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78xx worth waiting for?

SteWoo

SteWoo

SteWoo

Associate
Joined
21 Nov 2011
Posts
73
Location
Liverpool
Hey guys, I know the 79xx are being released soon but I can't realy justify spending £300+ on one, even though I would love too! :p. Ive been dying for a new card since December when my 6870 packed in and got refunded and have been patiently waiting for the 78xx to be released. I'm hopping along on a friends old card for now but will the 78xx be worth the wait?

I've got a budget of around £230 when I do choose to invest in a shiny new card. So should I just dig in and wait it out, or are the 78xx's not going to be anything better than I can already buy today?
 
well i wouldnt expect the 7850 to hit till around end feb early march, so it depends if you want to wait 2 more months or not :-)
 
Its widely speculated that the 78xx will just be a 69xx in disguise. So you can either wait and see or just shell out for a 6950 that unlocks to 6970 shaders
 
I assume you do wish to play some games so if you have no graphics card then buy the whatever the best make is for whatever you can afford now. You will be waiting ages for new mid range cards to come out.

Think the nVidia 560 1gb beats the 6870 1gb doesn't it? and are around the same price.

I always think it's best to buy cards when they first come out but when your **** blows up what you gonna do.
 
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basically there just 28nm 6900 series

power usage though looks good so will probably clock decent

but doubt youll even notice between a 7870 or 7850 and a 6950 and a 6970

just really replacements
 
SteWoo said:
I've got a budget of around £230 when I do choose to invest in a shiny new card. So should I just dig in and wait it out, or are the 78xx's not going to be anything better than I can already buy today?
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For £230 I'd go for the Gtx 560Ti '448', which can be found for £205-£240. Basically a Gtx570 in disguise, esp if it clocks well.

I don't see the 78xx series cards being faster than that if they are just 69xx cards in disguise.

Only thing you might want to consider is the vram amount on the card you finally go for if you game at 1920x1080+aa for longevity reasons.
 
MoodyB said:
Only thing you might want to consider is the vram amount on the card you finally go for if you game at 1920x1080+aa for longevity reasons.
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Yeah I think I'm probably gona want a 2gb vram card if I want it to last. It might have to a a coin flip moment here as to whether I should wait it out or take the plunge :p.

Ive been pondering the thought of SLI/Crossfire but am a bit clueless with regards to it...I understand that 2 cards doesnt mean twice the power, but what sort of boost would you get from the other card? Does the VRAM usage get spread across the two cards?
 
SteWoo said:
I understand that 2 cards doesnt mean twice the power, but what sort of boost would you get from the other card?
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Anywhere from 50% to 90%, depending on the game & driver support for it. Sometimes you actually get an fps drop if the drivers don't fully support the game properly, but that's much less common than it used to be afaik.

I'd personally stick to a single card as it's less hassle.

Does the VRAM usage get spread across the two cards?
Click to expand...

No. 2x1gb cards in crossfire still means 1gb of total vram for the game to be rendered into, as each card needs to render its own frame for display.
 
Cheers for the advice MoodyB, think I might steer clear of Crossfire, as you say...too much hassle. It's looking like 560Ti '448' or a 6950 then. I'l wait until the release of 7900's and see what happens to current prices (if anything).

Cheers guys
 
I had the same dilemma as you, I didn't want to spend any more than £250 so that rules out the 79XX and it appears as though the 78XX are going to be rehashes of the 69XX, so I didn't see the point in waiting as I wanted a new GPU now, not waiting a couple more months.

I picked up the non-clocked MSI 6970 Lightning for £255 with 2 games I didn't have and couldn't be happier with it.

I think the key question for you is do you want to wait another couple of months? If you can it may be worth it to see if prices of the existing cards fall and to find out the prices of the new cards before making a decision. :)
 
If you have no specific requirements for the lower power usage then I guess there is little point in waiting the best part of 3 months.

If you do have a need for the lower power/heat usage there's always the option of getting a 2nd hand cheapo card to tide you over till then. There are "reports" that the 7850 will be priced at $199, which may or may not equate to an equivalent pricing for a 6950 here.
 
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