I need an upgrade

[kevineugenius]

Currently I'm running 2x 1gb 6870s at 3600x1200 and they just don't cut it. I'd *like* to not go dual-card, but I'm on a low budget. My current plan is to double up on GTX 480s because I can get used ones for reasonable prices. After a PSU upgrade and two of those, though, I'll probably be just under $350 and getting "old" tech. Would I be better off with like a 7950 or some other newish card in the $300-350 range?

 

[raghu78]

Currently I'm running 2x 1gb 6870s at 3600x1200 and they just don't cut it. I'd *like* to not go dual-card, but I'm on a low budget. My current plan is to double up on GTX 480s because I can get used ones for reasonable prices. After a PSU upgrade and two of those, though, I'll probably be just under $350 and getting "old" tech. Would I be better off with like a 7950 or some other newish card in the $300-350 range?

Definitely get a HD 7950 OC. the Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X card is selling for USD 330. With voltage overclocking getting the HD 7950 to 1.15 - 1.2 Ghz should be possible. At those speeds the HD 7950 would provide a significant improvement over the HD 6870 CF in the latest games like BF3, Crysis 2, Batman AC, Max Payne 3.
For multi monitor you will require the bandwidth and VRAM of the HD 7950 to max out the games. You mention a 3600 x 1200 resolution. Are you running 3 monitors.What resolution are you running the monitors and is it in portrait or landscape mode.

 

[master noran]

I would pick up a used or new 7970 for around $350. Mine runs games like bfbc2 and bf3 great with some settings lowered at 3600x1920.

 

[kevineugenius]

Sorry, I mean 3600x1920, 3x monitors in portrait mode. Also, I hate overclocked stuff. Every single OC card I've ever had or any friends of mine have ever had was a pile of crap. "Core edition", SSC, factory OC, self OC, all that jazz are out the window. I'd rather lose 8fps and not have artifacts, BSODs, lockups, overheats, and all the other crap that has happened. Only my laptop with a quadro graphics card back in the day overclocked stably, which is kinda ridiculous.

Also, AMD makes crap software so I'm leaning toward nVidia in the first place. Everything I have seen points to the GTX 670 being faster than a 7950 and probably 50-50 even with a 7970. What makes the 7950 a more popular choice?

 

[master noran]

The 3GB vram on a 7950/7970 will be very useful at 3600x1920 since you may be limited with 2GB in certain games like bf3, metro and etc. Oc'd cards are not really worth it anyway since they usually have mild overclocks that users can get themselves. I have not had any instability with a single 7970 and eyefinity but I have read of issues with crossfire and eyefinity, honestly I don't think you will come across too many issues running a single card from either camp.

 

[kevineugenius]

The 3GB vram on a 7950/7970 will be very useful at 3600x1920 since you may be limited with 2GB in certain games

This didn't make sense to me, like there was a "not" left out of the sentence... or did I read it wrong somehow?

 

[master noran]

This didn't make sense to me, like there was a "not" left out of the sentence... or did I read it wrong somehow?

Made sense to me at the time

I'm just pointing out that the 3GB vram on the 7950/7970 is better suited for 3600x1920 than the 2GB vram on most NVIDIA gpu's because some demanding games use more than 2GB at that res. There are 4GB vram NVIDIA cards out there but they are more expensive.

 

[kevineugenius]

K, so the 3GB at high resolutions will be more useful than the average performance increase I see on the GTXs? I don't think I can find an affordable 7970, so that leaves basically 7950 vs GTX 670 and honestly I hate AMD's software and it seems like everyone else does too. Plus, lots of 1-egg reviews due to malfunctioning 7970s; makes me nervous. Haven't read a ton on the 670s yet, got sidetracked.

SQUIRREL!

 

[raghu78]

K, so the 3GB at high resolutions will be more useful than the average performance increase I see on the GTXs? I don't think I can find an affordable 7970, so that leaves basically 7950 vs GTX 670 and honestly I hate AMD's software and it seems like everyone else does too. Plus, lots of 1-egg reviews due to malfunctioning 7970s; makes me nervous. Haven't read a ton on the 670s yet, got sidetracked.

SQUIRREL!

the visiontek HD 7970 is selling for USD 365 at tigerdirect with a 4 game bundle. if you don't want the games you could sell them and bring your costs to below USD 350. frankly thats a very good deal.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3499047&CatId=7387

reference HD 7970 cards are quite stable. the blower style cooler is good as it vents hot air outside. so in the future if you want to go CF the blower style cooler is a better choice. From my personal experience with a ref XFX HD 6950 2GB i can say the card has been very good. I run games at 860 Mhz at stock voltage and temps are at 65 - 70c. I have run Furmark bench and temps maxed out around the same range.

 

[Sodapopjones]

the visiontek HD 7970 is selling for USD 365 at tigerdirect with a 4 game bundle. if you don't want the games you could sell them and bring your costs to below USD 350. frankly thats a very good deal.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3499047&CatId=7387

reference HD 7970 cards are quite stable. the blower style cooler is good as it vents hot air outside. so in the future if you want to go CF the blower style cooler is a better choice. From my personal experience with a ref XFX HD 6950 2GB i can say the card has been very good. I run games at 860 Mhz at stock voltage and temps are at 65 - 70c. I have run Furmark bench and temps maxed out around the same range.

VisionTek is crap though, there's a reason they're giving them away...