7850 to 660Ti - Weird situation

[Richeh]

Hello,
I have had my HIS 7850 2GB running with my i5 3570k, 8GB DDR through my 46" LED TV for a while now and have been thoroughly impressed. I mainly play BF3 although do play Street Fighter and a bit of PES every now and again.

I was lucky in being able to get a good 7850 and have it at 1200/5200 1.165v running flawlessly. I play BF3 with vsync on, everything on ultra only MSAA off and hit 55-60 consistenly which is fine for me.

I am however a bit of graphics perfectionist and have long wanted to be able to play with MSAA as it does just look so much better on my 46" at 5.5 feet away! Unfortunately, this is where my 7850 falls down and maintains 40-60 fluctuating a bit if I even put this to 2x MSAA.

Now my question:

My friend has decided to build a new gaming PC/HTPC mainly for BF3. So I recommended the 7850 as he hasnt got a lot of money to spend and 150-175 would be kind of the max. Then it got me thinking that it is luck of the draw regarding a good OC and he will also be playing at 1080p and wants as near to 60FPS consistently as possible.

So I thought that depending on his money situation I could offer my 7850 for say £140-150 which i'm sure he would be happy with as it is guranteed for the performance he wants and then add another £80-90 myself and get a 660Ti as looking at reviews and benchmarks these do just smoke AMD cards with MSAA. As I don't really play many other games and the BF performance on the 660Ti is that much better do you think it would be a worthwhile jump?

 

[TheRealDeal]

The 7950 is better than the ti660 in bf3 and a more powerful all round card. You do need to overclock it to get the best from it but you would be mad not to as the stock clocks are far to low with up to 50 percent headroom left on the core.

 

[ptneps]

There's only 1 or 2 games the 660ti is better. If you play BF3 the most then it may be worth it, otherwise you'll be disappointed as the 7850 with that overclock will probably beat the 660ti in everything else apart from BF3. Unless you get a 660ti that clocks well but they don't have anywhere near as much headroom as the 7 series AMD cards.

 

[spoffle]

Get a 7950 and give it a good overclock, a 660Ti won't be able to touch it.

 

[Rusty0611]

Get a 7950 and give it a good overclock, a 660Ti won't be able to touch it.

+1

Same price or cheaper as well for a 7950. No brainer.

660Ti is £40-50 too much for what it is.

OP: To give you some context when AA is maxed the 660Ti is about even or a bit higher than a 7870.

There's only 1 or 2 games the 660ti is better. If you play BF3 the most then it may be worth it, otherwise you'll be disappointed as the 7850 with that overclock will probably beat the 660ti in everything else apart from BF3. Unless you get a 660ti that clocks well but they don't have anywhere near as much headroom as the 7 series AMD cards.

As above, a similary max OC'd 660Ti is actually just above 7870 performance so you're wrong on this front.

 

[Richeh]

I was reading the Anandtech benchmarks for comparison and for MSAA on BF3 the 660Ti here http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU12/400 and the it seems to perform better than the 7950 at stock, are you saying that due to the extra OC headroom on the 7950 it would still beat out the 660Ti even when that is OC'ed?

Basically BF3 is the only intensive game I play so the card I want would be geared towards best performance for that, and the ability to use MSAA and still maintain 50-60 consistently.

Cheers for the replies so far.

 

[ptneps]

+1

Same price or cheaper as well for a 7950. No brainer.

660Ti is £40-50 too much for what it is.

OP: To give you some context when AA is maxed the 660Ti is about even or a bit higher than a 7870.



As above, a similary max OC'd 660Ti is actually just above 7870 performance so you're wrong on this front.

I'm wrong or OP is wrong lol?

 

[ptneps]

I was reading the Anandtech benchmarks for comparison and for MSAA on BF3 the 660Ti here http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU12/400 and the it seems to perform better than the 7950 at stock, are you saying that due to the extra OC headroom on the 7950 it would still beat out the 660Ti even when that is OC'ed?

Basically BF3 is the only intensive game I play so the card I want would be geared towards best performance for that, and the ability to use MSAA and still maintain 50-60 consistently.

Cheers for the replies so far.

A 660ti will drop to 40fps on 64 player maps with 4xMSAA.

 

[Geo-Gamer]

I was reading the Anandtech benchmarks for comparison and for MSAA on BF3 the 660Ti here http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU12/400 and the it seems to perform better than the 7950 at stock, are you saying that due to the extra OC headroom on the 7950 it would still beat out the 660Ti even when that is OC'ed?

Basically BF3 is the only intensive game I play so the card I want would be geared towards best performance for that, and the ability to use MSAA and still maintain 50-60 consistently.

Cheers for the replies so far.

mate i just went from a 570 to a 7950 and the difference is night and day. I have overclocked the 7950 to 670 standards and hitting average 80 fps in bf3 on ultra. It rarley hits 60 fps

If your not going to overclock the 7950 dont bother getting it. However, it is known for its oc headroom meaning it can compete with a 670 when pushed.

 

[biuro74]

Yes, I'm surprised, too.. how many people say anything with no double check:

www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/647?vs=550

 

[tommybhoy]

Live with what you have and use an injector.

No headaches regarding rubbish oc'ers/coil whine/noise/heat etc.

 

[Richeh]

Live with what you have and use an injector.

No headaches regarding rubbish oc'ers/coil whine/noise/heat etc.

Thank you but think you missed a large aspect of my requirements.

I will see if my friend wants to save a few £££ and offer him my 7850, if he takes it I will stump the extra £80ish on a 7950 and OC. But will I expect 60fps w/MSAA now thanks to you guys!

 

[spixelspixel]

Thank you but think you missed a large aspect of my requirements.

I will see if my friend wants to save a few £££ and offer him my 7850, if he takes it I will stump the extra £80ish on a 7950 and OC. But will I expect 60fps w/MSAA now thanks to you guys!

You'll never get solid 60fps on large servers as its cpu limited when lots of action on screen.

 

[ptneps]

If you want permanent 60+ fps just stump up the extra for a 7970 ghz edition or a 670. 7950's will still drop below 60 unless you get a good overclocker which is always a gamble. I'm sure LtMatt said he still gets drops into the 50's.

 

[Rusty0611]

I'm wrong or OP is wrong lol?

You are a little bit.

A 660Ti is as said before, a little bit slower than a 7950 with no AA and about even with a 7870 with max AA.

Hence overall it sits between the two cards not struggling to beat a 7850 as you said .

 

[tommybhoy]

Thank you but think you missed a large aspect of my requirements.

I didn't, simply trying to save you needless headaches, hence the recommendation of using an injector-it can look almost the same as MSAA while costing a big fat zero.

As stated above, 7970/680's can drop to ~50fps in places, so I don't see any lesser gpu hitting mins of 60fps.

If you want permanent 60+ fps just stump up the extra for a 7970 ghz edition or a 670. 7950's will still drop below 60 unless you get a good overclocker which is always a gamble. I'm sure LtMatt said he still gets drops into the 50's.

Matts using a 7970@1200Mhz.

I have seen my single 680 drop to 52 fps when tanks are being blown up. This is at 1080P with full ultra.

If your going to spend £80, save another week or two and go 7850 CrossFire, you will get mins of 60fps, but it's a huge price to pay for MSAA imo.

 

[spixelspixel]

I didn't, simply trying to save you needless headaches, hence the recommendation of using an injector-it can look almost the same as MSAA while costing a big fat zero.

As stated above, 7970/680's can drop to ~50fps in places, so I don't see any lesser gpu hitting mins of 60fps.



Matts using a 7970@1200Mhz.



If your going to spend £80, save another week or two and go 7850 CrossFire, you will get mins of 60fps, but it's a huge price to pay for MSAA imo.

Crossfire 7850 is overkill if you're capping your fps to 60. It will still drop due to cpu limitations.

For what its worth my 660ti is approx 40-50 percent faster in bf3 than my gtx 570. I don't play with 4x MSAA though as I don't like the blurriness it adds. I tried with 4AA and the game played noticeable smoother without having to check the fps.

 

[ptneps]

You are a little bit.

A 660Ti is as said before, a little bit slower than a 7950 with no AA and about even with a 7870 with max AA.

Hence overall it sits between the two cards not struggling to beat a 7850 as you said .

No, I said it would struggle to beat his overclocked 7850 by much. I said BF3 was the only game he'd probably see a small improvement.

 

[tommybhoy]

@spixelspixel,

will it drop in regards to cpu limitations directly because it's capped or in general?

I had 6950>70 CrossFire and it was above 50fps minimum without a fps cap on release drivers, by the time I changed, it was above 60fps=faster than any single gpu out there.

 

[Richeh]

Unfortunately, crossfire isn't an option due to my motherboard but as my PC is also used as an HTPC I don't fancy adding another fan to it.

I understand that even an OC 7950 can still go below 60fps but as long as it isn't dropping below 50 unlike my 7850 which can go from 60 to 40 in a second and produce a notable stutter with MSAA on.