Radeon HD 7770 1GB or GTX 650 2GB

ajd112 · 12 Dec 2012

Hi guys. I am plannig to upgrade my graphics card. Initially I was set on buying the GTX 650 2 GB DDR5 as I have always used Nvidia cards. But searching the net, I saw that the Radeon HD 7770 has a higher benchmark. So now I am having second thoughts. Should I go for the 1 GB Radeon card or the 2 GB GTX card? The are almost in the same price range. Is the difference of 1 GB memory going to be too great a factor? And how regularly does AMD update its drivers?
Thanks in advance.

N.B. The present power supply of my PC is not a factor. I will be changing that too.

Chalky Emultion · 12 Dec 2012

HD 7770 seems to be a little faster than the GTX 650, but the Nvidia card has got 2GB GDDR5. Also Nvidia supports PhysX, has a better 3D vision, has got better drivers and they are updated very often.

I hate AMD cards because I owned a few of them and ALL of them gave me problems (9600PRO AGP, HD 3450 AGP, X1650SE, HD 5670, HD 4870x2).

If you can, go for a GTX 650 Ti... If you can't, go for the GTX 650... Also 2GB of GDDR5 memory are really better than 1GB, especially if you use high resolutions and high settings in games. 1GB are not enough to run some games decently...

Dwarf · 12 Dec 2012

When I was looking at graphics cards for my new build, I considered the GTX 650 (or variants thereof). What put me off was the fact that I'd got a motherboard that was capable of supporting multiple graphics cards and I was fully intending to make use of it. Although I have exclusively used NVidia cards in the past, I switched over to AMD for my current system. If the GTX 650 supported SLI (there isn't even an SLI connector on the card - Big, Big mistake NVidia), then I almost certainly would have stuck with NVidia instead of switching to AMD. I must admit that cost also played a part.

Chalky Emultion · 12 Dec 2012

since his motherboard have only 1 Pci Express slot, and since you have got an AMD Athlon 7750 X2 CPU and 4GB DDR2 RAM, any card up to a GTX 650 will be a waste... So, in my opinion a GTX 650 would be perfect for his rig. SLI/Crossfire with this harware is impossible, and I suggest you to get a single fast GPU than 2 mid range GPUs in SLI/Crossfire.

But I agree with Dwarf, GTX 650 doesn't support SLI (and this is very strange, since all mid-range GeForce GPUs supported SLI in the past, like GTX 550 Ti, GTS 450, GTS 250...) and this is really a bad thing... But since the HD 7770 has only 1GB RAM, I really suggest you to go for Nvidia.

I thik in your system, a single GTX 650 will be the better choice since you can't use more multi GPU technology. And, probably a GTX 650 will be a waste, because of your CPU.

Pedroc1999 · 12 Dec 2012

Since he said he is upgrading the psu he might also be upgrading his cpu so he may aswell be ready for the future even i he dosnt upgrade right now

jgiels · 12 Dec 2012

The Nvidia cards have a better cycle on drivers. Have a ATI/AMD in my wife's computer works well although she doesn't do much with it.

Chalky Emultion · 13 Dec 2012

If you are keeping this computer, go for the GTX 650 2GB.
If you are planning a major system update (new CPU, motherboard and RAM), get a single more powerful GPU, and avoid SLI/Crossfire in mid-end cards. A single fast GPU is a lot better than 2 mid-end GPUs, since a lot of programs won't use them (for example, all the Need For Speed games don't support multi GPU rendering).

Example: instead of 2 HD 7770, get an HD 7950, which is really a better choice.

nostaw5 · 13 Dec 2012

I personally use a 7770 HD. Its fast and reliable and compared to the 650 uses Graphics Core Next. Great for people who want to power save when idle.

If you have an AMD setup (amd cpu + mobo) it works great together! for gaming its mind blowing! Mass Effect 3 (2012) 60 fps with max resolution and settings! not even a single drop in fps. And battlefield 3 works great! 60 FPS at 1920x1080 on ultra. I get a few fps drops in the game when physics (being handled by the cpu) are at work. My CPU is now the bottleneck of the system.

Its a great card! If u want nvidia and your budget allows I would personally (im a effing nerd at this gaming stuff) recommend the Nvidia 670. It has the BEST performance per dollar (compared to 690 680 7970 and 7870.)

good luck

ajd112 · 13 Dec 2012

Thanks guys for all the reply. I will actually be going for a new mobo and cpu (amd also) in the near future, say 4-5 months. But right now, I only will change the psu and gpu. And I don't intend to use SLI/Crossfire in the future. Single gpu is good enough for me. And the cards in the price range of GTX 650 and Radeon 7770 are the ones I can afford at present. That's why I am wondering which one to go for.
@Dorado: I couldn't understand what you meant by GTX 650 will be a waste because of my cpu. Can you please explain a bit?

nostaw5 · 13 Dec 2012

ajd112 said:

@Dorado: I couldn't understand what you meant by GTX 650 will be a waste because of my cpu. Can you please explain a bit?

I think what he is trying to say is your CPU will be the bottleneck of the system. Meaning with the 650 will not utilize its power as the CPU is limiting its rendering because it is now the slower component.

In short:
Bottlenecking is when the system not being able to optimum levels because one (or more) components are holding it back. In this case I believe he means your CPU.

Either that he wants the opposite and thinks you should get a better card. but most likely he is talking about the bottleneck

HOPE I HELPED!