Upgrading from a PowerColor Radeon HD5970

[youne]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster. I used to stay more educated on this stuff, but I seem to be having a tougher time of it these days.

I currently have a Radeon HD5970 2GB. It works fine (meaning I could sell to recoup some costs). I'm looking for some advice on what to upgrade to. I *really* want the GTX690, but $1K is a bit much, even for me. I would like to switch back to NVIDIA, but that's not an absolute requirement.

Primarily, I worry about 3D gaming. I run at 2560x1440 and like things to look as pretty as possible. MMOs I don't really have an issue with (Though with everything maxed in SWTOR I have to turn down Shadows to cut down on choppiness.) Other games like Skyrim I'd like to run with the high-res pack and no hiccups.

My current primary considerations:
Adding a 2nd HD5970. Looks like they're about $300 on ebay.
Upgrading to a Asus GTX680-DC2-4GD5 GeForce GTX 680 Graphic Card. I can get my hands on one for about $550. If I sell my current card at around $200, looking at a net cost of $350.

Alternatively, I'd consider two new cards in SLI or Crossfire. I'd like to stay under $600 if I can.

My least favourite option (as once I start thinking about these things I can't stop myself) would be to wait a bit if something better value is on the near horizon. (2-3 months.)

Hoping to buy from immediate time frame to somewhere in the next couple of months. I did some reading here, but it looks like some people are recommending moving from the 5970 and some aren't. Hoping for a bit more direct feedback. Thanks in advance!

Quick specs: Maximus IV Gene-Z Mobo, 850W Quattro Power Supply, i7-2600K proc, 16GB DDR3 RAM, Powercolor Radeon HD5970 2GB, 2560x1440 resolution.

 

[iceclock]

if u want crossfire with 2 decent cards and stay under 600$ here,

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wKgj
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wKgj/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wKgj/benchmarks/

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($274.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($274.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $549.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-09 17:46 EST-0500)

best for ur money or alternatively 2 gtxs 660tis

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wKhg
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wKhg/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wKhg/benchmarks/

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $559.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-09 17:48 EST-0500)

i really like evga great customer support 5years warranty cant complain, but comes down to u want ati or nvidia both choices are a+

 

[youne]

Thanks! I'll do some comparing there. If doing dual cards I feel like I like SLI better than crossfire. Just a gut feeling.

Any recommends on whether a single card u/g would be worth it?

 

[iceclock]

yes, this:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp42686kr

gtx 680 evga good build, good customer support, 5years warranty cant ask more

 

[youne]

Thanks, Ice. Any idea on performance gain vs current 5970? Are you completely against getting a second 5970?

 

[iceclock]

not at all i just know its a better investment than adding a second 5970, older technology more heat, more power usage, the above recommandations as a sli or crossfire would do u fine or the evga 4 gig 680 i recommanded, im not for u wasting money in older tech sorry.

 

[youne]

Fair enough. I'd been buying thinking I could crossfire it down the road but i don't think i will. I'll look at 680 4g vs 660 sli benchmarks.

 

[iceclock]

ok ;p

 

[youne]

Alright, so after doing some research I'm thinking I'd rather go with a single card. I've been doing some research, and it looks like my bottleneck right now is video card memory because I run at 2560x1440. My 5970 has 2GB, so only 1GB per GPU.

So, I'm thinking a single GTX 680 w/ 4GB could answer most of my issues. Specifically, games like Skyrim with everything cranked up looks like where I would benefit the most according to this comparison.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/555?vs=587

Does that make sense to you? I can get my hands on a GTX 680 for $550, probably sell the 5970 for $200, so would be dropping $350 net to upgrade to a 680GTX w/ 4GB.

I feel like this is a good value - any final advice? Thanks again for all the help!

 

[iceclock]

well the evga card, thats 4gigs 680 i recommand will do the trick, plenty of power and good 5 year warranty cant beat that

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130799

 

[youne]

Thanks again for all the help iceclock. One last note - where I'm looking to get the card they only currently have the FTW LE version in. I think that's the reference card looking at spec, so I could just get that and OC it if required. Any caveats there?

 

[youne]

Best answer selected by youne.

 

[iceclock]

u can get the ftw le version, its pre-factory overclocked