GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

DirectX Diagnostic is pretty useless—it can't seem to recognize anything released in the last couple of years, so honestly, just ignore what it says. I've got 4 GB of total Memory on my graphics card. 😁

ASUS HD 6670 or Sapphire HD 6670 1GB GDDR5 (with Hyper Memory Support)

My current setup looks like this:
ASUS M4A89GTD Pro
AMD Phenom II X6 1075T (overclocked)
G.Skill Flare 2+2 DDR3 RAM 1800MHz
CORSAIR TX750W

I recently offloaded my XFX Nvidia GTX 260 896 MB Black Edition (factory overclocked)—so I'm currently stuck on integrated graphics. Since I'm essentially without a card right now, an HD 6670 would be a lifesaver just to stop the PC from choking whenever I run things like AutoCAD or Photoshop...
Down the road, I'm planning to build a new rig—an APU plus a dedicated GPU—at which point I'd move whichever HD 6670 I pick into the new machine, then revert back to integrated while I scrape together enough cash for a GTX 580. 😁

So, here's the question: which of these two should I grab? Does that Hyper Memory option actually make the Sapphire better than the ASUS, or is it just marketing noise? If anyone could provide some reasoning for both, I'd appreciate it.

P.S.
I realize that when pairing an APU with dedicated graphics where GDDR5 is involved, there's a risk of dropping down to GDDR3—a bit of a letdown, really—but it is what it is. Regardless, the new build isn't meant for any extreme computing feats; it'll mostly handle Microsoft Office, movies, music, browsing... 🙂
Or perhaps some file renaming and an occasional Alt+F4! XD

Honestly, it’s pretty much six of one, half a dozen of the other. Just grab the cheaper one or whichever has a longer warranty. Maybe you could look up which cooler is actually quieter online if that even matters to you.

Robert Sanchez82 said:I've got a question for you guys—which one of these two cards should I actually grab? Does that Hyper Memory option really make the Sapphire card a better bet than the ASUS, or is it just some marketing fluff I shouldn't be worrying about? If anyone could walk me through the reasoning for both, I’d really appreciate it.

Don't even bother looking at Hyper Memory—it’s pretty much useless unless you're rocking some bottom-of-the-barrel, low-end graphics card with pathetic onboard RAM that actually needs to borrow system memory just to function as a buffer.

Does anyone have any idea when the rest of the 7xxx cards are actually dropping? I see Q1 listed for the release date, but that’s pretty vague. I’m guessing the 7850 should sit somewhere around $150, so I’m leaning towards grabbing one, but...

placidgull21 said:Does anyone have any idea when the rest of those 7xxx cards are actually dropping? I see Q1 listed for the release date. My guess is the 7850 should land somewhere around $150—so I’m thinking about grabbing one—but still...

I have a feeling the price tag on that card is going to be a bit higher than that... 🙂

George Harris2 said:I have a feeling the card's price tag might end up being a bit higher than we're thinking... 🙂

So, I've been looking at some estimates, and it looks like we're talking around $200. The 6850 was sitting right around $180, so I'm really hoping the 7850 doesn't jump way past that...

Around here, $1 USD goes for about $2.25... which means we're looking at roughly $467, if not a bit more.

placidgull21 said:well, I've been looking at the estimates and it looks like we're aiming for around $200. The 6850s are sitting near $150, so I'm really hoping the 7850 doesn't jump way past that...

I’d say $250 is more likely: http://lenzfire.com/2011/12/entire-g...evealed-60538/

So, here’s my situation: I’ve got this Radeon X1600 graphics card with 512MB, and I am having a hell of a time tracking down the right drivers. I think I managed to stumble upon a couple of versions online, but for some reason, none of them will actually install on my system. If anyone happens to have a direct download link for the latest compatible drivers, I would truly appreciate the help.

It'd be pretty helpful if you could let us know which OS you're running and whether it's the 64 or 32-bit version.

Also, maybe take a look at www.amd.com

Alright, I’m back to bugging you guys again. About a month and a half ago, you all helped me piece together my PC, and honestly, everything has been awesome—I'm super happy with it. But here I am in the middle of the night, scrolling through random stuff online, and I've stumbled onto something that just doesn't make sense to me. See, I've got a Radeon HD 6970, which is supposed to be a DX11 card, but for some reason, Windows is showing it as ?

Where exactly is the issue lying? If you're talking about memory, you really need to be looking at the dedicated video memory; those 10 GB are basically irrelevant here.

DirectX version 10, shouldn't it be 11?

Oh, I see now... anyway, I should probably head to bed.
Take a look at what's listed in your ATI Catalyst and check if you've got the latest drivers installed.
There's really no need to stress about it. It's a DX11 card, and that's just how it was released on the market.

I've got the latest drivers installed, and the DirectX Diagnostic shows I'm running version 11, so I'm good to go horizontally!

fadedorca66 said:We would also be really grateful if you could let us know which OS you're running and whether it's the 64-bit or 32-bit version.

It might also be worth checking out www.amd.com

I'm using 32-bit Windows 7

Charles Wilson10 said:32-bit Windows 7

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...3&lang=English

English Option 1 - full software suite

Hey there! Can anyone recommend a decent graphics card in the $300-$133 range? My main priority is just being able to run PES and NBA smoothly. Currently, I'm running a Pentium 4 3.00GHz, a generic 400W power supply, and 2 GB of DDR2. Any suggestions? Thanks!

This seems to be the cheapest option, assuming it isn't complete junk. I guess you should probably avoid all 64-bit systems.