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Options for upgading AMD 7850

Credo

Credo

Credo

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I'm a pretty casual gamer, so casual in fact that half an hour of UT3 every evening has been enough for me for quite some time...
I've recently upgraded pretty much everything bar the GPU (spec in sig), and have been playing the pre-alpha UT4, which I'm enjoying even in it's current state. This has however shown my 7850's age and I'd like to upgrade to something that will allow me to max UT4 at 1440/60Hz and looking ahead do the same for Doom4. And maybe Alien Isolation too...

I know there is new stuff coming in 2016, so I'm not keen on forking out for a 980ti, although it looks like a great card.

What options would I have for a reasonably priced card that I could sell if necessary next year once the next gen stuff has settled down? Budget is up to £300-ish. If I could max UT4 that would probably do me to be honest. I don't think OC-ing my 7850 is going to bring much benefit.
I spotted this last night and was quite intrigued!
Any advice is welcome, I find choosing a GPU to be the hardest part of upgrading!
 
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1440p at 60fps rock solid on ultra settings is demanding enough, I would say a 390 or 390X would be worth looking at, purely because of the extra VRAM over Nvidia counterparts - if you've lasted this long with a 7850, I'm guessing you'll want this card to see you through until about 2019 as well :)
 
Terrorfirmer said:
1440p at 60fps rock solid on ultra settings is demanding enough, I would say a 390 or 390X would be worth looking at, purely because of the extra VRAM over Nvidia counterparts - if you've lasted this long with a 7850, I'm guessing you'll want this card to see you through until about 2019 as well :)
Click to expand...
True! I've lasted this long due to my undemanding gaming requirements I think! My upgrade has re-kindled some enthusiasm though...
I'd go for a 980Ti if I thought it was worth it (love the OCUK 12 month 0% option... ;)) - but I'd hate to plant £500+ on a card to find it trounced by something in six months...
 
The 390 is faster than the GTX 970.

If your willing to spend £300 on one you should look at this for £320
Radeon R9 Tri-X 390X 8192MB GDDR5
Its as fast as a GTX 980 or put another way solidly 100% faster than your 7850.

Or what most people do is go for the 390.
Radeon R9 Nitro 390 8192MB GDDR5 for £260, its to the 390X like the 7850 was to the 7870, not a lot between them.
 
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I went from a 7850 to a 970, though that was a year ago and I didn't want a 290/290x. The thing is pretty fast at 1500mhz.

Since you're already on AMD and want to buy new, the 390 is probably the best option. Should be a bit faster than a stock 970, depending on the game. You won't be able to hit locked 60 fps with neither in some games though, especially if you want to go higher than 1080p.

EDIT: I mean maxing games, obviously, since with some minor compromises the 390 should be able to cope with pretty much everything at very decent settings.
 
So the only difference I can see between the 390 and the 390x is the number of Stream Processors?
The 390 looks like a good bet for now, maybe in 12 months I'll go next gen if necessary. I know the subject of VRAM is a point of contention, but 8Gb seems plenty for the future as well...
 
Credo said:
So the only difference I can see between the 390 and the 390x is the number of Stream Processors?
The 390 looks like a good bet for now, maybe in 12 months I'll go next gen if necessary. I know the subject of VRAM is a point of contention, but 8Gb seems plenty for the future as well...
Click to expand...

Yes, the performance difference is about 5 to 7%, much like the 7850 vs 7870.
 
Credo said:
So the only difference I can see between the 390 and the 390x is the number of Stream Processors?
The 390 looks like a good bet for now, maybe in 12 months I'll go next gen if necessary. I know the subject of VRAM is a point of contention, but 8Gb seems plenty for the future as well...
Click to expand...

The 390 is a good choice..and its a rocketship after the 7850
 
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humbug said:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1076?vs=1068

7850 vs 290, despite the fact that the 390 is actually significantly faster than the 290 out of the box given that the clocks are 947/1250 vs 1000/1500 its still more than 100% faster.
Unfortunately Anad didn't test the 390.

390X vs GTX 980

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1442?vs=1559

Win some lose some from both sides, pretty evenly matched overall
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, interesting to note that last test vs the 980, the 8GB VRAM seems to help in 1440 and 4k resolutions.
 
Credo said:
Thanks for that, interesting to note that last test vs the 980, the 8GB VRAM seems to help in 1440 and 4k resolutions.
Click to expand...

It's more likely to do with the driver bottlenecks at lower resolution on AMD hardware but yes, it does do well at 1440p and up.
 
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