Need advice on a video card purchase.

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Tarvaln

Tarvaln

Senior member
Apr 28, 2004
311
2
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Due to my side business of selling Wonka® FunDip to kids at fat camp, I may be able to purchase a new video card Monday. My budget is around $400.

My system specs are in my sig. I'm upgrading from a 5850. My case is a Cool Master HAF 922 Mid Tower.

I would be using this for gaming. I want to run Shogun 2 at a decent fps. Skyrim with 2k textures would also be great. Maybe even Arkham City on dx11 at a good frame rate, but I dare not dream.
I'm really looking for smooth 60fps gaming on my 60hz 1920x1080 monitor. I would like to upgrade to a 120hz or maybe a higher resolution monitor (maybe both) at some point.

I am considering either a AMD 7970 around $400. If I can find a decent one like Sapphire, MSI, HIS in stock. I won't bite for one over $400. Or this SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100352VXSR Radeon HD 7950 at $339
I wonder if the 7970 is worth the $60 or so dollars. I think it might be but I'm not sure.

I may consider a Nvidia 670 only because I have a GTX260 laying around I can use with it for pure phys-x. I feel that Hawken doesn't have enough special effects. :)

I was also thinking of xfire two 7850s but my concern on this is the complications with xfire. I've read that there will be better drivers in the summer but it will be a working progress and probably won't get resolved for another year or so.

I would like to overclock whatever vid card I get but I'm worried about my PSU supporting it.
Also with my 5850 if I overclock I get a constant flicker in the lower 3rd part on one of my screens. It's random as to which one gets it but, even if I go bad to stock speeds it will still flicker if I do anything with video. It's not constant when set back to stock but every time I click on youtube or load any page with video even through apps like steam it will flicker once per page. The only way to stop it is to reinstall the video driver.

I don't upgrade my PC very often. Usually a new tower every 5 years and a new vid card every 2.5 years (if I can afford it). So whatever I choose will be with me for awhile.

Thanks in advance.
 
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Attic

Attic

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2010
4,282
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76
If I were in your shoes I'd be looking at gtx670 or 680.
The better respected brands run you around 450 for the 680.
Your game list runs better on nvidia afaik.

The 7970 ghz edition would be my close second consideration.

Given your time frame for gpu upgrades, if you want to buy now (near new gpu refresh) with a big budget you have I'd just get something I won't second guesses in a years time.
 
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sublime420ec

sublime420ec

Member
Feb 7, 2013
112
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i would get a HIS HD7970 there freakin awsome cards in my opinion and run very cool.....

there liked on these forums but not referred much....dunno why there unlocked and overclock great :)

also the 7950 overclocks to 7970 levels/speed so maybe get one of those and spend remaing on new game or w/e
 
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Fanatical Meat

Fanatical Meat

Lifer
Feb 4, 2009
35,862
17,406
136
Wouldn't a 660 non ti version and bank the savings for another day be smarter? Phenom x6 plus a 7950/70/gtx 670/680 sounds kind of unbalanced to me.
 
nightspydk

nightspydk

Senior member
Sep 7, 2012
339
19
81
That might be worth a visit to tomshardware, but 660 maybe even sli best bang for buck methinks too. :)

As far as I remember 660 ti is a 660 no shaders unlocked.
 
S

Sohaltang

Senior member
Apr 13, 2013
854
0
0
raghu78 said:
the MSI HD 7970 TF runs at 1050 mhz and is a good option for USD 414.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127732

the Sapphire HD 7970 OC runs at 1000 mhz and costs USD 410

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=AT-H7970CB

both are excellent cards with unlocked voltage and good cooler.:thumbsup:
Click to expand...


Newegg has been in and out of stock on the Sapphire OC for the last week. Seems like it changes by the hour. 399-20 rebate+ 3 free games.
If you got a 400$ budget might as well spend it all:D
 
Stuka87

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
6,240
2,559
136
Fanatical Meat said:
Wouldn't a 660 non ti version and bank the savings for another day be smarter? Phenom x6 plus a 7950/70/gtx 670/680 sounds kind of unbalanced to me.
Click to expand...

He will be fine. The only games he would have issues with are the poorly coded ones that are only dual threaded. Anything that can use up 4-8 threads will run fine.
 
Tarvaln

Tarvaln

Senior member
Apr 28, 2004
311
2
81
Like most major decisions in my life, such as the time I almost got married, I'm starting to wonder if I should wait.

The reasons I don't want to wait are:
· Rumors are that anything new besides Titan stuff coming to market is at least 7 months away.
· New cards are going to be $500+ for top tier.
· Besides Black Friday deals I don't think there will be killer sales on any of the current cards in the future. Lots of Nvidia cards which hardly go on sale and AMD's seem to be hard to keep in stock.
· From that I have read there may not be much of a increase between 7xxx and 8xxx in performance.
Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Reason I would wait:
· Since AMD 8xxx series is the same GCN1 architecture as the 7xxx series and they could make improvements over the 7xxx besides just bumping up clock speeds.
· Nvidia could improve stuff too. I don't really know much about Nvidia cards anymore except everyone says memory bus could be better.
· Maybe new cards are released early and I get one at a good price and then I run outside and yell "Falcor!" Then a god damn Luck Dragon appears in the sky, picks me up, and we fly into the sunrise on our way to adventure!


Also like the time I almost got married, I'm sure most people don't give a damn. And I'm probably just being silly. But I would appreciate feedback. Thanks.
 
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Fanatical Meat

Fanatical Meat

Lifer
Feb 4, 2009
35,862
17,406
136
I would go 660 or 7870 and save the left over $230-250 for another gpu upgrade in a few years or funnel it toward a new machine when you want a new one.
 
Z

zaydq

Senior member
Jul 8, 2012
782
0
0
Get a GTX 660 or a 7870 and pocket the rest. Considering the age of your set-up, you may be bottlenecking anything higher than those two in CPU intensive games.
 
MrK6

MrK6

Diamond Member
Aug 9, 2004
4,458
4
81
Lol @ side business

But in all seriousness, I think a 7950 would fit the bill. You can easily score a model with a good cooler for <$300, even less with rebates and selling the included games if you aren't interested. The 7950 is fast, even faster once overclocked, and 3GB of vRAM will hold you for awhile. I think anything higher than that like the 7970 or GTX 680 you'll be wasting money as the price/performance curve degrades.
 
Z

zaydq

Senior member
Jul 8, 2012
782
0
0
MrK6 said:
Lol @ side business

But in all seriousness, I think a 7950 would fit the bill. You can easily score a model with a good cooler for <$300, even less with rebates and selling the included games if you aren't interested. The 7950 is fast, even faster once overclocked, and 3GB of vRAM will hold you for awhile. I think anything higher than that like the 7970 or GTX 680 you'll be wasting money as the price/performance curve degrades.
Click to expand...

a 7950 could work too. Fits the budget with $$$ to spare and will hold you over for a while...

Take the saved $100 and invest it into your fat camp business. Maybe branch into Drumstick ice cream?
 
Z

zaydq

Senior member
Jul 8, 2012
782
0
0
Anytime! Check out the 7950 owner's thread if you're interested in overclocking and other useful tidbits!
 
R

raghu78

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2012
4,093
1,476
136
Tarvaln said:
I pulled the trigger on a SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 at $289. There's a $20 MIR but that will take months to get from what I've read. I'm not that worried about it.

Used the extra money to get a CyberPower CP1350AVRLCD 1350 VA 810 Watts for $90 at Costco.

Thanks again for the advice guys.
Click to expand...

good choice. best value for money. max out power control to +20%. overclock that chip to 1150 mhz and you will get HD 7970 Ghz performance. ref HD 7950 PCB with unlocked voltage and a good cooler.
 
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