My Girly needs the best ati card for $140

[SHOrdr]

She wants to upgrade her ati radeon hd4850 and has $140. Looking to stay ati. Thank you GPU gods.

 

[Durvelle27]

SAPPHIRE 100356OCL Radeon HD 7790 OC 1GB DDR5 PCI-Express Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2029&Tpk=SAPPHIRE 100356OCL&IsVirtualParent=1


or


XFX Double D FX-785A-ZDF4 Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150656



I would try to spring for a 2GB HD 7850 though

 

[SHOrdr]

Lol same link for both but I see it. Other suggestions welcome.

 

[Durvelle27]

Lol same link for both but I see it. Other suggestions welcome.

Fixed

 

[rancherlee]

I'd have to agree, a 7790 or 7850 1gb are in that range. 30$ more will put you on a 7850 2gb. I'd have to say though that both the 7790 and 7850 are too fast to only have 1gb ram as I'm over the 1GB mark in most games I play on my 7850 using 1080p at High or Ultra setting. There might be some 7790 2gb models that might be close to your price range.

 

[dragantoe]

I'd have to agree, a 7790 or 7850 1gb are in that range. 30$ more will put you on a 7850 2gb. I'd have to say though that both the 7790 and 7850 are too fast to only have 1gb ram as I'm over the 1GB mark in most games I play on my 7850 using 1080p at High or Ultra setting. There might be some 7790 2gb models that might be close to your price range.

a 2gb 7790 wouldn't be any better though, look at the memory interface, it's only 128 bit.

 

[raghu78]

a HD 7790 1GB would fit your budget

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131490

but it might be worth spending on HD 7850 2GB. with next gen consoles having 8GB unified RAM , 1 GB is just not enough.

 

[SithSolo1]

What is the other hardware in the system?

 

[FalseChristian]

a HD 7790 1GB would fit your budget

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131490

but it might be worth spending on HD 7850 2GB. with next gen consoles having 8GB unified RAM , 1 GB is just not enough.

It depends on the resolution you're using. 1GB is more than enough for
1680x1050.

 

[raghu78]

It depends on the resolution you're using. 1GB is more than enough for 1680x1050.

1920 x 1080 has just 17% more pixels than 1680 x 1050. in their GTX 770 review anandtech stated that 2GB is shortsighted for 1080p.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6994/nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-review/3

and here you are saying 1GB is enough. a HD 7850 on average overclocks of 1.15 Ghz matches HD 7870 / GTX 580. such a powerful card should not be crippled with 1 GB VRAM.

 

[Lavans]

1920 x 1080 has just 17% more pixels than 1680 x 1050. in their GTX 770 review anandtech stated that 2GB is shortsighted for 1080p.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6994/nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-review/3

and here you are saying 1GB is enough. a HD 7850 on average overclocks of 1.15 Ghz matches HD 7870 / GTX 580. such a powerful card should not be crippled with 1 GB VRAM.

In most cases, a HD7850 won't be fast enough to really benefit from more than 1gb of vram, especially at 1080p. It already struggles in Max Payne 3, BF3, and Crysis 3. With the advent of next gen consoles, the card is going to struggle even more. The GTX680/770 is nearly twice the card the HD7850 is, and even those cards have difficulty running newer games maxed out at a solid 60fps.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/829?vs=778

Also, reread the review you linked.

Having 2GB of RAM doesn’t impose any real problems today, but I’m left to wonder for how much longer that’s going to be true.

Current games don't use much more than 2gb. Whether or not a 770 will have enough horsepower to play next gen games maxed out, regardless of vram, is up to speculation.

 

[SPBHM]

if you are going to keep the card for more than a year, things might get a lot more problematic for 1GB once they release the next gen consoles (with lots of ram available for the GPU), obviously other parts of the system could also be a problem, but 1GB could force you to run with lower res textures than what the GPU performance would allow you to...

but... even 2GB could be a problem, or not... it's a gamble at the moment.

 

[dualsmp]

$140 AR. Probably best bang for buck, should be fine with 1GB at 1080p.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202004

 

[Dark Shroud]

Save up a little more and get a 2GB 7850, this late in the cycle with new cards coming out she should really have 2GB or else she'll probably want to upgrade again in a year.

New consoles mean a new level of game engine performance.

 

[Phynaz]

In most cases, a HD7850 won't be fast enough to really benefit from more than 1gb of vram, especially at 1080p.

Bad info here.

 

[dualsmp]

1 GB can limit in certain games but I find RAM gets chewed up on how aggressive one wants their AA.

Skyrim here was using 4xMSAA, and I'm sure one can use something a tad lower. This resolution was also tested at 1920x1200 which is a bit more than 1080p. Personally I just stick with FXAA for most titles but I'm not serious into games.

 

[Gikaseixas]

HD 7790 2GB will be able to keep her happy for another 2 years

 

[Ventanni]

I had issues with BF3 on my 5850 1gb at max settings. If I was in a small room and everything was loaded, it would play just fine, but otherwise it would stop for a few seconds while it loaded. Once I turned everything down, it would be fluid 100% of the time.

That's the only game I've ever felt like I ran into a memory limitation though.

 

[Lavans]

Bad info here.

Really? Because in newer games such as Max Payne 3, BF3, and Crysis 3, a HD7850 can just barely pull over 30fps with high/max settings unless overclocked.

 

[rancherlee]

There area many current games that I'm over 1GB with my 7850 But I do run it at 1200/1325 which is a very healthy overclock AND I keep cranking up the eye candy until I'm In the 40-50fps range (with occational dips to 25-30) Bioshock I'm pulling 1700mb on Ultra, 1200mb on High. Tomb raider is 1300mb, And heck old an game like GTA4 is even up to 1100mb with everything cranked. If your one of those that MUST have 60fps+ at all times a 1gb card is plenty for running medium settings on current games, but if your like me and are perfectly happy with a 40-50fps average then you need a 2gb version. I've gotten so use to 30fps console gaming that a bit of choppiness here and there doesn't both me.

 

[Phynaz]

Really? Because in newer games such as Max Payne 3, BF3, and Crysis 3, a HD7850 can just barely pull over 30fps with high/max settings unless overclocked.

Which has what exactly to do with texture / shader memory?

Bioshock Infinite will use 2GB on a 7850 and run fine. BF3 runs at over 60fps on Ultra quality on a 7850 while using more than 1GB of memory.

 

[Durvelle27]

Really? Because in newer games such as Max Payne 3, BF3, and Crysis 3, a HD7850 can just barely pull over 30fps with high/max settings unless overclocked.

BS with no AA all will be very playable

 

[Lavans]

BS with no AA all will be very playable

And with no AA it won't be pushing a 1gb limit.
Even when using SMAA, or even no AA, Crysis 3 rips the HD 7850 a new one.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/04/15/asus_radeon_hd_7850_directcu_ii_video_card_review/5
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphi...plus-HD-7790-HD-7850-GTX-650-Ti-BOOST/Crysi-0
http://kotaku.com/5987627/crysis-3-performance-test-graphics-cards-and-cpus

Which has what exactly to do with texture / shader memory?

Bioshock Infinite will use 2GB on a 7850 and run fine. BF3 runs at over 60fps on Ultra quality on a 7850 while using more than 1GB of memory.

Wrong. The HD7850 can't even average 60fps on the high preset.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7870-review-benchmark,3148-6.html
Ultra preset destroys it
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_hd_7850_and_7870_review,21.html

 

[Durvelle27]

And with no AA it won't be pushing a 1gb limit.
Even when using SMAA, or even no AA, Crysis 3 rips the HD 7850 a new one.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/04/15/asus_radeon_hd_7850_directcu_ii_video_card_review/5
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphi...plus-HD-7790-HD-7850-GTX-650-Ti-BOOST/Crysi-0
http://kotaku.com/5987627/crysis-3-performance-test-graphics-cards-and-cpus



Wrong. The HD7850 can't even average 60fps on the high preset.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7870-review-benchmark,3148-6.html
Ultra preset destroys it
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_hd_7850_and_7870_review,21.html

Why use links that use old drivers.


We all know a HD 7850 is a very capable card and can play all the mentioned games with no problem with no AA

 

[Lavans]

Why use links that use old drivers.


We all know a HD 7850 is a very capable card and can play all the mentioned games with no problem with no AA

So now you're throwing the driver excuse at the argument? :whiste:
It's not like we're talking about low performance issues plaguing the card, like what happened with the HD5 series in BFBC2 with the Cat 10.6's. Mature drivers generally don't account for a whole lot more than a 5%-10% performance increase. The 7850 is such a low hitter in graphically demanding games that such an increase would barely blip on the radar.

Also, 3 of those reviews were made in 2013, using Cat versions of 13.x, well after the Cat 12.x performance boost in the HD7 series. Try reading the dates of the articles and the test setups sometime.

Edit: Also, I'm not saying the HD 7850 isn't a capable card. I'm just saying that it's not future proof for next gen games, and simply doesn't have enough GPU horsepower to warrant 2gb of memory.