Worthy upgrade of HD 6870?

[nubki11a]

Hey guys,

I've been thinking about upgrading my Sapphire HD 6870 since I got my 120hz BenQ XL2411T 24" monitor. I was wondering if any of you guys could help me out with recommending a new one. I would like to spend a maximum of €200,-. Seeing as I expect to get about €65,- for my old one, my budget is €260,- max. I will be buying from Dutch websites (http://www.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/). The card will be used exclusively for gaming.

Additional questions:
Will upgrading to, for instance, a GeForce GTX 670 (maybe even 770) make a big difference in perfomance? In other words, will it be worth it?
I have a 650W PSU, will that be enough?

Thanks!

PS.
Specs:

CPU: i5 2500k @4.5GHz
CPU Cooler: CM 212+
Mobo: Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 8GB
PSU: Corsair TX650 V2
HDD : Old Spinpoint F3 750GB
SSD : Crucial M4 64GB
Case: CM 680 II Advanced

 

[Termie]

The 670 has been discontinued, but if you find it available, it's a worthy upgrade, as it's almost twice as fast.

The 770 is just over twice as fast as the 6870, and is definitely a worthy upgrade.

Both would be in your price range. Your power supply is more than sufficient.

 

[nubki11a]

How futureproof will they be? About 3-4 years? Just like my HD 6870? I plan on keeping me 1920x1080 screen for as long as possible (>4 years).

I could get a GTX 670 for €226,- and a GTX 770 for €277,-.
Might also be worth noting that I plan on overclocking as soon as I need it.

 

[Shmee]

A 770 or 680 would be good if found in your price range.

 

[nubki11a]

A GTX 680 would be €580 unfortunately haha

Right now I'm pretty torn between the 670 and the 770. Would you upgrade from a 670 to a 770 if it would cost you €50?

 

[Termie]

A GTX 680 would be €580 unfortunately haha

Right now I'm pretty torn between the 670 and the 770. Would you upgrade from a 670 to a 770 if it would cost you €50?

No, but that's not really the relevant question. It's whether you'd upgrade from a 6870 to a GTX670 for 226 or from a 6870 to a GTX770 for 277. It would make almost no sense at all to upgrade from a 670 to a 770.

Based on those prices, I'd go with the 770. It's 20% faster, and only 23% more expensive.

 

[nubki11a]

Yeah was wondering if that comparison made any sense the second I pressed Reply

 

[tweakboy]

Wait it out!

 

[Slomo4shO]

An R9 280X fits right in there at the €265 mark. The best option would likely be a R9 270X which can be found for around €170 on that site.

 

[nwo]

I wouldn't pay an additional 50 euros for only a 20% performance increase. Although 20% sounds like a lot, in reality the 20% is not significant enough to make it more future proof. I'd pocket the difference towards something else. I'd say your best choice would definitely be the GTX 670 @ 226.

 

[SPBHM]

minimum I would say R9 270 (also consider 270x, 760), but you should probably be looking at 280x and 770 as others have mentioned.

 

[nubki11a]

Alright thanks for the recommendations everyone. I made a list with the prices I can get them for:


• Sapphire R9 270X 2GB - €172,-
• MSI Twin Frozr GTX N760 2GB - €210,-
• ASUS GTX 670 2GB - €227,-
• Sapphire R9 280X 3GB - €261,-
• Gainward Phantom GTX 770 2GB - €274,-
• MSI Twin Frozr/ASUS/Palit GTX 770 2GB - €284,-

The last 3 makes are all the same price. I wonder why the Gainward is a little cheaper even though it has higher clocks.

The 280X is the only one that's 3GB. As I intend to stick with 1920x1080 I don't expect that I'll be using that extra gig.

@nwo That's a very interesting point, are you sure it won't matter anything for the future? 20% is about 10-18 fps extra. But what about the drivers? I assume nVidia will support the 7-series longer than the 6-series, won't that start to make a difference in a couple years?

 

[Termie]

The 7-series and 6-series use the exact same drivers, as do the R9 and HD7000 series (the R9 290/290X are a bit different in some regards, but you're not considering those).

All the prices you've listed line up just as they should. I think your best bet is to pick the price you're most comfortable paying. None of them stand out as extraordinarily cheap or extraordinarily expensive.

I would say, however, that 3GB of RAM may be useful at 1080p sometime in the future, so that price on the 280X is tempting. Here in the states it's an outrageous $400+.

 

[nwo]

@nwo That's a very interesting point, are you sure it won't matter anything for the future? 20% is about 10-18 fps extra. But what about the drivers? I assume nVidia will support the 7-series longer than the 6-series, won't that start to make a difference in a couple years?

When the 20% starts to matter and make a difference later down the road, it will be a lot less than 10 fps difference. As far as the drivers go, I don't think that should be a concern. They will likely support the 6 series for longer than it will be able to play new games smoothly.

In my opinion, the GTX 670 is the best bang for the buck card. But, if you want to invest into a more future proof card, I would definitely recommend the 3GB 280x. It is highly likely that in a few years 3-4GB VRAM will be the new norm.

 

[nubki11a]

Right now I'm torn between the 280X and the GTX 670. I would like to have an nVidia card because it supports 120hz better (LightBoost). However, futureproofing is definitely as important for me. Could you guys tell me if it would be possible to, in about 4 years, buy another 280X and X-Fire them?

 

[nwo]

Right now I'm torn between the 280X and the GTX 670. I would like to have an nVidia card because it supports 120hz better (LightBoost). However, futureproofing is definitely as important for me. Could you guys tell me if it would be possible to, in about 4 years, buy another 280X and X-Fire them?

Sure, you can crossfire them at any time. However, 4 years from now, you're looking at getting a used 280x. Also, 4 years from now, I doubt that adding another 280x would be a very viable option. I think there will be better options by that time.

 

[nubki11a]

Wouldn't 3GB still be enough then? About as good as 1GB is right now? So I shouldn't count on X-Firing?

 

[nwo]

Wouldn't 3GB still be enough then? About as good as 1GB is right now? So I shouldn't count on X-Firing?

You can count on xfiring but my reasoning behind my last post is the following...

Ask yourself would it be worth it to xfire two 5870s or sell one 5870 and buy a 7950 or equivalent?

I know the prices are a little off right now so it's not really a valid comparison but the point still remains.

You are likely to get better performance out of a single 7950 in every single game than you are out of two 5870s. In addition, you will save enough power by going with a single 7950 to justify for the extra $$ you will spend on it.

A single new generation card will always be a better option, in both performance and cost, than two old cards which are several generations old.

 

[Termie]

Put another way, OP, you aren't considering Crossfiring your HD6870, are you? That goes to the point above that banking on crossfiring cards many years in the future isn't all that realistic.

You'll be very happy with the GTX 670 if you can still get it - it's a big upgrade from what you have, and it seems you'd like to go with Nvidia this time around.

 

[nubki11a]

Yeah I get the point, thanks for the explanation guys

You guys can't imagine how torn I am between the 670 and 280X at the moment haha.

 

[nubki11a]

I'm just gonna say [redacted] it, I'll go with the 670. I won't be ordering it for a couple of days so I'll check back here then, if you guys have any other points that I haven't thought about I might change my mind then.

Either way, thanks a lot for the advice! If there is any testing once I get my card or w/e else I can do for this forum, I'll be more than happy to do it

Profanity is not allowed in the technical forums -shmee

 

[nwo]

Yeah I get the point, thanks for the explanation guys

You guys can't imagine how torn I am between the 670 and 280X at the moment haha.

I would be too. The future is unpredictable, so don't let the 3GB of VRAM on the 280x be the main influence factor for your decision.

 

[schmuckley]

6950 2gb,6970 2Gb,660 Ti,GTX 670,GTX 770,7950,7970,270x,280x,290,290x,gtx 780,gtx 780Ti.

 

[Slomo4shO]

6950 2gb,6970 2Gb,660 Ti,GTX 670,GTX 770,7950,7970,270x,280x,290,290x,gtx 780,gtx 780Ti.

Something seems to be out of order here...

 

[nubki11a]

Alright. So apparently, the last (reasonably priced) GTX 670''s slipped right through my fingers... They won't be selling them anymore, the only ones I could could get now are the Palit (never really heard about this before, any good?) GTX 670 for €250,- and the Asus GTX 670 for about €275,- Seeing as I can get the R9 280X for about the same price, I should go with the R9 280X instead?

Thoughts?