R.I.P HD4850 and Hello.....?

[Ethan_Hunt]

After 3 1/2 years of gaming back and forth, my HD4850 finally gave way last night. Got all sorts of graphical corruption. Have momentarily switched to onboard video and it sucks.

*observes a minutes silence*

OK! Now that it's over, I would like to know what's the next best thing? Obvious choices would probably be the MSI GTX560Ti Twin Frozr or the HD6950 1GB/2GB. I have almost made up my mind toward the 560Ti, but would like to know in terms of raw performance, which card would be a good choice?

Things to keep in mind:

1.) PSU in concern is a Corsair VX450
2.) Gaming resolution is 1920x1080
3.) Budget is 14.5k
4.) Needs to have 3 year warranty
5.) Good cooling solution
6.) Processor being used is an E8400 @stock

So fire away folks and as always thanks for all your help.

 

[vickybat]

^^ vx450 isn't gonna cut for a 560-ti as its a power hog. 6950 though consumes less power might be too much for vx 450. Its 12v rail gives 33amp of current that equates to 396 watts from single rail.

I would suggest you wait for the 7870 or 7850 to come up and then make a purchase.
They would be 28nm and will consume much less power than current barts and cayman gpu.

If going for a powerful gpu, i would suggest you to change your psu into a more beefier one. Vx450 is an excellent psu but lacks wattage to power these power hungry cards.

A 600 watt like corsair gs600 will be good enough.

 

[Ethan_Hunt]

What about the Non-Ti version of GTX560?

 

[vickybat]

^^ That's power hungry as well. You can go with a 6870 at max if you cannot wait.

 

[Ethan_Hunt]

So a power supply upgrade is imminent, if I ought to get one of these cards? What kind of damages am I looking for a PSU upgrade?

 

[vickybat]

^^ It depends on what kind of single gpu you'll be getting. The least you can invest is on a Corsair GS600 and it will be around 4k. Its not that efficient (just 80+) compared to its big brothers( tx,hx and ax) but gives adequate power for a single highend gpu.

Seasonic s2II 620 is another good option but is a bit expensive. I recommend the GS600 and its enough.

 

[whitestar_999]

a seasonic 520W should do the job since you are not overclocking anything.

 

[digitaltab]

hello Ethan,
long time since i sent you any complaint message,
1. Since you want to do 1080P gaming and keeping that in mind that you want it stable for next 2-3 years, i would like to suggest you msi R6950 Twin Frozr II, as it is more powerful than nvidia 560ti.
but your weak point is your psu, i would like to suggest you corsair GS600, specially optimized for best gaming performance delivery.
this combination will cost you around 20k.
2. but if you are strictly want a graphics card in your budget, you may simply go for sapphire HD 6950 1GB (try in local markets if not available online, will be available in your budget).
for this card too, you'll have to change your PSU, again corsair gs600 i suggest.
3. gtx 560 ti by nvidia is also a good option(less powerful than 6950), but change PSU
4. sapphire HD 6870 1GB GDDR5(<560ti performancewise) @10.5K + corsair GS600 @ 4k = 14.5
but i'll not suggest you this as this will be your one time investment for a long time, so i'll advice you to save some more money and go buy accordingly from different combinations i mentioned.

 

[Ethan_Hunt]

Thank you Vicky & Whitestar for your inputs, much appreciated.

Hey Shivam, it's been a while mate. Thanks for those options. Looks like they echo with what Vicky stated earlier.

So I guess my options are;

a.) Upgrade PSU to Corsair GS600 and combine it with a GTX560Ti or a HD6950 2GB OR
b.) Retain my old PSU and settle for a 6870 or 6850.

How much performance cut are we talking about if I go for a 6870, compared to these upper end cards? Shivam, how does your card fare in most of the recent games?

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

get a sapphire HD6950 1GB dual fan, will run on vx450.

 

[vickybat]

560-ti and 6950 aren't upper end but upper midrange cards. 6870 and 6850 are midrange cards. I would say you get 20-30% difference. Check some benches at anandtech,tomshardware and even hardocp to clear some doubts.

I suggest to wait and go for 7 series. Its an all new architecture and will fare well in future titles.

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

BTW, 78** are expected in march, you may wait.

 

[vickybat]

get a sapphire HD6950 1GB dual fan, will run on vx450.

Jas i think its not wise at all to add a 6950 to a VX 450. I mean its power consumption is not far lower than a 560-ti and one guy here in tdf had problems with his twin frozr II 560-TI with a vx 450. He experienced lack of adequate framerates and had far lower fps compare to 560-ti levels.

Cilus and I were once discussing this and found out that 6870 is the max gpu vx 450 can handle this generation efficiently and let the card function at full swing.

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

it may be possible his psu was bad.

because according to a ocn psu tool, both should run on vx450..

 

[vickybat]

^^ Ok but if you add up all components, are they crossing 396 watts??

 

[Ethan_Hunt]

6870 and 6850 are midrange cards.

Just like the 4850 when it launched?

I suggest to wait and go for 7 series. Its an all new architecture and will fare well in future titles.

What's so special about these 7XXX series card, that waiting for them would prove beneficial? What would be my options once they launch? I mean what card would I be aiming for?

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

@batman
it just recommends 450w.

tool - PSUCalc

What's so special about these 7XXX series card?

they run very cool, high oc potential, benefit a lot from oc.

about pricing cant be said much, as nvidia kepler is due. so how do nvidia new cards turn up, what will be amd response, who knows!

 

[vickybat]

Just like the 4850 when it launched?

What's so special about these 7XXX series card, that waiting for them would prove beneficial? What would be my options once they launch? I mean what card would I be aiming for?

The GCN architecture that 7 series employ offer more compute performance, have far better tessellation performance and as per speculations, will fare better in upcoming game engines which lay heavy emphasis on newer rendering methods. When overclocked, 7 series cards also responds to clocks much better and performance scaling is very good.

I would say go with 7 series or nvidia's kepler when they'll be launched.

 

[Krow]

Ethan, don't wait. Get the best available stuff. I was going to buy a HD4770 circa May 2009 but it was out of stock. In the end my onboard HD3300 was okayish for gaming on the 17" CRT but till date I dont have a gfx card.

If you want to wait, do it to raise budget so that a PSU can be added to 6950/560 Ti.

 

[Ethan_Hunt]

Here's what I'm thinking. I could probably get the 560Ti on Monday and invest in the PSU next month. My current PSU should be able to bear the load till then, I hope.