HD 7950 to 970/80

[Cdr JamesCool]

So I have been holding on to my 7950 waiting for some new cards to be released. With these new ones now on the market I was wondering if maybe it is now time to consider upgrading. I have had my card for around 2 or 3 years now so maybe I should just continue to keep hold of it but I am not sure.

A question about the 900 cards themselves, is the price jump between the 970 and 980 worth the performance boost? The 970 seems to be great for the money but I hear that the 980 is currently the best card around.

 

[frag06]

So I have been holding on to my 7950 waiting for some new cards to be released. With these new ones now on the market I was wondering if maybe it is now time to consider upgrading. I have had my card for around 2 or 3 years now so maybe I should just continue to keep hold of it but I am not sure.

A question about the 900 cards themselves, is the price jump between the 970 and 980 worth the performance boost? The 970 seems to be great for the money but I hear that the 980 is currently the best card around.

The 980 is currently the fastest single GPU card available. It is on average 10 - 12 FPS faster than a 970, which isn't worth an additional $250, IMO (at least not at 1080p or 1440p).

This is a good comparison between the 7950 and 970.

 

[coozie7]

Full specs would be helpful. 😉
Cards of this calibre NEED a fast CPU to give their best, along with plenty of fast memory.
As for performance, I was running a HD7950 on my i5 4690K rig (the unbalanced rig is a long, sad story involving overclocking, a cheap MB and the sudden death of my beloved i5 750) until Nvidia released the GTX970, it's close to twice as fast-if the CPU can keep it fed with data.
Top of the line parts are seldom good value, and it's true here, the GTX980 isn't worth the extra cash-bragging rights yes, but not the cash.

 

[Cdr JamesCool]

Ah well my current specs include:
i5-3570k clocked at 3.8Ghz
8GB Ram
650W power supply

Can't quite remember my motherboard, a gigabyte model which obviously supports my processor.

 

[coozie7]

Been away.
Long shifts. 🙁
Looks like you're set to go, fast CPU and plenty of power-assuming a decent make, that is.
Your choice on the upgrade, but I've moved up from a HD7950 to a GTX970, also at 1080 rez and the difference is enormous and for me, worth the cash.
If you choose to E-bay the 7950, don't expect a fortune, AMD have dropped their prices and that's going to effect its used value, it may be better to try and sell it to a friend/workmate/family member directly and avoid the listing and Paypal fees.

 

[Cdr JamesCool]

Do you have any brand in particular that you would recommend? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-MS The MSI looks interesting and seems to be a bit cheaper than the other brands.

 

[frag06]

Do you have any brand in particular that you would recommend? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-MS The MSI looks interesting and seems to be a bit cheaper than the other brands.

I recommend the MSI Gaming or Gigabyte G1.

If you like the look of the MSI, go with it. It's a great card.

 

[coozie7]

^+1.
BUT...
Right now the hard part is finding one!
And prices have gone up, in some cases quite noticeably, so I'll advise you do carry out the upgrade-it's very large-just not yet, wait a few months (I know it's hard 😉 ) until prices settle down and supply catches up with the massive demand.
Of course you could always do what I did...Get drunk and order one at midnight.

 

[Cdr JamesCool]

Thanks for the answers. I'll give it a few months and see how prices are then, I'll likely upgrade at that point.