Upgrading Video card

the Powercolor PCS+ MYST HD 7870 is a good card. but the cooler gets loud especially with overclocking.

as suggested above the Sapphire HD 7870 XT with the Tahiti LE chip has a much better cooler. the dual x cooler maintains much lower temps and noise.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202024
http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-hd7870-w-boost-tahiti-le-review/15/
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...eview-power-temps-noise-and-overclocking.html

also the Sapphire HD 7950 boost can be got for USD 300 (USD 280 after rebate). this card is a perf beast for its price. runs at 925 mhz. stock voltage of 1.2 - 1.25v. easily overclocks to 1150 mhz. HD 7950 at 1150 mhz matches HD 7970 Ghz. close to 15% faster at stock and close to 20% faster at the same clocks.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7950_X2_Boost/31.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Club_3D/HD_7870_jokerCard_Tahiti_LE/31.html

club3d HD 7870 Tahiti LE - 59.2
HIS HD 7950 iceq x2 boost - 67.5
club3d HD 7870 Tahiti LE (1210 Mhz) - 69.8
HD 7970 Ghz - 78.9
HIS HD 7950 iceq x2 boost(1210 mhz) - 82.9
 
Yea, I had my asus 7770 really cool, with as5 on it. I kept it at 39C full load. 100% fan speed.

I really cannot afford much more than the power color. Im actually trying to jump the gun early. I was suppose to upgrade the video card when I get my taxes back. But, im to impatient. lol

$240 is my max.
 
Hmm it's tough when you're working with a strict budget. It would really be worth it if you could scrap up $60 to get the 7950. Shovel some driveways? :p
 
ok, ive been looking around. I still cannot make up my mind.lol. I know that even a 1gb 7850 is a huge leap over the 7770 1gb. especially considering, it is not the best overclocker around. Although! I can do $260 im going to buy a card Monday.

The gtx 660's do good, and they seem to be on par with a 7870 in benchmarks.

660's do great in some games, like batman and civilization. and the 7870's don't.

while the 7870 beats the gtx 660 in other games. like, metro, bf3.

I wish I could call it a day, and get a Radeon 7950, and overclock the crap out of it! And, run with or past a 7970.

My Radeon 7770 performs decent, I mean, it does ok! And maybe 2 in Xfire would be good. But, then im limited to 1gb of memory. In most applications, two 7770's actually scale very well.

I deffinetly want to be able to max out crysis 3 without issues. just about everything on this 7770 will run on highest settings, but due to 128bit memory bandwidth it does not do so well much past 2x aa or higher than a 1680/1050 resolution.

A new monitor or 1080P TV, in the works next weekend. So, I will be playing at full HD resolutions.

What is the absolute fastest video card for $260?

Anyone selling a 7950 used for that? lol
 
This video card is the only thing holding my rig back from being a real monster.

Does anyone here think its worth running xfire 7770's? It would cost me about $100, and it is performance between 7870 and 7950. sometimes better!

Although, some games do nut use them both. Only one is used, and there are always driver problems and what not.

But, when they do work.. They do well.

So, each end has the advantage, and disadvantage
 
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burned-ati said:
I deffinetly want to be able to max out crysis 3 without issues. just about everything on this 7770 will run on highest settings, but due to 128bit memory bandwidth it does not do so well much past 2x aa or higher than a 1680/1050 resolution.
Click to expand...

Sorry to be blunt, but not going to happen. High performance specs are a 7970 and FX 4150.

Even @ 1680x1050 it is questionable.
 
burned-ati said:
What is the absolute fastest video card for $260? Anyone selling a 7950 used for that? lol
Click to expand...

if you are on a tight budget go for the sapphire HD 7870 XT. its faster than GTX 660 Ti in most cases. Overclocked to 1.2 Ghz it would beat the GTX 660 Ti overclocked clearly in the majority of titles except titles which run better on Nvidia cards like Borderlands 2, Assassins creed 3.
 
B!nd. said:
Sorry to be blunt, but not going to happen. High performance specs are a 7970 and FX 4150.

Even @ 1680x1050 it is questionable.
Click to expand...

Being able to play crysis 3 maxed out is my main concern. Im looking forward to this game. If I go with the Sapphire 7870 Tahiti LE, then of course, I would deffinetly get another one to xfire with it 2 weeks later. That should run crysis 3 maxed out.

If it couldn't then I just give up lol.

Im not to concerned with the noise of the powercolor either. I would remove the stock cooler on both of them, and change the thermal paste as soon as I got it. Stock paste does not seem to do as good as my magic touch of artic silver.

I don't know, something about it I guess, I've been able to average it least 20C cooler on every video card ive had. Compared to others leaving OEM thermal paste on the same cards.

I guess the 7870 is the best bet. But, all of the power colors are sold out. And when im spending $260 I mine as well get a real 7950. $239 being the average price of a regular 7870, that's just a steal for the powercolor version.
 
burned-ati said:
Being able to play crysis 3 maxed out is my main concern. Im looking forward to this game. If I go with the Sapphire 7870 Tahiti LE, then of course, I would deffinetly get another one to xfire with it 2 weeks later. That should run crysis 3 maxed out.
Click to expand...

I am confused. If you would go and get another card two weeks after why not just wait and get 1 powerful GPU solution.

I am being completely honest in saying that I am skeptical about the performance I will have with Crysis 3. Have seen you seen alpha/beta reviews?
 
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