Buy 6970CFX/ 6990 OR wait for new 7000 series or 600 series?

[spagalicious]

Hey this is my first build and I have my computer built as of now. I really want to get gaming soon but I'm not sure if I should wait for the next gen in GPUs or just buy now. Im looking to spend around $750 on a graphic card(s). Is there going to be that much of a performance boost in Kepler or the next ATI offering? I don't want to have to wait very long to buy but I may be willing to wait a tad longer if the date is in the near future.

Specs for Ref.
i7 2600k@4.6ghz
AsRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3
hecXP 800w PSU
16GB Corsair 1600
Asus 550ti 1GB (for the time being...)

Also, if you don't think this is the best option for 1080p, what else would be good for the money and the least noise. I don't like jet engines but maybe vacuum I can handle.

 

[papaswedine]

well when you're done with it you can send that old 550 to me ;-)

I actually just asked the same question on the forums and what I've gathered is that the HD 79xx cards will be much more powerful. Whereas anything below that will only be a slight increase from it's respective replacement. This being due to the 79xx using a new instruction set (NGC), new XDR2 memory, and it'll be on a 28nm process. However both the ATI and NVidia high end cards aren't supposed to be out till Q2 next year :-/

 

[Rustyy117]

Smaller node (28nm) = more transistors = more power, I expect a 70-90% performance increase from 6 to 7 series based on previous generations (that include a node process improvement).

If you don't mind selling you could buy a HD6990 (or whatever) now, sell it when next gen hits and buy again, although you would obviously loose some money when it comes to selling your second hand HD6990.

Up to you.

 

[psyxix]

double post ... sorry >_<!.

 

[psyxix]

How about this..... buy a gtx 580 (during black friday) which will cost you around 350-400$. Save the 350$ for the kepler or the islands. So when the time comes, you sell your 580 for around 300$ and you now have 650$ to spend on the best new gen card. You win cause you have a great card to play battlefield 3 on and you also have the possibility to upgrade and only losing 50-100$ in the process. Waiting is stupid, unless it's for a sale... the black friday sale.

It also lets you wait for the new gen to establish itself. Your gtx 580 will essentially lose most it's value at the new gen launch and you'll get about 1-2 months until it drops again.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

-I can't get behind the Asrock selection cause of the chinsy warranty....gets good reviews but the warranty thing makes it a no buy for me

-No gaming advantage to 16GB ...stick w/ 8GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233196

GFX - $410 - $450 for twin 560 Ti's (factory OC'd to 900Mhz w/ over size coolers) gets 862 fps in Guru3D;s game test suite, compared with ...

$725 - 6990 - 762 fps
$750 - 590 - 881 fps
$720 - CF'd 6970 - 825 fps
$700 - SLI'd 570 - 873 fps

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006654&isNodeId=1&Description=560+900Mhz&x=0&y=0

 

[spagalicious]

@JackNaylorPE I already bought my mobo and ram. I bought ram because its cheap and I do some video editing.




So, bottom line, we won't see any new (fast) cards from green or red for at least 6 months? Should I just get 2 of something and just ride it for like 2 years?

 

[psyxix]

@JackNaylorPE I already bought my mobo and ram. I bought ram because its cheap and I do some video editing.

So, bottom line, we won't see any new (fast) cards from green or red for at least 6 months? Should I just get 2 of something and just ride it for like 2 years?

It's easy to say that NOW, but when the new cards come out I'm pretty sure you'll change your mind. For your 1080p a sli setup is an overkill, you're safe for at least 5 months with 1 gtx 580. In this case, being so close to the new cards it's simply dumb to spend all your money on soon to be surpassed technology. Save your $$$$ for now, buy yourself a gtx 580 (it'll play both battlefield 3 and Skyrim silky smooth at your resolution) and get on the new technology wagon.

If you want to be futureproof, this strategy will give you the best odds. The best time to get a new card is 2 month after they are out. This is what I'm gonna do right now to be frank. I have a 600$ budget on my video card, I'm waiting for the black friday sale, grabbing a gtx 580 and just waiting for the new tech to come out.

 

[Warmacblu]

I doubt the GTX 580 will drop down to $350 during the Black Friday deals. Most of the sales will probably be on the mid-ranged cards.

My opinion is to purchase a GTX 570 or HD 6970 and if you really need more performance down the road, but something new. You have a very nice budget but there is no sense in spending it all at this moment.

 

[spagalicious]

Thanks for all the replies. So I think its pretty much definitive that I should wait but do you guys think a 6950 2Gb would be enough for almost maxed out on games like skyrim, diablo III, witcher 2, etc? Im not a big FPS fan so. Maybe get lucky and get a reference card that can still be flashed to a 6970? Are there still cards able to do that out there? 😱

 

[spagalicious]

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