Hi guys, Excuse me for bothering you in this forum but here I find it very lively and considering rF2 is my main interest as far as gaming goes, I think this is the right place to ask for advice. In december 2008 I built my PC with help of a friend who had some experience in putting hardware together. I've come up with this: Home Built CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0Ghz Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R Memory: 4GB DDR2 OS: 7 64bit Video: ATI Radeon HD4850 1GB GDDR3 Audio: Onboard Realtek 5.1 Money was something I didn't have so with some things I needed to compromise. At that time it could compete with a lot of systems and it still runs pretty solid, although it gets older. The main reason I'm posting is because I want to update the GPU. I'm still using an old 19" 4:3 LCD (which probably is being replaced soon enough) so atm I don't need 1080p resolutions but I may need it in the (nearish) future. Now, rF2, it's optimised for use with a Dual Core processor. So that shouldn't be a problem with a E8400. The GPU however is. I can run rF2 with HDR, Shadows High, Road & Env Reflection at a resolution of 1280x1024 BUT I have to compromise this with a low level of AA (1) and when I want to race with more than 10 AI I have to lower the details too. Considering I've been waiting for self-shadowing, realtime reflections and weather effects, in online races with 15 or more competitors, I need to do something about my GPU. (I guess, right?) At this point in time I still (DAMN) have NO money (hehe) but I guess I could sacrifice some for rF2. Now, I searched the intranets a bit and at Tom's Hardware I found that the Saphire Radeon HD7770 OC 1GB is a good Mid-range GPU. It's at about 130 Euro's on some site I ordered my hardware at, in '08, so I guess that's a good choice, isn't it? I mean, I could get a better card for like 220 Euro's but that's a total different price range, which I don't want to enter. So my question is, what do you think of this card on it's own, in comparison with my other hardware and maybe, could you provide me with tips or information of some kind? In addition: Do you think I could run rF2 at 1080p with AA and full graphics with 50+ FPS or do you think this card is not as great as it sounds (considering its price). Some video review of the card: I thank you in advance, F.K.
As I'm searching the net still, I've come across the XFX Radeon HD 6870. At 153 Euro's I find it pretty much the difference in price, worth it. (if I compare them) Does anyone have the 6870? I'd like to get some opinions on it.
The 6870 has higher specs (GPU, 256-bit), but the 7770 has the new generation GPU architecture. In every benchmark I’ve seen the 6870 is faster, but who knows how much in rF2? If you’re buying it specifically for rF2, go for the 6870. As a comparison, the 6870’s performance lies between the 5850 and 5870, both of which are a fair bit quicker than your current card. The 7770 is a bit slower than a 5850. For longevity, the 7770 might be better – you have the choice of a cross- fire set-up in future as they should still be available for some time, although I wouldn’t necessarily recommend a dual card set-up over a single faster card. I have previously tested two 5770’s in X-fire, and they out-performed a MSI 5870 Lightning, but you are reliant on the game supporting them. Either one will give you a nice performance increase, and should run rF2 acceptably at the settings you mentioned.
We recently made contact with AMD and are attempting to work with them. You may (if you can) want to wait and see what feedback is over the next couple of months.
Thanks Tony, you helped me a lot! Oh, that sound interesting, although I don't know what you're actually saying. I mean, how could you work together, and what are the benefits of cooperation between ISI and AMD? I guess I'm not the only one interested Thanks in advance
Hey GTrFreak. I own a XFX 1GB 6870 Dual Fan card (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFiHCee5SR4). It's slightly overclocked and I bought it because of the good cool capacity/sound production ratio. I paid 170 euro's for it about 7 months ago (by heart). It runs rFactor at max @ 1680*870. However, I would not buy the same card right now. Back then it had the best bang-for-buck, but today it is outdated (architecture, procede etc.). I am not very up-to-date with the development of the current generation cards. I'm surprised to see that the price of the 6870 did not drop that much. You could also consider the GTX560 which is of the same generation, which has comparable performance. I heard somewhere that nVidia has slightly better performance with rFactor2, but I don't know if this is true. I would not buy a 7770 considering the price and the fact that the 6870 outperforms the 7770. To be frank, I expected that there would be new generation card to compete with 6870 for the same price. But I guess that is not the case. Anyway, for me the 6870 does the job nicely when it comes to rFactor.
Information exchange and compatibility improvements. nVidia, for example, have made changes to their drivers to support rF2 features.
Ok, I understand, thanks for the explanation. I guess the 6870 was a good "bang for your bucks"-card a year ago and I understand it's getting outdated rather quickly nowadays. Maybe, when listening to Tim, it's better to wait just a couple of months, in the meantime gather information about new cards and what's currently available before buying a new GPU. Good to hear everything will be compatible with AMD Graphics in the future then, when everything will go as planned ofcourse..
if you dont wanna spend the money for the 6900/7900 series then get the 6800/7800 series, anything lower is crap and slow and just for people who want to casually play some games, and dont really care for maxing graphics, anti aliasing, playing the newest games etc etc etc By the way you can get the 6850 which is just a slower version of the 6870 for like $120 us, price per performance for it is way better than 6870, and once you overclock the 6850 its faster than a 6870, the 6850 also has more overclocking headoom than a 6870. I have my 6850 up from stock 775/1000 to 950/1150, on completely 100% stock voltages so heat is barley increased and life of card not affected in any way, if you read all the geeky computer forums around youll see most buy the 6850 instead of the 6870.
That may have been the case some time ago, but I think the price difference is now about $20-30. Even though the architecture is similar, the 6870 has 60 additional stream processors (so also has some higher overclocking potential). Still, the 6850 is also a very decent card. If you decide to overclock, make sure you have a model with good cooling capacity (not a reference model). Brands like HIS, XFX, Sapphire, etc... You could also pick up the GTX560 which is currently very nicely priced. But if I were you I would follow Tim's advice and wait for a pricefighter from the new generation: - GTX 640/650(Ti) http://lenzfire.com/2012/02/entire-nvidia-kepler-series-specifications-price-release-date-43823/ - HD 7850, faster brother of the 7770. Currently available for a little over $200, but I expect it will soon drop to around $170. Anyway, good luck whatever you decide
Wow, thanks guys for your input. I am thinking of waiting just a little bit more to just gather information of what cards are coming, going, which is expensive and which is most bang for the bucks.. Brokkelpiloot (hilarious name for someone from the Netherlands ), how come the 7850 is expected to drop in price? Why would you think of it being about $170? Is that the normal way it goes? I see it's got PCI-E 3.0 but my motherboard has 1 PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot.. It shouldn't be a problem because that's backwards compatible right?? Or will it significantly slow down the GPU? (Not into such things myself TBH) Thanks in advance
pci-e 2.0 x16 wont slow it down, 2.0 can handle so much bandwith, pci-e is more for the future and you can gain 5-10% performance on very powerfull setups
