Miss Valeska Posted December 5, 2013 Posted December 5, 2013 Can someone please help me decide between three Graphics Cards? I am not sure which is best for my purposes, And I am not certain if the slightly better specs between them are really worth the increase in cost. Also, I am worried about the good, And bad reviews they have.Basically, I'm looking for the best Graphics card I can get, For under 200 dollars. I will use this graphics card for gaming, And mining litecoins and feathercoins. Possibly bitcoin like crypto-currencies too, Though, I highly doubt that. Definitely litecoins/feathercoins, And gaming though. Here is what I've found so far.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150642http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161406http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125451Here is where I found the cardhttps://litecoin.info/Mining_Hardware_Comparison
Wesley Posted December 5, 2013 Posted December 5, 2013 The 3rd one you posted is unavailable. The difference between the other two is $50 (80 after rebate) and 1 GB vs 2 GB of graphics RAM. For gaming, you will notice this difference, but you need to decide if it is worth the money or not. It is hard to tell exactly how it does for the mining, but the chart seems to show little variation in the 7850 range based on the memory. I wouldn't know how best to figure this out except to post on a dedicated forum to bitcoin/litecoin mining and see what hash rate others get with very similar cards.
lorr Posted December 6, 2013 Posted December 6, 2013 I don't know much about gaming, but I easily believe the 2GB would be noticably better.GPU hashrate comparison for Litecoin (Scrypt) mining: https://litecoin.info/Mining_hardware_comparison#AMD_.28ATI.29Based on those numbers, a 7850 w/ 1GB RAM will pull 340-360 kh/s and a 7850 w/ 2GB RAM will pull 380-410 kh/s, so that $50 (~45% more) is only buying you 40-50 extra kh/s (~16%) more.However, I personally have the XFX 7850 you linked and it runs a steady 365 kh/s overclocked but without unlocked shaders, using GUIminer-scrypt as the mining software. This program is supposed to be less efficient than command-line mining software like CGminer or BFGminer, but is user-friendly. In fact, it has preloaded settings for most GPUs, though you might have to tweak them a bit. I can share my settings with you if you would like. The Scrypt mining hardware comparison linked above will have some GPU settings, as reported by user. Also, this bitcointalk.org thread might be of help: (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117221.0). These will be helpful if you decide to use command-line mining software. Have you tried finding a used card on E-Bay? That's where I bought my cards in May - a 6870 (300kh/s), a 7850 (365 kh/s), and a 6950 (415+ kh/s) - and paid less than $300 for them. They've been hashing like champs ever since. In fact, I think a used 6950 would be a better bang for your buck (assuming the prices are the same or lower than in May).Edit: Somehow, I failed to include the bitcointalk.org link. Here it is: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117221.0.
Miss Valeska Posted December 8, 2013 Author Posted December 8, 2013 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121649 I found this card, And it seems fairly good, What do you all think? Also, I have a Gigabyte-GA-970A-D3 mother board, I dunno if there is any problems with that.
lorr Posted December 8, 2013 Posted December 8, 2013 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121649 I found this card, And it seems fairly good, What do you all think? Also, I have a Gigabyte-GA-970A-D3 mother board, I dunno if there is any problems with that. That card will get you about 100 more kh/s than the 1GB 7850, which is a pretty decent jump. However, it's still a 50% price increase for about a 28% performance increase. So, I would say it is definitely better than both 7850s in terms of hashrate, but only better than the 2GB 7850 in terms of cost effectiveness. The 1GB 7850 is still the most cost effective. I don't know about motherboard compatibility, but it does matter how many PCI-E slots you have if you're running multiple GPUs. Also, the 7870 might be much better at gaming, but I don't know anything about that.
Recommended Posts