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6970 or 7850?

I've just spent weeks on a similar point - GPU for £200(ish)...

Look at http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=509 and scroll down the list!

Brief summary; Dependant on your game/resolution, its a close call. The HD 7850 is proving to be a clocking beast (look elsewhere on OCUK) and uses less power - Although I havn't specced the MSI, chances are its quieter. A lesser point (as the bottle neck hasn't yet been reached on PCIe) but still valid, is to chose a PCIe 3.0 card if your motherboard/cpu can support it, to give it a little more lifespan!
 
Ok thanks for the help I think I might go for the 7850 then :). Guess it's also worth mentioning my current PC specs so here goes

Antec 300 with additional 120mm front intake fan
Gigabyte p55m-ud2 mobo
Corsair TX650W PSU
Intel core i7 860 CPU
WD caviar black 1tb hdd
60gb corsair force ssd
Noctua nh-u12p cpu cooler
G-skill ripjaws 1600mhz dual channel 4gb ram
XFX 5750 which will be replaced by my new gpu

It's the PSU I'm most worried about, I should be ok running a 7850 on this PSU right?
 
Your Idle power will be on a par with your current GPU, if not a little better and at peak, the HD 7850 will take around 50W more for a massive FPS gain... Whilst I'm not familiar with the i7 860 power requirements - the HD6970 would be a harder task master on your PSU.
 
pooley said:
That PSU will be fine.
Click to expand...
ussff said:
Your Idle power will be on a par with your current GPU, if not a little better and at peak, the HD 7850 will take around 50W more for a massive FPS gain... Whilst I'm not familiar with the i7 860 power requirements - the HD6970 would be a harder task master on your PSU.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks, brilliant, looks like I'll be going for the 7850 definitely then
 
I'm not the expert here, but from what I've read in the thread about OC'ing a 7850 there are no versions of the HD7850 that are custom PCB yet... just custom cooler/fan solutions.

'Spider senses are tingling' and the MSI might me the first custom PCB - so you may have to double check power requirements... when I was looking; the Sapphire was cool and quiet at default, with 1x 6 pin power connector and if you wanted to OC your GPU, save the extra ££'s and don't bother buying a factory clock version - you can get way beyond that yourself with a manufacturer default board.
 
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I'm told that its a lottery as to whether you get a good OC or not... but the Sapphire is quiet and has a proven history of being a good 'after market' solution - its on my shopping list and isn't my first sapphire product! ;)
 
You wouldn't know how the warranty/rma service is with sapphire as well would you? I've had to rma graphics cards in the past due to faults with them
 
Thanks, looks like the MSI service is quite a lot better then, might end up getting the MSI one to avoid future problems, thanks for the help everyone
 
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