5870 - where to next?

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stevecamp09

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
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Hello

Haven't really been keeping up to date with all the latest GPU offerings from AMD or Nvidia for that matter in the past year or so. Been running a single 1GB 5870 in my PC for 2 years without too many issues. Curious - if I were to upgrade today or in the near future, what would be the most obvious GPU to buy? 6870? 7000 series?

Bearing in mind i'm only gaming at 1920x1200 on a 24in monitor...is it worth upgrading right now? My budget is up to $500 but if there's not much improvement to be had for PC gaming at the resolution i'm at, would be good to know that.

Edit to add...the 5870 in my PC is making some odd noises so even if I don't need to upgrade soon, I might want a card to replace it. So in that case, what would be the choice? would something like the 7000 series or 580/680 from Nvidia be complete overkill?

Thanks for any guidance
 
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Honestly, the 5870 should still be able to smash anything in 1920x1200 at least up to 4xMSAA (ish), so I don't think you would need to upgrade. Definitely don't get a 6870 or a 560 (non-Ti model), as those would be sidegrades for you. If you wanted to upgrade, I would suggest at least a 6970 or 7950 from the AMD camp, or choosing a 570 or 680 from the nvidia side.

Yeah, just stick with the 5870.
 
I just upgraded from a hd5850 to a hd7850; and i'm loving it. Although, I mostly needed the extra GB of VRAM for eyefinity setup. even my hd 5850 was handling single monitor gaming just fine.
 
OP, what I suggest is, keep what you have right now. Prices for the 5870 have already hit rock bottom, and they are not going to get much lower than ~$150 anytime soon. In other words, you will not gain anything by selling your 5870 right now. On top of that, the new 28nm cards are faster, but from a price/performance perspective, they all suck. You will have to pay at least $200 out of your own pocket for the 7870, or more for anything faster than that. So I say, wait, don't buy anything 40nm, wait for 28nm to become more affordable, and jump on that in a few months, or if you find a good deal.

When I say buy a used card if it is a good deal, this is what I mean: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1680123&highlight=7870

Or this: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1680452&highlight=7970

But my bottom line is, if you can stand to wait, just wait.
 
I'm not a hardcore gamer so my Radeon HD 5850 still works for me.

I don't really intend on upgrading anything until next year when I plan on building a new PC around Intel's Haswell. By then perhaps the Radeon HD 8000 or nVidia GTX 700 series will be out.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys, appreciate it very much. Think i'm going to wait unless this one craps out soon.
 
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