Graphics card upgrade

[psycho13]

Hi, I've been thinking about upgrading my graphics card because it's a dinosaur(it still runs most games at full HD, but with minimum detail). I won't be running games at more than full HD, but i want to be able to crank up the details for at least the next two years. So, my questions(if anyone should choose to answer them):

1) My main reference point is Tom's hardware best graphic cards for the money charts Best PCIe Card: Budget : Best Graphics Cards For The Money: January 2013 Does anybody know a better source for this kind of chart?
2) I want to spend as little money as possible(don't we all), but I've always been a little aprehensive about 128 -bit cards and the bottleneck. Now i'm now entirely sure the processor won't be bottlenecking my future card. So the question is: Should i get a 128 -bit card from the entry level section because the proc(or whatever else) will anyway bottleneck a more powerful card?
3) From that table I wanted to get what seemed like a best buy for my needs :AMD Radeon 7850 . Any thoughts?
4) The motherboard supports PCIExpress 2.0 and the 7850 is 3.0, any problems there?(I've seen some benchmarks and the difference for this card betwenn 2.0 and 3.0 is 1-2 fps)
5) From my calculations, the card should have enough power (20w tdp more than my old card). Does it need too much amperage for my power supply to handle?

My rig:
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R REV. 2(factory BIOS FB)
I7-950 Bloomfield 3.06 GHz D0
Corsair 3x2Gb Cmp6gx3m3a1600c8
2xWD1002FAEX 6Gbps, 64MB, 7200 RPM Caviar Black RAID0 128KB stripe
Sapphire Radeon 4830
Antec NeoPower 500W

Thank you all in advance.

[wazza300]

7850 2gb is a good card,and 500w psu is fine

they will run fine on pcie-2 boards,the performance between pcie2 and pcie3 is less than 1% so you wont lose out,i upgraded from a 5870 to a 7850 and couldnt be happier,hottest it gets is 65c in games and cant hear the fan at all,plus it overclocks to 1050mhz core 1357mhz memory without touching the voltages,it will go alot higher with voltage adjustment

other cards to consider are the 7870 le edition, 8% slower than a 7950 or a 7950 if your budget can strech to it

[psycho13]

Thanks for the reply.
So now we've established I'm gonna buy a Radeon 7850.
First of all: 1 GB or 2 GB of memory?
From what I've read', that extra 1 GB of RAM is only needed for bigger resolutions and I'm not willing to spend the extra 50 E on it
Second: what manufacturer? I can't find all the manufacturers in my country. Just ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Sapphire,XFX, PowerColor

[profJim]

There can be a noticeable difference in the game play experience between similar video card models and brands. I like the video card reviews at HardOCP because they put more effort in comparing these differences and pointing out which cards are better and why. They don't get carried away with FPS scores and often point out which cards give the best overall gaming experience. If you are sure that you won't upgrade to a much larger monitor in the near future, a 1GB card should be fine. Keep in mind that some models offer better cooling and lower fan noise. Another consideration is how long the warranty is.

My video cards are much newer than either of my systems, but the video benchmarks scores are in the same range as much newer systems running with similar video cards. The most electrical power my system draws with a single card is about 275 - 325 watts from the wall which means that my power supply with 90% efficiency is only providing 250 - 300 watts to power my computer. The most sustained power that you would want to draw from your power supply is 400 watts (500 watts x 80%) for sustained gaming sessions.

Just for fun, check out HARDOCP - Introduction to ASUS ROG ARES II - ASUS ROG ARES II Video Card Review, it's a decent performing card and it only cost $1500. Better buy one quickly, Asus is only making and selling 1000 cards world wide. If you want a dual card setup, you will need to buy a 1200+ watt power supply.

[wazza300]

2gb of memory is the norm imo,it helps with big games like bf3 and gta iv and at 1920x1080 res

id choose an msi tf3 or a his icq,you get a three year warranty on msi and gigabyte cards and they overclock well

[psycho13]

@profJim
That Asus seems like a great card, but it's way over my budget. I've paid less for the rest of the rig.

@wazza300
Ok, I'm sold for the 2 GB.
From the tom's hardware charts for graphical cards, I've seen that the best scores for a 7850 were those for the ICQ, but I can't find them anywhere in Romania. I'll go with the MSI 2 GB.
Now, the very last question: Twin Frozr III or IV?
Do you think there's a significant improvement from the III to the IV?
It's 20 Euros between the 1GB and the Twin Frozr III and another 20 to the Twin Frozr IV

[wazza300]

the iv is a different card???


its the tf3 you want,same as im using,heres the model number Item model number: R7850TF-2GD5/OC

MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr AMD Graphics Card (2GB, PCI-E 3.0 x16): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

[psycho13]

Ah, ok, the twin frozr IV is mounted on the power edition MSI Global ? Graphics Card - R7850 Power Edition 2GD5/OC

So this is 20 euros more than this one(I didn't notice that the other one is more overclocked)
MSI Global ? Graphics Card - R7850-2GD5/OC

[wazza300]

dont they sell the one i posted in the link? mine is different to both of those you posted

i wouldnt worry about the clocks either,all the 7850's will run at 1050/1375 mhz without touching the voltage

[psycho13]

These are the models of 2GB 7850's MSI makes:

R7850 Power Edition 2GD5/OC Twin frozr IV
R7850 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC I'm leaning towards this - Twin frozr III
R7850 Twin Frozr 2GD5


Thanks for all the help