Radeon 7770 or Radeon 7850

[xSuikotsu]

I'm upgrading my graphics card and these two seem to have caught my eye and are within budget.
However, the 7770 sports a 128 bit memory interface and 1020 core clock speed, while the 7850 has a 256 bit but only 860 core clock. Which is faster, seeing as the 7850 has a bigger interface but smaller clock speed?

[dihartnell]

No question, the 7850 is mile faster. More stream processes and more memory bandwidth. most overclock well to.

I have one on a 1920x1200 panel with high quality settings and get good frame rates.

[wazza300]

don't worry about the low core speed on the 7850,most if not all can max out the overdrive settings in ccc,mine will do max 1050mhz core and 1375 MHz memory without touching stock voltage,they overclock verywell

[xSuikotsu]

okay then next question, i see one on newegg thats the 2 GB variant which is nice, but alot of them say crossfire x, and im not quite sure what that is or if i want that on my gpu?
In addition, do they come preclocked, because i sure as heck don't know how to overclock. If they do, how can i tell? like one of them says, "With boost" does that mean its oveclocked, and does that mean it already is or that i have to tweak it?

[wazza300]

boost means it comes with a 1ghz overclock or core speed,crossfire x means you can pair it with another same graphic card and run two cards in tandem but they usually run hot and drivers arnt very good

you want a 2gb model which will be better in games

overclocking is as easy as sliding the slider in amd overdrive from stock 800mhz or whatever it is to 1050mhz,thats all I did on mine

the msi twin frozr 3 cards or the his icq or gigabyte windforce are the ones to go for imo,they run cool and quiet

[xSuikotsu]

Okay so the boost means that the manufacturer has already overclocked it for me? And by slider you mean I just have to flip a switch before installing it and it will be over clocked? And so crossfire is not the way to go?
Thanks so much for the help by the way

[xSuikotsu]

Soooo i got a nice tax return and im looking at the 7970 now.....thoughts? worth the money? how to overclock/one that comes overclocked, and still confused on if i have one that has crossfirex support, if it will affect my gameplay if i dont actually use multiple cards. looking at newegg mostly

[wazza300]

all amd cards have crossfire support,all it means is if you buy another matching card you can run the two together = doubling performance,it doesnt mean you have to buy two cards,you can run just single card just fine

what resolution do you play at and what games? 7970 is the best performing but the 7950 isnt bad either,

[xSuikotsu]

1920x1080! And chivalry medieval warfare, aion, diablo 3, lotro, LoL, dota2

[wazza300]

i think the 7950 would be best,the 7970 would be wasted imo but its up to you