7850 or a 7870XT

[Gibbo3771]

I am on the verge of purchasing a new GPU end of the month for one of my PC's that is running an older GTX260 from my old build, now I have a Gigabyte 7850 in one of my machines but was thinking for this machine, get the 7870XT.

Thing is, £210 is quite a jump from HIS £155 7850 and I do not want to pay £190 for a non XT version of the 7870 or I am going to miss out on a lot of overclocking potential.

Am I going to see a massive difference in performance between a OC'd 7850 and Oc'd 7870XT? I mean in current games, is it even worth the extra cash considering my current 7850 seems to run everything flawlessly despite it only running along side a little i3 3220.

 

[Rusty0611]

Well it's a case of answering the question, how much do you want to spend? Your CPU might limit you slightly in some games but it's not going to limit more either card noticeably.

If you've got a socket 1155 board then consider getting an i5 2500k, clocking it to 4.5 and then upgrading your GPU if you're that bothered but a 7870XT upgrade now, even with your current CPU will give you a decent upgrade in performance even if you may be slightly CPU limited in a couple of games. Also consider the 660Ti (performs roughly the same) from nVidia but this is probably out your price range.

 

[Chrisoldinho]

is it even worth the extra cash considering my current 7850 seems to run everything flawlessly despite it only running along side a little i3 3220.

You seem to have answered you're own question

It will be faster yes, but if you are happy with you're current 7850 speeds then why spend more money?

 

[Gibbo3771]

You seem to have answered you're own question

It will be faster yes, but if you are happy with you're current 7850 speeds then why spend more money?

It's not for the same machine , both machines run i3 3220 but one has a 7850 and other has a GTX260 that I have been using temp until I get another 7850 but seeing the raw power of the 7870XT on benchmarks got me thinking.

Although I did sorta answer my own question but is there really any benefit for the 7870XT if I am gaming single monitor @1080p other than being slightly more future proof, I can afford it, just can't bring myself to think of a reason why, was hoping someone could convince me lol.

I am holding off on the CPU for now, this i3 is only about a month old, I am waiting until the end of the year and hoping haswell brings the prices of the current i5 3570k down then slapping one in. I also do not play a lot of CPU intensive games even if it turns out one is pretty CPU intensive I tend to just turn the graphics down a tad, not overly bothered but seriously impressed by this little i3.

 

[Thracks]

Personally, I'd get the 7870 XT. Yeah, it's more expensive than the 7850, but it's also a very stronger overclocker with performance that can fall in the 7950 range if you get lucky.

It's also the stronger product, implying superior longevity and readiness for upcoming games.

 

[Macky]

7870 XT is not made by any great brands IMO. Sapphire probably the best of a bad bunch and the Sapphire one is then overpriced. Saying it's a good overclocker is meaningless as pretty much any 7850 can overclock very well too if you know how. The XT is a better card, probably yield about 30% better performance stock for stock. Doubt an XT could overclock as well as a 7850 but with a mild overclock would still be better than a 7850. So.. in summary, if you want a reputable brand with solid RMA history, there aren't any. No Giga, Asus, MSI etc. If you're willing to take a slight gamble and pay about 70 quid more, go for it. I have a Sapphire 7850 that OcUK gave me in place for my 5850, the first one broke after a day but the second one seems fine. Touch wood. If it fails OcUK will be able to help you out anyway.