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Upgrade time - Assistance Needed.

Associate
Joined
13 Nov 2011
Posts
352
Location
Lincoln
Okay, so here is my dilemma.

I'm now at the point where I have decided that it's time to upgrade my old 21" LG L204WT 1680x1050 monitor. Whilst it's a lovely monitor, and has served me well I bought it second hand to last until I could afford myself a new monitor, and very shortly I'll find myself in a situation where I can.

I have my heart set on a 2560x1440 monitor. Whilst I would absolutely love to buy myself an Apple Cinema display, they're very expensive. Too expensive. So I've opted for a more budget friendly option, at just £300. Excellent.

So the monitor is decided. The only problem is, I'm also running a second hand graphics card, in the form of an MSI GTX 460 Hawk. Whilst it lets me play games on ultra or close to on my current monitor, I know for a fact it won't do so on a 1440p monitor. I should state that I'm not particularly bothered about gaming on ultra. I'm no hardcore gamer. I much prefer video editing and composing/recording/producing music. Which, so far my current card does a nice job of.

But, if I want to maintain a relatively high quality in games such as F1 2012 (soon to be 2013) GTA IV (soon to be V), BF3 (perhaps 4) and ETS2, I know I'm going to need to upgrade my card.

I have absolutely no idea what to consider. I've done a lot of reading these past few days, but I'm really not finding answers which make sense to me. People are suggesting all kinds of cards and combinations of such, and I'm completely lost. The only reason I even own the card I do is because it was an ideal price and I really fancied the Twin Frozr II cooler.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated. Budget wise - because I know you'll ask - I'm really not wanting to spend more than £400-500 if possible, since it's going to cost another £300 for the monitor too.I can stretch, but it would be well past the new year before I could do so. No doubt there will be new cards on the horizon, and prices are bound to adjust themselves over time.

I'm thinking of getting the monitor in the next few months, so if I can make do with the 460 for a while afterwards, then I'll hold out I suppose. Like I said, I'm no hardcore gamer. Just want to keep some quality if I can.

Thank you!

- Anthony.
 
Since you have no replies I'm just going to put out there, budget £500 get a HD 7990. super duper. also make sure your cpu is powerful enough, what cpu do you have?
 
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If you can wait, then you are best off waiting for the new AMD 9000 series end sept start of october time. See what the performance and prices are like as they will reduce the 7000 series prices as well
 
Thank you for the replies.

I do have every intention of waiting. The monitor will come before the card as the one I have is definitely on it's last legs, so I'll put off the gaming until the card is sorted.

I'll keep my eye out for AMD's new cards, thanks for the advice. Are they meant to be really good or something?
 
Well they will be better than the current ones atleast, there's a few possible leaks, but wont know for sure until they are released. Either way they should be better value for money. Although saying that I have pre-ordered a 7970 :)
 
Alrighty then. I'll hold on and see what goes on offer, with a bit of luck, after I've saved again for the GPU (after buying the monitor) the prices will have fallen a bit.

Thanks! Enjoy your new card :)
 
That's a good idea... wait for the new ones to release so I can get a 7950 for cheaper! :)

It's just like iPhones, no doubt iphone 5's price is gonna drop on release of 5S.
 
That's a good idea... wait for the new ones to release so I can get a 7950 for cheaper! :)

It's just like iPhones, no doubt iphone 5's price is gonna drop on release of 5S.

I see exactly what you're saying!

And don't get me started with the iPhone 5. Grabbed mine back in February, granted I didn't pay a penny for the phone, but it's costing me £36 a month!
 
Seems waiting is the way forward! Cheers guys. I'm looking at around January for the upgrade to the GPU, so there's plenty of time yet :)
 
Can't see them being better value at all though.
7970's are 260 quid, to be better value they have to come out at better price/performance, and they're probably not going to.
 
Can't see them being better value at all though.
7970's are 260 quid, to be better value they have to come out at better price/performance, and they're probably not going to.

I hope you are wrong, I was going to wait until xmas and maybe get a 9950 but now I think about it I suspect they will not be good value due to being not that big a jump from my 7950. So I'm thinking xfire 7950 will probably be my best upgrade for performance and value, although I am hoping the 7950's will drop further in price. I would like another Gigabyte WF 7950 for a perfect match but what has happened to these cards, ocuk don't seem to get them in anymore and they are bloody expensive. What has happened to the announced Amd price cuts as only Msi appear to have cut their prices. :confused:
 
The following quote can be found pretty much anywhere on the internet.

'In preparation of their next generation Radeon series launch, AMD has announced massive price cuts on their current Radeon HD 7000 series cards all the way from the top tier Radeon HD 7990 down to Radeon HD 7870. The Radeon HD 7990 witnessed the biggest price cut with AMD slashing its price down to $699 from $1000 US while the Radeon HD 7970 sells for around $299-$329 and Radeon HD 7950 for $269-$299. In addition to the price cuts, AMD recently also announced their Never Settle: Forever promotion offering users even more value and the ability to redeem the games they want themselves rather than letting AMD choose for them. All eyes are on the upcoming Hawaii GPU as to what level of performance it delivers against the NVIDIA’s GK110 core.'

So where are these price cuts across ALL 7000 series cards including high end and not just one or two here and there. :confused:
 
Yeh, I hope so but I will say this, from what I've seen so far on the net, Ocuk are way ahead of the rest on pricing of the eol 670\680 and especially the Msi 7950\7970 Ghz and with their legendary CS ( go 5UB ) this is the place to be. :D

Now if I could just get that GB WFIII 7950 down to £189.99 sometime soon Ocuk that would be great. ;) :D
 
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Only place I see price cut is here
7990 US $699 = UK 448.85 but every where is over £600 a part from OcUK
 
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