Old high end card or new mid range cards?

[Apocalypsee]

I've sold my 290X in anticipation for Vega but since it might come later in late 2016/2017 I wanted to use something in between. Buying cheap low end card like GTX 730 is pointless since I could spend a bit more for something a lot more powerful. I could buy a 2nd hand HD 7970 or brand new GTX 750Ti/R7 270/R7 360 for the same price. Which one should I chose?

My case airflow is quite bad, with 290X it could warm up the VRM to 90+C but the core is fine at around 80C, if I take out the side panel the temperature dropped to ~80C for VRM and 75C for core. The HD 7970 is a reference design so it expel heat from the case which IMO is a good thing for my case.

 

[basco]

7970

 

[natr0n]

7970

+1

It's still a beast card.
I wish I had the 6gb sapphire version.

 

[Estaric]

7970 still quite the beast id say doy vote is on that

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

+ for 7970, incredible how this 2012 beast still holds like a champ!

 

[RejZoR]

You screwed up selling that R9 290X a bit. Considering its the base for R9 390X, it would still be a current gen performance graphic card. In all honesty, get a RX480 for the time being. It's cheap, its new and it performs around the same as R9 290X that you had. Only other cheapest option would be second hand R9 290X again. Only that could go for a lot cheaper.

 

[Apocalypsee]

You screwed up selling that R9 290X a bit. Considering its the base for R9 390X, it would still be a current gen performance graphic card. In all honesty, get a RX480 for the time being. It's cheap, its new and it performs around the same as R9 290X that you had. Only other cheapest option would be second hand R9 290X again. Only that could go for a lot cheaper.

The real reason I sell it because of the heat. It's an awesome card but I want a cooler running card. I have modified the vBIOS to achieve lower temperature but still I want something cooler. Buying another one would defeat the purpose

 

[basco]

sorry no offense but then go with 750ti if you really care so much about temperature but dont cry about its performance

 

[natr0n]

You can always remove your case panel. I run my case without any panels hence no heat buildup.

 

[Apocalypsee]

sorry no offense but then go with 750ti if you really care so much about temperature but dont cry about its performance

Yeah I been thinking of that but nvidia cards are generally expensive in my country. The price for Nitro RX 460 is already out and for a bit more than 750Ti price. But the release date is yet unknown, some say end of this month.

You can always remove your case panel. I run my case without any panels hence no heat buildup.

I did that a lot of time but the dust buildup is quite annoying

 

[natr0n]

Yeah I been thinking of that but nvidia cards are generally expensive in my country. The price for Nitro RX 460 is already out and for a bit more than 750Ti price. But the release date is yet unknown, some say end of this month.

I did that a lot of time but the dust buildup is quite annoying

yeah dust is a hassle, every few months just take it outside and blast it with a shopvac

 

[basco]

same as if there have not been so few and would not been so expensive here i would have bought a gtx 780 with 6gb

 

[Nergal]

Just get something cheap, doesn´t need to be the best perf/price of its time.
I actually think that a 7950 could be found cheaper than a 7970; but the performance difference now wouldn't matter that much.
I am sure you can find tons of examples by yourself. (the 7950 you can find below 100 2nd hand; try that with the 7970)

 

[Apocalypsee]

Thanks guys, I guess I better opt for HD 7970 rather than wait for RX 460 and open up my case when I'm gaming. HD 7950 is indeed cheaper but all I could find is the Sapphire single fan with crappy heatsink

 

[INSTG8R]

Yeah I'd still be running my 7970 if it hadn't died sagging under its own weight...Still a capable card

 

[xvi]

My main desktop rig has a HD 7870 and I'm still surprised how generally capable it is. I used to buy old high end often (and I probably still will), but I've always been a fan of new mid-range (at least on paper). Newer instruction sets/features, low power consumption, and decent power. Older cards will be faster, but especially if you're worried about heat, new cards are the way to go.

It's a shame that nVidia cards are priced so high for you, but I'd say a mid-range AMD card should still be a good choice.

Edit: Out of curiosity, what are GTX 1060s and 1070s going for there? (And if you don't mind saying so, where are you at?)

 

[RejZoR]

Btw, don't expect HD7970 to be cool either. I had a HD7950, granted, it was overclocked, but it also had WindForce 3X which was a huge ass cooler. It wasn't exactly cool. Or particularly quiet. But it was performing pretty damn well.

 

[Apocalypsee]

My main desktop rig has a HD 7870 and I'm still surprised how generally capable it is. I used to buy old high end often (and I probably still will), but I've always been a fan of new mid-range (at least on paper). Newer instruction sets/features, low power consumption, and decent power. Older cards will be faster, but especially if you're worried about heat, new cards are the way to go.

It's a shame that nVidia cards are priced so high for you, but I'd say a mid-range AMD card should still be a good choice.

Edit: Out of curiosity, what are GTX 1060s and 1070s going for there? (And if you don't mind saying so, where are you at?)

I'm from Malaysia, the price for 2nd HD 7970 is around RM500, brand new GTX 750Ti could fetch as high as RM600. GTX 1060 is round RM1200upward but there is someone who selling it for RM1090 for Zotac Mini. RX480 reference goes for RM1299 and GTX 1070 the lowest price is RM1949. I could increase my budget to around RM1200 so GTX 1060 is within the range.

Btw, don't expect HD7970 to be cool either. I had a HD7950, granted, it was overclocked, but it also had WindForce 3X which was a huge ass cooler. It wasn't exactly cool. Or particularly quiet. But it was performing pretty damn well.

Yeah that's the downside owning previous high end cards with reference cooling

 

[Nergal]

I am using a ATI6850 till my Rx480 arrives; was able to play fallout4 and such without hiccups on 1080P (dont ask for the details settings )

 

[Apocalypsee]

I am using a ATI6850 till my Rx480 arrives; was able to play fallout4 and such without hiccups on 1080P (dont ask for the details settings )

I surprised HD 6850 could handle the game at 1080p at all. Thing is, I've played all the game I wanted, Fallout 4 for example I've finished 3 times with all 3 endings Intel HD 4600 could only run it after heavily tweaked, but only about 20-30fps at 1366x768, with core clocked at 1600MHz and memory at 2000MHz dual channel. Doom 2016 meanwhile refuses to run at all which is rather annoying since I love that game (finished the game too with all collectibles but I love to replay it from time to time). After been using Intel HD, if anyone annoyed by driver issue from AMD or nvidia it's nothing compared to Intel problems

 

[eidairaman1]

Igp is not meant for 3d games.

I surprised HD 6850 could handle the game at 1080p at all. Thing is, I've played all the game I wanted, Fallout 4 for example I've finished 3 times with all 3 endings Intel HD 4600 could only run it after heavily tweaked, but only about 20-30fps at 1366x768, with core clocked at 1600MHz and memory at 2000MHz dual channel. Doom 2016 meanwhile refuses to run at all which is rather annoying since I love that game (finished the game too with all collectibles but I love to replay it from time to time). After been using Intel HD, if anyone annoyed by driver issue from AMD or nvidia it's nothing compared to Intel problems

Too bad you sold the 290X. Im keeping my 290 VaporX for Zen. Only card Id say comprobable is 390X. Otherwise Id grab a Fury Nano.

 

[Vayra86]

Have you considered second hand GTX 770?

Will run easily 10 C cooler and offers similar perf to a 7970.

And, like the 7970 it's a very good allround performer, full die, 256 bit, the works.

 

[Frick]

I just find it very annoying that you can get very good GPU performance for little money, but people almost always (at least where I live) wants close to new prices for CPUs/motherboards, and they get it! Like yeeaaahhh sure I'll pay €49 for that low end LGA1155 motherboard that I know was €50 when it was new, and hey yeah someone spent that on it.

 

[Apocalypsee]

Igp is not meant for 3d games.

Too bad you sold the 290X. Im keeping my 290 VaporX for Zen. Only card Id say comprobable is 390X. Otherwise Id grab a Fury Nano.

I know but I'm surprised it actually run at all.

Nah I don't regret selling it. Performance is awesome but so does the heat. 390X is just overclocked 290X with 8GB memory so a big no. If i want to go all out I would rather take custom cooler Fury than it since it's cheaper and runs cooler despite having a massive shader count. Fury Nano still expensive, at Amazon I could buy Fury Nitro for the price of RX480 in my country, and buy Fury X cheaper than Fury Nano locally.

Have you considered second hand GTX 770?

Will run easily 10 C cooler and offers similar perf to a 7970.

And, like the 7970 it's a very good allround performer, full die, 256 bit, the works.

I do thinking going nvidia. They have awesome simple apps to control it's GPU (nvidia Inspector) and very good vBIOS editor makes it a good buy but I haven't found a good price for it yet. I did use GTX 680 before so I know it's performance.

I just find it very annoying that you can get very good GPU performance for little money, but people almost always (at least where I live) wants close to new prices for CPUs/motherboards, and they get it! Like yeeaaahhh sure I'll pay €49 for that low end LGA1155 motherboard that I know was €50 when it was new, and hey yeah someone spent that on it.

Wait, what? Where do you live? CPU+mobo is also expensive in second hand market at my country especially the i5/i7 and K series CPU. But the mobo price is absurd if it's sold only €1 cheaper than brand new.

 

[qubit]

The real reason I sell it because of the heat. It's an awesome card but I want a cooler running card. I have modified the vBIOS to achieve lower temperature but still I want something cooler. Buying another one would defeat the purpose

Get the 750 Ti then, but be aware that the performance is a lot less. Unfortunately performance costs power and heat, with NVIDIA doing better than AMD in this respect.