Talk me down off this ledge...

[Panopticon]

I find myself in a purchasing dilemma that has me seriously wanting to beat my head into a wall and although I firmly believe one should not rely on forum posts to dictate personal opinion or major purchasing decisions I feel like I need to be swayed one way or another.

The problem is I just put a new build together Friday but being so close to AMD launch I decided to wait until the 9th and to purchase a 7950, I was quite dead set in this plan. As you all know the 7950 is now delayed a full month and I have this powerful computer sitting here with no GPU. The current offerings are not very exciting and the 7970 is well past my comfort level price wise. Basically my two choices right now are to continue on with no GPU or buy something cheap to hold me over until march... I found a deal somewhere on the interweb last night for a 550ti for like $120.... Should I go cheap now and wait it out to see what Kepler does or go for the big boy right away. I will be so disappointed if AMD looses my business because of splitting this launch up.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and unfortunately I sold my old rig so I don't have access to my old gpu .

specs are as follows :
2500k
16gb corsair vengeance @ 1600
Samsung 830 128gb
750w coolermaster PSU

posted from a stupid tablet so please excuse grammar etc.

 

[DominionSeraph]

$120 for a 550Ti doesn't sound like a deal.

The 7000 series ain't that big of a jump over the 6000 series, so just do what everybody else has done for the past year: Get a 6950.

 

[James3shin]

Just wait Panopticon. I'm in the same scenario as you are and I had the itch to buy as well. I've decided to wait because it opens up the most options in terms of price and products. Again, just wait until January 9th and let things go from there.

 

[lavaheadache]

$120 for a 550Ti doesn't sound like a deal.

The 7000 series ain't that big of a jump over the 6000 series, so just do what everybody else has done for the past year: Get a 6950.

Not that big of a jump?

 

[skipsneeky2]

Was gonna buy a 7970 or a 7950 myself this month but glad the card will be delayed.

Took my money got out of 2003 and replaced my 19'' 1600x1200 monitor with a 23'' dell s2330mx ultra thin monitor and replaced a faulty 6790 with a gtx560ti.

3 months from now when ivy is here i could replace my 560ti with something else if desired....i never count on release dates if i got cash now i buy what i can afford.

 

[Panopticon]

If I had any card at all I wouldnt be stressed but I am stuck using the crappy igp until I figure something out. I also need a computer chair and some good speakers so the cost savings of the 7950 vs the 7970 was meant to cover one of those purchases... I am still surprised amd is doing this, alot of xmas money is floating around and missing out on covering the lower price point could mean missed sales.

 

[Nintendesert]

$120 for a 550Ti doesn't sound like a deal.

The 7000 series ain't that big of a jump over the 6000 series, so just do what everybody else has done for the past year: Get a 6950.

Right, with overclocking it's as fast as a 6990 or a 590. :whiste:

I'm not getting a 7970 due to price, but saying it's not that big a jump is pure BS.

 

[badb0y]

$120 for a 550Ti doesn't sound like a deal.

The 7000 series ain't that big of a jump over the 6000 series, so just do what everybody else has done for the past year: Get a 6950.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Right, with overclocking it's as fast as a 6990 or a 590. :whiste:

I'm not getting a 7970 due to price, but saying it's not that big a jump is pure BS.

And depending on a 300mhz overclock is just as much pure bs. I know I've had cards that barely go 20mhz over and some 200mhz. Consider yourself lucky if it overclocks but don't make a purchase with that being a part of it.

OP I'd say find a used or new 6950/6970 or gtx 480/570

The new cards don't add any features or value so why pay the premium.

 

[Nintendesert]

And depending on a 300mhz overclock is just as much pure bs. I know I've had cards that barely go 20mhz over and some 200mhz. Consider yourself lucky if it overclocks but don't make a purchase with that being a part of it.

OP I'd say find a used or new 6950/6970 or gtx 480/570

The new cards don't add any features or value so why pay the premium.

You'll be able to get cards overclocked from the factory. The point being the 7970 smokes the 6xxx generation. The 6xxx generation was trash compared to the 5xxx and finally the 7 offers something worth upgrading over.

The problem he faces though is even if he buys something cheap, if he's not going able to resell it, he's adding $100+ to his 7950, which might as well have been a 7970..

 

[DominionSeraph]

Right, with overclocking it's as fast as a 6990 or a 590. :whiste:

I'm not getting a 7970 due to price, but saying it's not that big a jump is pure BS.

It's ~25-40% increase over the 6970 for a 45% increase in price.
If you think the 7950 will be at the 6950's $250 when the 7970 is $550, you're smoking crack.
The 7000 series is unlikely to do anything to the positioning of the 6000 series until Nvidia's response comes out. If AMD can charge $350 for the 7950 because that's where it's performance is at compared to the $310 6970 and $250 6950, guess what they're gonna charge for the 7950?

If you're looking to spend $250 on a video card in the near future, get a 6950. If you're looking to spend $300, get a 6970. If you're looking to spend $340, get a GTX 570. If you're looking to spend $350+, wait for 7950. You're not going to get a 7950 for some magically cheap price because AMD is your friend and they want you to have nice things for free. With the 5000 series AMD showed that they will jack card prices sky-high when they have the product to do so, and the 7970's MSRP shows that that's exactly what they plan to do now.

 

[Panopticon]

I was planning on the 7950 to debut at $399-$449. Relative to its speculated performance I can live with that. The main thing causing me woe is I cant justify buying a high end card from a dying generation of 40nm tech. So the options I that I feel are viable for my solution are to buy a $100 GPU and be bummed with its performance for 3-6 months or pony up for the card that is probably overkill for my needs but will at least be in the newest gen. I really wanted a card that falls into a slightly less then over the top power envelope and I feel that the 7950 will probably offer the performance of a GTX580 in a smaller power envelope with more headroom if I want to overclock the card down the road. It just feels suck to spend $300-$500 on a card that I could have had more then a year ago for not much less money. It also feels suck to not have a GPU in my new gaming rig. Solitaire anyone?

 

[RavenSEAL]

It's ~25-40% increase over the 6970 for a 45% increase in price.
If you think the 7950 will be at the 6950's $250 when the 7970 is $550, you're smoking crack.
The 7000 series is unlikely to do anything to the positioning of the 6000 series until Nvidia's response comes out. If AMD can charge $350 for the 7950 because that's where it's performance is at compared to the $310 6970 and $250 6950, guess what they're gonna charge for the 7950?

If you're looking to spend $250 on a video card in the near future, get a 6950. If you're looking to spend $300, get a 6970. If you're looking to spend $340, get a GTX 570. If you're looking to spend $350+, wait for 7950. You're not going to get a 7950 for some magically cheap price because AMD is your friend and they want you to have nice things for free. With the 5000 series AMD showed that they will jack card prices sky-high when they have the product to do so, and the 7970's MSRP shows that that's exactly what they plan to do now.

ZIIIIINGGGG! :thumbsup:

 

[Nintendesert]

It's ~25-40% increase over the 6970 for a 45% increase in price.
If you think the 7950 will be at the 6950's $250 when the 7970 is $550, you're smoking crack.
The 7000 series is unlikely to do anything to the positioning of the 6000 series until Nvidia's response comes out. If AMD can charge $350 for the 7950 because that's where it's performance is at compared to the $310 6970 and $250 6950, guess what they're gonna charge for the 7950?

If you're looking to spend $250 on a video card in the near future, get a 6950. If you're looking to spend $300, get a 6970. If you're looking to spend $340, get a GTX 570. If you're looking to spend $350+, wait for 7950. You're not going to get a 7950 for some magically cheap price because AMD is your friend and they want you to have nice things for free. With the 5000 series AMD showed that they will jack card prices sky-high when they have the product to do so, and the 7970's MSRP shows that that's exactly what they plan to do now.

And none of that has anything to do with this thread. The OP doesn't want old tech in his new build. You might be fine with the 6xxx series but he won't be.

Unless he can feel content with the previous generation he needs to wait for the 7950 or simply splurge on the 7970.

I'd go with waiting at least to CES to see if any surprises or news comes out that changes things.

 

[ocre]

And none of that has anything to do with this thread. The OP doesn't want old tech in his new build. You might be fine with the 6xxx series but he won't be.

Unless he can feel content with the previous generation he needs to wait for the 7950 or simply splurge on the 7970.

I'd go with waiting at least to CES to see if any surprises or news comes out that changes things.

in that case, what a buncha wasted words!!!!!!

But i thought he said something about maybe a card now to hold him over..............uhm! guess not.

 

[mosox]

Just get a new HD 6870, it's best bang for the buck and can run any game. You can get it for like $160 AR, keep it for 6 months until Nvidia comes up with Kepler and sell it then for say, $100. That's $10/month to game on it and you will get a better price for your new 28nm card because of the competition. From this alone you will save more than $60 on your new card.

 

[Sunburn74]

I'd wait. Whats one more month?

 

[Panopticon]

I've decided that due to my current financial situation I am going to buy a card sometime in January. I will most likely be buying the 7970 at this point because it will give me maxed settings in everything at 1080p with all the eye candy. I toyed with the idea of running two older cards in crossfire because I can get two 6870's right now for $250. I saw a few benchmarks that put 6870 CF right behind the 7970 but unless everything is running over 60fps at all times micro stutter could effect my gaming experience. I don't want to be toying with drivers all the time so I think I should stick to a single high end card. I have the money for a 7970 today and who knows in 6 months if I will have $550 laying around for a luxury purchase like this.

 

[Gothgar]

This thread is hilarious.

Some Guy: Just get a 6950 its great performance, and the 7000 series isnt that big of a performance increase

Everyone: OMFG WTF BBQ CRAP BALLZ teh 7970 is so great !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When you can buy a 7970 for under 250 let us peons know.

 

[Panopticon]

haha yeah the 7950 won't occupy that price point until were back to a 9XXX series AMD card. Its still funny to me that they are going full circle on the naming scheme... kind of unoriginal.

 

[Sunburn74]

Yeah dude. I own a gtx 570 which is equiv to a 6950. I honestly have not come across a game that I can't run at max settings at 1920x1080.

The second best card in a series is always within 15%-20 percent of the best card. I'd save the money and avoid the 550 dollar card.