In the mood for a new video card, looking for recommendations

[bryanW1995]

Just spec'd out a (mostly) new system:

4770k
Asus z87-pro
HAF-X
16gb - hyper X
2 x 256 gb crucial m4 (carryover)
xfx 850w PSU (carryover)
2209 wa 1680x1050

I'll probably upgrade the 2209wa in the next few months, most likely around xmas. I play bf3, metro, crysis, lots of civ 5, some diablo, plus tons of older games as well. Ultra high quality with perfect smoothness/very high FPS is extremely important to me, but I hate loud video cards. Hot/power hungry don't matter to me at all, though I realize that noise is often a function of this.

I have a slight AMD bias, but my past few cards have been nvidia and I've been perfectly happy with them. I would prefer to buy something now with the rest of my system, but my old gtx 480 can get the job done up to the time that upgrde my monitor if necessary. I typically spend $200-300 per card, but I am willing to spend quite a bit more than that if there is a compelling reason to do so.

1. Please keep personal attacks/red-green color wars out of this thread
2. Please provide your recommendation for what to get and why to get it

 

[96Firebird]

What do you think you'll upgrade the monitor to?

 

[Grooveriding]

Money no object and wanting to play ultra high with an upcoming monitor upgrade I'd say heavily overclocked 7970GE with a custom cooler for $400 or for +20% perf. an overclocked GTX 780 for $650 or for another +10% perf. a Titan for $1000. Personally I'd go with the middle choice if I was buying today.

At your suggested $200-$300 level the only choice is 7950. Overclocked 7950 is the only worthwhile choice for $300 out there.

 

[bryanW1995]

What do you think you'll upgrade the monitor to?

2560x1440 - 27" or 2560x1600 - 30" - My wife has a 2560x1440 27" dell right now that she uses for her photography business. I suspect that I'll end up getting that one and buying her a nice 30" monitor, but a 30" one for me is at least in play.

Money no object and wanting to play ultra high with an upcoming monitor upgrade I'd say heavily overclocked 7970GE with a custom cooler for $400 or for +20% perf. an overclocked GTX 780 for $650 or for another +10% perf. a Titan for $1000. Personally I'd go with the middle choice if I was buying today.

At your suggested $200-$300 level the only choice is 7950. Overclocked 7950 is the only worthwhile choice for $300 out there.

Yeah, it's been quite demoralizing to see the same video card prices lately. I didn't see any 7970 GE's available for $400, looks like there is an xfx with bad reviews for $420 AR, with all the others at $450 +.

Is the 7970 GE that much better than 670/680? I do like the 2 or 3 cooling fan designs that I've seen thus far on the ghz cards though, as I don't plan to CF and, as stated, I hate noise.

 

[moonbogg]

If I was going single card and building a new system like you, I would see no other choice than the GTX 780. Reason: It is the fastest GPU available and a Titan is not worth another $350 by any stretch of the imagination.
If you don't mind multi GPU and want more performance, then consider two GTX 770's....but geeze, that lack of Vram hurts like hell with all that GPU don't it? Better to grab two 7970GE's.

 

[Termie]

In your situation, I'd go for the Asus GTX 770. It will be extremely quiet, and will also be a nice upgrade from your 480 (on the order of 50-100% faster depending on the game). Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...irtualParent=1

The GTX 780 really isn't a cost-effective solution, and it's way, way over your budget. The HD7970 models currently available won't offer you the quietest solutions. I think it's telling that Asus doesn't use its popular 2-slot cooler on the 7950/7970, but rather a 3-slot cooler.

If you really want to go AMD, go for the Gigabyte HD7970 model here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125413

 

[blackened23]

I'd go with the GTX 770, there are a lot of good options here including the MSI lightning, asus DC2, and Gigabyte windforce. All three of these cards are whisper quiet and will overclock very well, they're good cards for 400$. (a few may cost slightly more)

The 780 is appreciably faster and also has a lot of good aftermarket options, and while it's a great card - the performance increase over the 770 isn't commensurate with the price; 770 has a lot more bang for the buck. It may also be a wise idea to see what the 760 brings as well, although I can't see that being a preferred option over the 770 for 2560x resolution.

 

[bryanW1995]

In your situation, I'd go for the Asus GTX 770. It will be extremely quiet, and will also be a nice upgrade from your 480 (on the order of 50-100% faster depending on the game). Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...irtualParent=1

The GTX 780 really isn't a cost-effective solution, and it's way, way over your budget. The HD7970 models currently available won't offer you the quietest solutions. I think it's telling that Asus doesn't use its popular 2-slot cooler on the 7950/7970, but rather a 3-slot cooler.

If you really want to go AMD, go for the Gigabyte HD7970 model here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125413

I'd go with the GTX 770, there are a lot of good options here including the MSI lightning, asus DC2, and Gigabyte windforce. All three of these cards are whisper quiet and will overclock very well, they're good cards for 400$. (a few may cost slightly more)

The 780 is appreciably faster and also has a lot of good aftermarket options, and while it's a great card - the performance increase over the 770 isn't commensurate with the price; 770 has a lot more bang for the buck. It may also be a wise idea to see what the 760 brings as well.

My admittedly limited research leads me to believe that gtx 770 is about equal to a 7970 ghz in both performance and price. The deciding points seem to be that gtx 770 is quieter/lower power, while 7970 ghz has 3gb ram instead of 2 gb. I remember reading a few years ago about some skyrim mods getting up to 2gb; is that sort of thing commonplace these days on current games, or am I going to be fine with 2gb for a couple of years?

 

[Grooveriding]

2560x1440 - 27" or 2560x1600 - 30" - My wife has a 2560x1440 27" dell right now that she uses for her photography business. I suspect that I'll end up getting that one and buying her a nice 30" monitor, but a 30" one for me is at least in play.



Yeah, it's been quite demoralizing to see the same video card prices lately. I didn't see any 7970 GE's available for $400, looks like there is an xfx with bad reviews for $420 AR, with all the others at $450 +.

Is the 7970 GE that much better than 670/680? I do like the 2 or 3 cooling fan designs that I've seen thus far on the ghz cards though, as I don't plan to CF and, as stated, I hate noise.

7970GE is better than 670/680, but I altogether forgot the 770 even existed. That card is $400 and is on parity with a 7970GE, so the better choice as I don't see 7970GEs for $400, just the stock model.

 

[blackened23]

With regards to VRAM, that's actually a tough question to answer. As of right *now*, 2GB is fine for current games unless you go completely overboard with MSAA and mods even at 2560x1600. That being said, I can see an argument for future games beginning to use more VRAM starting this fall because of the next-generation console situation, so it may be wise to get a 4GB card as a means of future proofing. Luckily, 4GB GTX 770 variants are only 50$ or so more than the baseline model - i've seen the WF3 4GB 770 going for 450$.

And then there's the 7970 which performs the about same depending on the game (IIRC) and there you're looking at wildcard factors to iron out the decision for you. Aside from that, doing a cursory check on newegg seems to indicate that only the plain 7970 is in the same price range (although I could be wrong) although I will say that I believe that any 7970 can OC to GHz levels easily. In my brief usage of the 7970, there is a *lot* of overclock headroom. But then, you're looking at other factors such as power draw, fan noise, etc. It's a tough call, 7970ghz models on newegg seem to be more expensive than the GTX 770 for some reason. Because of this, i'd go for the GTX 770 if I were buying a new card within that budget - I think it's the better choice overall considering the 7970 doesn't *seem* to offer a price advantage at this time.

While I've always thought the 7970 is a great card -- Really, when you think about it - 7970ghz models (unless i'm crazy) are the same price as 4GB GTX 770s. I could be missing some data here, but that's what a cursory newegg check seems to indicate - That would heavily tilt the decision in favor to the GTX 770 IMHO, considering they're roughly the same price and the 770 may perform ever so slightly better (1-5%) in some games with lower noise levels. The 7970 isn't hitting sweet spot price levels right now IMHO, while the 7950 is still a great deal.

 

[Rezist]

The 770 at 400$ is a better deal then the GE but really the 7950 or the 780 are probably the two cards to look at.

 

[bryanW1995]

Hmmm, lots of good info here. Nice to have lots of good options, I think that I'll just go lurk around hot deals for a few days and see what kind of deals show up on 79x0 and gtx 770. Last time, I was strongly leaning towards a 6950 when a $200 deal on a gtx 480 dropped out of the sky, maybe I'll luck into a similar deal on something this time.

 

[Termie]

Hmmm, lots of good info here. Nice to have lots of good options, I think that I'll just go lurk around hot deals for a few days and see what kind of deals show up on 79x0 and gtx 770. Last time, I was strongly leaning towards a 6950 when a $200 deal on a gtx 480 dropped out of the sky, maybe I'll luck into a similar deal on something this time.

The GTX770 has only once dropped below $400 - that was when SuperBiiz had a site-wide $15 coupon active. Otherwise, they've all been selling at or above MSRP, and I suspect they will for quite a while.

There have been some very good deals on HD7970 models, but be careful - a few of them are not highly-rated models, or have cheaper coolers on them. That's not what you want.

The only really reputable models that have been on sale lately are the Sapphire standard and Vapor-X cards. Definitely not the Asus or MSI models that are likely quietest. You can follow the recent history of all this on my blog.

 

[yacoub]

A 7970 GHz Edition for around $325 is when the prices will be reasonable, imho. Unless something breaks in my current GPU, I have no plans to upgrade until/unless the prices come down significantly on the now-year-old AMD tech. This will happen two ways: NVidia continues to release new competitive cards, as will hopefully be the case with their mid-range versions of the 780 (760ti?), and the next gen AMD cards get announced and ETA'd.

This is close, but it's got some seriously bad reviews that would make me avoid it.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1768210

 

[bryanW1995]

$327 - $20 rebate = $307 (+ 4 free games) for a 7970 looks pretty good. Everything else is already on the way, so I'll check out other deals and probably jump on that unless something similarly good on a 7970 ge or gtx 770 pops up today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008

 

[loccothan]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2300495 here pick one ;-)

 

[Termie]

$327 - $20 rebate = $307 (+ 4 free games) for a 7970 looks pretty good. Everything else is already on the way, so I'll check out other deals and probably jump on that unless something similarly good on a 7970 ge or gtx 770 pops up today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008

That's the lowest price ever for a 7970. Buy that now.

 

[blackened23]

$327 - $20 rebate = $307 (+ 4 free games) for a 7970 looks pretty good. Everything else is already on the way, so I'll check out other deals and probably jump on that unless something similarly good on a 7970 ge or gtx 770 pops up today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008

That's a great deal, i'd definitely hop on that. Should OC extremely well also. Only thing i'd look out for is coil whine, which I've heard is an issue on a few models. (not sure if it is applicable here)

 

[RussianSensation]

$327 - $20 rebate = $307 (+ 4 free games) for a 7970 looks pretty good. Everything else is already on the way, so I'll check out other deals and probably jump on that unless something similarly good on a 7970 ge or gtx 770 pops up today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008

If you buy it through this link, I think you get BL2 free too.

You can call the Egg and double check. It's essentially a 1Ghz 7970. Less than 10% slower than a GTX770 for $100 less. Hot.

 

[bryanW1995]

Ok guys, thanks for all the help, I jumped on that 7970 deal. I was leaning towards either getting a gtx 770 and keeping it for a while, or getting a 7950 and just living with it until next gen cards came out... glad I waited the one extra day for this deal.

 

[loccothan]

hej this One is better than Sapphire http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150632 i mean OC on this One is Great and XFX Web givin some Games Codes

 

[Silverforce11]

Honestly your 480 would be fine at that resolution and wait til next gen then upgrade monitor and GPU together. 7970 or above is overkill for 1680 res.

 

[RussianSensation]

hej this One is better than Sapphire http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150632 i mean OC on this One is Great and XFX Web givin some Games Codes

No way. That card you linked is $389, the Sapphire DX bryan got was $307.

Now look at the quality of the coolers - the XFX cooler can barely keep 7950 OC in check.

XFX has completely failed this generation with 7950/7970 cards when their overclocked cards run louder and 20*C hotter!

Honestly your 480 would be fine at that resolution and wait til next gen then upgrade monitor and GPU together. 7970 or above is overkill for 1680 res.

If bryan sells the 480 for $120, the net upgrade cost to the 7970 is only $187 with 4-5 free games. An 1180mhz 7970 is going to crush a GTX480 @ 580 speeds. bryan could have waited but next gen cards won't be $299. I bet initial launch pricing of 20nm Maxwell/VI flagship will be $549-649. With this small upgrade cost, he can coast for about 1.5-2 years and pick up GTX880/20nm VI for $299 once GTX980/ VI refreshes come out in 2015.

7970GE is better than 670/680, but I altogether forgot the 770 even existed. That card is $400 and is on parity with a 7970GE, so the better choice as I don't see 7970GEs for $400, just the stock model.

While I've always thought the 7970 is a great card -- Really, when you think about it - 7970ghz models (unless i'm crazy) are the same price as 4GB GTX 770s.

Nah. Sapphire Vapor-X 7970 Ghz is going for $350 on Newegg. 4GB GTX770s are $450.

I am surprised how many recommendations the 770 received in this thread considering in the games listed by OP, the 7970 OC to 1160mhz keeps up with 770 OC (1200-1300mhz core) with ease.

It's pretty amazing how NV's marketing works. They release a card to good reviews but weeks later it's overpriced and no one notices. For a card that's going to be 2 years old soon, the 7970 OC still has legs. The next level up is $650 and nothing really in-between.

 

[BYOGamingPC]

I'm gonna have to recommend the Sapphire 7970 GE Vapor-X http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008PQAE98 since it's only $349 after rebate plus you can get some free games with it still I think.

Removed spammer referral
-ViRGE

 

[Termie]

I'm gonna have to recommend the Sapphire 7970 GE Vapor-X http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008PQAE98 since it's only $349 after rebate plus you can get some free games with it still I think.

Your referral links aren't going to fly around here.