Thinking about upgrading my gpu, need some pointers.

[eclap]

Ok, my gtx 480 runs most games fine, but there's the odd exception where it struggles to keep up with some games. I'm quite happy with it, but have a bit of cash to blow right now and thinking what would be a worthy replacement. Budget is £300 give or take but the most important thing is value for money. This pretty much rules out HD 7970 and GTX 680. So atm I'm thinking a HD 7950 or a GTX 670. I'm leaning more towards the 7950 for a few reasons. Amazing overclockability (with voltage unlocked), great performance, quiet, consumes half the power of my GTX 480 which is a nice bonus. But I would really miss nvidia inspector. Not that fussed about the handful of physx games so that doesn't really bother me. I know there's RadeonPro for AMD cards, but is it really a solid replacement for nvidia inspector?

the GTX 670 on the other hand is tempting, well, maybe only because because it performs similar to the HD 7950 and I would be able to keep using inspector.

Anyway, I can get a HD 7950 for around £250, which is not too bad. Can someone recommend a model that is voltage unlocked? Also can someone shed a bit of light on the functionality of RadeonPro? Also, would a overclocked HD 7950 be a worthy replacement of my GTX 480?

My current gpu runs almost as fast as a GTX 580, mind, so anyone with personal experience can chip in. Much appreciated.

EDIT: or is there anything else on the horizon? next couple of months?

[CreationP]

Next couple of months I think the new HD 8xxxx series are coming out with 4GB of RAM. Don't know about prices or if they are worth it without any performance charts. Also the GTX Titan is also coming out in which... I have no idea either. We are in a premature stage to know exactly what to expect.

The 7950 is a really good choice. I know MSI is voltage locked so I chose the Sapphire edition. Haven't OCed it yet but I know it can easily reach a factory 7970 and have room for a bit more.

As far as I understand, RadeonPRO is a tool that helps you choose the optimal options and profiles when using crossfire.

[eclap]

cool, I could easily wait 2 months, anyone else can confirm that AMD are planning a new series soon?

RadeonPro does a lot more than that, I've used it in the past but I'd really like to know if it's on par with inspector.

[CreationP]

You can read about it in the homepage of the forum. I didn't read it all so it might led some light. Also it has a preview of the GTX Titan.

Forgot to mention that the Sapphire have two version of the 7950. The normal and the OC one. I usually never take the OC versions as they cost a lot more than the normal. My way of thinking is that as long as i can OC it myself I don't need their factory OC. Unless there is a big difference I do not know concerning the architecture or the speed of the card, I find it hard to give 80-100 more euros for 100mhz difference.

Hope I was of help.

[---TK---]

Originally Posted by eclap

Ok, my gtx 480 runs most games fine, but there's the odd exception where it struggles to keep up with some games. I'm quite happy with it, but have a bit of cash to blow right now and thinking what would be a worthy replacement. Budget is £300 give or take but the most important thing is value for money. This pretty much rules out HD 7970 and GTX 680. So atm I'm thinking a HD 7950 or a GTX 670. I'm leaning more towards the 7950 for a few reasons. Amazing overclockability (with voltage unlocked), great performance, quiet, consumes half the power of my GTX 480 which is a nice bonus. But I would really miss nvidia inspector. Not that fussed about the handful of physx games so that doesn't really bother me. I know there's RadeonPro for AMD cards, but is it really a solid replacement for nvidia inspector?

the GTX 670 on the other hand is tempting, well, maybe only because because it performs similar to the HD 7950 and I would be able to keep using inspector.

Anyway, I can get a HD 7950 for around £250, which is not too bad. Can someone recommend a model that is voltage unlocked? Also can someone shed a bit of light on the functionality of RadeonPro? Also, would a overclocked HD 7950 be a worthy replacement of my GTX 480?

My current gpu runs almost as fast as a GTX 580, mind, so anyone with personal experience can chip in. Much appreciated.

EDIT: or is there anything else on the horizon? next couple of months?

just rumors saying amd and nvidia saying no new cards till 4th quarter. when in fact they stated nothing of the kind one way or another. your 2 best choices are what you stated: 7950/670. I could of bought 2 7970 for much cheaper than my 2 680 4gb, but I went with my gut and went with nvidia. I knew I would not have any problems running sli (as I used it for years). I knew they were slower than 2 7970 but I did not care. I have no real use for cuda support but I like physx and nvidia inspector. you could buy a 7950 and oc the hell out of it or get a 670 and flash the bios to 150 power target, slightly higher voltage and 100% fan speed.

[eclap]

hmmm... maybe I'll wait for someone to put one up for sale in the trade section. cheers tk

[CreationP]

Originally Posted by ---TK---

just rumors saying amd and nvidia saying no new cards till 4th quarter. when in fact they stated nothing of the kind one way or another. your 2 best choices are what you stated: 7950/670. I could of bought 2 7970 for much cheaper than my 2 680 4gb, but I went with my gut and went with nvidia. I knew I would not have any problems running sli (as I used it for years). I knew they were slower than 2 7970 but I did not care. I have no real use for cuda support but I like physx and nvidia inspector. you could buy a 7950 and oc the hell out of it or get a 670 and flash the bios to 150 power target, slightly higher voltage and 100% fan speed.

PhysX is indeed really awesome and cool. I was thinking of going with the 660 Ti at first just because of the PhysX and the frames lag issue (damn i always forget the name). I was glad I picked the 7950 as it was cheaper and faster. But I still have some thoughts of how it might have been with the 660 Ti.

[sykozis]

AMD's official statement is that there has been no mention of an HD8000 series being released in the channel (retail). Also that all "rumors" in regards to the HD8000 series are baseless speculation and nothing more.

NVidia's official statement, is as usual....on launch day. GeForce GTX Titan officially launches later this week.

[CPC_RedDawn]

Yea stick it out mate and wait for the 8xxx series. They should be pretty good, and I bet they are nowhere near the price of Nvidia's Titan card. I am thinking maybe... £450-£500ish anything higher and it wont be worth it.

You could always wait for 8 series and then upgrade and get two 680's or two 7970s as their prices will plummet once the new cards arrive.

[eclap]

nah, not really thinking about multi gpu. will probably wait for the hd 8xxx and get a 8950 or 8780. thanks

[CreationP]

Oh ****. My bad eclap. I saw the 7850 in home page and got confused. I guess I saw the *8** in the title and got carried away.

[---TK---]

Originally Posted by eclap

hmmm... maybe I'll wait for someone to put one up for sale in the trade section. cheers tk

those 2 cards are your best bet, maybe some 7970/50/680/70 owners wanting to go titan will have them for sale used at a good price. with that pricetage they will prob want to recoup some of that money

[sykozis]

Originally Posted by CPC_RedDawn

Yea stick it out mate and wait for the 8xxx series. They should be pretty good, and I bet they are nowhere near the price of Nvidia's Titan card. I am thinking maybe... £450-£500ish anything higher and it wont be worth it.

You could always wait for 8 series and then upgrade and get two 680's or two 7970s as their prices will plummet once the new cards arrive.

Wait for these cards?

http://www.amd.com/us/products/deskt...-series.aspx#2

There's the HD8000 series, according to AMD's official statement...

[Agent-A01]

Originally Posted by sykozis

AMD's official statement is that there has been no mention of an HD8000 series being released in the channel (retail). Also that all "rumors" in regards to the HD8000 series are baseless speculation and nothing more.

NVidia's official statement, is as usual....on launch day. GeForce GTX Titan officially launches later this week.

HD 7000 series will see the end of 2013. No high end from AMD until after.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/...ome-surprises/

[sykozis]

Any other sources?

HardwareCanucks is the only site I can find reporting that.....

[eclap]

although looking at This makes me think the 7950 is worth it. In BF3 that's over 20 fps more than the gtx 580. hmm

[Darkest]

Not that high of an OC either, I doubt you'd have problems hitting it.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/H..._Boost/31.html

Slightly more modern chart. I think the His IceQ X2 in question is unlocked also, although I'd look into that to be sure.

[eclap]

that's insane, is HIS IceQ X2 Booost the one to go for?

[Darkest]

The HIS IceQ boost cards are pretty popular in the UK at least, they went down a storm over at OCUK. If I was buying now I'd be looking at them personally. A lot of people are getting some good clocks out of the little buggers.

[eclap]

at those clocks I would get a worthy upgrade. thing is now at £275 that's almost hd 7970 territory... decisions

[Darkest]

You can get them for around the £260 mark if you shop around a little. Amazon has them for that for sure, but I'm not sure how the game bundles would be handled.

[eclap]

which 7950 do you have? and how does it run crysis 3? what kinda oc are you getting?

[Agent-A01]

Originally Posted by sykozis

Any other sources?

HardwareCanucks is the only site I can find reporting that.....

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6751/a...islands-beyond

[eclap]

hmmm, so getting a hd 7950 that overclocks past 1.1ghz with good cooling is not a bad idea? I'm really trying to control the itch!!! the performance looks tempting, the power consumption too, with a good cooler it'll be pretty quiet as well (although not as quiet as my 480 but meh, I can live with that I guess).

I just can't see any other reasonable gpu upgrade atm. other than the 7950 there's the gtx 670 which after overclocking looses out, then there's the hd 7970 and gtx 680 which are more expensive but again, a good hd 7950 will be thereabouts, performance wise. then there's a £400+ gap between these £300 gpus and the gtx 690 and hd 7990. The market doesn't really offer that much atm if I'm honest.

EDIT: the HIS IceQ x2 hd 7950 comes with Crysis 3 and "Bioshock". anyone knows which bioshock it is?

[IcE]

It comes with a pre order of Bioshock Infinite, not any of the older ones. That and Crysis 3.