• 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.

HD7970 to RX580 worth it considering the rest of my setup?

Soldato
Joined
7 Dec 2002
Posts
4,074
Location
UK
I have a set up consisting of a clocked 3570k, 16GB Ram, SSD, HD7970 connected to a 1080p monitor.

I don't play masses of games like I used to however it'd be nice to breathe some life into my ageing PC & i'm therefore wondering if an RX580 would be any good for newer games at 1080p or would the CPU be a bottleneck?

I know it's not exactly the fastest card in the world but i presume it's a good bit quicker than my HD7970?
 
A RX580 is a decent amount faster than a 7970, and in vram limited games would probably make a bigger difference (4/8Gb vs the 7970's 3gb).

However at 1080P, unless you need high framerates e.g. for a 120hz or 144hz monitor, I'd be surprised if the 7970 really struggles?
 
From my experience, going from an overclocked 7950 to an RX 480 was around 30-40% performance increase. The difference was noticeable, especially in games like DayZ and GTA V, even though i only had a 4GB 480.
 
I went from xfire 280x to GTX1080 and the difference was massive. Those 7970's are old now and any modern card will blow them out the water.
 
7970 to 580 imo is not worth it at 1080p these cards still play the latest titles at that res.. however upgrade your monitor first then the gpu to noticeable the gains.
 
I went from xfire 280x to GTX1080 and the difference was massive. Those 7970's are old now and any modern card will blow them out the water.

Which is expected - a 1080 is a good deal faster than a 580.

A 580 is more like going from a 7970 to a 1060 3gb...
 
7970 to 580 imo is not worth it at 1080p these cards still play the latest titles at that res.. however upgrade your monitor first then the gpu to noticeable the gains.

It struggles with Mass Effect Andromeda, most of the game is fine but some of the planets can become a bit like slideshows, the last mission was ruined by it. Bear in mind I generally want all the settings cranked up but am not too worried about AA, I am not fussed about going over 1080p as I only have a 23" monitor due to space restrictions.
 
yes its worth it, i went from a 7950 to a gtx 980 (around same perf as 580) in 2015 and it pretty much doubled my framerates. will play most games maxed at 1080p/60fps, although if you have a 120/144hz monitor the cpu may bottleneck in some games, I found the 2500k 4.6 to bottleneck the 980 in 2017/2018 AAA games so replaced it with a 3770k last year as a stopgap until zen 2.
 
I found the 2500k 4.6 to bottleneck the 980 in 2017/2018 AAA games so replaced it with a 3770k last year as a stopgap until zen 2.

I have a 3570K running at 4.4 GHz (I think, I may have to double check that) so i'm hoping that it's up to it still.
 
It really depends on the games. In some of the very latest games even with an overclock the 3570K is going to choke and drop frames. Think Battlefield online, maybe Assassins Creed Oydessy, those sort of games.

The 7970 is basically a 280X, so the RX580 is a decent upgrade.

If you slammed in a 2nd hand i7-3770 (they sell for about €90 here) + RX580 you'd be golden. A stock 3770 will deliver way smoother, stable frames than an OC'd 3570k in the latest games.
 
A RX580 is a decent amount faster than a 7970, and in vram limited games would probably make a bigger difference (4/8Gb vs the 7970's 3gb).

However at 1080P, unless you need high framerates e.g. for a 120hz or 144hz monitor, I'd be surprised if the 7970 really struggles?

Really did struggle, and you crank up to max @ 1080P on GTA V and the thing just does a poo!

7970 is a real power guzzling creeper these days, get's anywhere near max settings and boom, like a creeper in Minecraft.
 
Having done a near identical move earlier this year (7950 to RX580 8GB), I would say that it's definitely worth the update. Not only to simply to get more visual goodies on screen at the same time, but also likely havng a better cooler so you won't need to hear the crazy fans on the 7970 at full to even get near the same visual results, whilst also not eating as much power at idle.

At 1080, the RX580 will do everythng you need at maximum settings. It'll struggle a tiny bit at 1440P, but not horrendously so. I run 1440P Mass Effect Andromeda and average 45-60fps depending on where I am and what I'm doing in MP, but in SP, it'll average 40-55fps depending on location. Most important thing is to always push the power limit in Wattman (or other software setting changer you have) to +50 for power. This prevents the default RX580 settings from kicking in throttling and giving you choppy results unnecessarily.
 
Back
Top Bottom