OP
ArjunKiller
Gamer
The dealer says that the stock is of 2009 or 2010 so he is selling old stock. New ones are priced at 1899/-
that might be a cause but still I feel something is strange there - MX-518 normally costs around ~1.25k everywhere.
OP
ArjunKiller
Gamer
So, will I be able to play all games at mid resolution and mid settings with this configuration and how long will this config last me?
d6bmg
BMG ftw!!
again that depends on the game.
Cilus
laborare est orare
ArjunKiller, I think you can reduce the price of your would be configuration by a little and can accomodate a HD 6790 or HD 6850 for better playability in 1080P resolution for the current generation as well as the upcoming titles.
For example get a single 4 GB 1600 MHz Corsair XMS3 module, available @ 1.65K in Deltapage.com. The Memory controller of Phenom II/Athlon II processors are not as good as their Intel Counter parts and the performance improvement of Vengeance Ram over a XMS3 module is practically zero with a AMD Processor.
Similarly, you can go for a Athlon II X4 640 3 GHz processor, priced around 4K to 4.2K. The performance difference between a Phenom II 840 3.2 GHz(which is just a rebranded Athlon II X4 as it does not have L3 cache) is again negligible and you can always overclock the 640 by 0.2 GHz to reach P II 840's performance.
By going for the above mentioned items you can save around 1K which can be used to get either of HD 6790 or HD 6850.
For example get a single 4 GB 1600 MHz Corsair XMS3 module, available @ 1.65K in Deltapage.com. The Memory controller of Phenom II/Athlon II processors are not as good as their Intel Counter parts and the performance improvement of Vengeance Ram over a XMS3 module is practically zero with a AMD Processor.
Similarly, you can go for a Athlon II X4 640 3 GHz processor, priced around 4K to 4.2K. The performance difference between a Phenom II 840 3.2 GHz(which is just a rebranded Athlon II X4 as it does not have L3 cache) is again negligible and you can always overclock the 640 by 0.2 GHz to reach P II 840's performance.
By going for the above mentioned items you can save around 1K which can be used to get either of HD 6790 or HD 6850.
Cilus
laborare est orare
No man, XMS3 does not have any issue with AMD mobos. Some people reported that they has had some problems because of XMS3 are 1.65V ram whereas Sandybridge operates at 1.5V for DIMM ports.
I am using the XMS3 1600 MHz with my rig without a single issue. It is running @ multiplier setting X4 which is needed to be done as all AM3 mobo does support 1333 MHz max by default and the timing is 9-9-9-24 2T which I have set from BIOS.
I am using the XMS3 1600 MHz with my rig without a single issue. It is running @ multiplier setting X4 which is needed to be done as all AM3 mobo does support 1333 MHz max by default and the timing is 9-9-9-24 2T which I have set from BIOS.
AcceleratorX
Youngling
XMS3 - no issues with AMD or Intel mobos that I could see.
As for the OP's question, 550 Ti is better than 5770/6770 and arguably 6790. If you can, however, grab a GTX 460 (not 460 SE) or HD 6850, that would be a much better buy.
As for the OP's question, 550 Ti is better than 5770/6770 and arguably 6790. If you can, however, grab a GTX 460 (not 460 SE) or HD 6850, that would be a much better buy.
Can you post some bnchmarks for proof?
AcceleratorX
Youngling
Tom's Graphics Card Guide: 32 Mid-Range Cards Benchmarked : Picking The Right Graphics Card
Benchmark Results: Highest Quality, FXAA : Duke Nukem Forever: Performance Analysis
It's the latest review I could find that directly compares the two. Other, older reviews basically say 550 Ti = 5770/6770. Here it's more like 550 Ti = 6790 (almost) for the most part.
Either way, given NVIDIA's advantage in some games like Metro 2033 and HAWX 2, I'd say the 550 Ti is definitely better than 5770 and arguably better than 6790 (arguably because this is debatable, it depends on the game, drivers, whether you love PhysX/CUDA, etc.).
BTW please don't ask for proof of GTX 460 SE's performance, even theoretically calculating it's performance specifications should tell you it's almost the same performance as a 550 Ti
Personal experience counts too: my 550 Ti has higher minimum FPS in a number of games compared to my old 5770 (Serious Sam HD, Duke Nukem Forever, Mass Effect 2, for example). In other games like AVP, performance is roughly the same.
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So its all due to games which are specifically designed for the card manufactures to take advantage. You cant say 5770 is slow. I cant agree that. it rocks in most games. Also most reviews the base system also accounts while talking about benchmark. Make a not buyer the benchmark is just a mere info to decide. If there is 3-8 fps difference you get between 2 cards it merly doesnt make any difference as these are not constant. As most high texture calculation the drop will be less in some card which is giving lower fps than the higher fps card. Its upto you to decide. If you want to invest on best buy get a HD 6870. If the budget not suits then go for HD 6770. Best buy card. Amd is always solid performer . I never had any issues in any games. I am recently running cal of duty ops at full HD with 8x aa @40fps average. Means its stays most case but gone even 60 at most scenario. So as far as crysis the bench mark game for cards this cards gives awesome 20-32 fps in most case still playable at full hd with no lag at all. Only you will feel lag if it goes down to 12 and less.
Tom's Graphics Card Guide: 32 Mid-Range Cards Benchmarked : Picking The Right Graphics Card
Benchmark Results: Highest Quality, FXAA : Duke Nukem Forever: Performance Analysis
It's the latest review I could find that directly compares the two. Other, older reviews basically say 550 Ti = 5770/6770. Here it's more like 550 Ti = 6790 (almost) for the most part.
Either way, given NVIDIA's advantage in some games like Metro 2033 and HAWX 2, I'd say the 550 Ti is definitely better than 5770 and arguably better than 6790 (arguably because this is debatable, it depends on the game, drivers, whether you love PhysX/CUDA, etc.).
BTW please don't ask for proof of GTX 460 SE's performance, even theoretically calculating it's performance specifications should tell you it's almost the same performance as a 550 Ti
Personal experience counts too: my 550 Ti has higher minimum FPS in a number of games compared to my old 5770 (Serious Sam HD, Duke Nukem Forever, Mass Effect 2, for example). In other games like AVP, performance is roughly the same.
Read this and this too. Things will be more clearer
AcceleratorX
Youngling
Read this and this too. Things will be more clearer
I understand, and indeed I have read those articles, but they are not the latest reviews. The Tom's Hardware review is the latest with newest available drivers. Both GPUs receive performance upgrades with new drivers.
Sometime around the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011, the HD 5770/6770 got a relatively significant boost in performance due to the release of new Catalyst drivers with some new optimizations. There's no reason why the same cannot apply to the GTX 550 Ti.
If you just want benchmark after benchmark after benchmark, the 3 cards (6770, 6790 and 550 Ti) will keep trading blows with each other depending on which site tested it and when it was tested. For example in the same Tom's Hardware Review mentioned in your post:
Anti-Aliasing Benchmarks : AMD Radeon HD 6790 Review: More Mid-Range Might
Also note the results for AVP without AA:
*www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6790-barts-gpu-geforce-gtx-460,2917-9.html
(I don't want anybody saying stuff like how AVP is ATI optimized and all - such things simply don't count for benchmarking purposes!)
We can see that the 550 Ti is clearly better at AA performance than the 5770, but not so much the 6790. The same site has a newer review which says that the 550 Ti is pretty much on par with 6790. Like I said, 6790 vs. 550 Ti is arguable, but 5770/6770 vs. 550 Ti pretty much goes to the 550 Ti, especially when AA is enabled.
Now I'm not against the 6770, but I think the 550 Ti was overpriced at launch, but with its current prices is not a bad card at all. I am simply saying a very credible thing - if its 5770 vs. 550 Ti, one should go for the 550 Ti, if not for an improvement in performance then for the PhysX and CUDA goodies.
Now 6790 vs. 550 Ti is another fight entirely and depends on so many factors.
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AcceleratorX
Youngling
Another interesting analysis from X-bit labs (Also one of the more recent reviews):
AMD Radeon HD 6790 Graphics Card Review - X-bit labs
I think the price difference between the two is also only around 5-10%, i.e. more or less the same. The review shows clearly that the 550 Ti is a better AA performer than the 5770 at least.
Like I said, one can go on and on with reviews saying which one is better. 6790 vs. 550 Ti may be a win for 6790 or a tie, but 550 Ti vs. 5770 is not a tie in any sense of the word.
It's also clear that newer drivers seem to have made the difference for the 550 Ti here...
They have not mentioned it, and I know it's a potential fault of the test, but they maintain that the drivers were the latest available at the time of the review.
Also note that both the 6790 and 550 Ti are relatively new cards and only 4-5 driver versions support them so far. Since we already know that earlier reviews of the 550 Ti were not good, they obviously used the 275.33 drivers. And AMD has not had major performance improvements between 11.4 and 11.6 (when this testing most likely took place, and also only 11.5 and above support 6790). Therefore, the results are at least somewhat reliable.......(well, it should be).
To be honest, I think in the end it just depends on what games you're playing and how they respond to your graphics card
Considering that 6790 may also have had improvements (because it's a new product), we just need to infer that the 550 Ti is better than 6770 but maybe not 6790 (Note: 6770 is a mature product now, huge performance increases are unlikely and neither are any improvements mentioned in the driver changelogs for 11.5 to 11.7 for the 5000 series/6770).
I think I have provided sufficient proof and we can all see that benchmarks vary a bit from site to site. Make what you will of it, but as someone who has used both cards on the same PC, I can tell where the 5770 is better and where the 550 Ti is better, and the 550 Ti wins more often than not.
(In favour of 5770: F1 2010, Battleforge, FEAR 3 seemed to run better on the 5770 compared to the 550 Ti. Just saying some examples).
The thing is that the 6770 is a great card, but to call the 550 Ti as crap is doing it grave injustice. It offers good competition to both the 6770 and 6790, and that is good for everyone in the end.
AMD Radeon HD 6790 Graphics Card Review - X-bit labs
I think the price difference between the two is also only around 5-10%, i.e. more or less the same. The review shows clearly that the 550 Ti is a better AA performer than the 5770 at least.
Like I said, one can go on and on with reviews saying which one is better. 6790 vs. 550 Ti may be a win for 6790 or a tie, but 550 Ti vs. 5770 is not a tie in any sense of the word.
It's also clear that newer drivers seem to have made the difference for the 550 Ti here...
They have not mentioned it, and I know it's a potential fault of the test, but they maintain that the drivers were the latest available at the time of the review.
Also note that both the 6790 and 550 Ti are relatively new cards and only 4-5 driver versions support them so far. Since we already know that earlier reviews of the 550 Ti were not good, they obviously used the 275.33 drivers. And AMD has not had major performance improvements between 11.4 and 11.6 (when this testing most likely took place, and also only 11.5 and above support 6790). Therefore, the results are at least somewhat reliable.......(well, it should be).
To be honest, I think in the end it just depends on what games you're playing and how they respond to your graphics card
Considering that 6790 may also have had improvements (because it's a new product), we just need to infer that the 550 Ti is better than 6770 but maybe not 6790 (Note: 6770 is a mature product now, huge performance increases are unlikely and neither are any improvements mentioned in the driver changelogs for 11.5 to 11.7 for the 5000 series/6770).
I think I have provided sufficient proof and we can all see that benchmarks vary a bit from site to site. Make what you will of it, but as someone who has used both cards on the same PC, I can tell where the 5770 is better and where the 550 Ti is better, and the 550 Ti wins more often than not.
(In favour of 5770: F1 2010, Battleforge, FEAR 3 seemed to run better on the 5770 compared to the 550 Ti. Just saying some examples).
The thing is that the 6770 is a great card, but to call the 550 Ti as crap is doing it grave injustice. It offers good competition to both the 6770 and 6790, and that is good for everyone in the end.
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Whatever you say above, lets see the current market condition in India. The cheapest 550Ti I found online is close to 8k, the Sapphire 6790 can be had for some 150-200 bucks less, and arguably performs better than 550Ti. In comparison, the 6770 can be found within 7k in most of the places, sometimes as low as 6.5k.
At these price point, whatever performance advantages the 550Ti has over its competitors, if any, simply vaporize. In simple terms, you have 7k, get a 6770, you have 1k more, get a 6790. The 550Ti is just not priced properly as far as Indian market is concerned.
At these price point, whatever performance advantages the 550Ti has over its competitors, if any, simply vaporize. In simple terms, you have 7k, get a 6770, you have 1k more, get a 6790. The 550Ti is just not priced properly as far as Indian market is concerned.