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Newegg has the SAPPHIRE 100355-1GOCL Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card for $175 - 12% with coupon code TECHBARG515 [Exp 5/20] - $15 rebate [Exp 5/31] = $139 with free shipping. Includes FarCry 3: Blood Dragon, BioShock Infinite, and Tomb Raider game coupons with purchase.
$180 Retail: $200
The 7850 demise was either a fib, or AMD had to change their thinking? I mean various sites said that Bonaire (7790) was to EoL the 1Gb 7850. Interestingly there appears to more AIB's offering 7850 in 1Gb trim than 3-4 months ago. They're still... like this one a hE!! Of a deal.
Does it seem indignant that now with several GTX650Ti Boost with 1Gb in the mix there's no "mono-e-mono" reviews pitting dare I say "entry cards" with common i3/FX6300 systems that are more befitting for the level of such cards. I'm so bored of every time seeing i7-3770K @ 4.6 GHz, 16Gb of high-end gaming memory, and SSD running such pedestrian cards. That's not the worst, then they use setting from their "enthusiast" review so they can pull in that data, because well bigger graphs look impressive. All that does is show cards in the class chugging out 20-30 Fps or less, because of ridicules settings. Or, worse some settings can be set higher as their system configuration attains a few extra Fps. That can have a card appearing it can do it, while a competitor may not, when in actuality neither on a lower spec's system would hit that. I'd enjoy seeing more "real world" comparitives of cards in this bracket, show one res 1920x1080p, then set them with what offers playable settings (35-40Fps) with the level of detail and eye-candy juggled. Kind of what [H] does, but with what's a more entry components as would be in this classification of the market.
Well [H] and I are kind_of on the same page... Here's a review they posted the same day I wrote the above.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/05/20/powercolor_radeon_hd_7790_turboduo_video_card_review
They pit one of the highest priced 7790 ($155 -AR$10) on Egg against a reference GTX650Ti Boost of as they say $170, so starts a little inequitable. They set detail and AA to achieve playable settings on a OC i7 that no one in there right mind would have in the real world, while at least memory and HDD is what most could use or at least not going to have any real gains.
Their main gripe is the 7790's 1Gb limited them from enabling higher settings in Crysis 3 and Far Cry 3, as a playable issue, just because those games crave 2Gb to unlock the higher setting, fair enough. For Tomb Raider, shadow quality had to be set to normal, to play it... oh no! I suppose you should be outraged as two of the game you're at least playing you got for free! Sure they might have a little more "enhancement" if anted-up for the Nvidia card, and then paid for those two games all to the tune of say $260 to find out. While why not test any of the four 1Gb GTX650Ti Boost that are pricing in at the PowerColor they used.
Now, consider it another way, there are right now four 7790 that have such factory OC that range $130-140 -AR meaning you're paying $30-40 less. Now, is not paying out that kind of cash for a the person that is just looking to buy card, to see if gaming is for them... sure it is! Would most playing games for the first time notice that shadows and vegetation isn't on Ultra. I seriously doubt it. Don't get me wrong the extra you pay for the 2Gb and extra prowess of the GTX650Ti is noteworthy enough to say you jump a into a different class, and for that you should expect more. But to decry that one of the most "premium" 7790 (in mostly expense) not as good a more expensive and next class card is underhanded.
Again would most of the settings…