Deciding on upgrade from EVGA GTX460 GTX680 ATI 7970 or wait?

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dpoverlord

[H]ard|Gawd
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So oddly enough I had upgraded to a GTX 690. Skyrim was slightly faster. However, it was not significant. the 690 by far was overkill. Now I am trying to decide as I am unloading the 690, do I scale down to a 670/680 instead of the 460 or do I just upgrade the proc. Currently the i7-930 is overclocked to 4ghz.

Does anyone know where to find out where my bottleneck is?. I O/C my i7-930 to 4.2 GHZ and still Skyrim slows down in high graphics intense scenes in the open territories.

So this leads me to upgrading my GPU. What do you think is the best upgrade for my EVGA GTX460. Currently it's O/C to a core clock of 825MHZ and a memory clock of 1980mhz.

I am using 2 23" Samsung monitors and do not plan on using eyefinity since I I cannot fit a third monitor on my desk. If I could play a game on dual monitors I would be all for it (using HDMI, and mini HDMI), but I just do not see how I am unable to do that.

So.... I am looking for the best solution for a single card upgrade to get the best bang for my buck. I do not think buying another $160 GTX460 would make sense, so what do you guys think?

Thanks ahead of time!
 
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Interested in where you eventually go. I'm in the same boat except my card is a GTX 480 SOC.
 
I say GTX 680 if you can find one... or you could wait for the GTX 670/670Ti as those would probably be better value.
 
You mean difference between 460 SLI and 680?
GTX 460 SLI is about the same as a single 580, so the single 680 will be quite a bit quicker. Out of the original choices you listed between 460 SLI, 680 or 7970, the 680 is the best bet.

But then if you're only playing on a single monitor you can see if there's any cheap deals on a GTX 580, the 680 might be overkill for Skyrim.

p.s. gaming on 2 screens isn't going to be a great experience, most of the action is in the middle of the screen right where the bezels are...
 
Either the 680 OC or 7970 OC depending on the price, really.

You couldn't go wrong either way.
 
dpoverlord said:
After deciding what the bottleneck is in my system I realized it is the GPU. I O/C my i7-930 to 4.2 GHZ and still Skyrim slows down in high graphics intense scenes in the open territories.

So this leads me to upgrading my GPU. What do you think is the best upgrade for my EVGA GTX460. Currently it's O/C to a core clock of 825MHZ and a memory clock of 1980mhz.

I am using 2 23" Samsung monitors and do not plan on using eyefinity since I I cannot fit a third monitor on my desk. If I could play a game on dual monitors I would be all for it (using HDMI, and mini HDMI), but I just do not see how I am unable to do that.

So.... I am looking for the best solution for a single card upgrade to get the best bang for my buck. I do not think buying another $160 GTX460 would make sense, so what do you guys think?

Thanks ahead of time!
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dpoverlord
Have a look at the Sapphire HD 7970 Dual X card priced at USD 469. Its a great buy.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102982

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/10/sapphire_hd_7970_oc_edition_video_card_review/10
[H] gave it a silver rating at USD 580 and mentioned they would have given a gold if it had lower price. I think thats what they would rate it today at USD 469.

If you want three year warranty have a look at MSI HD 7970 Lightning . But you have to wait for it to come back into stock.Its priced higher at USD 519.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127670

These are the best custom designs. Both cards can hit 1.2+ Ghz speeds. At those speeds they win more games than lose against OC'd GTX 680s.
 
raghu78 said:
dpoverlord
Have a look at the Sapphire HD 7970 Dual X card priced at USD 469. Its a great buy.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102982

[H] gave it a silver rating at USD 580 and mentioned they would have given a gold if it had lower price. I think thats what they would rate it today at USD 469.

If you want three year warranty have a look at MSI HD 7970 Lightning . But you have to wait for it to come back into stock.Its priced higher at USD 519.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127670

These are the best custom designs. Both cards can hit 1.2+ Ghz speeds. At those speeds they win more games than lose against OC'd GTX 680s.
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This. I've looked all over online and cannot find a HD 7970 lightning anywhere. So I would recommend the Sapphire.

If you can find a GTX 680 for a decent price for sale on the forums here I would go for it, either way, you will see a drastic improvement over the graphics card you already have.
 
Wait. The performance over a GTX 680 is 1-5% over the GTX 580. It is not worth your money to upgrade from GTX 480 -> 580/680 unless you hate the power consumption or heat that much.

I am a GTX 480 owner myself.
 
DJ Big T said:
This. I've looked all over online and cannot find a HD 7970 lightning anywhere. So I would recommend the Sapphire. ....
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I would not recommend Sapphire anymore. I've had their ATI products over the years, starting with a 9800 pro.

The Sapphire HD 6850 has been a nightmare. The quality seems lacking: Fan failure after 6 months and the RMA process frustrating: 2 months of exchanges with the RMA process. (1st replacement was DOA, 2nd replacement, meh ). It might be a problem of their mid-range products vs the High end but at this point I'm tired of dealing with them.

Stick with the Asus, Gigabyte or MSI. You will end up spending more when you RMA the HIS/Sapphire/XFX cards
 
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latenite said:
I would not recommend Sapphire anymore. I've had their ATI products over the years, starting with a 9800 pro.

The Sapphire HD 6850 has been a nightmare. The quality seems lacking: Fan failure after 6 months and the RMA process frustrating: 2 months of exchanges with the RMA process. (1st replacement was DOA, 2nd replacement, meh ). It might be a problem of their mid-range products vs the High end but at this point I'm tired of dealing with them.

Stick with the Asus, Gigabyte or MSI. You will end up spending more when you RMA the HIS/Sapphire/XFX cards
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I would have to disagree.

I have owned a Sapphire 6970 and 6990. I even roasted the 6970 bitmining. And I had to RMA it. It was a very positive experience with the RMA and went quick and flawlessly.

The 6990 was top notch quality build. I had the 6990 up to 900hz on the GPU as well.

I wouldnt hesitate to buy Sapphire again.....its just too bad they dont make Nvidia cards lol
 
Kainzo said:
Wait. The performance over a GTX 680 is 1-5% over the GTX 580. It is not worth your money to upgrade from GTX 480 -> 580/680 unless you hate the power consumption or heat that much.

I am a GTX 480 owner myself.
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I upgraded from 2 GTX 480s (@825) to a single 680 - I found that the performance in NV Surround was equal or better in BC2 and BF3 so I did the only logical thing I could think of.

I ordered a second 680 :D

Maybe the difference is not that much in single screen, but to go from 600W to 190W for the same performance was pretty amazing.
 
a single GTX 570 runs Skyrim on max very nicely and is quite the bang for the buck. However, if you're looking at playing anything else like BF3, then just go for the GTX 680. It runs all games beautifully.
 
jesusfr3ak4evr said:
a single GTX 570 runs Skyrim on max very nicely and is quite the bang for the buck. However, if you're looking at playing anything else like BF3, then just go for the GTX 680. It runs all games beautifully.
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I really don't suggest getting a last gen card especially a 570 because that card runs super hot and is a power hog. Just get a 7950 and done deal. 680 is overhyped and draws more power than a 7950.
 
This makes sense, I went to a local crapbuy today but they only had 560's and no 7950's seems no one sells GPU at B&M anymore
 
Where do you live? 670 GTX cards are in stock on Newegg right now. It's faster than a 7950 and trades blows with a 7970.
 
I just bought a GTX 680, the gigabyte version with the 3 fan cooler and I could NOT be happier.
 
I like to take a cards average performance into account, amongst other things. here is what i have for you to look at:

All these numbers are based on a GTX460 @ stock and average gaming bench scores.
Percentages are average performance increase over your current card.
Price/per is average cost per performance increase percentile over your card.

GTX 680 || 123% || $500 || $4.06/per
GTX 670 || 113% || $400 || $3.54/per
HD 7970 || 113% || $480 || $4.25/per
HD 7950 || 90.5% || $400 || $4.42/per
HD 7850 OC || 76% || $250 || $3.29/per

Consider pure bang for buck, the HD 7850 OC provides the lowest price per performance gain of this generation up to this point, but overall it isnt in the same class as the rest as the cards.
Which is why i would recommend the GTX670 over the other cards if price/performance was a big deal, as you did mention.

Something else to take into account is the gpu architecture and the current trend that game devs are following..i cannot comment on current gen architecture, as i am a bit out of the loop and playing catch up atm.
However, in my experience, i was able to hold on to every ATI card i ever owned for 1 to 2 years longer than the Nvidia products i owned, or perhaps i am just good at avoiding bad generations :D.
 
pree said:
However, in my experience, i was able to hold on to every ATI card i ever owned for 1 to 2 years longer than the Nvidia products i owned, or perhaps i am just good at avoiding bad generations :D.
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I'm curious what you mean by this. Can you be more specific or provide some examples? I own a GTS 250. Considering it's a rebadged 8800 gtx, it's amazing that it still plays every game out there albeit at lower settings. Before that I had an ati 9800pro so if anybody is the king of holding on to their old cards it's me. :D

Didn't ati just drop support for their 4000 series and below? I'm wondering what that means as far as longevity goes with amd.
 
Bryson said:
I'm curious what you mean by this. Can you be more specific or provide some examples? I own a GTS 250. Considering it's a rebadged 8800 gtx, it's amazing that it still plays every game out there albeit at lower settings. Before that I had an ati 9800pro so if anybody is the king of holding on to their old cards it's me. :D

Didn't ati just drop support for their 4000 series and below? I'm wondering what that means as far as longevity goes with amd.
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No they didn't, they are moved to quarterly updates, you talk about specifics while ignoring them yourself and my 4x3870s are still in use.
 
Final8ty said:
No they didn't, they are moved to quarterly updates, you talk about specifics while ignoring them yourself and my 4x3870s are still in use.
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I did not ignore specifics. I asked a question as I did not know the answer. Is that not the point of asking a question? I am glad to hear that.

Another question for pree seeing as how you are price conscious and good with math, i'd value your opinion. You recommend the GTX 670 as best bang for the buck, but seeing as how nVidia has no mid range offering this gen, would it be a sound idea to pick up a 7850 for $250? Say in a year I could sell it for $150(?) and buy a GTX 760 for around $250, a rebranded GTX 680 most likely. Wouldn't that strategy come out a winner?
 
DJ Big T said:
Except the 7850 sucks... seriously. Get a 670 and call it a day.
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Except that not everybody has $400+ dollars to spend on a video card and the 7850 is the best card at $250 and overclocks to GTX 570/580 speeds.
 
Sell the 2x 460's and it'll probably cover close to 40-50% of the 670. That's what I did.
 
Bryson said:
I'm curious what you mean by this. Can you be more specific or provide some examples? I own a GTS 250. Considering it's a rebadged 8800 gtx, it's amazing that it still plays every game out there albeit at lower settings. Before that I had an ati 9800pro so if anybody is the king of holding on to their old cards it's me. :D

Didn't ati just drop support for their 4000 series and below? I'm wondering what that means as far as longevity goes with amd.
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Sure thing...i was debating on replacing my gpu, but i never upgrade unless there is a certain performance margin.

I bought a 9800pro (loved that card) in 2002 and only replaced that 3 years later with a x1900xt, which lasted me another 2 years. In 2007 i bought a 8800gts 640, which was replaced by a 260-216 the following year, this card in turn was replaced by a 5870 in 2009. That was 3 years (2.5 years since launch) and i am now finally able to justify an upgrade with the gtx 670...however i decided i am not currently in the market for a new gpu. Summer is my slow gaming season and if anything i play mmo's these days, so i don't need the latest and greatest.

You definitely are better at holding on to cards than i am :).

Bryson said:
Another question for pree seeing as how you are price conscious and good with math, i'd value your opinion. You recommend the GTX 670 as best bang for the buck, but seeing as how nVidia has no mid range offering this gen, would it be a sound idea to pick up a 7850 for $250? Say in a year I could sell it for $150(?) and buy a GTX 760 for around $250, a rebranded GTX 680 most likely. Wouldn't that strategy come out a winner?
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Well, going by your numbers you would lose $100 on the ati card and would save $150 on the gtx 670...so you would save 50 dollars in exchange for the hassle to sell the 7850 and waiting for the gtx 670 performance for a year. I have doubts that you could find a 670 for $250 a year from now with the kind of performance they deliver.
Especially once the gtx 660 comes around (whenever that will be), it will play its part in devaluing the current 78xx cards and perhaps the 7950 as well. And who knows..with all that oc headroom on amd's 7xxx series, there may very well be a very nice refresh coming this year, which would help in lowering the price on a new and or used gtx 670, depending on the pricing of such a refresh.

At the end of the day, saving $50 dollars to wait a year and dealing with a private sale would not be worth it to me personally.
 
So oddly enough I had upgraded to a GTX 690. Skyrim was slightly faster. However, it was not significant. the 690 by far was overkill. Now I am trying to decide as I am unloading the 690, do I scale down to a 670/680 or do I just upgrade the proc. Currently the i7-930 is overclocked to 4ghz.

Does anyone know where to find out where my bottleneck is?
 
The 680 will be a beastly card for next gen DX 11 titles because of its massive tessellation power, nearly two times that of a 580. I myself have got one and it handles all DX 11 titles with ease at a constant 60 fps. Games i have played so far.

Metro 2033 (Maxed out, DOF Off, Advanced Physx ON, Tessellation ON) 60 fps.
Crysis 2 (Maxed out, DX 11, High res) 60 fps.
Far Cry 3 (Ultra, 2xMSAA, HBAO) 60 fps.
Assassins Creed 3 (Maxed out, Environ detail - High) 60 fps.
Battlefield 3 (Ultra) 60 fps.
New Dawn Demo (Ultra Off) 40-50 fps.

All games at 1080p and Adaptive Vsync on.

So yeah that sums it up, Tessellation and Global illumination is gonna be a big part in next gen titles like Crysis 3 and Far Cry 3 so you would be better off getting a 680 instead of a 7970 because Nvidia has always been better in Tessellation performance.Get a 680 DCUII Top if you can find it because it is notoriously rare like a Unicorn!. Its a beastly card and the max temps I have got to is 62 C and it overclocks insane.

Crysis 3 System requirements released! Take a look. same As Far Cry 3.

http://www.crysis.com
 
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OP, if you went all the way up to a GTX690 and that barely moved your FPS then you're somehow CPU-limited.

Keep the 690 and give it a CPU which will make it sweat.....like say a IB i7 chip.

You also asked about the gtx 670 vs gtx 680. The benches are very close, the 680 is not much quicker at all.
 
You say you are hitting the bottleneck in open areas. You have this listed in your sig
RAM: G Skill PC3 10700 6-6-6-23 (667MHZ)
How much of this RAM do you have? What OS are you using? An SSD would improve things as far as bottlenecks go.
I do not have a top notch machine by top end standards but I have no problems with Skyrim and my HDD speeds are my only bottleneck.
 
Occidio said:
You say you are hitting the bottleneck in open areas. You have this listed in your sig
RAM: G Skill PC3 10700 6-6-6-23 (667MHZ)
How much of this RAM do you have? What OS are you using? An SSD would improve things as far as bottlenecks go.
I do not have a top notch machine by top end standards but I have no problems with Skyrim and my HDD speeds are my only bottleneck.
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Hey Occidio my ram is:
G-SKILL-6GB-3-x-2GB-240-Pin-DDR3-SDRAM-DDR3-1600-PC3-12800l
800x600px-LL-706541c9_1045371242_20-231-225-TS.jpeg
I have 3 x 2GB dimms, I hear getting another of the same 3 would not be that much better and the Gigabyte X58A-UD5 rev 2 may have issues with 6.

I am using win 7 ultimate, I like the SSD options but they seem really expensive for only 200GB. The 450 GB drives are $400.


atp1916 said:
Keep the 690 and give it a CPU which will make it sweat.....like say a IB i7 chip.
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It's not that I did not see a noticeable improvement, I just still had slow downs, do you know how to benchmark Skyrim to be able to test your frame rate? I still have the GTX 690 as it has not sold yet and I can test the difference between that and the 460 in order to see the improvement.
 
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