Graphics 7850 or 6950?

[Sanguineangel]

Morning Guys

I wonder if I can get a bit of advice. I am pricing up a couple of variations on builds for a friend and I'm struggling with best choices on GPUs

I was considering an ATI 7850 (about £179) as a decent mid range option but I've also been able to find an ATI 6950 2GB for about £20 quid less.

Now I am not sure as to which would be the better buy. the 7850 is a much newer card and will have better driver support but the 6950 seems to have better grunt almost across the board. I can't see my friend OC'ing either card.

What do you think? Also willing to consider alternatives!

Thanks

[Parge]

Originally Posted by Sanguineangel

Morning Guys

I wonder if I can get a bit of advice. I am pricing up a couple of variations on builds for a friend and I'm struggling with best choices on GPUs

I was considering an ATI 7850 (about £179) as a decent mid range option but I've also been able to find an ATI 6950 2GB for about £20 quid less.

Now I am not sure as to which would be the better buy. the 7850 is a much newer card and will have better driver support but the 6950 seems to have better grunt almost across the board. I can't see my friend OC'ing either card.

What do you think? Also willing to consider alternatives!

Thanks

I'd personally go for the 7850. Its actually a faster card out of the box, and eminently more overclockable if he did want to. The price difference is small and you're not going to miss the £20 in the long run.

[Sanguineangel]

That's perfect Parge, thank you. Great link

[hamza_tm]

According to that link the 7850 just destroys it in speed and efficiency too!

Might get me one of those, good price.

[teppic]

Also bear in mind that the 7000 series has some features that will be better supported (especially as the drivers mature), so in the long run you're better off with the 7850 even notwithstanding the higher performance and lower power use.

[The Monk]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but what do you think about the 7580/6950 compared to a gtx570 as they are available for the same price as a 7850?

[teppic]

Originally Posted by The Monk

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but what do you think about the 7580/6950 compared to a gtx570 as they are available for the same price as a 7850?

They're quite close. At reference speed the 7850 will be a bit weaker than the 570, but non-reference cards are usually clocked a fair bit higher, and will still overclock a lot more. The 7850 has an advantage of more memory and uses far less power.