Thoughts on upgrade for 7970 please

[AtticusFinch]

Hi guys. I built a rig nearly two years ago and have been happy with it.

They key components are:

Asus p8z77-v deluxe
i5 3570K at 4.6GHZ on air
16GB GB Hyper-X Ram
Coolermaster 850W Silent Pro Hybrid Gold Modular Power Supply
Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5
Single Monitor at 2560x1440p

I'm after a solution that'll give me some better framerates in Watchdogs, Metro and others. I have no intention of adding additional monitors or going 4K any time in the next couple of years so really am just after the best solution for this rig at the moment - I have a preference generally for single cards, but am willing to consider SLI/X-Fire if that would be a genuine benefit for me?

Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Uncle Petey]

Potential budget?
Really, you're looking at the usual suspects: another 7970 or upgrade to 290(x)/780(Ti) tbh.

 

[anthony566]

on that well know second hand site you can get a second Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce for £99 atm ..... that has to be the most cost effective way ???

 

[AtticusFinch]

Petey - Thanks - I built my current machine and then we had a child a month later - haven't read anything about developments in graphics cards since then, so am presently reading what's what.

Basicly, I don't want to waste money, but am looking to make the most of what I've got.

I had been thinking it is either 1x 290X or 1x780 or 2x280 or 2x290 - am I going to have any advantage from X-Fire or is it minimal?

It doesn't have to be the most cost-effective solution per se - I'm keen to go for new cards so I have the guarantee etc, otherwise would just go for another 7970 - thanks for hte suggestion anthony.

 

[Uncle Petey]

Cost effective solution is of course another 7970.

2x290 is the best all round solution there for your res if you're happy to spend (Btw, a 290X is only very slightly faster than a 290, so it isn't really a case of 1x290X or 2x290 )

The only thing that I might be concerned about is Watchdogs performance. I don't own the game or know what the current state of play is regarding AMD/Nvidia in that one tbh. Last time I checked, it was pretty poo for everyone...

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I had been thinking it is either .......... or 2x280 ............

A 280 is a 7970 - you can crossfire a 280 and a 7970.

 

[Uncle Petey]

*cough*280X is a 7970*cough* But yeah, you could still xfire one of those with your card.
/pedant

 

[wazza300]

play at 1080 res,no upgrade needed

 

[~>Dg<~]

290 is 33 percent faster at 1080

so depends on what you want.

 

[AtticusFinch]

Thanks guys, I'll either go 280x to xfire with the existing one or sell existing card and go two new 290s x-fire.

Will think on it and do some reading...

Thanks again