.::TeCh PoRTaL::.
AUDIO PLAYER
June 2013
It can be very hard to define irritating terms like "value", because they mean something different to everything involved.
Luckily, it's relatively easy to look at value for hardware, so Pip is giving us the rundown on the best CPU and GPU for your money right now...
Radeon HD 7850 Gigabyte OC Edition
It wasn't easy, but I chose the Radeon HD 7850 Gigabyte OC Edition as the best Graphics Card the average man can buy. The GeForce GTX 650 Ti EVGA Boost SC Edition, which targets the same segment, is also a great candidate for this position; It costs slightly less money and offers very slightly better performance. Why did I choose the Radeon HD 7850 Gigabyte OC Edition then?
When two cards offer practically identical performance, but are from different manufacturers and thus feature different architectures, their individual performance mostly depends on the optimization of a particular game - which means sometimes one card is better, sometimes the other.
Meaning? You could go and buy a GeForce GTX 650 Ti EVGA Boost SC Edition, which performs overall slightly better, but the Radeon HD 7850 Gigabyte OC Edition would still perform better on AMD optimized games.
Also, the Radeon HD 7850 Gigabyte OC Edition runs cooler, as it features a custom cooling solution consisting of two huge fans, while the GeForce GTX 650 Ti EVGA Boost SC Edition is only equipped with NVIDIA'S reference cooler.
Here's a comparison of the two cards:
Compare Nvidia Geforce GTX 650 Ti EVGA Boost SC Edition vs AMD Radeon HD 7850 Gigabyte OC Edition
Adding to that, the overclocking capabilities of the GeForce GTX 650 Ti EVGA Boost SC Edition are very limited, as the reference card itself is already pushed to the limit; as you know, the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost Edition is just an overclocked GeForce GTX 650 Ti, with an extra memory channel activated. Not having a better cooling system might also limit how far you can push it - if the voltage itself is not the main limitation.
The Radeon HD 7850 Gigabyte OC Edition will allow someone with a 1080p resolution to play most modern games at high settings, while extremely demanding games will require slightly reduced settings to be played optimally. Its affordable price and great performance make it a fantastic choice for those who don't want to spend big bucks, but still want most of the eye candy today's games and applications offer. The Radeon HD 7850 Gigabyte OC Edition is available at Amazon for around $185 US.
It might come as a surprise, but the Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz is indeed the best CPU that the average man can buy. Funny or not, it's available at Amazon for around $210 US - that's less than its predecessor, the Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz.
The thing about processors is that over the years, they have gained power much faster than graphics cards. In other words, 90% of the time a gamer's bottleneck is the graphics card, and practically never the CPU.
I believe the CPU is something you want to purchase only once. The Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz will allow you to push even the most demanding games, including Metro Last Light, to the limit. It's a one time investment you make that will surely accompany your changing graphics card for the next few years.
As if it didn't offer enough performance, its unlocked multiplier allows you to set its core's frequency to over 4.5GHz. Pair it with whichever single graphics card you want, and you own the gaming world; and the same can be said for it in 3 years. Are you convinced yet?
