Need advice on upgrading from CF 7970's...

[Sirrion]

Hey all,

I currently run 2 x Sapphire 7970's at 2560 x 1440 resolution and am having trouble running the most current games at max settings. In addition, the Crossfire setup is noisy as hell and HOT!

With that being said I am looking to go back to a single card configuration but I'm concerned about the above resolution which is where I play all my games. So my questions are:

1) If i dump the CF 7970's and go for a GTX 980 will that allow me to play max settings on my 2560x1440 for a good while (thinking at least later part of 2015)?

2) If #1 is a No, is it better to wait until next year for maybe the AMD R9 390x to appear?

3) What about another Nvidia/AMD single card setup?

I can dump about $600 or so into a single card fwiw. Thanks for the input

 

[bystander36]

You won't be able to max settings on a single GPU at 1440p. Your 7970's will be faster in most cases. The only exceptions might be if 3Gb isn't enough, but that is so rare, it isn't worth the upgrade for 1Gb more.

I'd wait personally, but if the noise is killing you, a single 980 would be pretty good. Just be willing to turn down a setting here and there.

 

[chimaxi83]

There are games out now, and coming out soon, that you can't totally max at that resolution, even with a GTX980. Max settings isn't always meaningful because some settings show zero difference but penalize performance between high and very high/ultra, for example. Easily fixable if you dial down a setting or two. The answer to this question depends somewhat on what games you are playing.

If you want max performance now, go with a GTX980, with your choice of Assassin's Creed: Unity, Far Cry 4, or The Crew. Heat and noise will go down big time compared to 7970CF. On the other hand, 290X can be had roughly $200 cheaper with Civilization: Beyond Earth, and can sometimes come close to GTX980 performance, but at the expense of heat (noise isn't an issue with some of the great coolers out there).

GTX980 is more of an upgrade to 7970CF than a 290X is, but it's a lot more expensive.

 

[raghu78]

OP you cannot max every game at 1440p with a single GPU. But you can max out a lot of games. Since you are already running HD 7970 CF , I suggest you wait and see AMD's R9 390X / Nvidia GM200 before making a purchase.

 

[Sirrion]

Will do thanks for the advice everyone, Ill relax until next year.

 

[RussianSensation]

980 from 7970 CF is not really a performance upgrade for the most part. A viable upgrade path at about $660-700 are dual 970s. Otherwise, dual after-market 290s such as MSI gaming or HIS IceQ2. Since you only want to go to a single card, your best bet is to wait for a real next gen flagship such as GM200. I mean think about it most 980's are going for almost $600 which is way overpriced for a mid-range chip. Wait until next year if you held out for this long for real upgrade.