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7950, 7970 or wait?

ChrisD.

ChrisD.

ChrisD.

Man of Honour
Joined
20 Sep 2006
Posts
36,879
I have tried asking this a few times in the various threads on either card with no reply so I thought I'd start a thread.

Currently game with two 5850's @ 1920 x 1200. BF3 runs fine on Ultra with AA turned down though when it gets really busy or lots of smoke then it starts to struggle. Skyrim struggles but I think that's a game/crossfire issue more than my cards not performing.

I am planning on getting a Dell U2711 later this year, so with in mind, do I go all out and buy a 7970 or would a single 7950 be enough? When I get the new monitor I have no plans for eyefinity, the new U2711 will be used for gaming on it and my current Dell 2407 used as a second desktop monitor at the side. I guess the final option is to wait till Nvidia release their cards and see what they are like compared to the 7950/7970 as arguably the 5850's are coping quite well and I wouldn't be getting a new monitor till September time anyway.

Opinions?
 
I'd say store the money under the matress and wait until you buy your new monitor.


something as powerful as the 7900 series is a little bit overkill for 1080p and your current GPUs run most things fine (Skyrim will hopefully improve for you) then when you have 1440p either get a 7970 then for what most people want them to be priced at now (£380 ish) or whatever Nvidia's options are.
 
MilanoChris said:
I have tried asking this a few times in the various threads on either card with no reply so I thought I'd start a thread.

Currently game with two 5850's @ 1920 x 1200. BF3 runs fine on Ultra with AA turned down though when it gets really busy or lots of smoke then it starts to struggle. Skyrim struggles but I think that's a game/crossfire issue more than my cards not performing.

I am planning on getting a Dell U2711 later this year, so with in mind, do I go all out and buy a 7970 or would a single 7950 be enough? When I get the new monitor I have no plans for eyefinity, the new U2711 will be used for gaming on it and my current Dell 2407 used as a second desktop monitor at the side. I guess the final option is to wait till Nvidia release their cards and see what they are like compared to the 7950/7970 as arguably the 5850's are coping quite well and I wouldn't be getting a new monitor till September time anyway.

Opinions?
Click to expand...

If you're ready to buy a card and want one now and think you can manage sliding a slider in Afterburner you'd be pretty mad to buy a 7970.

I would really only suggest a 7970 now if you want to overclock it. Otherwise the 7950 is pretty much £80 cheaper for the same thing.
 
Secret_Window said:
I'd say wait till prices drop, because they almost certainly will eventually from either AMD or Nvidia. Then you'll bag yourself a real bargain.
Click to expand...

But the flip side to that is the longer I wait for prices to drop the more my cards with depreciate. I can still get £80+ each for my cards, that will only go one way as months go by!
 
5850's are still in demand, because they are now rare, and mostly because other 5850 owners are looking to crossfire. I'd say they would hold their value long enough hopefully to see the 7950 price drop some more. Ultimately it is up to you, but you might kick yourself if the 7950 does drop quite a bit, that is all.

Alternatively you could sell them, buy a cheapo card and wait for the 79xx prices to fall.
 
Indeed, that was the tipping point for me, I managed to get a good return on my 5850s making the cost of buying a 7950 lower. This way you get to use the card for longer :D
 
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