[coastie65]

I have been looking over the HD7770 and although since the 5770, it has been a good series. This one may be good "Budget" card at $180, but my feelings are that the HD6850 would be a better choice for a little more. Would have liked to see that thing at 256 bit rather than 128 bit. Still looking over things, but so far, it seems to be so so.

http://www.newegg.co...20GHz%20Edition

[waldojim]

Any reviews on them yet? While I am sure the $180 cards aren't bad, I know I wouldn't mind picking up one of the $160 versions from XFX or MSI. I would probably end up reusing one of my after market coolers on it though.

Still, the 7970 was stupidly impressive, If the 7770 carries the same performance gains, then it will be well worth the money - even with a 128 bit memory bus.

Speaking of which, Coastie, you know that 128 bit memory bus on video cards has been around for a VERY long time right? Even the Nvidia Riva 128 from 1998 had a 128bit memory bus. The bus width alone means quite little. It is the combination of bus width, memory type, clock speeds, latency, etc that impact the memory bandwidth.

[coastie65]

waldojim, on 16 February 2012 - 10:03 AM, said:

Any reviews on them yet? While I am sure the $180 cards aren't bad, I know I wouldn't mind picking up one of the $160 versions from XFX or MSI. I would probably end up reusing one of my after market coolers on it though.

Still, the 7970 was stupidly impressive, If the 7770 carries the same performance gains, then it will be well worth the money - even with a 128 bit memory bus.

Speaking of which, Coastie, you know that 128 bit memory bus on video cards has been around for a VERY long time right? Even the Nvidia Riva 128 from 1998 had a 128bit memory bus. The bus width alone means quite little. It is the combination of bus width, memory type, clock speeds, latency, etc that impact the memory bandwidth.

The Bus means a lot if you trying to game. You don't even want to try it with a 64 bit card. Found that out when I was replacing a 7600GS that died with an 8400GS. That was defiunitely not an upgrade. In fact, it was just the opposite. I got a review this morning on that card: http://benchmarkrevi...d=794&Itemid=72

[SnyperTodd]

WJ is right (I find myself saying that a lot...), there is a LOT more to performance, even gaming performance, than the memory bus width. For example, the GTS250 has a 256-bit memory bus, while the HD5770 has a 128-bit bus width. However, the HD5770 has a higher memory bandwidth (76.8GB/s vs. 70.4GB/s) than the GTS250. That's because of all the other factors WJ mentioned.

This post has been edited by SnyperTodd: 16 February 2012 - 05:12 PM
Reason for edit: added specs

[coastie65]

Well, I would never recommend an 84 bit card for a gaming rig...........period.

[waldojim]

Only because those cards tend to be low end cards. In the end though coastie, which is faster? A set o ddr5 500mhz ram on a 128bit bus, or ddr5 1000mhz on a 64 bit bus?

[coastie65]

I would never use a 64 bit card .......... period. I would take the slower ram speed and wider bus over the faster ram and narrower bus. Ram speed means squat if you are going to strangle the pathway ( bandwidth ).

[waldojim]

coastie65, on 18 February 2012 - 06:05 AM, said:

I would never use a 64 bit card .......... period. I would take the slower ram speed and wider bus over the faster ram and narrower bus. Ram speed means squat if you are going to strangle the pathway ( bandwidth ).

And you would be incorrect. The bandwidth, is the total volume of data you can pass in a given time period. All else being equal, the two memory options listed above should perform identically. All else isn't equal of course, and there is much more going on than the ram bus and type. The point here, is that you need to look at FAR more than the width of the memory bus.

[coastie65]

Ok, but I'll still take my higher bandwidth. The wider the pipe the better I like it.

[waldojim]

coastie65, on 18 February 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

Ok, but I'll still take my higher bandwidth. The wider the pipe the better I like it.

But we aren't talking higher bandwidth. Put it this way, how much about electricity do you remember?

If you have 120V feeding a device at 4A, that device is drawing power at a rate of 480Watts. If that same device is connected up to 240V service drawing 2A, is the device getting any MORE power? No. This is the same thing. 128Bit @ 500Mhz = 64bit@ 1000Mhz.

[coastie65]

waldojim, on 18 February 2012 - 02:31 PM, said:

coastie65, on 18 February 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

Ok, but I'll still take my higher bandwidth. The wider the pipe the better I like it.

But we aren't talking higher bandwidth. Put it this way, how much about electricity do you remember?

If you have 120V feeding a device at 4A, that device is drawing power at a rate of 480Watts. If that same device is connected up to 240V service drawing 2A, is the device getting any MORE power? No. This is the same thing. 128Bit @ 500Mhz = 64bit@ 1000Mhz.

Ok. You are diving deep and I am swimming on the surface.

[waldojim]

coastie65, on 18 February 2012 - 05:07 PM, said:

waldojim, on 18 February 2012 - 02:31 PM, said:

coastie65, on 18 February 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

Ok, but I'll still take my higher bandwidth. The wider the pipe the better I like it.

But we aren't talking higher bandwidth. Put it this way, how much about electricity do you remember?

If you have 120V feeding a device at 4A, that device is drawing power at a rate of 480Watts. If that same device is connected up to 240V service drawing 2A, is the device getting any MORE power? No. This is the same thing. 128Bit @ 500Mhz = 64bit@ 1000Mhz.

Ok. You are diving deep and I am swimming on the surface.

That is what I was getting at. Not trying to be rude here or anything. There is more than one spec that has to be checked out before a determination can be made.

[coastie65]

waldojim, on 18 February 2012 - 05:42 PM, said:

coastie65, on 18 February 2012 - 05:07 PM, said:

waldojim, on 18 February 2012 - 02:31 PM, said:

coastie65, on 18 February 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

Ok, but I'll still take my higher bandwidth. The wider the pipe the better I like it.

But we aren't talking higher bandwidth. Put it this way, how much about electricity do you remember?

If you have 120V feeding a device at 4A, that device is drawing power at a rate of 480Watts. If that same device is connected up to 240V service drawing 2A, is the device getting any MORE power? No. This is the same thing. 128Bit @ 500Mhz = 64bit@ 1000Mhz.

Ok. You are diving deep and I am swimming on the surface.

That is what I was getting at. Not trying to be rude here or anything. There is more than one spec that has to be checked out before a determination can be made.

Sometimes I dig, and sometimes I don't. That is what got me into trouble when I bought that XFX 8400GS. I should have researched that thing and didn't and just assumed it was an upgrade from the 7600GS ( it wasn't ). You are right as there are a lot of factors to consider for sure. You were not being rude as it is the truth.

[Covadavi]

Why not get the HD6870 for your board? Its within your budget and have great performance

[coastie65]

Covadavi, on 21 February 2012 - 09:33 PM, said:

Why not get the HD6870 for your board? Its within your budget and have great performance

Actually, I'm running a GTX 560Ti and it is fine.

[alishathomaz]

I think you should go for HD7770, its a better card but price you mentioned is high. You should check it on different sites.