time to upgrade the old gpu??

[moocow0463]

i asked this a while ago and was told to wait for these 7xxx cards to be released and they finally have and i believe right now what is affordable to me would be GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition ...

or crossfire again x2 HIS H687FN1GD Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI...

i have 2 4890s in crossfire and play at 1920x1200 and fraps/stream etc. im sure i could find a buyer to pickup the 2 4890s for $100 for the pair covering some of the cost of the new card will this increase my performance a noticeable amount...right now im stuck playing bf3 on custom medium/high settings i get 120 fps until i fraps but id like to see what i can do with AA on etc

 

[moocow0463]

p.s id like to play 1080p some day in the future as well

 

[DonInKansas]

7970 will crush nearly any game at 1080p.

 

[moocow0463]

i would agree however 7970 is not affordable lol

 

[JrRacinFan]

Actually a 7800 series card would fit the bill. Does your flaming blade support sli? Maybe a couple second hand 560ti cards?

 

[moocow0463]

sadly crossfire only, and im wanting to steer more twards single card performance for a while which is why im choosing the latest gen cards the 2 6870s would be last resort for me honestly. i think a 7870 would hold be over for now and in a year if i need more a second 7870 could be in order or by then might be time to upgrade the cpu but the way games are multi threading these days doesnt really seem necessary at stock clocks the old 920 does fine.

 

[djxinator]

sadly crossfire only, and im wanting to steer more twards single card performance for a while which is why im choosing the latest gen cards the 2 6870s would be last resort for me honestly. i think a 7870 would hold be over for now and in a year if i need more a second 7870 could be in order or by then might be time to upgrade the cpu but the way games are multi threading these days doesnt really seem necessary at stock clocks the old 920 does fine.

The 7870 should be fine for 1080p for a while. If it does get to the stage where eye candy is being held back too much then whack another one in, the Xfire scaling on the 78xx is amazing (80 - 100% increase in pretty much everything)

I was going to buy one this weekend and I have the money sat there but at the moment I'm waiting to see what AMD does to respond to the GTX680's overwhelmingly opportune position in the market. They NEED to drop their prices otherwise they are screwed, I want to capitalize on that.

Also, you might want to whack an OC on that 920, they respond beautifully to them. Print off a Nehalem/i7 920 OCing guide and follow it, making your own tweaks as you go along for your individual chip and mobo. This can be done AFTER adequate cooling is purchased such as a V6GT (Ive heard people going 3.6Ghz - 4.2Ghz on these with relative ease, the former being almost guaranteed). Your performance with a new card will increase even more then.

 

[eidairaman1]

7850/7870 id definitly pick up honestly. I think ud be selling short with the top 2 right now

 

[zargana]

i asked this a while ago and was told to wait for these 7xxx cards to be released and they finally have and i believe right now what is affordable to me would be GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition ...

or crossfire again x2 HIS H687FN1GD Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI...

i have 2 4890s in crossfire and play at 1920x1200 and fraps/stream etc. im sure i could find a buyer to pickup the 2 4890s for $100 for the pair covering some of the cost of the new card will this increase my performance a noticeable amount...right now im stuck playing bf3 on custom medium/high settings i get 120 fps until i fraps but id like to see what i can do with AA on etc

I would say 7970 and also little more pattience. After Nvidia new series release the prices of the AMD series will drop. So not being hasty is the key here.

Little more patience and maybe you catch the big fish

 

[JrRacinFan]

which is why im choosing the latest gen cards the 2 6870s would be last resort for me honestly.

I don't think you would be happy going that route either, being limited to a 1GB framebuffer. I would rather see you go gtx570 or gtx560Ti 448 core. I know most games don't need it but there are quite a few now in the market that like 1GB+, especially if you do texture mods.

EDIT:

Just mentioning it; my pair of cards when overclocked in SLI match a 570/7850, 6850 single.

 

[micropage7]

personally i would wait until the end of year when usually nvidia/amd show their new stuffs

 

[Sasqui]

I have a 6850 in a Core2 system @3.4 Ghz, and it plays Crysis on Win 7 1920x1200 on high settings like a champ.

Paid $105 shipped for a used MSI OC version.

My other rig (see sys specs) with a 5870 runs it just as well, frame rates rock.

 

[moocow0463]

I would say 7970 and also little more pattience. After Nvidia new series release the prices of the AMD series will drop. So not being hasty is the key here.

Little more patience and maybe you catch the big fish

I might try to hold out til release could be worthwhile thanks

I don't think you would be happy going that route either, being limited to a 1GB framebuffer. I would rather see you go gtx570 or gtx560Ti 448 core. I know most games don't need it but there are quite a few now in the market that like 1GB+, especially if you do texture mods.

EDIT:

Just mentioning it; my pair of cards when overclocked in SLI match a 570/7850, 6850 single.

in the future I may switch back to nvidia but without sli mobo its going to limit my future upgrades to single cards which isn't bad but gets pricey in the long run.

I have a 6850 in a Core2 system @3.4 Ghz, and it plays Crysis on Win 7 1920x1200 on high settings like a champ.

Paid $105 shipped for a used MSI OC version.

My other rig (see sys specs) with a 5870 runs it just as well, frame rates rock.

I have a 3.8 oc profile saved in my bios for when its needed with this being said I think 7870 is the card for me time to watch prices now

 

[PopcornMachine]

I agree. 7870 is the card to get, but let prices drop. Hopefully.

Only thing is, you might want to see what else NVIDIA brings out. Their 670 could be interesting.

 

[JrRacinFan]

in the future I may switch back to nvidia but without sli mobo its going to limit my future upgrades to single cards which isn't bad but gets pricey in the long run.

Again why I am thinking the 7800 series would provide the best bang for you at the moment. Nothing else really can justify over your 4890's right now, performance wise.

 

[GotNoRice]

Another option you might consider is a 6870x2

Same price on newegg as a 7870 (~$350), but instead you get performance that approaches if not surpasses a 7970. Sounds like one hell of a deal to me!

Not to mention that at any point later on you could either drop in a 6870 for Triple-crossfire or another 6870x2 for quad.

I don't think the 7870 would be terrible either, but IMO, not enough of a performance bump over your 2x 4890s.

 

[brandonwh64]

Another option you might consider is a 6870x2

Same price on newegg as a 7870 (~$350), but instead you get performance that approaches if not surpasses a 7970. Sounds like one hell of a deal to me!

Not to mention that at any point later on you could either drop in a 6870 for Triple-crossfire or another 6870x2 for quad.

I don't think the 7870 would be terrible either, but IMO, not enough of a performance bump over your 2x 4890s.

Only issue is that these cards have been proven unstable in some 3d applications. Although it is a very nice card!

Honestly I think its driver related

 

[moocow0463]

Another option you might consider is a 6870x2

Same price on newegg as a 7870 (~$350), but instead you get performance that approaches if not surpasses a 7970. Sounds like one hell of a deal to me!

Not to mention that at any point later on you could either drop in a 6870 for Triple-crossfire or another 6870x2 for quad.

I don't think the 7870 would be terrible either, but IMO, not enough of a performance bump over your 2x 4890s.

These cards are great and have seen them used with great results however I believe the 7870 has better specs and less power consumption which means less heat and when cross fired in the future if need be would be the better route according to the fps charts itperforms just under the 570 where as 7870 is just a hair above it and only a single card