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Upgrading Ati 5850

If you are overclocking the 7950 can give you excellent bang for buck, but if you are not going to over clock I would stick to a 7970 or a 670. You really have to over clock a 7950 to make it good value.
 
As is always the case with GPUs the top end cards rarely represent the best value for money until they are getting close to EOL. If you are happy to overclock then the 7950 or 670 are probably the best place to put your money, unless you're to worried about budget and want ultimate performance.
 
Thanks guys, this forum is great for quality advice.

Theres only 40-50 quid difference between the two, so I'll probably go for the 7970.

Out of curiosity, will I notice a marked difference over my current card?
I've been thinking of upgrading for a while, but my current card has and is still very good, hence delaying my decision.
 
father-ted said:
Thanks guys, this forum is great for quality advice.

Theres only 40-50 quid difference between the two, so I'll probably go for the 7970.

Out of curiosity, will I notice a marked difference over my current card?
I've been thinking of upgrading for a while, but my current card has and is still very good, hence delaying my decision.
Click to expand...

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/512?vs=508 :)
 
I am sure you will notice quite a difference!
I went from crossfired 5850's to a 7970 and it certainly is quicker.
Not sure if its just smoother because its not crossfired or it actually has better fps, games like BF3 and Skyrim are so much better.
 
father-ted said:
Great, thanks.

Looking at the MSI 7970 for £320, is there anything better around that price range?
Click to expand...

Marine-RX179 said:
It's either 7970 or GTX670 at that price range. I would suggest you make your decision base on the games you play most, as some games scale better with AMD, and some scale better with Nvidia.
Click to expand...

+1

Gigabyte WF 670 is a nice version of the 670.
 
How tolerant are you of noise, and do you intend over clocking? If you do or want to keep your PC quiet I would recommend a non reference cooler like the wind force. Worth the little extra IMO.
 
Noise doesn't really bother me as I use headphones when gaming.

The Sapphire 7970 OC has a non-stock cooler, would that be better than the MSI (slightly more expensive at £336)?
Heard stories of some Sapphires more difficult to OC, is that true with this card (not after an insane OC, just moderate)?
 
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