dont know if its worth it or not, a little help please?

beasty6 · 31 Jul 2012 at 15:29

hey guys,

just been in a local pc shop and they have these three amd cards instock and are willing to px-exchange my asus gtx480 for one of these cards

1) sapphire 7970 *** (wayy out my price range)
2)sapphire 6970 flex edition ***
3)msi 6950 twin frozr ii ***

** No competitor price talk **
now they will give me £162 trade in towards one of these cards, i also have corsair xms3 2x2gb 1600mhz and a 22" montior i can take in there aswell but dont know how much im looking for these two.

so my question is, is it worth getting one of the two 6900 series cards or do i wait and sell my 480 and get a 670? problem is the 480 heat and noise is driving me insane

any advice will be appreciated thanks

Ciff1 · 31 Jul 2012 at 15:45

Why not just put an aftermarket cooler on the 480 will reduce both heat and noise also enable higher clocks. a lot of people still using these cards and not upgrading.

spoffle · 31 Jul 2012 at 15:47

You can get 6950s second had for pretty cheap if you look around, it won't be that much different to a 480, but will be a lot quieter and cooler.

beasty6 · 31 Jul 2012 at 16:20

im debating paying £20 and getting the twin frzor ii 6950 or £70 and getting the flex edition 6970, dont want to mess aroung gpu coolers, would rather just spend the money and get a different card

Gregster · 31 Jul 2012 at 16:24

IMO that would be a foolish exchange unless you go for a 670/7970. You will be side stepping.

easyrider · 31 Jul 2012 at 16:25

wait and sell my 480 and get a 670? when a 7970 is way out of your price range?

I would sell the 480 and then get a GTX 660/670 if funds allow

beasty6 · 31 Jul 2012 at 17:25

How much am i looking at getting for my 480? Im not botherd about having the top gpu, just want it to be worthwhile (also may go multi screen)

spixelspixel · 31 Jul 2012 at 17:27

120 pounds

Gregster · 31 Jul 2012 at 17:57

We can't discuss prices outside of the members market but if funds are limited I would wait.

psychodil · 31 Jul 2012 at 18:06

I agree with Gregster, not really a performance upgrade at all, and 6970 cards can be a bit noisy too. If the noise and heat really annoy you then go for it, but make sure you get a non reference cooler on that 6970.

beasty6 · 31 Jul 2012 at 18:14

Its the sapphire 6970 flex edition, pretty sure its the bf3 card, can a msi twin frzor ii be unlocked to 6970?

beasty6 · 1 Aug 2012 at 07:55

Refrence gtx480 and 20quid for a 6950 twin frzor ii?
Or the 480 and 70quid for a sapphire 6970 flex edition?

What would you do, may xfire aswell and infrested in eyefinity

psychodil · 1 Aug 2012 at 08:49

I'd go for the 6950. The 6970 isn't worth more £50 more and MSI are a better brand IMO, will be quieter too I would guess. You also have a chance of unlocking cores on the 6950, but it will certainly hit 6970 clock speeds even if it doesn't unlock.

Cleeecooo · 1 Aug 2012 at 09:01

beasty6 said:
Its the sapphire 6970 flex edition, pretty sure its the bf3 card, can a msi twin frzor ii be unlocked to 6970?

BF3 card? no such thing

The 6950 for *** looks good

If you want silence, then get the TF2 card, but a 480 with a non ref cooler will be just as quiet

Gregster · 1 Aug 2012 at 09:36

Again I will say you will be side stepping (infact you will be downgrading). If you are not happy with noise, buy a heatsink. Very easy to fit.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/309?vs=293
This shows a 480 against a 6950 (480 wins comfortably)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/309?vs=292
This shows the 480 against the 6970 and the 6970 wins (but not by much)

Your money so do as you want with it but seriously give this some thought before making a purchase you will regret.

Marine-RX179 · 1 Aug 2012 at 09:58

gregster said:
Again I will say you will be side stepping (infact you will be downgrading). If you are not happy with noise, buy a heatsink. Very easy to fit.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/309?vs=293
This shows a 480 against a 6950 (480 wins comfortably)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/309?vs=292
This shows the 480 against the 6970 and the 6970 wins (but not by much)

Your money so do as you want with it but seriously give this some thought before making a purchase you will regret.

Yea...seriously...going from GTX480 to any of those option is "downgrading". Performance wise, GTX480>GTX570>6970>6950.

But trading in for the 7970 doesn't sound too bad, considering the shop is offering £162 for his GTX480, which is WAY above 2nd hand value...but the question would be the pricing of the 7970...if it's at way above £330, then it might not be worth it.

Purgatory · 1 Aug 2012 at 10:00

gregster said:
IMO that would be a foolish exchange unless you go for a 670/7970. You will be side stepping.

This ....^

tommybhoy · 1 Aug 2012 at 10:19

Throwing good money away imho, the 6970 isn't worth the premium over a 6950 for a start.

The only benefit you would achieve by going 6950 is less waste heat dumped out the back of your case, noise should go down, but if you get one that has a noisy/crap cooler then you have just went out your way and spent cash for nothing.

You would lose out on PhysX/Cuda and you might not like AMD's setup if you haven't used it before.

You don't want to change the cooler, but it will take 1 hour max to change it if you really, really take your time, plus you get to play about and experience the delights of playing with your toys again like a big kid.

Arctic Cooling Extreme II is the one to get for your 480, and it is soo quiet and would probably put your 480 into 580 territory with a little oc, make sure you have an exhaust fan on your case too.

There is also the option to cap your fps with Afterburner to 57-59fps, this will stop your 480 running at full speed in a lot of titles enabling cooler running/less noise for free.

I definitely wouldn't be going from 480-69 series, you won't see any diference in the vast majority of titles.

Geeman1979 · 1 Aug 2012 at 10:26

tommybhoy said:
Throwing good money away imho, the 6970 isn't worth the premium over a 6950 for a start.

The only benefit you would achieve by going 6950 is less waste heat dumped out the back of your case, noise should go down, but if you get one that has a noisy/crap cooler then you have just went out your way and spent cash for nothing.

You would lose out on PhysX/Cuda and you might not like AMD's setup if you haven't used it before.

You don't want to change the cooler, but it will take 1 hour max to change it if you really, really take your time, plus you get to play about and experience the delights of playing with your toys again like a big kid.

Arctic Cooling Extreme II is the one to get for your 480, and it is soo quiet and would probably put your 480 into 580 territory with a little oc, make sure you have an exhaust fan on your case too.

There is also the option to cap your fps with Afterburner to 57-59fps, this will stop your 480 running at full speed in a lot of titles enabling cooler running/less noise for free.

I definitely wouldn't be going from 480-69 series, you won't see any diference in the vast majority of titles.

Where's the setting in Afterburner to cap frames?

tommybhoy · 1 Aug 2012 at 10:34

Offhand, it's in the rivatuner part iirc.

1) enable OSD
2) Create a keyboard shortcut to OSD
3) Restart afterburner
4) Running OSD will put an app called "riva tuner" in your system tray, its the afterburner icon but has a purple 60 on it
5) Open riva tuner, go in options (click on the wrench) , enable frame rate limiter at 57(or whatever you like)
6) combine fps limiter with in game vsync

Google is sooo easy you know.

RavenXXX2 said:
Using the FPS limiter today in BF3, smoother gameplay and cooler GFX card, it's all win.

Ravens on a 480 too.