6870 Upgrade Time... for 27"+ suggestions ?

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ToddW2

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Well I have a 6870 in my I7-930, SSD, 24GB Ram.

I have a 27" Apple Cinema Display it's used with or a 30" Dell HD.
I run at full resolution. I play COD, and BF3 mostly.


What would be the best bang for buck but also noticeable upgrade ???

Is there anything coming out soon I should wait for :confused:
 
You did not mention your budget. The best deal going is the AMD 7950 for $299. This would be a significant upgrade from your 6870, especially at the resolutions you are running.
 
MrC4 said:
You did not mention your budget. The best deal going is the AMD 7950 for $299. This would be a significant upgrade from your 6870, especially at the resolutions you are running.
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Or, if you don't mind buying used, you can get a 7970 for cheaper than that here on the forums. No need ot buy new when you don't have to. The fact that all of these cards come with a serial number based warranty makes it that much easier to buy it off someone here.
 
Price isn't a concern but I don't want latest and greatest price tags.

I was eyeballing the 7970 just wasn't sure if there were alternatives or if it would be noticeable...
 
eh..

You won't notice the difference between something like a 7970 and a gtx680.

While most people will say OOHH ONLY 5% DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 7970/7950 and 680-670 OOOH OMGOODNESS, they are full of it. It doesn't change the fact that the top end models perform better, and in some games, it might make ALL the difference.

That being said, no - you won't notice a difference between the 680 and the 7970
 
Phishy714 said:
eh..

You won't notice the difference between something like a 7970 and a gtx680.

While most people will say OOHH ONLY 5% DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 7970/7950 and 680-670 OOOH OMGOODNESS, they are full of it. It doesn't change the fact that the top end models perform better, and in some games, it might make ALL the difference.

That being said, no - you won't notice a difference between the 680 and the 7970
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680 :confused:
 
Honestly, I've been using my 6870 to drive my 27" 2560x1440 display, and as long as I keep AA off, it's been extremely competent. I've been able to run -most- games at max eye-candy settings without AA/post processing, like Deus Ex HR, Crysis 2 with High Res pack (using the advanced graphics utility to disable AA) and Battlefield 3.

Not sure what the framerates are, but they are very playable without any noticeable slowdown. Personally, I would be interested to know which card would be best for a situation where you don't care about AA (I can't even notice jagged edges at 1440p).
 
zaxour said:
Honestly, I've been using my 6870 to drive my 27" 2560x1440 display, and as long as I keep AA off, it's been extremely competent. I've been able to run -most- games at max eye-candy settings without AA/post processing, like Deus Ex HR, Crysis 2 with High Res pack (using the advanced graphics utility to disable AA) and Battlefield 3.

Not sure what the framerates are, but they are very playable without any noticeable slowdown. Personally, I would be interested to know which card would be best for a situation where you don't care about AA (I can't even notice jagged edges at 1440p).
Click to expand...

I really only notice it when I`m looking down the barrel or scoping someone my movement is like --- much at once instead of - much. Was hoping a higher end card could smooth out my movement a bit when scoping.

Care to share all your settings for BF3 ? Curious if I can change some things and get it better.

Thanks!
 
Sure, here they are:

bf3%20settings.png


So far, these have worked well for me. I don't have my card overclocked, so it's at the stock 900 MHz Core/ 1050 MHz memory.
 
As far as those settings go, I think that motion blur tends to induce quite a performance hit. I usually turn motion blur off or turn it down a lot. SSAO also causes a performance hit. Turning them off might help with your movement issues. Of course upgrading to a more powerful video card might help too. The higher the resolution you use the harder the video card must work.

2560 x 1440 pixels = 3.68m pixels
1920 x 1080 = 2.07m pixels

If price is no object then a GTX 680 or Radeon 7970 will improve your performance.
What you also might consider is adding a second 6870 in crossfireX. Although scalability varies from game to game.
 
A second 6870 would not be a good idea. He'd still be stuck with 1GB of ram and at the resolutions he'll be running, you'll want more than that.

7970 or 680. If you plan to overclock the cards an OC'd 7970 would probably edge out an OC'd 680 particularily at those resolutions. However, if you want Physx for the few games that use it, go with the 680
 
I agree with the suggestion for a 7950, pref used if you can find one. The differences between models are slight at best until you step up from the 7870 to the 7950. In my humble opinion the best bang for buck deal for ya.
 
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