New Video Card - purchasing advice

[9-Ball]

Hi folks,

I'm looking to invest in a new video card in the next 2-3 weeks or so, possibly around the late November sales, if good deals show up.

I want to replace/upgrade my current MSI Lightning 7970 3GB which has been a good servant but it aging a bit. I'm also looking to simultaneously upgrade to a 27" at 2560x1440 and 120hz from my current 65hz 24" Samsumg screens (3 of 'em). Only the central 27" 120hz screen would be used for gaming.

My current mobo is an ASUS Rampage IV Extreme LGA 2011 with a quad-core i7 at 3.8Ghz. I have 64GB DDR3 2300 running W7 x64 Ultimate. All very stable and steady (famous last words).

So, I'm looking for a high end single-video card solution that's going to meet the needs of running BF4 and similar at ultra settings on the 27" screen. I don't want to mess with Crossfire or SLI right now as I've had prior problems and have trouble fitting two big cards next to each other with air cooling, in my view.

I prefer ATi cards and I'm looking at the new R9 290X and wondering if it's going to be the best option, either now or in a few weeks when more 3rd party cooling models are out? Budget isn't a big issue - I'm happy to go to 5-600 or a little above even.

I can consider going to two 7970's and Crossfiring them but I'm leering given those past problems and tightness between the mobo's 3 PCIe ports and my giant CPU cooler but prefer the single card route, if a single card will meet the ultra/resolution/120hz needs.

So, I'd welcome advice on best options here.

 

[Z1NONLY]

If they have custom-cooler 290x cards available when you are ready to buy, that's probably the best bang for the buck.

120hz is not likely, but you should get good frame rates. A 780 ti will be faster but it also costs hundreds more.

 

[9-Ball]

Am I looking at requiring 2 cards to consistently meet 120hz in recent titles, or likely not even then? My understanding is 120hz is still much smoother even if you don't consistently hit 120fps.

 

[Mrfluffybuns]

780 ti great gpu and overclocks like a bad ass

 

[Z1NONLY]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-780-ti-review-benchmarks,3663-5.html

 

[9-Ball]

Assume a Nvidia prejudice here, based on experience. I'm looking at my mobo again and considering the option of 2x 7970's in Crossfire versus the single 290x ... what do we think on the performance difference there, where I'm aiming at a 120hz 27" screen and possibly Eyefinity in the nearish future for some games. Had bad experiences with Crossfire in its earlier days but perhaps things have improved. Thoughts?

 

[Z1NONLY]

They have frame pacing now but it still needs work from what I have read

 

[Mrfluffybuns]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-780-ti-review-benchmarks,3663-5.html

most of the test are on amd enhanced games

 

[Z1NONLY]

I linked directly to the bf4 benchmarks.