSTONE-550/dp/B006BCKEL6/
 
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Get a HD7950.
And for a 600Watt PSU, Corsair GS600 should be minimum choice.
 
Well, I agonized over the card decision for long enough. I ordered the XFX 7870 and the HX750 psu. I just couldn't pull the trigger on a $300 card, and I figure that there's no way of picking a "perfect" card sight unseen. I can always RMA if it's loud, slow, etc.

Thanks for the advice.
 
The Radeon 7930(aka 7870-LE/7870-Tahiti) is a solid card that performs very close the the 7950, and close to the 7950w/Boost after an overclock. Got mine for $208 and two games I was going to buy anyway(Bioshock and Tomb Raider), so it really cost me $98. Most of the 7930's currently hover around $240, but if you were gonna get those two games anyway it's still the best GPU deal right now.
 
I bought the Sapphire 7870 XT. With no regrets at all. Overclocks like a beast and plays whatever I throw at it. Stay's very cool as well. I already sold the Tomb Raider Copy. Waiting on my Bioshock code.
 
Well, the 7870 didn't blow my socks off. I decided to suck it up and go for the 7950. It was between XFX and Sapphire, and I went with Sapphire.
 
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