6870 vs 280x

crabdog

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Sep 16, 2006
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I'm considering upgrading my ageing HD 6870 with an R9 280x. On paper the 280x is better for everything except Pixel Rate. On the GPU Boss website ( http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-280X-vs-Radeon-HD-6870 ) they claim that the HD6870 scores more than double the 280x in 3dmark 11 so I'm wondering how much of an improvement I'd see with this upgrade.

I play at 1920 x 1080.
CPU = Intel i5
RAM = 8GB 1600 Corsair Vengeance
Motherboard = Asrock Z77 Extreme 3
PSU = XFX 650W

Should I take the plunge now, aim for something higher or wait for the next gen release and price drops on current items?
 
Solution
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 😉
Right now rumours are flying around but it looks likely Nvidia will be releasing their new, Maxwell cored cards September/October time so I suggest you hold fire until either: They get released or at least some solid release dates turn up.
And the R9 280X will stomp all over a HD6870, particularly at those higher resolutions although it'll struggle with higher settings on a 2560x1600 display.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/R9_280X_OC/26.html

About 2x the performance assuming no CPU bottleneck issues (the HD6870 is 45/95 as good). Since you have an i5-3xxx of some kind bottlenecks should be rare.

Thus you should see the frame rate go from say 30FPS to about 60FPS at the same settings or be able to increase the quality settings at the same frame rate or some combo of the two.

*The GPUBOSS website sucks. Look at the Summary Benchmark (average of about 20 games) then go back and look at the GPUBOSS comparison.
 
First what are you playing? Then what sort of improvement do you either want, expect or think you need? I replaced a modded 6950 with a 280X and got about 50% frame rate improvement in some games. But going from 55-60 FPS to 75-90 FPS yields little or no real playing change as the lower numbers are more than enough for smooth play.My temps are a bit lower overall but they were never high enough to cause concern. I got the card because I was able to grab a great price, ebay off my other card and get a manufacturers rebate that was on at the time. At the end of it the new card cost well under $200. So for me it was a good deal. Lastly I am able to play with maxed eye candy most titles now. There is rumor the AMD has a revised 280 series in the works also. Food for thought there..lol.
 
photonboy the numbers on the Techpowerup site look a lot more promising than on GPU boss. I was about to discard any idea of upgrading until I looked at those charts. Now I'm strongly considering again.

Dogsnake I'm currently playing Divinity-Original Sin and FF XIV both of which run fine on my current setup but I want to get ready for some upcoming titles such as The Witcher 3. I'm also looking to upgrade my monitor in the near future either to 2560 x 1600 or 1920 x 1080 @ 140HZ.

I'll think some more on this! Thanks for the replies.
 
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 😉
Right now rumours are flying around but it looks likely Nvidia will be releasing their new, Maxwell cored cards September/October time so I suggest you hold fire until either: They get released or at least some solid release dates turn up.
And the R9 280X will stomp all over a HD6870, particularly at those higher resolutions although it'll struggle with higher settings on a 2560x1600 display.
 
Solution
The GPU market is split between two sources (we all know this). They bang each other on price and performance about every 6 months. So if you are playing ok now or if some great deal is not available, you might just sit back, watch the offerings, read the newest thing reviews and wait to pounce on a replacement. If you are going 2560x1600 that means new display I bet. Buy it first, you can always use it with some of the games enhancements down a notch or two.