What to do

[Lays]

Friend needs a mid-range/low end card for ~100-160$ I'm thinking...

 

6970/7770/7850 but which should I go with? I know the 6970 is "older" but it's still a good card. Opinions?

 

He's going to mainly play bf3/bf4 league and some other games probably next gen stuff.

[DirkaFat]

The 6970 does have a small edge over the 7850 and comes stock with 2gb.

[eshbop]

The 6970 and 7850 are both about equal (either way the 7850 will be quicker when overclocked (and it will overclock a lot better than the 6970)), both faster than the 7700.

 

The 7850 makes the most sense.

[Lays]

The 6970 and 7850 are both about equal (either way the 7850 will be quicker when overclocked (and it will overclock a lot better than the 6970)), both faster than the 7700.

 

The 7850 makes the most sense.

 

 

oo we found a 7950 for 199$ on newegg, may convince to spend extra $$ and get him to get that.

 

only problem is I think he'll be bottlenecking it by a bit, he has a a6-3620 :q not sure how big of a bottleneck it'd be though.. probably a lot lol

[eshbop]

oo we found a 7950 for 199$ on newegg, may convince to spend extra $$ and get him to get that.

 

only problem is I think he'll be bottlenecking it by a bit, he has a a6-3620 :q not sure how big of a bottleneck it'd be though.. probably a lot lol

That'd be a bump over the 7850, really good price too.

 

Yeah, you're probably right. That APU may mean that you'll be wasting GPU headroom with a 7950. Still, at that price and with the game offers it might just be worth it, and will defiantly help if you upgrade your CPU and motherboard before you replace the 7950.

[Lays]

That'd be a bump over the 7850, really good price too.

 

Yeah, you're probably right. That APU may mean that you'll be wasting GPU headroom with a 7950. Still, at that price and with the game offers it might just be worth it, and will defiantly help if you upgrade your CPU and motherboard before you replace the 7950.

 

 

Idk how badly it'd bottleneck it, I don't know much about amd's older cpu's and stuff, im somewhat new to the pc scene still lol

[DirkaFat]

The 6970 and 7850 are both about equal (either way the 7850 will be quicker when overclocked (and it will overclock a lot better than the 6970)), both faster than the 7700.

 

The 7850 makes the most sense.

A 6970 is a little faster than the 7850. It normally comes with 2gb vram, too.

[eshbop]

A 6970 is a little faster than the 7850. It normally comes with 2gb vram, too.

Yeah true, though OCing a 7850 will get it faster than a 6970, which don't really overclock that well/at all.

 

 

 

OP, if you end up getting the 7850 make sure to get the 2Gb version.

[eshbop]

Idk how badly it'd bottleneck it, I don't know much about amd's older cpu's and stuff, im somewhat new to the pc scene still lol

I couldn't tell you to what extent bottlenecking might occur but it depends on how taxing a game is on the CPU.

 

The only real downside if you get the 7950 is not being able to fully utilise it because the CPU holds it back (and therefore you could of made do with a cheaper GPU). But as I said, if you upgrade the CPU/mobo before replacing the 7950 it'll probably be worth it.

[Lays]

I couldn't tell you to what extent bottlenecking might occur but it depends on how taxing a game is on the CPU.

 

The only real downside if you get the 7950 is not being able to fully utilise it because the CPU holds it back (and therefore you could of made do with a cheaper GPU). But as I said, if you upgrade the CPU/mobo before replacing the 7950 it'll probably be worth it.

 

but even if he gets a 7950, using 3/4 of its potential is still MILES ahead of his apu lol

[eshbop]

but even if he gets a 7950, using 3/4 of its potential is still MILES ahead of his apu lol

True, getting the 7950 pretty much guarantees the best performance with that step up.