Upgrade GPU or Wait

D

DFinan

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 2, 2004
Messages
124
So the question of the day, I am still running a 5870 video card (my system specs are at end) should I hold of on upgrading to a 7950 or 7970 or jump on one of these cards. For that matter which one is the better bang for the buck? I run my desktop and games (when possible) at 1920x1080, and try to get the highest game settings while keeping 30fps.

Just really stumped at this point, on if upgrading the video card will improve performance, or if I need to upgrade the cpu. Thanks again for any suggestions.

System
AMD 965BE (not Overclocked)
16gb Memory
240gb Samsung SSD
1 TB WD Black Edition
AMD 5870
Thermaltek 750 watt psu
 
Upgrading the video card would help...to a point, considering what your system is and assuming you plan to stick with it. At 1080p pretty much everything you can buy now would be a boost over that 5870 (if nothing else you'd double your VRAM in one shot); a 7950 might be the overall best possible choice, though something like a 7870 may be a consideration as well if you can get it cheap.
 
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OP you have a decent cpu. get a good cpu cooler if you don't have one. overclock your cpu to 4 Ghz. I hope you have a decent quality motherboard too. the HD 7950 is the best bang for buck card. go for it. on average you can overclock the HD 7950 to 1100 mhz and easily get twice the perf of your HD 5870. also which country are you from ?
 
Waiting until at least a real AMD spec leak surfaces with pics and insight on the caps/powerconsumption/rendering ability. While the 7xxx are excellent, they seemed like a midway GPU to keep us wondering. And, well, it worked.

To help in answering that performance query well 5870's CFx are formidable....and DAMN POWER HUNGRY!! Could go w/that and hold out till the nxt gen cards release fully. As in a complete model spectrum. 99xx-96xx(mt speculations). Then you'd have to offload two GPU's. Be patient and wait seems like the best move for us atm. If you got the upgrade itch try not to scratch juuuust yet!
 
Thanks for all the advice, im thinking about getting one of the water cooling kits for the cpu. I thought about going crossfire 5870, do you think I have enough psu for that?

Oh and the motherboard is an Asus Formula IV
 
DFinan said:
Thanks for all the advice, im thinking about getting one of the water cooling kits for the cpu. I thought about going crossfire 5870, do you think I have enough psu for that?
Oh and the motherboard is an Asus Formula IV
Click to expand...

OP sell the HD 5870 for USD 120 and go with HD 7950 for USD 220. for around 100 bucks out of the pocket the HD 7950 is clearly faster than HD 5870 CF. draws less power and runs cooler. the most important fact is a single HD 7950 is much more consistent, has better frametimes and provides smoother game performance compared to HD 5870 CF.
 
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DFinan said:
So the question of the day, I am still running a 5870 video card (my system specs are at end) should I hold of on upgrading to a 7950 or 7970 or jump on one of these cards. For that matter which one is the better bang for the buck? I run my desktop and games (when possible) at 1920x1080, and try to get the highest game settings while keeping 30fps.

Just really stumped at this point, on if upgrading the video card will improve performance, or if I need to upgrade the cpu. Thanks again for any suggestions.

System
AMD 965BE (not Overclocked)
16gb Memory
240gb Samsung SSD
1 TB WD Black Edition
AMD 5870
Thermaltek 750 watt psu
Click to expand...

I have a 965 BE, very slight OC, and upgraded from a 5770 to a 7950. The difference was massive. My CPU may be bottlenecking my card, technically speaking, but it doesn't matter because games run so, so much better. I'm not telling you to upgrade, just that it's definitely worth it with that CPU.
 
7950 is probably the best bang for your buck right now as many have mentioned before.
 
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