Upgrade Recommendations.

[ThatsAgood1jay]

I currently am running a 2gb 7850 in my machine, it runs all the games I play at or near ultra at 1080p. I have a friend lined up to buy it so he can run it in a crossfire setup, but I was wondering if it's even worth upgrading with supposedly a new line coming out from AMD in the fall?

If I did upgrade, I would be most interested in a 290, the last few Nvidia cards I owned both burned themselves out, and I have had absolutely no heat trouble with my 7850. But I am open to going back to Nvidia, if the price to performance is right.

What are the forums recommendation?

 

[Schro]

Depends on what your budget is . A friend of mine noticed a world of difference at 1080p going from a 7850 to a 7970, so, I'd say that's your minimum upgrade (aka a 280X if you're buying new). However, I'd personally agree that the 290 is probably your best bet for an upgrade right now -

7970/280x - Most games will play mostly maxed out at 1080p
290 - All games out there today should be maxed out at 1080p (save for excessive SSAA or very high MSAA)

 

[ThatsAgood1jay]

Well, there is a couple of people local to me selling twin 280x's for a decent price (MSI cards, supposedly non mined, but MSI has the transferrable warranty), but I am afraid with twin 280x's I would run out of headroom on my PSU (old 750watt PCPNC)

Would it be better to do a 290 or maybe the twin 280x's?

 

[Nauseous]

i wouldnt upgrade till you have a need. but thats just me being a cheap ass.

 

[Schro]

Well, there is a couple of people local to me selling twin 280x's for a decent price (MSI cards, supposedly non mined, but MSI has the transferrable warranty), but I am afraid with twin 280x's I would run out of headroom on my PSU (old 750watt PCPNC)

Would it be better to do a 290 or maybe the twin 280x's?

I ran a pair of 7970's (basically, 280X's) in my daily driver for a while with a Corsair 750TX2 V2 for a while without issue. Total wall draw should be closer to 500-600w which is well within the capabilities of most 750w PSU's.

A pair of the 280X's will be faster than a single 290, however, for 1080p gaming, you're not going to be gaining a lot as you'll end up with the same in-game settings between the two cards. My gut instinct is to go with the 290, and when you need more performance a few years down the line, add another at that time.

 

[techtechie]

I ran a pair of 7970's (basically, 280X's) in my daily driver for a while with a Corsair 750TX2 V2 for a while without issue. Total wall draw should be closer to 500-600w which is well within the capabilities of most 750w PSU's.

A pair of the 280X's will be faster than a single 290, however, for 1080p gaming, you're not going to be gaining a lot as you'll end up with the same in-game settings between the two cards. My gut instinct is to go with the 290, and when you need more performance a few years down the line, add another at that time.

personally i would go for the 290. it would be cheaper than 2x 280x and at 1080 crossfiring 2 280x would be more than overkill but so would the 290 but it leave some room for future upgrades without putting too much room in your wallet

 

[Odellus]

Well, there is a couple of people local to me selling twin 280x's for a decent price (MSI cards, supposedly non mined, but MSI has the transferrable warranty), but I am afraid with twin 280x's I would run out of headroom on my PSU (old 750watt PCPNC)

Would it be better to do a 290 or maybe the twin 280x's?

any decent 750W power supply can handle two mid-tier cards, and the fact that that's a PCP&C leads me to believe it's a decent psu. 280X CF is right where you want to be for 1080p as it will allow you to play any game with a minimum framerate of 60 fps at max settings with AA, and if you have/get a high refresh rate monitor you can turn the settings down a little bit and average 120 in a lot of games. it all depends on how much a 'decent price' is.

 

[Armenius]

I ran a pair of 7970's (basically, 280X's) in my daily driver for a while with a Corsair 750TX2 V2 for a while without issue. Total wall draw should be closer to 500-600w which is well within the capabilities of most 750w PSU's.

A pair of the 280X's will be faster than a single 290, however, for 1080p gaming, you're not going to be gaining a lot as you'll end up with the same in-game settings between the two cards. My gut instinct is to go with the 290, and when you need more performance a few years down the line, add another at that time.

personally i would go for the 290. it would be cheaper than 2x 280x and at 1080 crossfiring 2 280x would be more than overkill but so would the 290 but it leave some room for future upgrades without putting too much room in your wallet

It depends on the monitor you're running. If you want to push games to 120 or 144 Hz, you're going to need more horsepower to push framerates that far if you don't want to sacrifice image quality. I'm personally running 2x GTX 780s in SLI for 1080p on a VG278HE so I can push a lot of games close to 144 FPS while keeping settings close to max.

 

[techtechie]

It depends on the monitor you're running. If you want to push games to 120 or 144 Hz, you're going to need more horsepower to push framerates that far if you don't want to sacrifice image quality. I'm personally running 2x GTX 780s in SLI for 1080p on a VG278HE so I can push a lot of games close to 144 FPS while keeping settings close to max.

but does one actually realize the difference with fps on anything over 60?

 

[ThatsAgood1jay]

but does one actually realize the difference with fps on anything over 60?

I certainly notice a difference between running at or above 60 comapred to say 40fps, but have never had a high refresh rate monitor so I cannot say. My 'gaming' monitor is actually an LG ln5300 32" 60hz tv, it all looks nice on there. If I am doing productivity stuff, I have a 24" side monitor that I use.

 

[techtechie]

I certainly notice a difference between running at or above 60 comapred to say 40fps, but have never had a high refresh rate monitor so I cannot say. My 'gaming' monitor is actually an LG ln5300 32" 60hz tv, it all looks nice on there. If I am doing productivity stuff, I have a 24" side monitor that I use.

well so do i and i fairly new to the whole mainstream gaming. im talking of anything more than 60 fps

 

[GonzoP]

That 750W PSU ought to just be adequate enough given the OP's system with a Crossfire 79xx set up. My buddy went from a crossfire 7870 to crossfire 7970 setup and it was a significant leap in 1920x1200 performance. The 79xx cards are really priced well for buyer right now. With tons of miners dumping them for super cheap. I'm looking to make that move myself. I mean on ebay right now you have 7950's selling for less than 7870's. At current ebay prices you absolutely can get a pair of 7950's for less than a single 290. If you find the right miner having a sale on multiple's I've seen pairs of 7970's sell for less than $280 as well. That's about as cheap as 290's are going for on ebay right now. But then you'd be locked in, unless you went tri-fire on the 7970's. 2 7970's will smoke a single 290. Some might say get one 290 now and down the road throw in a second. But with the OP's PSU a second 290 would necessitate a PSU upgrade.