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100 lines... I must pay attention in graphics card class.

Associate
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I haven’t really been paying attention to the state of play with graphics cards recently so I'm not at all up to speed. My question is with regards to the AMD R9 series cards and is a two part question. Which card from the 270, 280 and 290 range would firstly be considered a decent upgrade and secondly which card would you consider offered the best bang for the buck. I'm no fan boi either... I go where my cash works best for me so Nvidia cards are also an option so feel free to put those up for consideration too.

I'm currently using ASUS 6950 2048 MB @ stock that I run two 27” monitors from. The two monitors are necessity (for work) but I also play a few games too.


Tia.

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Associate
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Hey! I went from a Sapphire 6950 2gb to a 290. I can't remember the specific number increases, but I can remember running battlefield 3 for the first time, and running it at 120 fps to go with my monitor was amazing, so I must have been a long way off maxing battlefield 3 on the 6950. Imho, the 290 is definitely a very good cost/performance ratio proposition.

As I have a reference for xfiring now, I'm not too sure about the performance of specific third party coolers, other than there will be no issues with overclocking to a 290x performance wise if you don't get a stinker on the silicon lottery.

I have heard these are great, and on offer:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-348-SP

And this is £20 cheaper than the cost of my reference at launch(!):

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-017-VX

I am sure that you would find either of these to be a noticeable upgrade, and including the gold never settle offer, a cracking proposition. If you wanted to go safer for what I perceive to be a reliable brand, the Sapphire would be the one I would have gone with was it available in November, and if I had had enough space on my mobo and case.
 
Soldato
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Solihull
a 6950 is about 7850 level performance, which is a r7 265 in new money.

R9 270 series wouldn't be worth it, you would only see a slight gain.

R9 280 and upwards you should see a benefit.
 
Soldato
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As the last post said, crossfire is a great way to cheaply double performance with old cards, I have a 7950, it does everything 100% fine, but I went from 1680x1050 res to 1080 monitor, some games dropped below 60 fps to about 50fps on ultra.. I know poor me, not as if it wasn't playable, so I spent 100 quid on another 7950 2nd hand, best thing I ever did, I have ULPS enabled in crossfire, so games where I require just one gpu active, runs cool and quiet using one gpu, or if I require 2gpus like crisis 3, battlefield 4 etc, they run always 60+ fps ultra with 4x AA absolutely fine. ofc you can disable ULPS if you want both gpus running all the time etc that's no problem, but I like to save energy and run cool and a tad quieter.

but if you want a single card solution id go for a 290 my self.

I was using a 4970x2 dual gpu card before my single 7950, was like upgrading from a 8 track cassette to a cd player, couldn't believe how much better it was and that was hmm, 2 and half years ago or so? so that's why I had to go for a second gpu as the games have evolved to require more from them, and the 290 im guessing is just a little less performance than 7950 crossfire. so as a single gpu card, moneys on that, could always grab a second one in few years time if somehow games evolve or become even more badly coded than they are now in the next 2 years, but for now cant see anything that wont be playable on it imo
 
Soldato
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Teesside
Cheap upgrade would be another 6950 :)
They go in the MM for around £60/70
Near double performance for little money...presuming rest of rig can run it :)

+1

I recently went from 1 unlock 6950 2gb (shader unlocked to 6970) to two in crossfire.

I have to say the performance jump was staggering - i honestly feel like i get a near 190% fps increase in 75% of games - never expected the scaling to be as good as it is!

Got the upgrade for 40£ too! you obviously need the psu, mobo, and means of getting rid of the extra heat though!
 
Last edited:
Associate
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Kent, UK
Sometimes I really wish I had MM access, I also have a 6950 (Saphire Toxic so unlocked to 6970 shaders) and if I could get a second one for £40 I'd jump at the chance but on a well known auction site they all seem to go for >£100 which I just can't really justify when I could put that money towards a 290 and then sell my 6950.
 
Soldato
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Fort William
+1

I have to say the performance jump was staggering - i honestly feel like i get a near 190% fps increase in 75% of games - never expected the scaling to be as good as it is!

Got the upgrade for 40£ too! you obviously need the psu, mobo, and means of getting rid of the extra heat though!

Nice price to near double performance...yes it does get a bit warm but you can alway open the window or play in shorts and t-shirt :)

Saves heating my room in winter too :)

Had mine now for just over 3 years and still happy with them...they were £200 each at the time but worth every penny

Plus two cards look so much nicer in a windowed case.

As said though you need acpu with enough grunt to run them properly plus a decent psu for the power usage.

Had mine running with a 3570K i5 but def noticed a difference when i swapped back to my 2600K i7 cpu.

Whats the rest of you specs Weaver?

Important bit is the amps the psu can deliver on the 12v rail?
(plus obv a motherboard that can do crossfire)
 
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OP
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It's Grimm up Norf
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..

Whats the rest of you specs Weaver?

Important bit is the amps the psu can deliver on the 12v rail?
(plus obv a motherboard that can do crossfire)


System spec is;

2600k with a light clock on it @ 4.3Ghz
H70 cooler
ASUS P8P67 PRO
16Gb of Vengeance DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz
The ASUS 6950
Force 3 120 SSD
Powered by an AX850

I've a few other bits n bobs on it fans and fan controller etc all sitting in an 800D case.


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