Upgrade fever: Need help, got the shakes... 2GB 6950 now? 2GB 7850 later?

[deadken]

Almost a month ago I posted here that I really needed to upgrade my 640MB 8800GTS (BFG OC 550Mhz core). I know it is the weakest link in my system and keeping me from good framerates in BF3. I've stopped playing BF3 and bought Stalker SOC to keep me busy and my mind off of my video card.

Well, the 7xxx are around the corner and I am having worries.I've learned from my last thread that: I'd like a 2GB card because I might go crossfire in the future and it looks like the newer games will really take advantage of the larger memory. But the prices of the 6870's are really SWEET! $130-$150 for a brand new 6870 shipped (only 1GB of memory though).

I'm starting to get delusional... Just one hit, then I'll be ok... Really, $130 and it'd be lightyears ahead of my 8800GTS. It's only has 1GB memory, but hey, that is over %50 more then my 8800GTS! Just a little now, and when I get my head back, I'll be ok...

Someone, anyone, please tell me that the 7xxx's are worth the wait. I'll spend as much as $250. But, when I look at the 2GB 6950's for $230-$240 AMIR (XFX: lifetime warranty) I wonder if I should bother waiting. I see that the 7850 GB card will have a $250 price point and be released in February. Should the 7850 be better then the 6950's? Would the 7850 be better then a 6950 if it unlocked to a 6970?

BTW: Here are the (3) XFX cards that I am looking at:

XFX Comparisons

BTW: Would there be a reason NOT to get the dual fan model? IOW, is one of the others some kind of reference model and will/*might* unlock to a 6970, or some other reason? I see that the single fan with the overclock is the cheapest card and I can't figure out why the single fan without the overclock is more money then the dual fan card?

BBTW: If it matters, here are the specs of the rest of my system:
24" HP ZR24w (1920x1200 IPS)
Asus M4A79XTD EVO
AMD Phenom II 555BE (unlocked to 4 cores, OC'd to 3.6Ghz)
2x4GB G-Skill Ram
Win7 64 bit Home Premium
96GB Kingston SSD
640GB WD Black
BFG 8800GTS OC 640MB (550 Core vs 500 stock)
OCZ Modstream 700W PS

 

[antef]

I'm building a new system right now and also looked a lot at the 6950s, but my choice is to wait for the 78xx. Do you really want to spend much money on a card that is over a year old at this point? February/March isn't too far off, I'm sure you can keep busy in the meantime. I'm especially interested in just getting power consumption and noise down with 28nm.

 

[deadken]

Deep down, I know you are right... It's just hard to keep from jumping on nice prices when I've been looking for a little while now.

While I don't like the idea of spending $250 on a card that has been out over a year, I do like the idea of getting a much newer card that will destroy my current card (almost 5years old) at half of what my card cost 5 years ago ($250 vs $500). Frankly, I'm pretty sure that the 6950 2GB card cost a good deal more money when it was released a year ago. The question I really have is does the 7850 look to be more powerful then the 6950? If it isn't, I'm not sure I should wait. Does it look like the 6950/6970 could come down even more in price?

I just have to keep in mind that this really isn't a good time to buy a new card. I just am hoping I'm not kicking myself in the ass in Jan / Feb.

 

[skrewler2]

Seriously, wait.. I didn't really understand if your reasoning for buying now would be to crossfire them later on or something?
well, crossfire is way better than it used to be, but, as a recent buyer of a second 6870 the only way I'm ever going with a Crossfire / SLI setup again is if I'm water cooling.. the top card gets up to 70 - 80c with the fan speed pegged at 100% while the bottom card never goes above 50..

bottom line: If I seriously could not wait then I say you should get a $150 card (5870 or 6870) and sell it when the 7xxx come out. If you can't find a buyer then you're not out too much cash and I doubt they will get much lower than that. The 69xx series I can definitely see depreciating.

 

[deadken]

Thanks... I am feeling a bit better now then when I posted in the early morning. I have to admit, I've missed out on quite a few deals from not biting fast. I usually don't buy on impulse. But, after reading about some of the early reviews of the 7xxx series I started getting nervous that they weren't going be all they were cracked up to be and that I should jump on a deal while I could.

I follow the school of thought that I should get the best single card I can afford now. But, I'd like to keep the possibility open for crossfire. At this point I figure I'll spend around $200. I'd like to top out around $250. Of course, I know that if there is a better cooling solution, etc... I could go a smidgen over $250, but I'd rather not. Frankly, last time I spent significant coin on a great card. Now I've held onto it way too long. I'm now a bigger fan of getting a middle card and replacing it / crossfiring it later.

All that being said, I still don't know that I'll be buying a 7xxx card. If the prices drop much further on the 69xx's because of the 7xxx release, I'm pretty sure I'd be very happy with one of those. I'll just keep the money I don't spend on the side and be ready to upgrade/crossfire sooner.

I just need to stop coming across very good deals in the middle of the night. I know that I'm getting a new card, I'll just have to wait. If Stalker wasn't so buggy or I had a great new toy from Xmas to keep me occupied, I think I'd have an easier time waiting.

 

[Termie]

Hate to say this, but you're not going to get anything in the 7000-series for under $150 that can top the 6870. That's been thoroughly discussed in the 7000-series forums. You will definitely be able to play BF3 multiplayer at high settings on the 6870 (45fps - I did it on a single 5850). You can't play at all on your card. Enough said.

Now, if you actually wanted to spend $250 (about twice as much as the 6870), that's a totally different story. You should probably wait, as the 6950 2GB really isn't a great deal right now.

Honestly, in your situation, I'd just buy the 6870 and see if you're happy with its performance. The 7000-series cards under the $400 pricepoint won't appear until February at the earliest, so that's at least a month where you're not really gaming. Plus, you can certainly crossfire the 6870 later for better-than-7970 performance, but you will be VRAM-limited in some situations. But you're talking $260 instead of $550, so you take the good with the bad...

 

[Mars999]

I wouldn't get anything anymore with less than 2GB of VRAM on it, BF3 uses 1.5GB alone from what I seen, and games like Skyrim and Rage that use 8Kx8K texture or better are sucking up VRAM fast. But they sure do look awesome!!!

I would wait for the 7950, it will have 3GB and be as fast as a 580 or faster if you can get an O.C. version...

or be like me and wait until Geforce 780's are out! in April/May!

 

[lsv]

I went with the 6950 in my sig, customized 7xxx series cards won't be out for some time and I'm worried about noise so I got this Asus DCII about a month ago. If aftermarket 7950's were launching in a week I would have waited but I doubt they'll be ready for some time.

 

[deadken]

The fever broke for now. I just needed to get past the urge.

I thank you guys for your information. At this point, I'll wait another few weeks to get a good deal on a good card. Or, I'll spend good money and get the latest card which should hold me the longest.

From the prices posted in other threads, it seems that the 7850 2GB will be priced at $250 or I can get a 6950 for that money now. I can get a GTX 560 Ti 448 OC for around $275. I don't like the idea of the 560Ti because it 'only' has 1.25GB (still, that's double my current card). I don't like the idea of the 6950 only because I feel that in a month or two I could get a better card for the same money, or the same card for less.

I simply have to stop looking at the great deals being offered now. I'll start looking again in 2 or 3 weeks. Maybe I'll start seeing if any XFX cards (with the transferable warranty) show up in the F/S section. I'm skeptical of buying an expensive card without a significant warranty.

 

[MrK6]

Anything at 28nm is going to be miles ahead of what's available, so that's what I'd invest in. The reason you're seeing good card deals now is because retailers are making room for the new cards and they'll have to sell the older cards at even less afterwards. If your 8800GTS is holding back your enjoyment of the games you want to play, grab a used 6850/6870 in the FS/FT area to hold you over and then sell it once you grab a 7870/50.

 

[skrewler2]

Definitely just get a 5850/70 or 6850/70 to tide you over. A 69xx series, as you said, would only be worth it if you were planning on sticking with it for awhile. These cards are the best value for your money at this point at $100 - $150.

On top of that -- if you don't mind buying used they're abundant and even cheaper. Apparently all the BitCoin miners are selling their cards as it's no longer profitable.

 

[KingFatty]

I'll chime in with my experience: I had a 5870 that I sold before the 7XXX soft-launch and before the 5870 retail prices dropped really low, so got decent money for it and held the money to be spent on a video upgrade. I went without a video card and was also getting the upgrade shakes bad and considered getting a 6950 but fought the urge so I could wait for the 7XXX series. But the urge was too strong, had to buy... something ...

So, two days ago I found a good deal on craigslist for a used 5850. So I bought it and that satisfied my upgrade shakes and now I have something to play/tinker with as an academic exercise to see how far I can overclock it. Sure it's not as good as my previous card, but that's not its purpose. It's to satisfy my urge until the 7XXX series comes out. I can turn around and sell it then. Even if I lose $5 or $10 dollars (but probably not, because I bought it at below-market value and it's done about all the depreciation it's going to do).

So I suggest like the above, find and buy a cheaper video card you can tinker with and satisfy the upgrade urge and resell when you get your "real" card later. Lower risk to buy a cheaper card, and easier to sell to someone on craigslist who wants to do crossfire (I'm assuming there will be lots of people who have slower cards that just have to go to crossfire to remain competitive when faced with 7XXX series performance and will therefore be happy to buy your card used).

But if you can get by on your current card without buying anything, I guess that's fine, but it's fun to overclock a slower card and see what you can make it do for you until you get the new cards when they come out.

Another aspect is I bet there is a dip in the demand for slower cards because lots of people are waiting for the next gen cards. The retailers like Newegg will be aggressive to move old stock when demand dips, and also the manufacturers will get aggressive to offer rebates to make sure the old cards don't sit at the retailers and not sell and pile up when the new cards hit. So that could help you get an even better deal on a new card, if you can't find anything on craigslist. I'm lucky that I live in an area where there are tons of computer stuff everyday on craigslist, but if you are in a smaller area, there may be no video cards available so you'll have to grab the good deals on newegg etc. I find the "Hot Deals" forum here on Anandtech to be very good for spotting video card deals early so you can grab one before it goes out of stock once word gets around.

 

[alcoholbob]

Depends how the drivers mature...anything cutting edge will have a big improvement, but in some of the current games it's even a step back (7 series vs 9 series). The 7970 is worse than the 6970 in Skyrim, lol sad. Even a $200 nVidia card can outperform the $550 ATI flagship.

 

[Arkadrel]

when you want to avg ~200fps in BF3 (DX11) ULTRA 1080p Preset:

Im sure Crossfire drivers could use some more work, but so far looks good right?

Depends how the drivers mature...anything cutting edge will have a big improvement, but in some of the current games it's even a step back (7 series vs 9 series). The 7970 is worse than the 6970 in Skyrim, lol sad. Even a $200 nVidia card can outperform the $550 ATI flagship.

CPU bottlenecked (still gives you a idea of its performance):

ouuf... doesnt look like the 580 has enough ram for this last one.

I *still* think these cards need more driver work though...

 

[dust]

^ I don't think the eyefinity test is applicable for 580.