Video card upgrade

[daraksharnah]

The 780 dropped today, so it's time to decide what to upgrade to. I'm upgrading from a GTS 250 that has been pushed to the edge of it's abilities. My budget is probably topped at $500, I can drop more, but it'll have to be something special.

So, that leaves me with deciding between: 7950/70 (preferably Ghz), 680, 7850, or do I wait for the 770/760 to drop?

I have to company bias, my goal is price/perf, so I'd like to avoid the flame wars that made the 7xx threads very hard to enjoy. Also, it's obvious that anything is a MASSIVE upgrade at this point, so I'm thinking of a slightly cheaper card, like the 7850, 7950, or 660 ti, and then sell and upgrade to the 20 nm's in bout 6 months or so.

What do you guys think?

my current rig:
Asrock Extreme 4, z77
i5-3570k, slightly OC'ed
8gb of g.skill 1600
256 gig samsung ssd
GTS 250 (good ol' card, really shined moving up to this from the AMD 64 4200+ i had it in :3 but time to put the ol' girl to rest)
750w PSU
resolution 1920x1080, would like higher res...eventually

 

[parablooper]

If you're willing to stretch just a bit over budget....

I would say the 680 FTW+ would be a great choice simply because it will last you a long time. I won't lie when I say I'm not the most experienced here. You can tell that from my profile. But it doesn't take much to see that a storm is coming. PC games are getting significantly more demanding, and with the new consoles releasing developers will be able to stretch their graphics technology without worrying about having to downgrade it so much for the console port.

Just an example: For quite a while now everyone has believed that 2GB of vRAM is plenty. But Bioshock Infinite releases, and we find that on Ultra settings that game uses up 2.2~2.3GB, causing big frame drops on even solid cards like 660Ti. GDDR5 usage will continue to grow larger in next gen games, and the 680 (4GB) provides plenty of overhead for you.

Newegg looks to be having a sweet deal: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130794 with a 7% off code SLCKDEAL520. 7% doesn't sound like much, but that's another $40 shaved off. Mail in your rebate and that's down to $520. Plus, it comes with a Metro: Last Light coupon, and if you're an optimist then that technically makes your card $460 (kinda stretching it there lol).

I'm an honest guy and I'll tell you that I personally don't own this card, so I can't vouch for it myself. But the reviews look rock solid, and EVGA has a pretty good history of reliability. You've got a good CPU that will really max this thing's capabilities out. A GPU is an investment, and you should invest well. 7950's may get 50~60fps in Tomb Raider and Metro now, but think of games a year from now, or the year after. It probably won't look so good. Consider this carefully when choosing, and choose carefully.

 

[ronss]

i bought the ASUS Graphic Cards GTX660ti -DC2O-2GD5, and was surprised with the speed of this card..i thought i wanted the 670 at first, but after running this,,,i believe the 670 might have been a waste of money, unless you have it to spend...the 670 is indeed a great card, but the asus is nothing to sneeze at...in most instances , the stock asus gtx 660 ti is faster than the 7950, and if you are will to overclock it a bit(which is possible even though it is overcloclked) it will beat the 670....i have seen reviews where the overcock gtx 660 assus ti comes close to the 680, but never beats it...

but if you have the cash, nothing wrong with the 670 or 680, they are great video cards

 

[escrow4]

Do you want 1920x1080 on High 40FPS or so, or do you want 1080p virtually every single thing switched on or pushed to the limit?

That will decide where to put your cash. Personally, I went for a Titan before the 780's released and I don't regret it a bit. With your budget give it a week and see more reviews come in - but answer my opening question first as a guide.

 

[daraksharnah]

Do you want 1920x1080 on High 40FPS or so, or do you want 1080p virtually every single thing switched on or pushed to the limit?

That will decide where to put your cash. Personally, I went for a Titan before the 780's released and I don't regret it a bit. With your budget give it a week and see more reviews come in - but answer my opening question first as a guide.

I guess that woulda been a good point to post, how could I forget to mention that?

Currently I'm running a standard 1080p monitor, but I'd definitely would like to push the limits of everything I play, which is well....almost anything. Civ 5 is probably my most demanding game at the moment, but I haven't bought anything of current gen games. So for that matter, any game bundle will include something I'll play. My fear is that I'd get me Crysis 3, or Bioshock Infinite, and my current card would start tying the noose if I don't drop the settings.

I'm tired, so this is probably long winded, but thanks for the help so far!

 

[parablooper]

Also important to keep in mind, the 760ti/770 will be just a rebrand of the 600 series. Both the 780 and the Titan use the GK114 architecture, which make them both amazing and incredibly expensive. The 760/70 will just be a slightly upgraded 660/70. They will not be better than a 680, just as a 660 is not better than a 580 (in most cases).

 

[gammaray]

you say your budget is 500$, buy something around that price. pretty simple.
There is not much choice, 7970ghz or gtx 680.

or like you say, get a 7850 around 180$ and wait...either way, the card will be a vast improvement over what you have.

just look at this chart:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=609

 

[24601]

770 drops on the 30th of May.

Buying right now would be foolish.

 

[daraksharnah]

Yea, I should have waited another week to make this post

But thanks for all the advice, I'll check out those benchmarks and reviews, and see what the 770 drops at next week.

thanks again!

 

[daraksharnah]

With the 770 at $400, I've narrowed my choice down to these 2 (newegg link)

The 770 ACX, or sapphire's 7070 GHZ

Aside from those, the other consideration has been to go cheaper, with say, a 7950 or 7850 which are $300 or less, and then sell and upgrade next year with the 20nm cards.

Like I said before, I want all games on NS as well as Metro LL. What I'm leaning toward, is to get the 770 ACX, and buy one of the NS bundles off ebay, then I have all the games

I just saw the 770 isn't bundled with Metro, but logic still stands, so still not sure which to go with :/ guess it doesn't matter does it, as the 2 of them in released benches are +-5%

So, the choice would come down to cooling or noise or something maybe....and in that respect: for cooling, my CPU runs at 40c underload, 50c if my fan doesn't turn on (only happened 3 times >_> ). So, not too concerned with the ACX dumping extra heat into the system, but the 7970 wouldn't require a separate purchase to get the games....

Ok, sorry for the rambling, what do you all think though?

 

[gammaray]

Whether its the 7970, 7970 ghz, gtx 680 or gtx 770, check the reviews before you buy, and pick the best deal out there.