Help! Graphics card upgrade

[andrew bun]

My friend was stupid and he bought a really bad pair of cpu and gpu.. He has an intel core i5 3570 (non k) with a gt 640 from asus. He didn't do much research back then and now he wants to upgrade the graphics card but here in indonesia the graphics card are still really expensive. For example, hd 7950 for 4million rupiah(around $400), hd 7850 for 2,5mil(around $250), and his budget is around $300 and he was looking at the HD 7850, but if he can, he also wants to upgrade the cpu cooler because its really noisy. So hd 7850, gtx 660 or 7790 + cooler?

[Langdon]

Try to squeeze in a 7870 and get a Hyper 212 EVO to keep costs down.

[JamesIsBatman]

Get the 7850 and stick with the cooler until he has enough money to get a new one

[WoodenMarker]

7850 2GB or 1GB (only if the 2GB isn't that expensive) and a Hyper 212 Evo--depending on your case.

[andrew bun]

2GB HD7850? He only plays at 1080p, is it worth it to buy the 2gb version?

[DirkaFat]

2GB HD7850? He only plays at 1080p, is it worth it to buy the 2gb version?

Yes, newer games take more than 1gb vram in 1080p.

[andrew bun]

The 7870 is around $350 (if converted to usd) here, he can't possibly squeeze that in

[andrew bun]

If he only has 1gb vram, does that mean he must play newer games on a lower resolution?

[andrew bun]

Oh and he plays planetside 2 and with a gt 640 he is struggling to play at low details, he is hoping for ultra settings with the hd 7850 because my cousin has an fx 6300 with a 7770 and he can play on ultra

[Focux]

Used 7870.

[Mr. Expert]

2GB HD7850? He only plays at 1080p, is it worth it to buy the 2gb version?

No not at all. I run a 1GB HD 7850 on a 27" 1080P monitor and it runs all games just fine on Ultra or near it.

[Mr. Expert]

If he only has 1gb vram, does that mean he must play newer games on a lower resolution?

No not at all. 1GB Vram for 1080P is perfect for an HD 7850 or lower. The only time you need more Vram is when you are running triple monitors etc. The HD 7850 cannot effectivly use more than 1GB Vram because it is not powerful enough. In short the 1GB HD 7850 performs the exactly same as it's 2GB variant even in games such as Skyrim with Texture mods.

[I'm Batman]

save up a little more and get a 7870 it is an amazing bang for the buck card ;D