mapesdhs
Distinguished
- Jan 22, 2007
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That's true, though I wouldn't buy a 7K card new anyway, and used alternatives cost a lot less as mentioned.
If one already had a 295, then sure, it can be used again in other systems to good effect, as long as one
doesn't mind not having DX11, etc. But I wouldn't buy one afresh, there are better options for playing older
games, like the GTX 460, 560, 560 Ti, etc.
Note I did obtain two 7970 GHz editions, which are the same as the 280X; they work rather well, though are
louder than I was expecting (only down side is the continuing fail for DX9 CF in various titles, I hope AMD
can fix that soon). If I was buying a used AMD card just now, it would probably be a 7970 though, best
overall value vs. performance I reckon.
Here's a nice comparison I did recently, two 7970s CF vs. a single top-end 980, same mbd/CPU setup
(ASUS M4E + 5GHz 2700K), the 7970 CF config being just a bit quicker:
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/8955326/3dm11/8591523
It's the same tradeoff I had with my two 3GB 580s I used for 18 months: the 7970s were comparatively
cheap (just a little more than half the cost of the 980), but the 980 runs almost silent and uses a lot less
power. Overall, for the lifetime one might use such a setup, it's a decent cost saving at the expense of
a lot more noise. To what extent the power usage might offset the initial cost saving I guess depends
on how much one would use the system; I certainly noticed an increase in my bill when gaming back in
the summer, so hopefully the 980 will offset this for next year.
Ian.
If one already had a 295, then sure, it can be used again in other systems to good effect, as long as one
doesn't mind not having DX11, etc. But I wouldn't buy one afresh, there are better options for playing older
games, like the GTX 460, 560, 560 Ti, etc.
Note I did obtain two 7970 GHz editions, which are the same as the 280X; they work rather well, though are
louder than I was expecting (only down side is the continuing fail for DX9 CF in various titles, I hope AMD
can fix that soon). If I was buying a used AMD card just now, it would probably be a 7970 though, best
overall value vs. performance I reckon.
Here's a nice comparison I did recently, two 7970s CF vs. a single top-end 980, same mbd/CPU setup
(ASUS M4E + 5GHz 2700K), the 7970 CF config being just a bit quicker:
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/8955326/3dm11/8591523
It's the same tradeoff I had with my two 3GB 580s I used for 18 months: the 7970s were comparatively
cheap (just a little more than half the cost of the 980), but the 980 runs almost silent and uses a lot less
power. Overall, for the lifetime one might use such a setup, it's a decent cost saving at the expense of
a lot more noise. To what extent the power usage might offset the initial cost saving I guess depends
on how much one would use the system; I certainly noticed an increase in my bill when gaming back in
the summer, so hopefully the 980 will offset this for next year.
Ian.
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