GTX 660 ti (Good time to buy?)

[needsata]

Want to upgrade, considering future upcoming releases, price reductions all that, how's this price seem or should I wait... indefinitely..?

OR is this a better option all around??

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161404

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814133466

PNY VCGGTX660TXPB GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

vs

My consideration a while back for an upgrade

XFX Core Edition FX-785A-ZNL4 Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814150642

Everything's gotten too confusing! New architecutres, some numbers going lower in their names but performance is higher, ti's all kinds of stuff.. help?

Thoughts on performance gains in realistic terms?

Thanks

Current Specs:

Graphics Card Manufacturer Powered by AMD

Graphics Chipset AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series

Graphics Bus Capability PCI Express 2.0

Maximum Bus Setting PCI Express 2.0 x16

BIOS Date 2011/05/03

Memory Size 1024 MB

Memory Type GDDR5

Core Clock in MHz 700 MHz

Memory Clock in MHz 1150 MHz

Total Memory Bandwidth in GByte/s 73.6 GByte/s

or

Windows Performance

Processor Intel? Core? i3 CPU 530 @

2.93GHz

Memory (RAM) 6.00 GB

Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series

Gaming graphics 3803 MB Total available graphics memory

Primary hard disk 487GB Free (918GB Total)

Windows 7 Home Premium

System

Manufacturer

Gateway

Model SX2840

Total amount of system memory 6.00 GB RAM

System type 64-bit operating system

Number of processor cores 2 Storage

Total size of hard disk(s) 2315 GB Disk partition (C:) 487 GB Free (918 GB Total) Disk partition (D:) 1201 GB Free (1397 GB Total)

Display adapter type AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series

Total available graphics memory 3803 MB

Dedicated graphics memory 1024 MB

Dedicated system memory 0 MB

Shared system memory 2779 MB

Display adapter driver version 8.961.0.0

Primary monitor resolution 1440x900

DirectX version DirectX 10

[Livin in a box]

I'd go for the 660Ti. But if you can wait, you could buy it when nVidia and AMD release their next line of GPU's as it'll save you some money.

[Andre S. Veteran]

The 660Ti is overpriced IMO. The sweet spot for value is 100-200$ and the further you deviate from that the less you get for your money. The HD 7870 will serve about as well, and you can save the 50$ difference to upgrade the video card to a newer eventual model sooner. That's my philosophy when it comes to video cards at least. Unless you're running an exceptionally high resolution, there's really no need to opt for the more expensive gpus.

[needsata]

Ugh... Okay I can always wait, but is there any real firm date when the so-called next gen cards will emerge to give me an idea? I've heard something like Q2 earliest...

I'd go for the 660Ti. But if you can wait, you could buy it when nVidia and AMD release their next line of GPU's as it'll save you some money.

Any idea on when the new cards are coming?

[needsata]

The 660Ti is overpriced IMO. The sweet spot for value is 100-200$ and the further you deviate from that the less you get for your money. The HD 7870 will serve about as well, and you can save the 50$ difference to upgrade the video card to a newer eventual model sooner. That's my philosophy when it comes to video cards at least. Unless you're running an exceptionally high resolution, there's really no need to opt for the more expensive gpus.

Your thoughts on THAT specific 7870? I just picked it because it was cheapest. How would you rate it among other similiarly priced 7870s?

Thanks in advance

[Livin in a box]

Ugh... Okay I can always wait, but is there any real firm date when the so-called next gen cards will emerge to give me an idea? I've heard something like Q2 earliest...

Any idea on when the new cards are coming?

Before July I would assume.

[Jombi]

I'm running dual 7970's right now. Bit expensive, but I'm loving the quality increase in my videos and streams. The 7870's are a good deal too.

[DETERMINOLOGY]

Wait for the 700 release now is not a good time to buy a 600 series card

[Andre S. Veteran]

Your thoughts on THAT specific 7870? I just picked it because it was cheapest. How would you rate it among other similiarly priced 7870s?

Thanks in advance

I have no idea, I'd go by user ratings and professionnal reviews.

[mattmatik]

I just got my 2x 660 Ti set up and I love it. Your rez is on the lower side, though, so I'd have to agree with Dr_Asik.

[Elliot B.]

<snip> I'm loving the quality increase in my videos and streams.

Elaborate...

[needsata]

Before July I would assume.

Wait for the 700 release now is not a good time to buy a 600 series card

Alright, thanks.

My current monitor is in need of upgrading, though I have begun using TV monitor 32 in 720p recently (before I busted it) and plan to do so in the future on large screens, 40 inch plus if I'm able to maintain quality.

[needsata]

I have no idea, I'd go by user ratings and professionnal reviews.

Your thoughts on this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161400

7950

[Andre S. Veteran]

Your thoughts on this:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161400

7950

What I said about the 660Ti: too much money for a gpu.

[DETERMINOLOGY]

Your thoughts on this:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161400

7950

Like i said man its not worth getting any current gen card with the new ones coming right around the corner. People now buying 7950/660ti not realizing when the new series comes out they going to sell they card because they should of listened and waited and my opinion if you patient waiting is better with such close of release and rumors should start popping in soon with the gpu technology conf coming up in march..Most def wait

[tim_s]

Are you looking to play Crysis 3 on Ultra?

I have an ASUS nVidia 660 ti oc and it has served me well - the prices have really dropped, which brings me back to my point above - roughly just before Crysis 3 comes out you will see companies pushing higher end cards - this might be a good time to buy the 660 or 700 series then.

[dr_crabman]

Like i said man its not worth getting any current gen card with the new ones coming right around the corner.

On Friday I bought a 660 nonTi to replace my 6850 despite knowing there are of course new cards coming. Why? We don't know when exactly that will happen, nothing has been announced and 'right around the corner' normally means in a few weeks. Don't believe that. We don't know how much they'll cost, it took a long while for the 7870 to get to 200$. A much faster card will cost more, the days of insanely low priced cards are behind us. Also I sold my 6850 for a little over 100?, won't get nearly that much later this year. Maybe it's not the perfect time to upgrade but the prices in the 200$/? range are reasonable.

PS The 7870 is overall a better deal than the 660 nonTi (and Ti, which is a tad overpriced imo) but after years of AMD while VERY satisfied with them, I wanted to try something different.

[needsata]

Like i said man its not worth getting any current gen card with the new ones coming right around the corner. People now buying 7950/660ti not realizing when the new series comes out they going to sell they card because they should of listened and waited and my opinion if you patient waiting is better with such close of release and rumors should start popping in soon with the gpu technology conf coming up in march..Most def wait

Alright thanks a lot

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I do not see why it is not a good time to purchase one honestly. Sure you can wait for something better, but is that not always the case with all technology related components these days? It has dropped some in price since it was released, and again sure, it will drop more when new products are released, but again, if you always play the waiting game, you will find yourself in an infinite loop of waiting for the latest and greatest to be released.

As far as it being 50 dollars more than any AMD offering, well for some people, that extra $50 is worth it as far as driver support and the other things Nvidia offers, like the GeForce Experience. Note, I have not used that Experience yet myself, just saying, $50 is not a ton of money if what you are purchasing has better support than another similar brand. Now obviously that is an opinion based comment, but I think it is the overall opinion of all that use it that Nvidia has always been good with their driver support, etc.

[TruckWEB]

I'm waiting for my PowerColor 7870 2Gb, just ordered it from NCIX.CA for $199. I know that AMD is coming out "soon" with the 8000 serie, but that won't have a big impact on current price.

[needsata]

Thanks guys, if ya'll had to choose from an HD 7950 and considering end-price, warranty options, rebates and so on (don't care much for the free game offerings myself) which would you choose?

http://www.newegg.co...CFYVFMgod4z0ADg

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161400

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814150588

And feel free to finds some examples of your choices :)

Thanks again

I do not see why it is not a good time to purchase one honestly. Sure you can wait for something better, but is that not always the case with all technology related components these days? It has dropped some in price since it was released, and again sure, it will drop more when new products are released, but again, if you always play the waiting game, you will find yourself in an infinite loop of waiting for the latest and greatest to be released.

As far as it being 50 dollars more than any AMD offering, well for some people, that extra $50 is worth it as far as driver support and the other things Nvidia offers, like the GeForce Experience. Note, I have not used that Experience yet myself, just saying, $50 is not a ton of money if what you are purchasing has better support than another similar brand. Now obviously that is an opinion based comment, but I think it is the overall opinion of all that use it that Nvidia has always been good with their driver support, etc.

I'm waiting for my PowerColor 7870 2Gb, just ordered it from NCIX.CA for $199. I know that AMD is coming out "soon" with the 8000 serie, but that won't have a big impact on current price.

Thanks guys, if ya'll had to choose from an HD 7950 and considering end-price, warranty options, rebates and so on (don't care much for the free game offerings myself) which would you choose?

http://www.newegg.co...CFYVFMgod4z0ADg

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161400

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814150588

And feel free to finds some examples of your choices :)

Thanks again

[123456789A]

Can't you just get a 690 instead?

[needsata]

Can't you just get a 690 instead?

Expensive much??

[mattmatik]

Like i said man its not worth getting any current gen card with the new ones coming right around the corner. People now buying 7950/660ti not realizing when the new series comes out they going to sell they card because they should of listened and waited and my opinion if you patient waiting is better with such close of release and rumors should start popping in soon with the gpu technology conf coming up in march..Most def wait

What do you mean "its not worth it"? Current gen cards will run new release games just fine, and they will do so for some time. And whatever new cards do come out this year are certainly not going to be cheaper than what's on the shelf right now.

Now, if you want to have the latest and greatest the day it is released, then by all means keep waiting (and pay the $ premium). But, in my opinion, that's like driving the brand new car off the lot.

[needsata]

What do you mean "its not worth it"? Current gen cards will run new release games just fine, and they will do so for some time. And whatever new cards do come out this year are certainly not going to be cheaper than what's on the shelf right now.

Now, if you want to have the latest and greatest the day it is released, then by all means keep waiting (and pay the $ premium). But, in my opinion, that's like driving the brand new car off the lot.

Hey any thoughts on what "beats" what between these cards?

HD 7950 vs GTX 660 ti (heard so much about driver updates and performance differences since then...) do you have a grasp on it? I dont :)