NEWBTASTIC attempt at a PC build - Help please?

I think the 7950 would be a better choice than the 660 Ti. I know I'm going to be biased being a 7950 owner, but it seems to be the general consensus (and benchmarks prove) that the the 7950 is the better card. The recent AMD 12.11 driver update improves the performance even further.

It's mainly due to the larger memory bandwidth the 7950 pulls ahead.

Thanks. That seems to be the consensus on this thread too and I'm happy to defer to your collective wisdom and put aside my irrational pro-Nvidia bias.

Searching on the 7950 yields so many results - any recommendations on a specific card? I can't really push the budget any further, around £230-240 is my max.

EDIT: Maybe this http://www.ebuyer.com/341498-powerc...playport-pci-e-graphics-card-ax7950-3gbd5-2dh ? (Let's not discuss budget, eh?)

If you have any spare money in the budget I'd either upgrade your HDD to a bigger one, or add another to the 500GB.

500GB of space is really not that much these days.

I totally get why you'd say I should go bigger, but I really don't have much stuff. I'm not a hoarder, my music collection is around 10gb, and I rarely keep films/tv shows. I was thinking of getting 500gb for now, then when the prices come down a bit getting an SSD as the primary drive and doing a fresh install of Win7 or 8.
 
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I think the 7950 would be a better choice than the 660 Ti. I know I'm going to be biased being a 7950 owner, but it seems to be the general consensus (and benchmarks prove) that the the 7950 is the better card. The recent AMD 12.11 driver update improves the performance even further.

It's mainly due to the larger memory bandwidth the 7950 pulls ahead.

I know, but I was after "user" benches as I don't trust review sites anymore and users from other "enthusiast" forums can be biased too.

AVF folk are honest, and normally outstanding individuals who will not doctor their benches hence why I asked. :D

So if there are any 660ti owners with the lastest 310.70 NV drivers, playing at 1080p with a stock 3570k I'd like to see how it performs in games as it's more or less the same price as the HD7950 which is considered a better card even if it doesn't do PhysX.
 
Thanks. That seems to be the consensus on this thread too and I'm happy to defer to your collective wisdom and put aside my irrational pro-Nvidia bias.

Searching on the 7950 yields so many results - any recommendations on a specific card? I can't really push the budget any further, around £230-240 is my max.

EDIT: Maybe this PowerColor HD 7950 3GB DVI HDMI Dual Mini DisplayPort.. | Ebuyer.com ? (Let's not discuss budget, eh?)



I totally get why you'd say I should go bigger, but I really don't have much stuff. I'm not a hoarder, my music collection is around 10gb, and I rarely keep films/tv shows. I was thinking of getting 500gb for now, then when the prices come down a bit getting an SSD as the primary drive and doing a fresh install of Win7 or 8.

I'd highly recommend the Gigabyte, that's what I went for, or the MSI Twin Frozr. Both get good reviews, and are pretty cool and quiet whilst generally been good overclockers (this varies between idividual cards)

GIGABYTE AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 <font color="red">4 Game Offer</font> | GV-R795WF3-3GD Remember to check the box to receive the free 4 games bundle on this one

MSI AMD R7950 3GB DDR5 PCI-E Graphics Card: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
 
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I'd highly recommend the Gigabyte, that's what I went for, or the MSI Twin Frozr. Both get good reviews, and are pretty cool and quiet whilst generally been good overclockers (this varies between idividual cards)

GIGABYTE AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 <font color="red">4 Game Offer</font> | GV-R795WF3-3GD Remember to check the box to receive the free 4 games bundle on this one

MSI AMD R7950 3GB DDR5 PCI-E Graphics Card: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Cheers, that's helpful. That Gigabyte deal looks like a good 'un. Assume it'll play nicely with the other bits I've pencilled in?
 
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I'll get some 7970 benches up at the weekend. So far though my new 7970 piddles all over my sli 560ti setup from before.

I know its not the 7950.
 
I'd highly recommend the Gigabyte, that's what I went for, or the MSI Twin Frozr. Both get good reviews, and are pretty cool and quiet whilst generally been good overclockers (this varies between idividual cards)

GIGABYTE AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 <font color="red">4 Game Offer</font> | GV-R795WF3-3GD Remember to check the box to receive the free 4 games bundle on this one

MSI AMD R7950 3GB DDR5 PCI-E Graphics Card: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Tom's HW did a roundup with the 7950's
Note this was before the 12.11 drivers were released
Noise Comparison Videos : Radeon HD 7950 3 GB: Six Cards, Benchmarked And Reviewed

The Gigabyte isn't there, but the videos will give an indication to the noise levels for the other cards.
 
— As an Amazon Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases —
Tom's HW did a roundup with the 7950's
Note this was before the 12.11 drivers were released
Noise Comparison Videos : Radeon HD 7950 3 GB: Six Cards, Benchmarked And Reviewed

The Gigabyte isn't there, but the videos will give an indication to the noise levels for the other cards.

Watching that and reading around a little, I'm liking the look of this Asus card - Asus ATI Radeon 7950 HD 900MHz 3GB PCI-Express 3.0 HDMI TOP OC (HD7950-DC2T-3GD5-V2) - dabs.com

I feel completely overwhelmed by choice!
 
Tom's HW did a roundup with the 7950's
Note this was before the 12.11 drivers were released
Noise Comparison Videos : Radeon HD 7950 3 GB: Six Cards, Benchmarked And Reviewed

The Gigabyte isn't there, but the videos will give an indication to the noise levels for the other cards.

All those cards are two fan coolers though. The wind force 3 is 3 fans.
I would put money on it being quieter. As 3 fans have to do less work to provide cooling than 2 fans would?

I've only played Dota2 and blopsII so far and neither make the cards fans run above idle.

Need to throw skyrim at it with a **** ton of mods to properly test it out.
 
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Two Gigabyte 7950's here. Temps get to around 60/65 at full load. As to noise, I can hear them but there are two of them (six fans) and my last card was watercooled so any GPU with a fan on will be nosier than that. Still feel I made the right choice going with those due to the three fan approach rather than two.
 
JDCFH said:
There is no budget lol

http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyte-ati-radeon-7970-hd-1ghz-3gb-pci-express-3-0-hdmi-windforce-3x-7ZWZ.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product%20search&utm_content=Q200

You'll kick yourself if you dont

I'll help you out... I think I have the wireless card your listing doing nothing at home. If I do I'll post it to you just need to check when I get home tomorrow.

Seriously? That would be fantastic, let me know. Cos the thing is, there really is a budget... :(
 
Seriously? That would be fantastic, let me know. Cos the thing is, there really is a budget... :(

I have that one and one other - just need to check to make sure but I'm 99.9% positive its not being used so its yours.
 
I have that one and one other - just need to check to make sure but I'm 99.9% positive its not being used so its yours.

:thumbsup: Very good of you.

You did forget to say there is a condition. That money saved must be redirected to GPU funds right?
 
:thumbsup: Very good of you.

You did forget to say there is a condition. That money saved must be redirected to GPU funds right?

Of course.

Was looking to see if he could save any more else where...

Just text my lad to check and I have it. PM me your address and I'll pop in post Friday / Monday for you.
 
Houghsx said:
:thumbsup: Very good of you.

You did forget to say there is a condition. That money saved must be redirected to GPU funds right?

Yeah, I took that as a given...!

Can I ask - Do you think that Graphics Card with the rest of my set up a few posts back looks like a goer?
 
Yeah, I took that as a given...!

Can I ask - Do you think that Graphics Card with the rest of my set up a few posts back looks like a goer?

Yes mate.

Look in my signature. That is my system and it runs everything with all bells and whistles on. Its over kill for most at 1080p.
 
Watching that and reading around a little, I'm liking the look of this Asus card - Asus ATI Radeon 7950 HD 900MHz 3GB PCI-Express 3.0 HDMI TOP OC (HD7950-DC2T-3GD5-V2) - dabs.com

I feel completely overwhelmed by choice!

That card takes up the space of 3 PCIE expansion slots and imo is expensive for what it is.

Dabs is an AVF advertiser too so I don't know what incentives there are for AVF members (if any) they have 4% Quidco.

Although there is a back order the card below is within your budget:

Gigabyte ATI Radeon 7950 HD 800MHz 3GB PCI-E HDMI Windforce 3X OC (GV-R795WF3-3GD) - dabs.com

I can only speak of personal experience with Dabs but if there is something on backorder I just contact them on Twitter and sometimes they offer an alternative (better item for the same price) or get the item in quicker. It all depends how they feel on the day.

As for warranties refer to this:
3graphicscardwarrantyso-1_zps041fb9d8.jpg
 
A word of warning if you think about Gigabyte 7970, like I have. You will not be able to overclock it. It is hardware locked (same as Asus 7970).

While OCing is something you might not consider now, give it a few months and you'll change your mind.
 
=adrian= said:
A word of warning if you think about Gigabyte 7970, like I have. You will not be able to overclock it. It is hardware lockwd (same as Asus 7970).

While OCing is something you might not consider now, give it a few months and you'll change your mind.

Ah yes, forgot about that!
Stock will still slap 99% but like you say O/C is free performance and worth considering.
 
A word of warning if you think about Gigabyte 7970, like I have. You will not be able to overclock it. It is hardware locked (same as Asus 7970).

While OCing is something you might not consider now, give it a few months and you'll change your mind.

You can flash the BIOS to unlock the voltage.
 
JDCFH said:
You can flash the BIOS to unlock the voltage.

Can that actually be done on these new ones? Im sure I remember some saying you couldn't do that but I could be wrong. I haven't really looked into it as I was ok with mine.
 

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