Should I pick up some 7970s or stay with my current Tri-SLI Setup?

ParseMeHard

Member
Sep 4, 2012
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Hey guys, I'm kinda at a loss of what to do... Right now, I have 3x GTX260 Core 216's...

I guess my question is, does anyone have any rough idea of when the new AMD/Nvidia cards are coming out? I know you can pick up some 7970's for around ~$380 right now.

Think we're talking about 3 or 4 months away, or 6? I just picked up three new LCDs for Eyeinfinity/Surround on BlackFriday...

Thanks!

Current setup:
Corsair 800D
Corsair H100i
Corsair AX1200i (PSU)
AMD FX-8350
32GB 1866 GSkill Sniper
Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7
3x EVGA GTX260GTX Core 216
 
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T_Yamamoto

Lifer
Jul 6, 2011
15,007
795
126
Here's the thing. Do you feel the need to? (Low frames, not being to turn up settings, etc?) If not, no need.
But you have something old so I would presume its best to upgrade to something more modern and less power hungry.

670?
 

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
11,900
74
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I would get rid of the old slow cards, just sell them individually for about $40-50 a piece on ebay. I can't imagine them running new games smoothly on a triple monitor setup, not even close. Even a single 7950 would be faster than your tri-SLI setup.

Most 7950 overclock easily past 1000mhz on stock volts at which point they're as fast as 7970's. Your choice whether to get one now and one later, or go crossfire right away.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007581QHG/?tag=pcpapi-20
 
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aaksheytalwar

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2012
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A single 6970 will give you a better overall experience and smoothness. A stock 7950 will wash all your cards.
 

ParseMeHard

Member
Sep 4, 2012
37
0
0
Here's the thing. Do you feel the need to? (Low frames, not being to turn up settings, etc?) If not, no need.
But you have something old so I would presume its best to upgrade to something more modern and less power hungry.

670?

Well, I don't have an issue maxing out anything out right now, but those cards are only DirectX10, not 11. Plus, I want to run Eyefinity/Surround. But the thing is, I could wait three or four months, and pick up two 8970's. I just don't want to dump ~$600 on two new 7970's, and in two months the new cards come out.

I would get rid of the old slow cards, just sell them individually for about $40 a piece. Then get 7950 crossfire setup, OC to 1000+ on stock volts and they'll be as fast as 7970's.
Humm... Do the 7950's clock that well?
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
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http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/664?vs=598

With 2-3 times the performance available in a single card there is a very real chance you would see a performance benefit from upgrading to a recent card. There would be a sizeable reduction in power consumption alongside it as well as a reduction in noise. But its unlikely you would see dramatically different performance without going to another SLI solution.

I own 680 SLi and 7970 CF and I wouldn't get a pair of 7000 series cards. The "microstutter" is just incredibly bad.
 

ParseMeHard

Member
Sep 4, 2012
37
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http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/664?vs=598

With 2-3 times the performance available in a single card there is a very real chance you would see a performance benefit from upgrading to a recent card. There would be a sizeable reduction in power consumption alongside it as well as a reduction in noise. But its unlikely you would see dramatically different performance without going to another SLI solution.

I own 680 SLi and 7970 CF and I wouldn't get a pair of 7000 series cards. The "microstutter" is just incredibly bad.


Humm... I find it hard to justify spending the extra 130 on two 680s as opposed to two 7970's, when the 680s tend to under-perform. Is there a list of supported games that Nvidia has for the whole "Surround" thing? I could care less about the 3D. Sounds more like a gimmick.
 

Ferzerp

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
6,438
107
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I own 680 SLi and 7970 CF and I wouldn't get a pair of 7000 series cards. The "microstutter" is just incredibly bad.

You aren't allowed to mention that here ;) Only rosy shiny things about AMD. Since AMD cards are best in single CPU, it is heresy to point out Nvidia is best in multigpu ;)
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
4,762
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have you tried a FPS limiter? like this

Yes I tried a frame rate limiter, I tried every driver, I even wrote software that reduced the problem (but introduced its own issues).I have heard it all and none of it made any difference. After a large back and forth with AMD and having exactly 0 issues fixed in half a year I tried the 680 GTX and I have zero problems. The 7970's were the worst PC purchase I ever made and I have had many over the last 17 years.

New cards are 3 to 6 months out I guess.