$700-$800 to spend on graphics cards

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Alpha736

Limp Gawd
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Aug 17, 2004
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I'm building a new system for a friend and we've budgeted roughly $700-$800 to spend on graphics cards.

We're looking for the most performance and longevity for the money, he wants this system to last him at least a few years. He wants to be able to run games at max right now, but understands as newer games come out he will slowly need to turn down the graphics settings.

Originally I was thinking a GTX 780 which is $600-$700. Now I'm thinking two GTX 770s in SLI which would cost about $800 but give a lot more performance. Also, if I go with the GTX 770s, should I go 2GB or 4GB? However, two 4GB GTX 770s would probably push this to $900. I know most games won't see any benefit from 4GB, but down the road games like BF4 might, am I right?

Is there anything else we should be considering within this price range?

Thanks.
 
Wait another week (or two) for the Radeon R9 290X. It should be less than $700 while competing with the Titan. Nvidia is supposedly releasing a new GPU to compete with AMD so it's all for show at this point.
 
Definitely wait to see what happens with the 290x.
Worst case scenario, it isnt as impressive as they say and you just get a pair of 770s for probably less than you could now
 
the 780TI just got announced. That could be a possibility too depending on the price.
 
Now that G-Sync has been announced, I'll probably get the 780 Ti and skip the 290x

Sorry that tech is just too good to pass up
 
Either a single 290/290x, single GTX 780 Ti, or triple overclocked 7950s. I'd personally get the triple 7950s, as the overall performance will be much higher than the single card solutions. (Probably twice as fast as any of those single cards) Something to note, though, is the possibility of stutter and compatibility issues with the Crossfire solution. Do some reading before purchasing anything.
 
Thank you for the suggestions. Definitely going to stay in the wait and see mode.
 
Joseph F said:
Either a single 290/290x, single GTX 780 Ti, or triple overclocked 7950s. I'd personally get the triple 7950s, as the overall performance will be much higher than the single card solutions. (Probably twice as fast as any of those single cards) Something to note, though, is the possibility of stutter and compatibility issues with the Crossfire solution. Do some reading before purchasing anything.
Click to expand...

Good suggestions. Although I've had several SLI and crossfire systems over past generations, I've always been apprehensive before purchasing; especially with more than just two cards. Since I'm building this system for a friend I'm even more apprehensive about any issues. I want everything to be as rock solid as possible to avoid needing to troubleshoot anything, especially since he lives far away.
 
Joseph F said:
Either a single 290/290x, single GTX 780 Ti, or triple overclocked 7950s. I'd personally get the triple 7950s, as the overall performance will be much higher than the single card solutions. (Probably twice as fast as any of those single cards) Something to note, though, is the possibility of stutter and compatibility issues with the Crossfire solution. Do some reading before purchasing anything.
Click to expand...

Triple 7950's will be overall much more of a headache.
 
Ya I'd wait to see some official info about the 290x in the coming days. Also would you be opposed to a used titan?
 
Crossfired R9 280X's out now or R9 290X out next week or 780Ti out next month.
 
Reality said:
Now that G-Sync has been announced, I'll probably get the 780 Ti and skip the 290x

Sorry that tech is just too good to pass up
Click to expand...

I do not think that 780 Ti will outperform 290X, and on a value basis, I think AMD will come out ahead there.

The GSYNC stuff is all exciting, but with no announced support for over 1080p, SLI, or Surround as of yet, I would not base my purchasing decisions on it.
 
As far as I can tell from newegg sort from highest to lowest price... the r290xs are either the same price as a 780 or the same price as the titan

And why wouldn't it support 1080p? thats the least anything can do these days.

But I would seriously wait and see... It's all gonna be out so soon.. wait for blackfriday or for consumers to get their hands on them and see what is good..
3 7950s? really?

and why no 7990 they are on sale somewhere for 500 a pop I'd get 2 of those and call it a day... and I am an nvidia user
 
tatm Mrk.RIVE said:
As far as I can tell from newegg sort from highest to lowest price... the r290xs are either the same price as a 780 or the same price as the titan

And why wouldn't it support 1080p? thats the least anything can do these days.

But I would seriously wait and see... It's all gonna be out so soon.. wait for blackfriday or for consumers to get their hands on them and see what is good..
3 7950s? really?

and why no 7990 they are on sale somewhere for 500 a pop I'd get 2 of those and call it a day... and I am an nvidia user
Click to expand...

You cannot tell ANYTHING from Newegg pricing on this front as much of it is preloaded crap that is not correct.

There are plans for 1080p GSync, but I have never seen it working in a retail product.

You will not see GSync products till next year in retail in any volume most likely.
 
how about two 7950 and saving the rest of the money?

doesn't the price to performance ratio go to complete shit when you get into the upper tiers?
 
NVIDIA just told me this as I asked some very specific questions. I was on vacation last week during its event and Brent had AMD stuff to be working on for the upcoming review.

Surround support will follow initial launch
Yes works with sli now.
No products are announced other than Asus who did the press release. Gsync module does support multiple panel sizes and max refresh rates.
Click to expand...

So currently no surround support with GSYNC.

SLI support YES.

But only looking at a 1080p GSYNC display for sale NEXT YEAR.

I would suggest to you that this technology is not needed for single screen 1080p for the most part.

Get me working 1440p 27" displays working and it will be something to look at.
 
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