Graphic Cards GPU for 20k or below

devvfata1ity

devvfata1ity

Adept
Hi guys
I am helping my friend building a new rig for gaming. So far we have zoomed in on all the components except the GPU. My friend's budget is strictly 20k or below. Also we are refraining from getting the GPU from USA (through a friend) as the price difference is not much & warranty hassles are there.

I have shortlisted the following GPUs.

1. Radeon HD 6850 (MSI Cyclone PE - Rs 9.7k shipped from SMC) x2 Crossfire == Rs 19.4k approx

2. MSI GTX 570 OC (again from SMC) == Rs 20k shipped

3. Sapphire HD 6870 x2 Crossfire (SMC) == Rs 22.5k shipped ( out of budget but I can lend him an extra 2k in case the performance justifies it :p)

4. MSI GTX 560 Ti TF2 OC == Rs 14k shipped

5. Sapphire HD 6950 1 GB == Rs 13.5k shipped

Now the dilemma is whether to go multi-gpu or not. Will the crossfire HD 6850s be better value than say HD 6950s crossfire or HD 6870 crossfire or GTX 560 Ti crossfire? Or a single GTX 570 will be the better option?

As you can see by the questions I am super-confused and your help will be very much appreciated.

PS: The rig config is

i7 2600k, P67a-gd 55, 8 Gb Corsair XMS3, Noctua D-14, OCZ vtx3 120 gb, Seagate 1 Tb 7200.12, NZXT Tempest EVO, Dell U2311H.

He would like to keep his existing PSU ie a VIP 750W. The only problem is that it has only 2 pcie (6 pin) connectors so HD 6850 crossfire is the only multi-gpu option without upgrading the PSU. So basically does the added cost of a better PSU & better GPU in SLi or Xfire justifies the jump in performance outside of benchmarks over the HD 6850s ?

TIA

devv :)
 
In your case one 6950 now with a TX850 . That would prolly go to 22k but well worth it and he can now easily add another 6950 which would be really beastly.
 
XFire or SLi is a costly affair, both with the initial investment and the maintenance of it.

The current PSU ur friend has is a big NO NO, U would need a Corsair 750 at the barest minimum and if u plan to OC it then 850 would replace 750.

If u want to go for CF start with the 6870 anything less isn't worth the head ache. Then again your PSU is a deal breaker.

So if he wants to keep his PSU and get a card that would do full HD, i would say he has two simple choices.

1. Get a 'Unlockable' 6950 and unlock it to 6970 and play to your hearts content.

2. Wait, Yes, i know the waiting game is bad and one should live now, not wait for the future and all that hoopla, but with the imminent launch of Southern Islands with all their glorious VLIW optimizations and 28nm process, it simply doesn't make sense to spend 20 large on a soon-to-be-last-gen GPU.
 
Oh yes I forget AMD next gen round the corner prolly 4 months really before you can get your hands on them and another months waiting for inflated launch prices to settle ... dunno not sure there is a concrete release date out.
 
The 28nm gpus are probably gonna launch after October and the pricing in India will take another couple of months to stabilize. So basically he has to hold on for another 6-7 months or so. We can set up the rig meanwhile sans the gpu. I have a spare gtx260 that I use for physx I can lend him that. But guys do you think the southern islands are gonna bring that kinda performance improvement?
 
Expect 15 to 20% more performance from HD7970 not more than that... And when it will launch in India the price of it would be around 23 to 24k... So the launch pricing would rune the whole point of waiting... If the launch date would have been some 1 to 2 months away then waiting for it would have made sense but its gonna launch in the fourth quarter of this year maybe in november... See if you can't wait for Southern Island GPUs then i would advice you to buy Reference HD6950 2GB ~14500 card along with a PSU with a little more headroom like TX850 V2 ~ 6500 for your friends future upgrades...
 
so guys i am suggesting my friend to upgrade the psu first and later on get a good mid-high end card & sli or xfire them. For the time being I am lending him my spare GTX 260 OC to game :p
 
I guess if he can be satisfied with the gtx260 for some time then wait, but memnom's recommendation of the 6950 seems to be best bet atm.
 
Next gen video cards should see a very nice upgrade in performance. 5xxx-6xxx was minor architectural tweaks and was on the same process iirc or was just a half node improvement in process. Full node drops in manufacturing process which is what ATI and Nvidia next gen will have generally have BIG improvements. ATI 3xxx to 4xxx , 4xxx-5xxx nvidia 8800 to 2xx ... 2xx to 4xx GTX series.
 
guys thanks a lot for your suggestions. My friend is not willing to wait for 6-7 months or may be more to buy a new GPU even if it will offer more performance per Rs. He is a FPS nut and basically wants to play Crysis 2 (with DX11 Ultra upgrade + Hi-res textures) @ 1080p, 4xAA & 55-60 fps and the same with Battlefield 3 when it comes out.

Now the problem is that with his budget refusing to budge even a few ks, a new PSU like the TX850V2 & any mid-high end card is not going to provide the performance he seeks.

So what to do now??
 
@memnom after reading up few articles on the net it seems that the HD 6950/ 6970 cant play crysis 2 (dx11 ultra + hi-res tex + 4xAA) at 55-60 fps @1080p.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

personally on my rig crysis 2 (dx11 ultra + hi-res tex + 4xAA + transparency supersampling) runs at 70-75 fps @1080p. I have a couple of HD 6950s unlocked to HD 6970 specs albeit with a bit less Core mhz @ 850 running on a core i7 2600k Oced to 4.3 ghz & 8GB ddr3 1600 Ram on cl8 timings. seems to me that a single HD 6950 wont even run crysis 2 at those settings at even over 40 fps. :(
 
ok guys have settled on a new PSU + a mid-end card for the time-being. will later xfire or sli them. The choice is now between a hd 6950 1GB and a GTX 560 (non Ti). Not considering the gtx 560 Ti as the HD 6950 is available for ~1k less and performs slightly better IMO. the HD 6950 is 13.2k shipped from smc and the gtx 560 is 11.3k shipped from tirupati. what to do??
 
If he is looking to play battlefield then he has to go with nvidia offering im afraid , ATI has lots of issues with that game.
 
for the psu I have decided on the corsair tx 850v2
Click to expand...
Good choice... a 750w PSU is recommended for 2xHD6950 (CrossfireX) but 850w PSU would give a little more headroom for future upgradability... So overall a nice choice... :)
 
^^yup thanks guys. I just went for the tx850v2 based on all the excellent reviews it had. Moreover I will be overcloverclocking the CPU to at least 4.5ghz and also the GPU. So I guess its better to be safe and stay under the limit coz anyway a couple of Oced/Unlocked HD 6950s in Xfire along with a i72600k @ 4.5/4.7 ghz draws approx 650 watts so I went for the TX850V2 instead of the TX750V2. Also as per the reviews the 850 had a better ripple, noise & +12v rail amperage characteristics.

I am suggesting him to wait and watch the space basically. If the HD7xxx series launch and shows great performance at a not too obnoxious price point then he will get a couple of those or by that time I am sure the HD6950s/70s price is going to go down quite a bit so may be we can crossfire a couple of those for 20k or so.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

@hades where are getting a HD6950 2GB for 14.5k buddy? Can you plz point me out coz at 14.5k we are gonna take it.
 
guys just bought the Powercolor HD6950 2GB reference model off ebay for 15.1k shipped. Did I get a good deal? I am not too aware of the current market prices.
 
guys just bought the Powercolor HD6950 2GB reference model off ebay for 15.1k shipped
Click to expand...

If it unlocks then yes for 15.1k its a steal... BTW why didn't you buy MSI HD6950 Twin Frozr II/ OC 2GB ~ 15.5k instead of this ?
 
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