GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Justin Rogers59 said:I've got an Amd athlon ii x4 740 fm2 setup, so I'm torn between those two cards. My motherboard is an AsRock socket fm2.

In that case, go with the 7750—it's significantly more powerful than the 6670 (just make sure you grab the DDR5 version, not the DDR3 one). Alternatively, you could grab an ATI 7770, which is a total best buy.$250
around $300you'll be blown away by the performance jump regardless of which one you pick.
😬

What kind of power supply are you running? If you can give me the specific model, that would help. Even if the 7750 is a bit weaker, it'll work fine since its power draw is extremely low.

The power supply isn't the issue here—I've got a Corsair CX430 V2 keeping things running. Thanks anyway for the help!

Someone drop a link to a site where I can plug in my CPU and RAM specs to see what GPU would actually pair well with them. I need to know if my processor is going to bottleneck a specific card or if it's strong enough to handle the load. There’s gotta be some tool out there that gives you multiple options to choose from based on those specs. 😲

Oh sure, why stop there? Maybe he’ll bring you a Starbucks latte and a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts while he's at it, just to make your life easier while you're busy overthinking everything. 😁

I just meant for him to chop a cord of wood for me 😁

Hold on a second, you need to explain this to me—what’s the actual difference between 128-bit and 256-bit cards?

Gerald Flores63 said:Wait a second, can you walk me through how the 128-bit and 256-bit cards actually differ?

Well, the 128-bit ones have 128 bits, and the 256-bit ones have 256 bits.

Is that referring to the processor or the card's memory? And does a 384-bit version actually exist?

Think of it as the "pipe" connecting the GPU to the card's onboard RAM—basically, the wider that pipe is, the more data the GPU can shove through to the memory at once. Yeah, you’ve got everything from 384-bit to 448-bit or even 512-bit setups, and so on.

GeForce GTX 580 no.4 2000
gtx 570 no.8 1500
GeForce GTX 480 no.9 1350
Radeon HD 7870 no.12 1700
gtx 660 no.13 1600
hd 7850 no.16 1200
gtx 560ti no.18 1250

Here’s what’s currently listed on eBay. First is the card model, second is its global performance ranking, and third is the price in dollars. It makes zero sense why they want $450 for a GeForce GTX 480 that sits at 9th place, while the Titanium 1250 is way down at 18th. There's no logic here. The GeForce GTX 480 is an absolute steal, or you go with the Radeon HD 7870, which is 12th and holds its value at $1700 or more.

And don't even get me started on what people are asking for it on eBay... You’ve got folks out there demanding $17 $200 for a single-core processor that isn't even worth that much, $100
They seem to be basing their prices solely on age (where that first number indicates the generation and the following ones denote the class), forgetting that older models often pull way more power than newer cards with similar performance levels.
If you want a rough way to compare graphics cards,
http://www.hwcompare.com/12210/gefor...adeon-hd-7870/
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php

As for how reliable that Hwcompare site actually is, I'm honestly not sure. It seems a bit suspicious to me. At the end of the day, those are just technical specs... In actual gaming, things can play out quite differently, so you might be better off checking specific game benchmarks for individual cards if that's what you're looking for.

Alexander Moore67 said:Well, obviously, the 128-bit ones have 128 bits and the 256-bit ones have 256.

😂🤣

The card says it uses a PCI Express 3.0 interface, so can I actually plug this thing into a PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot?

Gerald Flores63 said:The card says it uses a PCI Express 3.0 interface. Can I plug this thing into a PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot?

Solved

Gerald Flores63 said:Drop a link... I need to know if the CPU can actually handle this GPU. There have to be sites out there with more detailed options where you can pick what you want to see. 😲

Done and dusted.

1.
Download MSI Afterburner from here and install it.
2.
Open Afterburner, go to Settings -> monitoring, check "GPU Usage," and then check the box for "show in On-Screen display."
Hit "OK," "Accept," or whatever button they used and launch a demanding game.
With MSI Afterburner running in the background, you'll see exactly how much load the GPU is taking and whether the CPU is bottlenecking it.

Gerald Flores63 said:Wait a sec, can you explain this whole 128-bit versus 256-bit thing to me?

Think of it like a massive highway packed with cars (which are the data bits in this case) all trying to get through at once! 😁
Which one lets more cars pass—a 128-lane highway or a 256-lane highway?

Anyway, maybe suggest a graphics card? Like an NVIDIA one or something... $600 Since I put my whole build list together using that site from back in the day, it would be awesome to find something similar there.

Power supply: XFX Core edition 80+ 550W PSU with EasyRail technology

There isn't much to debate here—if you're dead set on NVIDIA at that price point, you might as well go with the GTX 660.

That said, I think you'd actually get more bang for your buck if you picked up the ATI 7870, because from what I've seen, it performs better in games.

This is easily the best card for $667
.

Got a new MSI GTX 660 TwinFrozr III for Christmas, and apparently everyone thinks the $667 Radeon HD 7870 is the superior buy. I did a bit of digging on AnandTech and honestly, the difference seems negligible—the 660 actually edges out the 7870 in certain titles, while the other takes the lead in others.

I wouldn't mind selling this to grab a 7870 since that’s the consensus recommendation, but is it even worth the hassle if the performance is basically a wash? Any advice? Thanks.

Timothy Kim60 said:If you're looking for a rough comparison between GPUs
http://www.hwcompare.com/12210/gefor...adeon-hd-7870/

As for how much that Hwcompare site is actually worth—honestly, I don't know. I’ve always been a bit skeptical of it. I mean, sure, it gives you the technical specs... but in actual gaming, things work differently—that's a whole different ballgame—so maybe it's better to just stick to specific game benchmarks for individual cards (if that's even your thing)

Hwcompare is basically a useless site; it doesn't provide any concrete data that could serve as anything resembling a reliable benchmark.