7990 or a second 7950?

Steviepunk · 23 Nov 2013 at 13:43

I've already got a Gigabyte 7950, had been planning on getting a second one to XFire them, however todays 7990 deal is very tempting!
Obviously the 7990 is faster, but a second 7950 would be much cheaper.
How are they for power consumption (not a massive issue, but nice to know), would 2 7950s be more power hungry and a 7990?
What about the noise, would the 7990 be quieter than the 2 7950s due to just being one card?

currently got 2 1920x1200 monitors and toying with the idea of a 3rd one for eyefinity gaming.

Is it worth getting the 7990, or should I just stick with my original plan of a second 7950?

TonyTurbo78 · 23 Nov 2013 at 13:49

I'm a lover of the 7950 crossfire, but to be honest, the deal for the 7990 today is incredible. Why not jump all over this 7990 deal now before stock runs dry and sell your 7950 for maybe £150. Then maybe sell the free games that come with the 7990 and you have an absolute bargain.

benjii · 23 Nov 2013 at 13:55

See, I'd say the opposite. The performance difference between a 7990 and a 7950 xfire is going to be negligible. So I'd go the cheaper route and slap another 7950 in there, rather than go through the hassle of selling your current one. *waits for LtMatt to charge in championing 7950 xfire*

r7slayer · 23 Nov 2013 at 13:57

benjii said:
See, I'd say the opposite. The performance difference between a 7990 and a 7950 xfire is going to be negligible. So I'd go the cheaper route and slap another 7950 in there, rather than go through the hassle of selling your current one. *waits for LtMatt to charge in championing 7950 xfire*

+1 and you can sell the free games with the 7950 too making that even cheaper.

TonyTurbo78 · 23 Nov 2013 at 13:57

space for a second 7990 then though down the road lmao.

benjii · 23 Nov 2013 at 14:00

TonyTurbo78 said:
space for a second 7990 then though down the road lmao.

I guess it would make a nice space heater.

TonyTurbo78 · 23 Nov 2013 at 14:01

well winter is here now so perfect.

Scooby-DoobyDoo · 23 Nov 2013 at 14:52

Can you not go 7990 and 7950 and tri fire?

benjii · 23 Nov 2013 at 15:05

Scooby-DoobyDoo said:
Can you not go 7990 and 7950 and tri fire?

You could, but it's not recommended to combine the 7990 with anything as it gets crazy hot otherwise.

r7slayer · 23 Nov 2013 at 15:13

Scooby-DoobyDoo said:
Can you not go 7990 and 7950 and tri fire?

Not to mention depending on his CPU it's very likely to bottleneck anyway.

Steviepunk · 23 Nov 2013 at 15:13

TonyTurbo78 said:
space for a second 7990 then though down the road lmao.

Now would be nice, though I doubt it would ever actually happen

thanks for all the quick feedback... still undecided though! Anyone know how they two options compare for noise?

On price 390 - 150 (assuming I could sell the 7950 for that) would mean the effective cost is 240 (not counting selling games, I might not do that..), which is not far off the cost of buying a new Gigabyte 7950 (can't see these under 200 just now), so I'd kind of be paying the £40 premium to have a 7970 for the games that don't support XFire properly.
Though I guess I'd probably be able to pick up a second hand one cheaper.

GoogalyMoogaly · 23 Nov 2013 at 15:16

benjii said:
*waits for LtMatt to charge in championing 7950 xfire*

You mean LtMatt that got rid of his 7950 XFire for a 7990?

4737Joker · 23 Nov 2013 at 17:43

do you have or are you planning on watercooling?

If you are you would only need 1 block for the 7990 and would need to buy 2 for 7950 crossfire so thats another £80 for the loop (plus fittings and bridge).

rolypolyman · 23 Nov 2013 at 18:35

GoogalyMoogaly said:
You mean LtMatt that got rid of his 7950 XFire for a 7990?

Well Ive just done the same. Couldn't resist that price today, man I wanted to buy one a couple of months back when they first dropped to £499 and Lt Matt persuaded me to go 7950 crossfire, which I did, to be honest 7950 crossfire is a beast of a setup and I had no problems whatsoever with it.
Now to sell my 2X7950.

4737Joker · 23 Nov 2013 at 18:53

are you selling them on MM?

rolypolyman · 23 Nov 2013 at 18:59

4737Joker said:
are you selling them on MM?

Don't know, cant recall if I've ever sold anything on MM. Will certainly think about it though as I also have a cpu\mb\mem to sell as well but I usually go on the well known auction site.

GoogalyMoogaly · 23 Nov 2013 at 19:55

rolypolyman said:
Well Ive just done the same. Couldn't resist that price today, man I wanted to buy one a couple of months back when they first dropped to £499 and Lt Matt persuaded me to go 7950 crossfire, which I did, to be honest 7950 crossfire is a beast of a setup and I had no problems whatsoever with it.
Now to sell my 2X7950.

I was tempted to do the same, but can't be bothered trying to sell my 7950s (for the benefit I'd get).

Steviepunk · 23 Nov 2013 at 23:17

Bit the bullet and bought the 7990

Once I sell the 7950, the price difference won't be too bad, and it saves space in the case and keeps access to other PCI slots free. That's what I'm telling myself anyway!

Guess I'll have to get BF4 to really show it off now...

GoogalyMoogaly · 24 Nov 2013 at 11:33

Steviepunk said:
Bit the bullet and bought the 7990

Once I sell the 7950, the price difference won't be too bad, and it saves space in the case and keeps access to other PCI slots free. That's what I'm telling myself anyway!

Guess I'll have to get BF4 to really show it off now...

To be honest unless you're gaming at a resolution over 1080p or using a 120Hz or 144Hz monitor I'm not sure you'll see much difference. My GTX 670 can almost hold 60fps on Ultra, so I'd have thought a single 7950 could.

Still new toys are always nice

I was a little tempted to replace my 7950 XFire with one, if I'd had a single 7950 I'm sure I'd have done the same as you.

Scooby-DoobyDoo · 24 Nov 2013 at 12:47

Steviepunk said:
Bit the bullet and bought the 7990

Once I sell the 7950, the price difference won't be too bad, and it saves space in the case and keeps access to other PCI slots free. That's what I'm telling myself anyway!

Guess I'll have to get BF4 to really show it off now...

Put it on members market. No silly 13%+ ebay / paypal fees!