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Best GPU for 1920x1080, single screen gaming ?

V

Vesqwi

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 9, 2011
Messages
352
I was going to buy a 7970, but I just remembered that I forgot to consider two very important factors (resolution I'll be using and my screen setup).

I will be running on a single screen only (never going to go multi-screen)
and I'll play @ 1920x1080 only, (monitor can't do more anyway)

Given those two information, should I reconsider my 7970 primary choice ?

rest of build:
CPU: i7 2600K
Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
Memory: Samsung MV-3V4G3D/US 8GB (2x 4GB)
Hard drive: Crucial Technology CT128M4SSD2 128GB m4 SSD
PSU: SeaSonic X-SERIES X-1050
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi
- COOLER MASTER Hyper 212
- Prolimatech PRO-MGH-C Megahalems Revision C CPU Cooler
 
How much are you looking to spend? What kind of games? The GTX 560 Ti 448 Core or the 6950 2GB are good value choices at that resolution. Or you could try to find a used 6970 with a transferable warranty. Or you could get all spendy and go with a 7950, although that's kind of overkill at that resolution for most games. Or you can hang tight for a week or so and see if anything drops from Nvidia.
 
I am ready to pay the full price for that part of my build. really.
And I just purchased the S23A700D samsung monitor which is compatible with AMD 3D technology only (I do not intend on using 3D a lot however)

I don't mind resell/buy to update my gpu each year.
 
It also depends on what your playing and eye candy levels.

I play at 1920x1080, skyrim (only thing im playing right now, very little time), and with everything maxed, official hi-res DLC texture pack, .ini quality tweaks, and drivers set to max (if not application), and I get anywhere from 30-120FPS. All depends. I think this is acceptable. I dont notice lag or stutter. Im also running my unlocked 6950 @ 900-925/1325 (depends on day if I slide the bar over some more, and run it.
 
If the money part of it doesn't bother you, then it will be a great card for you. And you won't need to upgrade for quite some time, likely several years. You've also got enough power to go to a higher resolution, should the mood strike you down the road.
 
257Tony said:
If the money part of it doesn't bother you, then it will be a great card for you. And you won't need to upgrade for quite some time, likely several years. You've also got enough power to go to a higher resolution, should the mood strike you down the road.
Click to expand...

what card, the 7970 ?
 
4Best right now is the HD7950 in terms of value and ability.

It's to much money though. For $349.99 they would have a winner and I would buy it.
 
Stupid_Newbie said:
It also depends on what your playing and eye candy levels.
Click to expand...

What do you mean "eye candy level" ? (I'm french and I can't get all these expressions).. Will be playing well.. many top 2005 to 2011 games and all the new 2012 games and future... (50/50 I'd say)
 
If I was buying a new card now, it would be the 7950 or 7970. Always buy the fastest single card that you can afford and move on.
 
hardforummarc said:
What do you mean "eye candy level" ? (I'm french and I can't get all these expressions).. Will be playing well.. many top 2005 to 2011 games and all the new 2012 games and future... (50/50 I'd say)
Click to expand...

He's referring to if you want AA up, all the quality settings maxed out, etc.

@Son

Is the 79x0 expensive? Yeah. But name a card that outperforms it for cheaper. AMD is only charging what the market will bear. And seeing as how many places still have them OOS, I think the market is willing to pay that.
 
A 7970 isn't overkill at 1920x1080, especially since you have a 120hz monitor. BF3 and Metro 2033 will still stress your card, as will future games.
 
jbz7890 said:
A 7970 isn't overkill at 1920x1080, especially since you have a 120hz monitor. BF3 and Metro 2033 will still stress your card, as will future games.
Click to expand...

spaceman said:
If I was buying a new card now, it would be the 7950 or 7970. Always buy the fastest single card that you can afford and move on.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys. See why I'm so confused: (live thread): http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1673267
Also, what's you point of view for my choice of 2600K cpu ? many ppl tell me to go i5 2500K... don't know what to think.. I'd link your opinion

I think I'll go for a 7970 anyway
 
I would go for it. My 5870 is enough to play just about anything at 1920x1080 with max settings but Crysis, Metro and even Crysis 2 in some places will get down into the 30's for extended periods. If I could afford it, Id get a GTX580 or equivalent in a second. I dont think its overkill at all.
 
Forceman said:
Rumor is they are going to demo it this weekend - last time they did that (the GTX 580) they launched the card the next Tuesday.
Click to expand...

Oh good to know. What's up this weekend ? any conference show ?
I'll wait 2 weeks then...
 
hardforummarc said:
Oh good to know. What's up this weekend ? any conference show ?
I'll wait 2 weeks then...
Click to expand...

PDXLan. I haven't seen any credible rumors that they are launching next week (and a lot of people would be surprised if they did), but it might at least increase the quality of the rumors that are floating around.
 
The new nvidia card is not going to match the 7970. That card is not due out for at least 3-4 months. The card at pdx lan is a middle card more like what the 560 is now compared to the 580.
 
I play on the exact same resolution as you, with only one monitor as well. I just recently upgraded last week, and I snagged an XFX R7970 black edition. Reason being? I wanted the insurance that I'd be able to play just about all games at max levels for a good while, and not really have to worry about it. So far, it's turned out to be a great decision, but if price is something that matters for you then consider the 7950. Perfect alternative. At this exact point in time I wouldn't really consider anything other than the 7x series, at least until kepler is released, but that's just because I like to invest in what's currently setting the curve.
 
spaceman said:
The new nvidia card is not going to match the 7970. That card is not due out for at least 3-4 months. The card at pdx lan is a middle card more like what the 560 is now compared to the 580.
Click to expand...

Is should match the GTX 580 though, and might be competitive with the 7950, depending on which rumor you believe. It most likely will also cost significantly less than the 7970 - hopefully pushing down prices on either it or the 7950.
 
I'd wait a bit longer to see what the green team has up their sleeve, in all probability they may manage to launch a card with a medium price that performs close to or exceeds the gtx 580, at 1080p, it will certainly be plenty.
If the performance is as good as to be expected amd may have to drop the price on their cards to counter the value proposition.

Either way, since you are so close to launch, I'd wait.

Food for thought, anything from this current generation will keep you happy. I'm still running a 5870, and it runs most games at max settings. I have been skipping generations between upgrades, b/c honestly getting a 20-30 percent increase in performance is never worth the 2x-3x price increase that it warrants in between generations.
6970 comes out... at 370 or so, gives me at most 30 percent, where my card still has a value of 200.
I decide to wait.

The 7970 can give me about 40 -50 percent performance increase, but is more than 3 times the price
Once I can get twice the performance, then i'm willing to spend 2-3 times of the resale value of my card.


Granted I doubt I'll ever get to experience again the jump from a g92 to a 5870 for 2.5x the resale value.

At this point, the 7970 does not fall into that price category, with the keppler launch should drive down the price of the 7970 where it may prove to a be a viable option again.
 
I'll post what I've been posting for weeks in these sorts of threads:

Pick up a used 6950 2GB with transferrable or serial-number based warranty for $200 or less in the FS/FT area of the forums.

Most being sold are older and even unlock to 6970 shaders, and OC easily to 6970 levels (and beyond). People are dumping them left and right to get 7950s/7970s, so they're dirt cheap for what they are. Hold on to it for a few months and if something amazing comes out from either AMD or Nivida (or AMD's prices on 79xx cards go down considerably) sell it off for near what you paid for it and get the latest and greatest.
 
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What brand would you go for the 7970:
XFX, Saphire, Gigabyte, MSI, Asus or else ? and why
 
To date the 7970 is fetching premium prices, whether it is worth it or not.

What's your spendiness for eye candy?

I think in 6 months 2 7950s in crossfire will be the wAY to go, but. lol. god, I've been wrong before.
 
1080p, from my experience. i have the same exact setup as you and I went from a GTX 580 to a 560 and I love it. Its the perfect amount of performance for me as a college student to play SC2 here and there. Suits me perfectly. I hope this helps you out on your decision making.
 
BigJayDogg3 said:
@Son

Is the 79x0 expensive? Yeah. But name a card that outperforms it for cheaper. AMD is only charging what the market will bear. And seeing as how many places still have them OOS, I think the market is willing to pay that.
Click to expand...



My local Newegg hasn't come anywhere close to being OOS.
 
I am unsatisfied with my framerates in BF3, Ultra Settings, 1920x1080. Using GTX480 SLI. As of now, i run it at Ultra textures, SSAO, no MSAA, high FXAA, and High quality mesh and terrain. And my fps still has drops down to the 50's (average around 90 fps) on Karkand maps.
I want to run HBAO, and ultra meshes and terrain. But my averages drops too low, and I am already used to the high framrates on my 120hz screen.

Remember, its not about getting the bare minimum. Its about getting the best you can get for your scrilla. Sure a GTX560TI or a 6950 can run almost everything today at high settings hovering around 60fps, but next year that will be medium settings, and the year after that it will be low settings. And you can forget about using AA.

If you get a card today that does everything at max settings and better this year, then it will probably be able to keep up those max settings next year.

Stay ahead of the curve.
 
BigJayDogg3 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...esktop Graphics / Video Cards&Order=BESTMATCH

Looks like a bunch of OOS cards to me...
Click to expand...



Let me clear this up. I forgot to state HD7950. I don't care for HD7970. Way over priced and perfectly priced and marketed for the elite that just have to have the very best no matter what the cost. The same people would probably buy it if it costed $700. HD7970 was sold out at newegg shortly after it was released. I think there was less stock than the HD7950.

The HD7950 has had plenty of stock at Newegg. Every day since its release I have looked at it at Newegg for a deal and there is always plenty of stock. IMO HD7950 is not doing well in sales. If it were marketed correctly i think it would have been completely out of stock the first weekend it was available.


Plenty of HD7950 stock at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...100006662&isNodeId=1&Description=7950&x=0&y=0
 
ok can we please return back to my initial question ?

What brand would you go for the 7970:
XFX, Saphire, Gigabyte, MSI, Asus or else ? and why

Also concerned about warranty. Which one does offer a serial-based warranty for canadian buyer ?
I mean, I will re-sell that card in a year or so, so I must be able to transfert the warranty at that time too.

Thanks
 
I'd go with Sapphire, Gigabyte, or MSI. My dealings with ASUS support have always been negative. I believe all three companies offer serial number based warranties, at least for US buyers. I am not certain about Canadians.
 
hardforummarc said:
ok can we please return back to my initial question ?

What brand would you go for the 7970:
XFX, Saphire, Gigabyte, MSI, Asus or else ? and why

Also concerned about warranty. Which one does offer a serial-based warranty for canadian buyer ?
I mean, I will re-sell that card in a year or so, so I must be able to transfert the warranty at that time too.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Gigabyte, period for quality and RMA support, read the [H] review on the front page if you have any questions. I just pulled the trigger on the 7950 version of what they reviewed. Should be a marked improvement over my 5850 that I'm bequeathing to my 15 year old.

I don't know about the warranty though, sorry. I haven't sold a graphics card in I don't know how many years, they always get handed down or given to friends in need.
 
AdamNesvick said:
Gigabyte, period for quality and RMA support, read the [H] review on the front page if you have any questions. I just pulled the trigger on the 7950 version of what they reviewed. Should be a marked improvement over my 5850 that I'm bequeathing to my 15 year old.

I don't know about the warranty though, sorry. I haven't sold a graphics card in I don't know how many years, they always get handed down or given to friends in need.
Click to expand...

The one on the front page of [H] review is the non reference one with 3 fans on it. The only Gigabyte available at the moment is the reference one. Are the reference and non-reference ones that much different ? Should I buy the reference one or wait for that non-reference one to be available ?

Microbytes is the only local retail store near me that still has some Gigabyte 7970 available: http://www.microbytes.com
Buying it locally would provide me an original invoice with no name on it (so that I can transfer the manufacturer warranty to the new card owner once I'll re-sell it in a year or so..)
Should I go for it ?

Here's a comparison of the two Gigabyte 7970: http://www.gigabyte.us/products/comparison/list.aspx?ck=3&pids=4094,4102
 
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