GPU upgrade worth it or not

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staunchy20

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sup dudes i need some advice.

I got a brand new msi 7870 hawk now i got 2 choices. a guy offered me R2400 for my card and he is selling a brand new asus 7970 direct cu II top for R4400.

is it worth trading my 7870 hawk+R2000 for asus 7970 irect cu II top or keep my card and get another 7870 hawk later on and then xfire?
 
Well that is roughly the value difference between those two cards. So it's up to you whether it's a worthwhile proposition but it's not an unfair deal I think. 7970 DCII Top was nearly a r7000 card.
 
Take that money and buy a 680 perhaps. Check some reviews before making a decision.

Guru3d normally has awesome reviews.
 
cerebus said:
Well that is roughly the value difference between those two cards. So it's up to you whether it's a worthwhile proposition but it's not an unfair deal I think. 7970 DCII Top was nearly a r7000 card.
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the guy i can get it from works for asus so he get's it at a lot cheaper price.

He is selling the Asus 7970 brand new for R4400.
 
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staunchy20 said:
the guy i can get it from works for asus so he get's it at a lot cheaper price.

He is selling the Asus 7970 brand new for R4400.
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Look you can now get 2ndhand 680's for r4k. So as killadoob said, just consider that. But I can't say it's a bad deal, it clearly isn't. 2k on top for a 7970 is going to make quite a good difference, I think around 30% or so faster.
 
I'd go for it, but ask if you get free game coupons with the card as well. For an idea of what performance would be like, read Techreport's Gaming CPU review which uses a HD7950 for testing (I consider all fps tests now null and void, frame latency over time is far more relevant). Add about 10% more performance on and that's a HD7970 (basically, 25% faster then your card). Just match it up with your i5-2500K and you'll get a good idea of the performance boost.

Also, with Catalyst 12.11, even the vanilla version of the HD7970 is now equal to the GTX680. Overclock it or upgrade the BIOS to the GHz edition if it hasn't already been done for you, and you have a GTX680 killer.
 
680 killer?

So if you overclocked the 680 would it still get murdered by those 2-3fps?

Take the deal though, new card and it is only slightly slower than the 680. It isn't a 680 killer even when it's overclocked.
 
You want him to use a CPU benchmark review with NO 7970, GTX680 OR 7870 anywhere in sight, to judge the value of a 7970 upgrade from 7870, because he should be able to 'add 25%' and estimate for wind turbulence and the flight speed of an unladen African swallow? Thumbsucking much Wes?
 
cerebus said:
You want him to use a CPU benchmark review with NO 7970, GTX680 OR 7870 anywhere in sight, to judge the value of a 7970 upgrade from 7870, because he should be able to 'add 25%' and estimate for wind turbulence and the flight speed of an unladen African swallow? Thumbsucking much Wes?
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LOL

Here is a proper review with charts that has all cards in question on them. No thumb sucking, just raw numbers.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/his_radeon_hd_7970_x_turbo_edition_review,1.html

That is the turbo edition though.
 
killadoob said:
680 killer?

So if you overclocked the 680 would it still get murdered by those 2-3fps?
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You get the idea, its just a saying. The GTX680 is a perfectly fine choice but that's not what OP's being offered. With the new drivers from both camps the two cards are much closer together in terms of overall ability. The HD7970 GHz Edition does seem to edge out the GTX680 in many cases, however.

cerebus said:
You want him to use a CPU benchmark review with NO 7970, GTX680 OR 7870 anywhere in sight, to judge the value of a 7970 upgrade from 7870, because he should be able to 'add 25%' and estimate for wind turbulence and the flight speed of an unladen African swallow? Thumbsucking much Wes?
Click to expand...

I'm not thumbsucking, making a estimation based on what I know. The HD7950 isn't very far from the HD7970 but since I don't have either one to test for myself and verify their relative performance differences, I can't give an entirely accurate idea. Perhaps my estimate of 25% is a little conservative, but then I'm only taking into account scores and benchmarks performed by other people.

Besides, you quoted 30%, or so, better performance than a stock HD7870. Do you have data to back up that claim, did you estimate given various scores for online reviews, or did you thumbsuck it?
 
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well i took the plunge, getting the asus 7970 irect cu II top.

I had a 5870 which i was very happy with then went to 580, had some issues where it was running at higher temps then i like and it got less fps in cod then my 5870.

ATI generally offers better price/performance.
 
staunchy20 said:
well i took the plunge, getting the asus 7970 irect cu II top.

I had a 5870 which i was very happy with then went to 580, had some issues where it was running at higher temps then i like and it got less fps in cod then my 5870.

ATI generally offers better price/performance.
Click to expand...

Great, good decision. But you can't generalize on ATI/Nvidia price/performance anything these days. Case in point - I just picked up a Powercolor 6950 - very fast card, unlocks to 6970 - but the fan noise is unbearable. Versus my previous Zotac 560ti which you literally could not hear in the case. And to me that's a dealbreaker.

You can only determine price/performance on a case by case basis. Occasionally Nvidia or AMD takes the crown, and then generally what happens is the other guy responds by either changing their cards (like the GHZ bios update for 7970) or slicing a bit off the cost. In the end you go for personal choice and read the reviews.
 
If you have the warranty on the card, as new, then go for it. If you can't forget it! You'll be better off buying a GTX 660 Ti and paying the difference, selling your card and you'll wind up with a profit on the original deal.

Also check which Asus it is because I can give you a 7970 at R4400 + VAT. (In the box with warranty)
 
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