Another "Which card and Why?"

[phillyj]

I currently have a single x16 slot mobo that I want to use for mining. I don't want to spend too much money now because I am not really sure how profitable this is. I just want to learn more about PC building and mining. Anyway, I want to mine BTC first and then see if I can get into LTC or variants.

I have my eye on these cards:

[1] Powercolor 7870 Tahiti for ~$250 (1536 stream procs)
[2] Sapphire 6970 for ~$200 (1536 stream procs)
[3] Gigabyte 6950 OC for ~$180 (1408 stream procs)


I didn't take into account rebates but did consider taxes and shipping fees. Which is best bang for buck? If I find that this mining is not profitable, I would like to sell the card later. Are there other cards to consider in the best value category?

Finally, is the amount of stream processors is one of the main things that determine hash rate?

Thanks

[eroxors]

Probably 7850 on most counts, but if you go LTC instead of BTC, the 6970 should be close to the same performance (500KH/s).

[TheSpiral]

6970 and 7870 are similar for BTC (sha256), 6970 has a slight edge (+/- 40 Khash) for LTC (scrypt).

[notaek]

Could you provide links to those cards?  I may be interested in some more 6950's...

[HellDiverUK]

I get 500kH/s LTC from my HD6970.  It's loud and hot, though.  I was getting similar from an old HD5870, but it seems to have crapped the bed - artifacting. 

[zvs]

I currently have a single x16 slot mobo that I want to use for mining. I don't want to spend too much money now because I am not really sure how profitable this is. I just want to learn more about PC building and mining. Anyway, I want to mine BTC first and then see if I can get into LTC or variants.

I have my eye on these cards:

[1] Powercolor 7870 Tahiti for ~$250 (1536 stream procs)
[2] Sapphire 6970 for ~$200 (1536 stream procs)
[3] Gigabyte 6950 OC for ~$180 (1408 stream procs)


I didn't take into account rebates but did consider taxes and shipping fees. Which is best bang for buck? If I find that this mining is not profitable, I would like to sell the card later. Are there other cards to consider in the best value category?

Finally, is the amount of stream processors is one of the main things that determine hash rate?

Thanks

is the powercolor 7870 tahiti better than some other random 7870?   

newegg has 7870s @ $210 all the time.  right now it looks like the powercolor model is 210.  last week, it was sapphire. 

they all come with that game pack that you can sell for $40 as well

[kuusj98]

Probably 7850 on most counts, but if you go LTC instead of BTC, the 6970 should be close to the same performance (500KH/s).

Well good sir, you have to explane to me how 500kh/s would be possible on a 7850.
I got 2 of them running @1125 core, 1500 mem with 19intensity and they both get 390 kh/s.
And 1125, 1500 is a pretty high OC for that card.

And even 390 is pretty high...