• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

7990 to 970?

wblastyn

wblastyn

wblastyn

Associate
Joined
7 Nov 2008
Posts
133
Hi guys, I was thinking of getting rid of my 7990. The noise and heat it produces is getting on my nerves, the room feels like a sauna when I'm playing games.

I was thinking of going with the 970 or 980. I'm leaning more towards a 970 for the price, but I don't know if it's a stupid idea considering its a downgrade. Do you think it would be noticeable? I game at 1440p and don't really play any mantle games. Would it be smoother than the 7990?

Would 970 SLI be cooler and quieter than the 7990? Tbh, I don't know if I want the hassle but if it's smooth and better than cfx I might consider it.
 
What noise and heat is it putting out?
Winters comming, so it may help heat the room.
Maybe a better cooled case could be an option.
I wouldn't get rid of my 7990 for a 970. I think 970 sli would give around an extra 25% performance gain. Depending on your motherboard you are back to the top card running hotter than the bottom one in sli.
 
wblastyn said:
But I've read in several places that the 2500k OCed is still fine for gaming.
Click to expand...

Not when running 2 graphics cards, and some games show a good jump in performance when running a 2600/2700k with hyper threading.

When I was running 7950 Crossfire I moved from a 2500k to a 2600k and got quite a good jump in performance.
 
I certainly wouldn't be in a hurry to replace the CPU as the difference between the 2500k and the new gen isn't massive.
 
If you're no longer happy with the 7990 then move on whilst you can get some half decent money for it. A couple of 970's in SLI will run cooler, quieter and a lot faster with more Vram to boot.
 
Still amazed buy how many claim there is a night and day difference in gaming between i5 and i7,

here is my i5 4670k with 780ti http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1538351 Score 9924

vs

4770K with 970 both at stock clocks http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3054177 Score 9732


And here is a 290 with 4670K stock clocks http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1769006 Score 9205

cant comment on SLI as i have not tested it, but single card setup, well there is nothing worth shouting about, if gaming is all you do on your PC
 
Last edited:
The card itself itsnt that warm compared to some. It was around 70-80c when playing ArcheAge the other day, but the noise was like a vacuum and the heat was getting uncomfortable for me.

I have undervolted it as much as it would go without artefacts.

I couldn't afford to upgrade to SLI and the CPU all at once. I might buy a single 970, upgrade the cpu, then buy another 970. I wasn't really planning on upgrading the i5 so soon though.
 
If you could stump up the cash, the 970's will run fine with your Cpu just not at their full potential. A 2600k could be picked up easy enough 2nd hand later down the line for around the 100 quid mark.
 
wblastyn said:
The card itself itsnt that warm compared to some. It was around 70-80c when playing ArcheAge the other day, but the noise was like a vacuum and the heat was getting uncomfortable for me.

I have undervolted it as much as it would go without artefacts.

I couldn't afford to upgrade to SLI and the CPU all at once. I might buy a single 970, upgrade the cpu, then buy another 970. I wasn't really planning on upgrading the i5 so soon though.
Click to expand...

I don't think the 970s will be a massive decrease in heat. From techspot's review 970 SLI will use roughly the same power as a 7990.
 
Last edited:
Well you've got me thinking. It's probably not worth the hassle of upgrading now since the only way I'll get more performance is with SLI, which still produces lots of heat, and I'm trying to avoid that. I've dealt with the heat and noise for almost a year, I guess another one won't kill me.

If I upgraded my i5 to an i7-2600k would it be noticeable in MMO's (FF14 ARR/ArcheAge)? I could upgrade my CPU now to relieve the bottleneck, then upgrade the GPU next year when it'll be worth it.

When will Intel release a processor that will make upgrading your whole system worth it? (broadwell, sky lake. Etc)
 
I went from a 7990 to 2 x msi 970. MASSIVE difference, virtually silent, a lot cooler and uses a lot less power. Rock stable as well.

I ran a benchmark in mordor and the sli setup was ridiculously faster.

Running on a Z68 board with I7-2600k on a corsair hx850.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom