Get a second 7950 or a single GTX 780?

~>Dg<~ · 23 Sep 2013 at 14:41

for arma you want the fast cpu . one of the games where you notice cpu horse power

David Bisset · 23 Sep 2013 at 15:06

=XDC=FluphyBunny said:
If its not till next year prices and or hardware will all have changed. Maxwell might even be out by March never mind the soon to be release amd r9***.

^^this really. Nearer the time when prices are whatever they are & new cards are out we can give a much better answer.... answering now would be fairly unhelpful as too much change will happen between now and then.

slake · 23 Sep 2013 at 15:30

I am really keen on the MSI GTX 780 Lightning if I'm honest.

But I take everything into consideration.

Also another question should I go with water-cooling or stick with air?

I've never had water-cooling before, is it hard to maintain, are the risks minimal etc?

teppic · 23 Sep 2013 at 16:42

slake said:
I am really keen on the MSI GTX 780 Lightning if I'm honest.

But I take everything into consideration.

Also another question should I go with water-cooling or stick with air?

I've never had water-cooling before, is it hard to maintain, are the risks minimal etc?

You'd be wasting your money, lower performance for a much higher cost. If you want a single card, wait to see what is announced on the 25th.

slake · 23 Sep 2013 at 19:29

Only reason I've considered getting a single GTX is because I saw a review somewhere and it show that the Radeon HD's don't have a stable FPS, and have a lot of drops whereas GTX's have minimal to no drop in FPS etc.

I've had AMD for at least 10 years now.

Thought it may be time to change over, brand new PC *near enough* try something new.

Same with the Intel CPU's I think...

Also with dual cards, I'm worried about the heat that it'll produce. This PC alone heats my room up aha.

LtMatt · 23 Sep 2013 at 19:34

slake said:
I saw a review somewhere and it show that the Radeon HD's don't have a stable FPS, and have a lot of drops whereas GTX's have minimal to no drop in FPS etc.

Lol, now that's a load of clap trap if ever ive heard it.

whyscotty · 23 Sep 2013 at 20:02

LtMatt said:
Lol, now that's a load of clap trap if ever ive heard it.

I think you meant to say - You have been misinformed

cainer · 23 Sep 2013 at 20:07

slake said:
I'll be buying a i7-4770. The case will be air cooled in a 600T case.

Obviously prices will change when the time comes, I'm looking around March 2014, unless I should wait a lil longer for newer components, I'm not really sure when things come out etc xD

The PSU will be a Corsair AX760.

come back and ask at the end of Feb 2014

/thread

MG42Maniac · 23 Sep 2013 at 20:46

Looking at those Arma 3 benchmarks makes me very happy. Good to see my 7950 CF (pretty much a 7990) beating the mighty Titan for a fraction of the cost. 2 HIS cards cost £380 and I got £120 selling all the games. Total cost was £260 - bargain!

LtMatt · 23 Sep 2013 at 20:50

MG42Maniac said:
I got £120 selling all the games. Total cost was £260 - bargain!

Blimey that's much better than i did and i thought i did good. £460 for my 2x7950+£100 in selling games =£360. Mind you i bought mine before the HIS cards went down to £185.

slake · 23 Sep 2013 at 21:17

I have a Sapphire Vapor X, so will me getting a second but a HIS instead of the same one that's in now cause any problem for CF'ing?

Also what's the heat like for 2 7950's OC'd?

MG42Maniac · 23 Sep 2013 at 21:22

LtMatt said:
Blimey that's much better than i did and i thought i did good. £460 for my 2x7950+£100 in selling games =£360. Mind you i bought mine before the HIS cards went down to £185.

I think I got about 16 games. I kept a Crysis 3 key and still have a BioShock Infinite to sell. Because I waited to redeem both gold reward cards I was able to snap up two copies of Saints Row IV which I sold for £30 each alone.

teppic · 23 Sep 2013 at 21:23

slake said:
I have a Sapphire Vapor X, so will me getting a second but a HIS instead of the same one that's in now cause any problem for CF'ing?

Also what's the heat like for 2 7950's OC'd?

No problems. I'd put them at the same clock (1100MHz is a very good choice).

The HIS exhausts out the back, so heat is far less of a worry. Just make sure you have an intake and exhaust fan in your case to keep things cool.

LtMatt · 23 Sep 2013 at 22:05

1100/1500 is a sweet spot for 7950 crossfire. Good balance of performance vs temps. About equal to a 7990/7970ghz crossfire performance as well.

Rusty0611 · 24 Sep 2013 at 18:11

Having tested personally 7950 crossfire and a 780 there's no doubt the 7950s are noticeably quicker in most games (25-30% ish at best) but you've got to deal with any multi-GPU related issues (e.g. scaling) and also the heat/noise of an overclocked crossfire set up.

If you can deal with those points then the 7950s are cheaper and faster. If you want a single card which is remarkably close to 7950 CF performance then the 780 is fantastic.

I wouldn't swap back to CF 7950 having got my 780 but I wasn't really dissatified with my 7950s... it's just a single card is always preferable IMO.

teppic · 24 Sep 2013 at 18:31

7950 CF at reference clocks and 7950 CF at 1100MHz are quite a bit different

Any games that will benefit from 2x7950s are likely to scale all right.

Rusty0611 · 24 Sep 2013 at 18:43

Really? Thanks I didn't realise they were so different

.

I tested both at stock and while overclocked to 1100/1500. The 780 was then overclocked to 1200 ish and 1700 and the difference in most games was 25%. Tomb Raider was just over 30%. BF3 was under 10%.

Both the 7950s and 780 went further I just tested on what I would term 24/7 clocks.

Nelly · 27 Sep 2013 at 23:30

Just read this thread, so I would be absolutely out of my mind to switch from a GTX 780 to HIS 7950 crossfire?

Say I get £100 for the games, actually theirs a few games I want Crysis 3, Saints Row IV, Bioshock Infinite...

Not sure how much I'll get for my GTX 780, think one went for £430 with no warranty, so might easily get £450ish...

Then get a Samsung S27B970D 27" for £500, but would be less with the savings made switching and selling my graphics card. :confused:

My current NEC 24WMGX3 24" TFT uses around 100W in normal use, the Samsung S27B970D 27" would use 40W when calibrated, so power consumption would be compensated.

£347.98 - HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB x 2
£100.00 - Free Games.
£450.00 - GTX 780 Sale
--------
£202.00 - Estimated money gained from switching...
--------

slake · 4 Oct 2013 at 14:24

I really like the Corsair 600T window case, and with two 7950's Crossfired and running at higher freq's I can see heat being a problem.

Still got my eye on a 780, but with the new R9 290X... I'll have to wait and see what price they come out at.

Would having two 7950's be better for dual monitors or would the 780 cope just fine?

Thanks for all the help though, really appreciate it.

-------
@Nelly - Going by what others have said, if you're happy with the heat it will generate and don't mind running the 7950 at a higher freq then go for it, also the fact you get free games *that you want* is a massive bonus.

I spent £250 on my Sapphire Vapor-X 7950 OC, I got Sleeping Dogs, Far Cry 3, Hitman Absolution and an early access to a Medal of Honor game.