| Pemalite said: Bench: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/548?vs=660&i=372.375.378.381.384.387.390.394.396.400.398.403.457.460 Just an option to consider anyway. |
Ya, the 7870 is a good option. I wouldn't use any benchmarks from AnandTech's GPU Bench. Those guys have not retested any of the current generation cards with new drivers. Their entire bench is outdated for both NV and AMD and their GPU bench doesn't reflect scores using Catalyst 12.11 or 310.70 drivers. That website is really dropping the ball on GPU reviews in 2012 because they refuse to retest cards with new drivers like everyone else. Their GPU bench ONLY includes scores from launch reviews - so February~March 2012 for HD7870.
Dgc1808, just keep in mind going in that Far Cry 3 hammers GPUs with everything on max. There are some settings in the game like Post FX, HDAO, Alpha-to-Coverage + MSAA, that kill performance on modern GPUs. Just have a realistic expectation of where you'll end up performance wise in this game.
MSAA+ Alpha-to-Coverage is a giant performance killer in this game.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/12/17/far_cry_3_video_card_performance_iq_review/1
In terms of long-term, both GTX660/HD7870 will become outdated at a similar pace. The only sub-$300 card that has a chance of extra life is HD7950 because it has a 20-30% overclocking headroom at which point it can beat/match GTX680/HD7970Ghz.
I wouldn't worry about future-proofing with these $200 GTX660/7870 cards since they are going to be similar to each other, depending on the game, with 7870 having a 5% edge on average. I don't think you'll be able to use MSAA much in future games with either of these so the larger penalty 660 would take under MSAA vs. 7870 may not matter.
If you see something like this drop to $240-250, then it's worth it, especially because you plan to play Skyrim:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006
