560 Ti 448 vs 570 vs 7850

[aaksheytalwar]

Yea a 580 at high clocks would be faster but not every 580 will go that high but every 7800 or 7900 series card gets a 20% + oc for sure with perfect scaling. Sure, a Oced 580 would beat a Oced 7850 perhaps but an Oced 7870 would still crush a 580 Oced if that is your point. So either way stick to the 7850 or 7870

 

[Arachnotronic]

I have pretty much the same question as the OP... I've settled on the eVGA 448 but just can't quite pull the trigger, even with the prices coming down. ...and then I see the potential of the 7850...

I don't know.

Hardware wise, the AMD is probably better. From a driver/compatibility/overall experience standpoint, go with the NVIDIA. But that's just my opinion...(have had consistent annoying issues with the AMD cards in builds I set up -- never with NVIDIA).

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I have never had issues with ati drivers from the time of 9800pro and know I refer amd drivers to nvidia except for Mac support

 

[azeem40]

I am having no problems on my ATI Radeon 2400 Pro.

 

[dkm777]

Guys, I'm in a similar boat as well. I currently have a factory overclocked GTX560 Ti, play at 1920x1200 and I'm essentially satisfied with it, but my brother is starting to play SCII seriously and he still has a GF9600GT DDR2 running two 17" monitors at 1280x1024 (don't ask me how he does it - I have no idea). I want to give my 560 Ti to him and buy something just a little beffier for myself. The MSI GTX560 Ti 448 looks really tempting, as it costs the same as a factory overclocked ordinary Asus GTX 560 Ti. The problem is that the new Radeons wont be here for at least two months and by then lower powered GTX6** might be close to release and it'll be just waiting and waiting and waiting for something better.

 

[AtenRa]

I would go for the 7850 and OC it.

 

[BlockheadBrown]

If you can wait, there should be new Nvidia based cards in April and May (rumor). This may or may not have an affect on 7850 pricing. If you have to buy now, I'd save for another (insert time to allow for higher priced card) and go for the 7870. I know this doesn't directly answer your question. Waiting for what's next from Nvidia or saving to get the 7870 is my honest suggestion though.

 

[bigsnyder]

The 7850 driver issue is solved for the most part with using the latest beta driver. The 7800s at not officially supported in the latest official version of catalyst yet.

 

[jacktesterson]

I can tell you from experience, the 7850 will reach 580 Levels in performance in most games with an O/C... and in a lot of cases, very little voltage increase.

They run almost a full 100w less at load too, use only ONE 6 pin connector, and are quiet.

7850 is the best card to buy out of those 3 in my opinion.

No problems here with AMD drivers.

I bought my 7850 for $239.99 on launch day, although the site now lists it at 253.00.... and a quick google search finds a Powercolor 2GB 7580 Single Fan model currently available for $242.00... (although I'm in Canada, our prices tend to be a smudge higher than US prices)

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=13630BD8710&vpn=AX7850 2GBD5-2DH&manufacture=POWERCOLOR

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10530BD5564

So I think you can do better than $270.00

 

[thephew]

You can also look at used 6950s (selling in the $200 range on Ebay now) then unlock to a 6970. Many on Ebay are already unlocked.

6970 performs between the 7850 and 7870 in most games. 6970 will use about 8 more watts at idle and about 80 watts more at load=about $12 more in electricity if you game for 2 hrs/day for 2 years on the card.

This is what I did. Bought an unlocked 6950 with included Swiftech waterblock for $192 shipped after Ebay 10% off coupon. Should be about twice as fast as my old 4890, and the water block was effectively free. Considering a GTX 680+water block would cost me over $650, I'm pretty happy with 60-75% of GTX 680 performance for 30% of the price.

 

[CoBRaXT]

Thanks for the advice guys. I decided on a 2GB card for future-proofing and picked up a Sapphire 7870 OC.

 

[azeem40]

It's funny. Whenever someone posts they haven't had driver problems, the NVIDIA guys back off.

 

[shadowofthesun]

I don't know if you saw this but you can pick up a 570 for $240:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2235766

At that price I think it's the easy choice. Fastest in terms of performance, and price-wise on par with the cheapest of the three cards you've picked.

In terms of drivers IMHO the AMD hate is overblown, unless you're running SLI/Crossfire or Linux. The latest [H] review of the 680 SLI has some comments on the SLI vs CrossfireX experience. The AMD binary in Linux is garbage, but the open source driver works decently provided you don't need all the graphical bells and whistles. New hardware won't be supported for a bit though so I'd be wary if you're running linux on a 7 series ATM.

Other than that, nVidia has a nicer installer but I can't really say that my experience in Windows has strongly pushed me one way or another in terms of drivers.

 

[SolMiester]

It's funny. Whenever someone posts they haven't had driver problems, the NVIDIA guys back off.

What NVIDIA guys?... or do you mean the people that recommend NV over AMD, or just those that say they have had issues with AMD drivers?

 

[StinkyPinky]

Generally waiting is a fools game. Look at Ivy Bridge. People have been waiting and holding off their upgrades for over 6 months for it. They should have had a new SB system and enjoyed using it for half a year by now.

Obviously if there's a certainty there is something right around the corner, then by all means hold off. But these guessed dates for these rumored 670/660 video cards are pointless. They will come out when they come out. In the meantime just look at what is already on the market.

I just bought a 7870 as that's a logical update for my 5850. I simply don't care if a 660 comes out in 2 months and is 10% faster than it. There's always something faster around the corner.

 

[bigsnyder]

agreed

Generally waiting is a fools game. Look at Ivy Bridge. People have been waiting and holding off their upgrades for over 6 months for it. They should have had a new SB system and enjoyed using it for half a year by now.

Obviously if there's a certainty there is something right around the corner, then by all means hold off. But these guessed dates for these rumored 670/660 video cards are pointless. They will come out when they come out. In the meantime just look at what is already on the market.

I just bought a 7870 as that's a logical update for my 5850. I simply don't care if a 660 comes out in 2 months and is 10% faster than it. There's always something faster around the corner.