# Video Card Recommendations?



## Chicken Patty (Nov 9, 2012)

Okay fellas.  For more than one reason, I need another video card.  I want something better than my 6850 I have ATM.  However, what I am mostly interested in is that it does good at crunching those GPU WU's.  I might go ahead and add it just in time for the new challenge we just got signed up for.  I will post it up a little later today in the official Team Challenges page.

I keep seeing a lot of hype about the 7770 or something in regards to crunching.  What's the deal with those?


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## Jack1n (Nov 9, 2012)

Whats your budget? for less than 50$ more you could get a 1GB 7850.


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## Radical_Edward (Nov 9, 2012)

I'm loving my 7970, just saying. 

Works great for crunching, I got it for gaming originally though.


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## Peter1986C (Nov 9, 2012)

I think it is because the HD 7770 cards do like 2-4 minutes on a WU with even multi-WUs enabled (I suggest verifying this, though), while they use like 60 or 70 watts peak and are therefore relatively good (dedicated) crunchers. And they are not _that_ expensive for what you get.


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## om3n- (Nov 9, 2012)

Here's something decent with a good price.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=86839&CatId=3669


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## stinger608 (Nov 9, 2012)

om3n- said:


> Here's something decent with a good price.
> 
> http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=86839&CatId=3669



The ATI counter parts seem to be better cards for video crunching though.


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## Aquinus (Nov 9, 2012)

Chevalr1c said:


> I think it is because the HD 7770 cards do like 2-4 minutes on a WU with even multi-WUs enabled (I suggest verifying this, though), while they use like 60 or 70 watts peak and are therefore relatively good (dedicated) crunchers. And they are not _that_ expensive for what you get.



My 6870s overclocked with 1.3v will only draw ~75-watts a pop. I'm pretty sure that crunching doesn't utilize the entire GPU, which explains why power consumption stays so low even if the GPU reports 100% usage (clearly the entire SIMD engines aren't being fully utilized). Either way, 7000-series cards are pretty good at GPGPU, so either way no matter what 7-series card you get, it will crunch well. If you will be only crunching on it, the 7770 is probably your best bet and the best bang-for-your-buck deal, but I don't think it will be a night and day difference from your 6850 for crunching.


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## mstenholm (Nov 9, 2012)

I wouldn't go all in and buy 7970 just yet *unless* you will use it for gaming when/if GPU crunching dries out. Sure they are great (just look at t_ski with two of them currently running in the top 5 for 1 PC) but a 7770 does 35k + for way less. On the other hand the overwhelming return that HCC got will spur other researchers to go the GPGPU way and then you are ready.


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## Jack1n (Nov 9, 2012)

In my opinion you should never upgrade to 1 gen better when it comes to video cards always skip atleast 1 gen (from 6xxx to 8xxx ect).


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## Daimus (Nov 9, 2012)

Maybe wait for 1-2 months? AMD promised to release 8xxx series.


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## Chicken Patty (Nov 12, 2012)

Guess I'll wait a bit.  Thing is I will need a another video card soon for another cruncher that should hopefully fire up soon so it was a good time to upgrade while at it.

The new GPU doesn't have to be great at gaming as it will be for the 3rd cruncher.  If in the event that I end up getting a GPU better than my 6850, then I can put it in my primary rig and put the 6850 to my 3rd rig.  But for now I will just wait a bit more.  For sure thought he 7770 looks like a great choice.


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## [Ion] (Nov 12, 2012)

Chicken Patty said:


> Guess I'll wait a bit.  Thing is I will need a another video card soon for another cruncher that should hopefully fire up soon so it was a good time to upgrade while at it.
> 
> The new GPU doesn't have to be great at gaming as it will be for the 3rd cruncher.  If in the event that I end up getting a GPU better than my 6850, then I can put it in my primary rig and put the 6850 to my 3rd rig.  But for now I will just wait a bit more.  For sure thought he 7770 looks like a great choice.



I love my HD7770--it does ~20k PPD, runs extremely cool, and is silent.  If I can get multi-WUs going, I should even be able to do ~30k.  Not bad for a $120 card IMO


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## Norton (Nov 12, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> I love my HD7770--it does ~20k PPD, runs extremely cool, and is silent.  If I can get multi-WUs going, I should even be able to do ~30k.  Not bad for a $120 card IMO



I believe your MSI card, as well as the ones KieX is offering at 1/2 price don't have crossfire support so keep an eye out for that if you want to go Crossfire at a later date. 7770's in Crossfire are pretty close to a single 7950 iirc.

I would recommend the 7850... it's a great card for gaming (matches and sometimes beats a GTX 570 and a 6970), quick enough with the GPU wu's, and great on power consumption/heat (and price!) 

Mad Shot has the 7850 I had- he should be able to give some insight on that card vs 6850's (single and crossfire)


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Nov 12, 2012)

My 6850's don't do a bad job either. I have 2 in my main rig.


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## BarbaricSoul (Nov 12, 2012)

All you got to do is check my posts about what my 7970 did for my crunching results/scores. Boosted me up from an average of 14th place to a average of 9th place. That is until everyone joined up for the HCC Challenge.


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## Norton (Nov 12, 2012)

BarbaricSoul said:


> All you got to do is check my posts about what my 7970 did for my crunching results/scores. Boosted me up from an average of 14th place to a average of 9th place. That is until everyone joined up for the HCC Challenge.



Lots of Radeon horsepower we have!


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## Chicken Patty (Nov 12, 2012)

I was just about to ask, what about something a bit higher than the 7770 but not a 7900 series.  I will do some research on the 7850 today and see what that has to offer.


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## t_ski (Nov 12, 2012)

My 7970's rock out 4 wu's each in about 2:15, and the 7770 in the kids' rig does 4 in about 4:00.  The higher the model number the faster the wu.

However, everything Ion was saying before was that the 7770's are the best bang for the buck.


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## Chicken Patty (Nov 12, 2012)

Yeah, that's what I find enticing about the 7770, the price and how well they do.


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## ChristTheGreat (Nov 12, 2012)

Chicken Patty said:


> I was just about to ask, what about something a bit higher than the 7770 but not a 7900 series.  I will do some research on the 7850 today and see what that has to offer.



I was able to find an HD7870 for 220$ a couple days ago, maybe you should look for that 

if no gaming, just buy somethign at less price. if gaming a bit, for sure, an HD7870 would be a nice upgarde + Crunching

Edit: no gaming, go for HD7770 I guess, it's low price!


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## Norton (Nov 12, 2012)

7770's are great cards but for $50 more you can get a much better card with the 7850 

Rough comparison (7770 vs 7850):
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=675&card2=678

Avg US prices:
7770- $125
7850- $175
7870- $225

If you don't mind Crossfire then a pair of 7770's will give you 7950 performance for $250. At the current pricing, performance of these cards is nearly linear vs the $$$ spent.


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## t_ski (Nov 12, 2012)

...and if you go Crossfire, you can run more WU's with the app_info.xml file


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Nov 12, 2012)

I was running 3 wu's on my 7850 and pulling down about 40k ppd.


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## Chicken Patty (Nov 12, 2012)

Starting to lean more towards the 7850 now for that price.


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## drdeathx (Nov 13, 2012)

Radical_Edward said:


> I'm loving my 7970, just saying.
> 
> Works great for crunching, I got it for gaming originally though.



I love my triple 7970's... Just sayin!


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## Norton (Nov 13, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> I love my triple 7970's... Just sayin!



Put em' to work then :

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2759471#post2759471

Though I doubt you can beat t_ski's triple 7970's for our Team lead.....


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## t_ski (Nov 13, 2012)

norton said:


> put em' to work then :d:
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2759471#post2759471
> 
> though i doubt you can beat t_ski's triple 7970's for our team lead.....


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## Chicken Patty (Nov 13, 2012)

t_ski said:


>



did someone call t_ski's name?


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## t_ski (Nov 13, 2012)

My ears were burning...


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## Chicken Patty (Nov 13, 2012)

t_ski said:


> My ears were burning...





I kinda figured that out on my own you know...


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Nov 13, 2012)

Norton said:


> Put em' to work then :
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2759471#post2759471
> 
> Though I doubt you can beat t_ski's triple 7970's for our Team lead.....



That's because T is just a bad man. "toast"


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