Advice: Upgrading HTPC GPU

[LTDansen]

Short story long, I have an HTPC without a real video card, and my Frankenrig with a 7970, both listed below. I'm trying to play my various games at Max Graphics with about 40+ FPS with Frankenrig's triple monitor setup, and I want to make the HTPC gaming capable with a GPU addition. Budget is $500.

Eyefinity is not working the way I would like to see it work. I know with Skyrim that the game isn't really made to be stretched to 5760, and that I need to mod it. Farcry is a little bit better, but overall the interface of Radeon's CCC is clunky and a bit hard for a newb to work with and the requisite modify of games for compatibility makes me wonder about triple monitors current viability. Feel free to tell me just how stupid I am...

Moving on, the options before us are to replace the 7970 with either an SLI/Crossfire combo or a new buffed next gen card. With that option the 7970 would be bequeathed to the HTPC and we wouldn't need to worry about Eyefinity. On the other hand you could tell me that I'm just being a baby and that with a little elbow grease I could resolve my tiny issues, keep the 7970 because it has gobs more power than it needs to do what I want, and just buy a cheaper $250 card for the HTPC and be happy.





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TL;DR
Should I replace the 7970 with a newer card (which?) and place the 7970 in the HTPC, or should I try and fix the issues I'm having with Eyefinity and just buy a cheaper card (which?) for the HTPC?


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HTPC

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GT 520 1GB Video Card
Case: Silverstone GD06B HTPC Case ($129.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Plus 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($80.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer
Total: $510.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-25 12:58 EST-0500)







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Frankenrig (Yes I know I have an OCZ PSU... it's a Frankenrig, it's an old part, sue me)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($323.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Antec KUHLER H2O 920 110.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme6 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($154.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($186.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: OCZ ZS 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Samsung SN-208BB DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Full (32/64-bit)
Monitor: Hannspree HF225DPB 21.5" Monitor
Monitor: Hannspree HF225DPB 21.5" Monitor
Monitor: Hannspree HF225DPB 21.5" Monitor
Keyboard: Logitech K800 Wireless Slim Keyboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Logitech G700 Wireless Laser Mouse
Total: $821.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-25 12:46 EST-0500)

 

[Danbuscus25]

your budget for the graphics card is $500? if so then get a gtx 780TI for sure. one of the best cards on the market right now. hope this helps!