6850 or 7850?

[DanUre]

I've been toying with the idea of buying a 6850 since I built my PC in may. However I keep reading that 2gb of VRAM is fast becoming the norm and i'm worried that in terms of longevity, the 6850 just wont cut it.

So my question is... is the 7850 worth the extra £80-100 outlay?

Obviously my main concern is future proofing and I don't really want to be upgrading for at least another 2 years.

 

[Boomstick777]

What resolution are you gaming at?

Less than 1080P > HD 6850 is fine.

1080P > HD 7850 is ideal.

1440P or multiscreen > GTX 680 / HD 7970 SLI / Crossfire.

 

[tamzzy]

click the link
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/548?vs=540
if you overclock both cards, this would be the performance you'd see approx
is the difference worth the outlay? only you can decide for yourself

 

[CinderzFTW]

the 7850 nukes the 6850 into heaven!

better card for the future as you won't have to upgrade sooner!

 

[DanUre]

I will be gaming at 1080p when i get my new monitor. I know the 7850 is the way to go but £180 is a lot of money ha!

I also read somewhere that the GTX 660 will be coming out end of august (which is when ill be buying). Are we talking the same price point as the 7850? or could we see the price of 7850's drop?

ps. im a student, hence the tightness!

 

[tamzzy]

no one knows what the performance will be like tbh.
the gtx660 was assumed to be competing with the 7870 at the 230ish price bracket, but now that the 7950 can be gotten at that price...
everything's up in the air

 

[DanUre]

Ah right gotcha, well i'm in no rush to spend £200, just have to wait and see what happens...

 

[ussff]

Ouch! I was SO ready to hit 'buy' on a 7850... for £190(ish) next month - with a single PCIe power socket and good OC headroom that would give great performance on my Ivybridge setup and leaving me a spare PCIe connector if I felt the need to crossfire in the future.

It seemed a good win over a 7870 at £230 with a higher power requirement; Now I read more than one supplier of 7950's are at sub £240... time to recheck the PSU and aim a little higher maybe?

edit: - current monitor is rubbish - I'm planning on the Dell Ultrasharp U2412M 16:10 IPS screen at 1920 x 1200

 

[jimhaumman]

Ouch! I was SO ready to hit 'buy' on a 7850... for £190(ish) next month - with a single PCIe power socket and good OC headroom that would give great performance on my Ivybridge setup and leaving me a spare PCIe connector if I felt the need to crossfire in the future.

It seemed a good win over a 7870 at £230 with a higher power requirement; Now I read more than one supplier of 7950's are at sub £240... time to recheck the PSU and aim a little higher maybe?

edit: - current monitor is rubbish - I'm planning on the Dell Ultrasharp U2412M 16:10 IPS screen at 1920 x 1200

why you not happy with your monitor??not 120hz?