Do I Need To Upgrade From 7950 for 1440p?

[roninmedia]

I have my eyes on the Dell UltraSharp U2715H, upgrading from an 23" Asus 1080p monitor (Combination of gaming and anime consumption). I play mostly League of Legends and RPGs, especially those JRPGs ported from console. My current list of favorite games on Steam are:

• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Final Fantasy XIII
• South Park: The Stick of Truth
• Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1
• Valkyria Chronicles

I likely won't purchase a super demanding game until Elder Scrolls 6.


CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor @ 4.0
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Low Voltage Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5” State Drive
Storage: Seagate 3TB 3.5” 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card @ 925/1400
Case: Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)

I am upgrading my case and storage from an old build.

 

[XiandreX]

The 7950 was never intended to be a 1440p Gpu.
I understand certain games might run ok @ 1440p but
if you plan to run games exclusively at 1440p I would definitely
recommend an upgrade.
I would however wait a bit to see what AMD brings to the table.

 

[Silverforce11]

Those games you list, no. They aren't very GPU heavy, even Skyrim unless you mod a lot.

 

[Serandur]

The 7950 was never intended to be a 1440p Gpu.
I understand certain games might run ok @ 1440p but
if you plan to run games exclusively at 1440p I would definitely
recommend an upgrade.
I would however wait a bit to see what AMD brings to the table.

If it was never intended to be so, I really wonder what 1440p card recommendations were like when the 7950 was the second fastest card on the market.


Anyway OP, for those games the 7950 will still do an excellent job even at 1440p and I would recommend waiting to upgrade it. for

 

[Valantar]

I play at 1440p with my 6950, the 7950 is significantly faster than that. In newer games I need to turn down the details a bit, but the only cases in which I've had to actually switch to a lower resolution is in the Metro games as well as Titanfall. Relatively new titles like Thief, Tomb Raider play just fine at full resolution. It's been a few years since I played Skyrim, but from what I remember I played that at 1440p as well.

I'm planning an upgrade this year, but with your newer GPU I'd wait at least another year.

 

[Arg Clin]

I agree with what's been said about the listed games. Games like GTA5 is another story (I find even my R290X to be struggeling at 1440p/maxed out graphics)

 

[lehtv]

The only problem game on that list is Skyrim. You'll run out of VRAM - and performance - if you mod it heavily. Even on 1080p, using 2K textures gobbles up most of that VRAM.

Maybe if you didn't buy a $560 Dell, but a $360 BenQ GW2765HT and upgraded the GPU to R9 290X? I think it'd be worth it if Skyrim is your top game on that list and you like to play it with graphics mods.

If it was never intended to be so, I really wonder what 1440p card recommendations were like when the 7950 was the second fastest card on the market.

7950 Crossfire or 7970 Crossfire.

 

[XiandreX]

I play at 1440p with my 6950, the 7950 is significantly faster than that. In newer games I need to turn down the details a bit, but the only cases in which I've had to actually switch to a lower resolution is in the Metro games as well as Titanfall. Relatively new titles like Thief, Tomb Raider play just fine at full resolution. It's been a few years since I played Skyrim, but from what I remember I played that at 1440p as well.

I'm planning an upgrade this year, but with your newer GPU I'd wait at least another year.

Playing games @ 1440p using a 6950 is not going to run well at high settings.
You will have to sacrifice visual fidelity.
I owned a 7950 and I can assure you frame rates were not acceptable at 1440p for many games.
I did mention some games will run fine.
Personally I want to be as close to 60 fps as possible and keep settings turned up. If I have to turn down settings I might as well bump down to 1080p and keep the eye candy on.
This is my personal opinion.

 

[Headfoot]

7950 is going to be fine for those games at that resolution. You will not fare well in most new games, or true next-gen only games. Only PS3 JRPG ports will continue to run ok on the 7950. That being said, if you're running it at stock 925 mhz, you should easily get that thing to 1.2ghz with a small voltage bump and the increase is definitely noticeable.

 

[XiandreX]

7950 is going to be fine for those games at that resolution. You will not fare well in most new games, or true next-gen only games. Only PS3 JRPG ports will continue to run ok on the 7950. That being said, if you're running it at stock 925 mhz, you should easily get that thing to 1.2ghz with a small voltage bump and the increase is definitely noticeable.

Very solid advice

 

[Denithor]

My $0.02: try it out before you upgrade the GPU. 7950 performance may be just fine in the majority of your games at the higher resolution. When ES6 launches, if your performance is no longer acceptable, upgrade at that point. Waiting is almost always better as new cards launch and/or prices on today's cards drop.

 

[roninmedia]

The only problem game on that list is Skyrim. You'll run out of VRAM - and performance - if you mod it heavily. Even on 1080p, using 2K textures gobbles up most of that VRAM.

Maybe if you didn't buy a $560 Dell, but a $360 BenQ GW2765HT and upgraded the GPU to R9 290X? I think it'd be worth it if Skyrim is your top game on that list and you like to play it with graphics mods.



7950 Crossfire or 7970 Crossfire.

I actually did not consider that BenQ model. It has all the features I wanted with being flicker free, IPS and having stand adjustments with pivot. I probably overlooked it because it was listed for $700 at Newegg.

 

[lehtv]

Very solid advice

Except that not all 7950's OC to 1200Mhz. Many stop at about 1100MHz no matter what volts you give it, unless it's water cooled. Yet others have trouble getting past 1050Mhz. But yes, 7950 deserves a bit of OC.

 

[Headfoot]

Except that not all 7950's OC to 1200Mhz. Many stop at about 1100MHz no matter what volts you give it, unless it's water cooled. Yet others have trouble getting past 1050Mhz. But yes, 7950 deserves a bit of OC.

I must have had good luck, because with the 3 7950s I've had pass through my hands for friends builds and my own old build all 3 hit 1200 with varying amounts of voltage. They all had nice aftermarket coolers too though to be fair

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Not a big deal. Get the monitor. Those games that don't run at 1440p, just play at 1080p. As long as you don't go below 1680x1050 the graphics will still stay fine on a 1440p monitor.

 

[Makaveli]

I play at 1440p with my 6950, the 7950 is significantly faster than that. In newer games I need to turn down the details a bit, but the only cases in which I've had to actually switch to a lower resolution is in the Metro games as well as Titanfall. Relatively new titles like Thief, Tomb Raider play just fine at full resolution. It's been a few years since I played Skyrim, but from what I remember I played that at 1440p as well.

I'm planning an upgrade this year, but with your newer GPU I'd wait at least another year.

1440p on a 6950 when you say turn down details abit you mean everything on medium or low??

Thief does 23fps on a 6970 on high settings at 1600p at 1440 it won't be much better.

http://www.techspot.com/review/787-thief-benchmarks/page3.html

Tomb Raider is alittle more playable but still pretty low fps.

http://www.techspot.com/review/645-tomb-raider-performance/page2.html

A 7950,7970,7970Ghz isn't really strong enough for 1440p OP.

A 290/290x or the NV equivalent would be a much better way to go and even these cards will struggle in some games at this Res. Or wait till June for new Radeon series.

 

[amenx]

I'd recommend to get the 1440p monitor first. Then decide if you need a GPU upgrade. You may need to lower settings slightly, but imo it will still look better than on higher settings/1080p. The visual impact of a better monitor always makes for any FPS I may have lost, but each to their own.

 

[Makaveli]

I'd recommend to get the 1440p monitor first. Then decide if you need a GPU upgrade. You may need to lower settings slightly, but imo it will still look better than on higher settings/1080p. The visual impact of a better monitor always makes for any FPS I may have lost, but each to their own.

I agree with this good advice.

If your like most people though having to run on your games in low/medium detail will force you to upgrade to a better gpu to get the full potential of the upgraded monitor.

Try it first and find out.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

7950 is about the lowest level card capable of pushing 1440 at a playable 30+ fps in most games. I've tried it and fairly quickly upgrade to gtx780.