GPU to replace 7970 that my son stole

[jacktesterson]

1 - Get him a 7850 and put the 7970 back in your PC if you want to save

this

 

[tential]

Has nobody actually read the OP's post?

He's gaming at 1080p. Unless he's looking to play Crysis 3 with absolutely everything maxed and AA as high as it can go, crossfire/SLI is a gigantic waste of money with this level of card at that resolution.

A 7950, 7970, 770, OR 780 are all going to handle 1080p with all the bells and whistles without so much as a hiccup in everything but the literal handful of games like Crysis 3 that are more e-peen graphics benchmark than game.

Buy whichever one's cheapest and enjoy.

Seriously.

I'd take Crossfire 7870s. That's your best bang for buck. They come in at under 400 dollars, but outperform a GTX Titan. Then you can upgrade to a better option later if you want when 20 nm is out.

 

[Majcric]

At the very least get the GTX 770, but if possible go for the GTX 780. If it has to be AMD just grab another 7970. I personally would stay away from crossfire.

 

[3DVagabond]

Well... Actually could not get his asrock extreme 4 to reconize my old 5770 so I tossed in my 7970. Of course that worked like a champ. Now my machine sits without a GPU. Excuse to upgrade. Or maybe run two 7950s in xfire. System specs are below. I play on a 24 inch @1080 and duplicate screen to a 55 plasma.

Specs include running the 7970 @ 1200/1800

Has nobody actually read the OP's post?

He's gaming at 1080p. Unless he's looking to play Crysis 3 with absolutely everything maxed and AA as high as it can go, crossfire/SLI is a gigantic waste of money with this level of card at that resolution.

A 7950, 7970, 770, OR 780 are all going to handle 1080p with all the bells and whistles without so much as a hiccup in everything but the literal handful of games like Crysis 3 that are more e-peen graphics benchmark than game.

Buy whichever one's cheapest and enjoy.

I quoted the OP above. He mentions excuse to upgrade and we can see the O/C he ran on his 7970. He mentioned the 7950's. That's the best value, IMO for an upgrade. Especially, considering he's an O/C'er. Out of what you mentioned, only the 780 is going to be any kind of a single card upgrade. Terrible value and only a small upgrade, though. The only reason to buy a 770 over a 7970 is if you want to go nVidia instead of AMD.

A pair of 7950's, especially if O/C'd, will outperform any card mentioned and can be had for as little as $440ar. That's a faster setup than any single GPU made, including Titan.

 

[Rezist]

Get a 760 or a 7970 again some are at 300'ish again.

 

[Makaveli]

What resolution do you play at?

Its in the OP.

1080p

 

[runzwithsizorz]

I'd recommend simply getting him a lower end card, and taking back your 7970.

I agree. And "low end" cards are still pretty impressive, especially w 1080p. I'm using a 7870 (2 gig v ram) and waiting for next gen cards this fall. Also, should be a price drop on 7970's et al.

 

[SickBeast]

Do you guys really think AMD will come out with new cards in the fall? I don't. I don't think we will see anything until the spring on the 20nm process. I don't see why they would release something new on an old process. It will only be a glorified rebadge unless they go with a massive die which I doubt.

 

[Makaveli]

Do you guys really think AMD will come out with new cards in the fall? I don't. I don't think we will see anything until the spring on the 20nm process. I don't see why they would release something new on an old process. It will only be a glorified rebadge unless they go with a massive die which I doubt.

Agreed i'm only expecting a refresh and not major until Q1 2014

 

[tweakboy]

Grab a 780 that will last you for years. At 1080p your games will fly. gl

 

[Mushkins]

Specs include running the 7970 @ 1200/1800



I quoted the OP above. He mentions excuse to upgrade and we can see the O/C he ran on his 7970. He mentioned the 7950's. That's the best value, IMO for an upgrade.

Excuse to upgrade or no, there is no "upgrade" because performance at 1080p is going to be stellar regardless of which card he picks. A pair of 7950's is complete and total overkill at 1080p. In all honesty that OCed 7970 was overkill for 1080p. In this example, all xfire does is introduce microstutter and other quirks into a system that by no means needs to deal with those issues.

A game at 1080p with all the bells and whistles running at 95 FPS on a 7970 OC is going to look exactly the same as a game running at 160FPS on a pair of 7950s, except with obnoxious microstutter. The game isn't going to magically look better than it can by throwing more GPU at it, it's just FPS e-peen preening at that point.

Especially, considering he's an O/C'er. Out of what you mentioned, only the 780 is going to be any kind of a single card upgrade. Terrible value and only a small upgrade, though. The only reason to buy a 770 over a 7970 is if you want to go nVidia instead of AMD.

Single card upgrade to what? The no GPU he mentioned having? If we're talking about upgrading from the original 7970 overclock there's honestly not many places to go aside from Xfire 7970's or playing "lets go buy some titans." All to... still game at 1080p? Overclocker or no, it's a huge waste of money for zero benefit regardless of option. This thread should really be full of people saying "if you're gonna upgrade to an xfire solution or a better GPU than a 7970, it's time to buy a higher res monitor or go multi-monitor." For staying at 1080p and simply replacing the old card, my original assertion that any of those cards will do just fine stands.

If he's just looking for a challenging overclocking experience or to go for record OC numbers or something, he's asking the wrong question and this should be discussions about specific cards and specific brands and coolers and all that stuff, not "help me replace this card."

 

[Sohaltang]

Good stuff no doubt. I will eventually grab a 1440 monitor when I find the right deal. I dont like upgradeing every year. If im going to spend 300+ then I prefer thats its capable of maxing games for at least a year or two. At that point ill build a whole new rig sell this on on CL.