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Thread ID: 126592 2012-09-06 13:06:00 $1100 - $1500 Gaming Desktop first build VOL7AGE (16881) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1299338 2012-09-10 22:07:00 I think the questions that could use answering now is:

What sort of games do you want to play? (specific titles pref)
What resolution screen(s) will you be using?
and what lifespan do you want your parts to have?

If you want to play all the latest games at 1080p or higher for the next couple years, the card you need will be different to one that you want to play today's games at 1080p and the up and coming onesn for perhaps the next 6 month on. 		8ftmetalhaed (14526)
1299339 2012-09-10 22:25:00 the 7950 is more similar to the 660ti
www.playtech.co.nz
you could also buy a 7850/7870 now and in a couple years time buy a second one and crossfire them 		jonovw (16835)
1299340 2012-09-10 22:53:00 you could also buy a 7850/7870 now and in a couple years time buy a second one and crossfire them

This is advice I see quite often in these type of threads and I think it needs to be treated carefully. It's a good suggestion but I think needs some explaining. Yes it's a possible solution to the issue of ever increasing demand on graphics as new games come out and could potentially be the cheapest overall BUT consider this;

1. Make sure your power supply you buy now is enough to handle two graphics cards or you'll have to upgrade that also
2. Make sure your case can fit two cards and deal with the heat
3. Make sure the design of the cards and motherboard can handle xfire/sli.
4. Either Ideally PCI-E slots spaced far enough apart to allow an air gap between cards or cards that vent outside the case so they don't heat each other and the case up
5. Not all games work well with dual cards, it's becoming less of an issue now but I've been quite dissapointed in the past when My SLI GTX460's performed no better than a single card in several games.

Although the 580 I use now is technically not a performance upgrade for some games it actually works much better overall than the SLI setup I had. (I think in my frustration I overshot my needs for smooth 1080P gaming and expect I'll end up skipping the 6 series altogether).

Finally a note about 7870/660Ti level performance, it's very comparable to my GTX580 which was the top end single GPU card of the previous generation and cost more than $800. The 580 maxes out everything I've played with ease so far, and I expect will continue to handle new games for quite a while before I have to start dropping the settings or considering an upgrade. The higher powered the card you buy the longer it will be good enough to game on with new titles. The choice boils down to more money up front for longer/better gaming or upgrading more frequently and spread the costs out over time.

sorry didn't start out to write a novel. 		dugimodo (138)
1299341 2012-09-10 23:31:00 I'm with dugimodo, specifically about not going SLI, except I'd personally prioritize a SSD over the CPU. 120GB these days costs bugger all and would likely still come in under your $1500 limit, though you *may* need to take a marginal hit on the CPU. Chilling_Silence (9)
1299342 2012-09-11 02:54:00 The 660Ti compares pretty closely to a 7870 so it's a step up in performance from the 7850. Whether it's worth the price difference is a tricky question, they should play all the same games at 1080P much the same except the 7850 may occasionally have to drop the quality a little. If you want a higher res than 1080 then you probably need the extra performance. I suspect in practice the difference wouldn't be obvious most of the time but the 660Ti should last a bit longer as new games come out due to the extra speed. A small difference in speed can make a huge difference in gameplay when you are on the performance threshold of smooth gameplay.

I'm tempted to say for $170 it's not worth it, but 12 months down the track if a new game comes out that won't play smoothly you might regret the choice when an upgrade costs you the price of a new card to make it work.
It's a personal choice and hard to advise on.

NV's 660Ti is the 7870 competitor, NOT the 7950, however they trade blows at stock speeds, the 660Ti is often compared to the 7950 in error.....The biggest concern with the 660Ti is its 192bit memory bus, which is why the 7950 leaves it behind once overclocked..... 		SolMiester (139)
1299343 2012-09-11 06:44:00 7850 is a beast of an overclocker. Why not buy that OC up to the 7950 level and save yourself $170 odd dollars.

forums.overclockers.co.uk

But then you can also overclock a 660ti and 7950... 		icow (15313)
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