Worthy upgrade to a 7970 from a 5970?

[khanman125]

is it worth it to upgrade from a 5970 to a 7970? i am really on the fence about it, its been 2 years for my 5970....not sure...

 

[Over_Lord]

Ur HD5970 is great, no need to upgrade. It can still maxx out all games I presume. Don't know why u want to upgrade.

Wait for iVy Bridge and competition from nVidia. Then an upgrade for the CPU and GPU can be considered.

 

[khanman125]

yeah that would be smart, i was mostly wanting to upgrade to avoid a dual GPU card.

 

[erocker]

 

[khanman125]

wow i didnt even see that chart....i was looking all over a 5970 comparison to new cards.

 

[entropy13]

Keep it. Only possible ideal single-card replacements would probably be the 7990 (especially if it's at least 40% better than the 7970) and Nvidia's equivalent new dual-GPU card.

 

[BrooksyX]

I would upgrade your cpu before you upgrade your gpu. Sandybridge isnt that expensive or Ivy bridge is just around the corner.

 

[khanman125]

yeah i will probably wait and just build a whole new rig at the rate things are going then

 

[Grnfinger]

I'm in the same boat.
Been eyeing a 6990 but my 5970 smashes anything I toss at it so its hard to justify an upgrade.
Now with the 7xxx cards the 6990 should drop a few bones making it a tad more affoardable. 6990 plus waterblock = empty wallet

 

[Frizz]

If you're bothered then I suggest going through with this up/sidegrade.. if you are able to sell your 5970 for a decent price. You'd basically be going through all this trouble just to change your card into a single GPU, so if you don't mind going through all the trouble I'd say it's definitely worth it. As a hardware addict I myself would try to get rid of a 5970 asap before it's second-hand value depreciates even more, imo being able to keep up to date and playing with the latest hardware is a good trade off.

 

[radrok]

Also remember that series 6XXX will become the new 5XXX in terms of drivers support so I wouldn't be surprised if you had to wait more days for performance drivers, latest example was Skyrim, HD5XXX series had to wait few days more and series 4K didn't even get any attention.
So yes, go for the 7970 if you can

 

[the54thvoid]

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7970/images/perfrel.gif

At his resolution at 19" the difference is even smaller at 4%.

However, You can get some awesome slowdown on dual gpu's in funny places. It's up to the OP what he does but if you have the cash and the desire...

As erocker said in another thread:

Waiting for anything is lame.

 

[Aceman.au]

I have 2 6870s, my 5970 still owns them, but the 5970 is crashing and I cant fix it, so... I'd say stick with that 5970, amazing card.

 

[khanman125]

I guess i will wait a bit.......i know that the scaling is alot better on the newer cards than the 5 series though.

 

[khanman125]

what would a 5970 compare to at 925mhz?...cant find any benches at that speed.

 

[radrok]

The actual 3D performance gained from overclocking is 8.7%, and 20.5% when using voltage control.

This is on the TPU 5970 review at 980 MHz on core

 

[dir_d]

I say only if you need to use the GPGPU features in the 7970, otherwise dont bother.

 

[radrok]

I also noticed that you run a 19 inch that is probably lower than 1080p, stick with the 5970 that is more than enough

 

[JrRacinFan]

Save your cash, pickup maybe a new 23" display or maybe a couple 60GB SSD's in RAID 0.

 

[OOZMAN]

I'd be upgrading the CPU dude, dare I say you'd yield more performance gain with a 2500k upgrade or the like, than a 7970 upgrade.

 

[SgtFury]

I am planning on upgrading. The 1GB VRAM limitation on the 5970 with a 30" monitor is really beginning to show in games like Skyrim and BF3.

It typically kills games, but when it hits the limit, I get intolerable framerates\vidlag at 2560x1600.

At 1900x1200, things look like crap so that's not an option either.

 

[x3sphere]

I am planning on upgrading. The 1GB VRAM limitation on the 5970 with a 30" monitor is really beginning to show in games like Skyrim and BF3.

It typically kills games, but when it hits the limit, I get intolerable framerates\vidlag at 2560x1600.

At 1900x1200, things look like crap so that's not an option either.

I sold my 5970 a long time ago actually for a 6970 because of this. My framerates took a dive when cranking up AA, numbers were all over the place so games felt incredibly choppy, even though the average FPS was decent. It's something most reviews don't show.

The 6970 actually delivered a better gameplay experience than the 5970 at the settings I run at, despite being a downgrade in raw power. More consistent FPS.

I have no doubt the 7970 would be a massive upgrade, and I'm getting one. For anyone that's content with a 2x1GB 5970: you aren't pushing it hard enough.

 

[radrok]

For anyone that's content with a 2x1GB 5970: you aren't pushing it hard enough.

It all boils down to the resolution in the end, the OP has a 19 incher so the 5970s 1GB is enough

 

[Tanquen]

New 7970 is slower than my old 5970, am I missing something?

FYI:

I’m going to be putting together a new build and got the 7970 and am trying it out on my current system. I’ve checked a few games and while it seems to be a little smoother the 7970 is putting out noticeable fewer frames than the old 5970. I tried a few games, Just Cause 2, Built Storm and Left 4 Dead 2 and so on. I thought the 6970 was close to the speed of a 5970 and I know the 5970 has two GPUs but I’m a little disappointed the 7970 is quite a bit slower. I wouldn’t think it’s the older CPU holding it back as they should both have roughly the same FPS if the game is CPU limited. ???

It’s kinda funny that looks like it’s going to take a 8970 to match a 5970 in frame rates.

 

[Outback Bronze]

5970 is a great card but u cant go past a 7970. Like somebody said if u can sell the 5970 for a decent price then maybe its worth while.