Graphic card Dilemma for 25K Budget.

Hey Guys,

I had used GTX 560 ti sometime ago and it was really a good card but now is the time for upgrade. I've been waiting for some time to buy a graphic card within 25k range. I've been following some forum threads from past 1-2 months where new AMD Drivers are said to be matured and there's considerable gain of performance in all games whereas nvidia drivers doesn't have that much advantage.

I've shortlisted Sapphire HD 7950 OC ( 25.5k from flipkart ) and MSI NGTX 660 Ti TFIV ( 23K from ebay global )

The gaming performance difference between GTX 660 ti and HD 7950 is remarkable enough to make me lean towards GTX 660 ti. But are the 384-bit memory bus, 3GB DDR5 RAM are of any importance for future games ? I don't care for computing power as i won't do folding@home nor any app will be utilized in my case. This new card will stay with me for at least 5-6 years before next upgrade. So, i want your opinions and if someone says go for HD 7950 then why should i go for HD 7950 with reasons pls ? If you've experienced performance improvement results, pls post some details.

Since, i'll be shelling out lot of money, i want to be extra careful with it. I game only at 1080p and have no intentions to upgrade to higher res anytime. My Rig is mentioned in my signature.

Awaiting your replies.

Thanks,
Ashis

AnandTech - Bench - GPU12
Go ahead with either one, you couldn't go wrong with any of them.
Note that the bench used the 7950 with factory settings (read no OC), so your OC version might score some extra points there.
Personally, I'd have gone for 7950. (Not a fanboy, but I seem to like AMD more than Nvidia)

Are you going to get any warranty on that 660Ti if you purchase from Ebay Global? If not, then 7950 OC is the clear choice at 25k.

And for 5-6 years, its always better to have something extra even if you don't need them atm.

P

i would go for the hd 7950
but if you can manage it a pair of hd 6870's @ 24k will perform better than both cards

going with a single powerful gpu is a much better idea IMO.

Yes, I won't get warranty from ebay global. But, the prices of HD 7950 haven't slashed much to justify its price tag against performance.

At 25k that particular model is really good. No point getting a card without warranty after spending so much.

Take more VRAM, more memory bandwidth, better AA performance, better compute performance as added bonuses.

I'm using Asus HD7950 DirectCUII for last 2 weeks now. Absolutely fantastic card. Got it for 25.5k. Over clocks like there is no 2moro. Don't get OC version. Buy normal version with good cooler like DirectCUII or IceQ, you can manually OC these 7950s without even touching voltages to really gr8 speeds. And to play all the current available games you really don't need to OC at all.

EDIT

Just read the first post fully.... go for that Sapphire 7950 OC edition. 25k is sweet deal right now for any 7950 based cards.

Get the 7950 eyes closed. Try to get it from local dealer to avoid complications with warranty and aftersale service.

Yes buying from local dealers is always preferable rather then flipkarting.. I have two three friends in Pune who RMAd their stuff purchased from flipkart but they paid shipping charges which costs like 300-400 Rs for a single GPU.

havoknation said:
Yes buying from local dealers is always preferable rather then flipkarting.. I have two three friends in Pune who RMAd their stuff purchased from flipkart but they paid shipping charges which costs like 300-400 Rs for a single GPU.

Actually, the high end card in local shops is 9600GT / 9800GT in my place. havoknation when will your website be ready ? Don't forget to install live chat softwares like Zopim, so we can directly contact you for order / current prices.

Looks like i'll end up with HD 7950 as higher memory and good compute performance will be needed in future games like Dirt Showdown.

@mandarpalshikar , Could you post some fps of your games with ultra settings and 1080p ? Thanks, It'll be great relief.

ashis_lakra said:
Actually, the high end card in local shops is 9600GT / 9800GT in my place. havoknation when will your website be ready ? Don't forget to install live chat softwares like Zopim, so we can directly contact you for order / current prices.

Looks like i'll end up with HD 7950 as higher memory and good compute performance will be needed in future games like Dirt Showdown.

@mandarpalshikar , Could you post some fps of your games with ultra settings and 1080p ? Thanks, It'll be great relief.

My website ETA would be 10th September. Dont wry, I am always available @ gtalk

Try to get GTX670 IMO.
Otherwise a custom PCB HD7950 (OCed or non-OCed) version is a good option.

havoknation said:
Yes buying from local dealers is always preferable rather then flipkarting.. I have two three friends in Pune who RMAd their stuff purchased from flipkart but they paid shipping charges which costs like 300-400 Rs for a single GPU.

they must have XFX gpus imported by Akshay Enterprise ;-)

- other than this I've never heard you need to pay the shipping charge for RMA if the particular brand/product has a service in your local area.

d6bmg said:
Try to get GTX670 IMO.
Otherwise a custom PCB HD7950 (OCed or non-OCed) version is a good option.

670 will be in the range of 28k, otherwise the best option atm.

V

@ashis_lakra

GALAXY GTX 660 Ti GC OC vs. OC GTX 670 & HD 7950
In this review both gtx660ti and gtx670 are clocked around 100MHz higher than hd7950 but still hd7950 comes out on top technically.They should have tested more games though.

Sapphire HD 7950 OC Edition is a very well overclockable card according to reviews by overclock3D.net and legitreviews.com.
According to many reviews gtx660ti fares nearly as good as the hd7950 but most of the comparison takes place with a stock hd7950(800MHz).
Even with new bios patched to the reference hd7950 will take the lead.
And you are right about the fact about performance improvement with newer drivers.
Between a stock hd7870 and a stock gtx660ti the latter is the card to get.
At 25k you are getting a custom hd7950 which overclocks quite well.Take it.I don't think you would regret.

Skud said:
670 will be in the range of 28k, otherwise the best option atm.

Thank you, any website where i can get GTX 670 @ 28k ? I've sent queries to smc, prime, mdcomputers a week ago, but no reply from them yet.

vkl said:
@ashis_lakra

GALAXY GTX 660 Ti GC OC vs. OC GTX 670 & HD 7950
In this review both gtx660ti and gtx670 are clocked around 100MHz higher than hd7950 but still hd7950 comes out on top technically.They should have tested more games though.

Sapphire HD 7950 OC Edition is a very well overclockable card according to reviews by overclock3D.net and legitreviews.com.
According to many reviews gtx660ti fares nearly as good as the hd7950 but most of the comparison takes place with a stock hd7950(800MHz).
Even with new bios patched to the reference hd7950 will take the lead.
And you are right about the fact about performance improvement with newer drivers.
Between a stock hd7870 and a stock gtx660ti the latter is the card to get.
At 25k you are getting a custom hd7950 which overclocks quite well.Take it.I don't think you would regret.

Thanks vkl for your suggestion. However, i'm waiting for personal reviews of HD 7950 owners and how does it fare well against GTX 660 ti .

^^ +1

GTX660Ti is competitor for 7870 in real world scenario not 7950. All those reviews favouring GTX660Ti ahead of 7950 are marketing tactics by Nvidia. All the games used by them for reviewing are the ones which favour nvidia architecture. To know the thruth look at the benchmarks on say Sleeping Dogs... HD7950 performs way better than GTX670.
As "Skud" said earlier in this thread.... "Take more VRAM, more memory bandwidth, better AA performance, better compute performance as added bonuses."

BTW... take a look at how well HD7950 overclocks... link in my signature.

Call smc, prime, mdcomputers ... they are very bad at responding to mails.

ashis_lakra said:
Thank you, any website where i can get GTX 670 @ 28k ? I've sent queries to smc, prime, mdcomputers a week ago, but no reply from them yet.

Thanks vkl for your suggestion. However, i'm waiting for personal reviews of HD 7950 owners and how does it fare well against GTX 660 ti .

Check this:-

MSI N670GTX-PM2D2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Graphic Card

Still, that Sapphire is a better deal at 25k.

^^ Update - That Sapphire HD7950 OC has been pulled off the list by flipkart..... now they are selling stock Sapphire HD7950 for 24.5K

EDIT: ^^^ oops didn't the above post lol

mandarpalshikar said:
^^ Update - That Sapphire HD7950 OC has been pulled off the list by flipkart..... now they are selling stock Sapphire HD7950 for 24.5K

It's back online !!!

Oops.. how did I miss that...

Anyways... best deal available out there as of now it seems.

takemein said:
EDIT: ^^^ oops didn't the above post lol

It's back online !!!

Did not know HD7950 is available for so cheap now and at 25k nothing beats the Sapphire HD7950 OC Ed. available on FK.

Just buy the 7950 OCed one fast before it's gone.
Also I see a 7870 OC Sapphire on FK for 19k. Fk is on fire!

^^ here's the reason .. expect to see more cool prices :

AMD Readies New Round of Radeon HD 7000 Series Price Cuts | techPowerUp

Prices of Radeon HD 7950 Boost will go down from US $349 to $319,
Prices of Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition will go down from $299 to $249,
Prices of Radeon HD 7850 2GB will go down to $209, and HD 7850 1GB to $189.

sharang.d said:
Also I see a 7870 OC Sapphire on FK for 19k. Fk is on fire!

A 250 card @19K? good price.

Can i expect further drop in prices of HD 7950 ?

^ It IS going to happen but no one knows when exactly.
FK is the first vendor so far.

Basically it all boils down to one factor i.e time.
Decide when exactly you want to buy and just buy whatever is the best at that period.
Updates/price cuts keep happnin all the time.
If u think like I should wait for some more time for price cuts to set in then maybe a new card might have come up by then

To elaborate more on "TIME" factor - See... I bought EVGA 6800GT back in 2004 for 300$ and now I can get GTX660Ti in same cost which is not at all comparable to old 6800GT

Forget about that man. I bought Sapphire 7870 2 months back at 23,900 and now Sapphire 7870 OC Edition is available at 19~20k :facepalm:

So anyway whatever you buy don't look back

That really hurts when prices fall very quickly within short time

I buy HD 7950 @ 25k, and then after 3 months, if it comes to around 22K , i'll be pissed personally.

Then don't buy anything EVER
Be happy

ashis_lakra said:
That really hurts when prices fall very quickly within short time

I buy HD 7950 @ 25k, and then after 3 months, if it comes to around 22K , i'll be pissed personally.

You are xyz years old right now and after three month xyz+3months. Can you comment?

Even if the product is 3 months old, its still same.. right ? What i want to convey is that if the current prices are saturated enough to go for one?

For example : Look at GTX 560 ti or HD 6950, they still sell at 14k-15k and you won't get a new one less than that ( even if its 1 gen old ), So i can say the price won't drop further and is stable.

So, If HD 7950 price stays same for almost 6-8 months , which wasn't the case and we've seen 2 times price cut and the recent cut might not have been revised. ( or maybe i'm not sure )

All right thank you guys. I'll wait for 1 more month and then decide on either HD 7950 or GTX 660 Ti

Cheers ~!

560Ti & 6950 stabilize at the end of their life. There's still some time for prices of graphics cards to come down as the next-gen is not coming soon.

Come back next month.