Its about time to retire the HD7870 and get something a little better. I was looking at some 970s but the memory issue has soured me a bit. I at this point have settled on a R290 and am unsure about my PSU{thermake 750 bronze} being able to handle the load. Most of the cards ive looked at have anywhere from a 650 to a 800 PSU listed in their requirements. I would think 750 would be enough especially for a single card but just need so opinions. Thanks!
That confused me a bit also, agreed it's pretty close to new cards dropping from AMD and even if you don't spring on a new one it might put some downward pressure on the older models price wise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV1gE1qrhZY&list=WL&index=6 In this test the R9 290 coupled with a 4670k pulled only 490W maximum. Considering you have a FX 8350 it should probably be around 510-520W.
Thanks for the replies and yes it was late when I posted this hence the error in posting CPU instead of GPU. I may wait a bit for the new AMDs then the price should hopefully be lower.
The 290 would be a nice performance upgrade over the 7870 and a 750W PSU will be plenty if you choose to go down that route.
I would wait when Amd will launch new cards and see if prices will come down from older cards and new Gtx card, atm cheapest 970 is 315€ and R9 290 is 269€. New amd card also sound promising but I am sure it will come with some heftier price tag. About the 750w psu my r9 290 crossfire pc setup is pulling 650watts max at the wall while running Valley. So u got no problems with one r9 290. http://geizhals.at/eu/?cat=gra16_512&sort=p&xf=1440_R9+290#xf_top http://geizhals.at/eu/?cat=gra16_512&sort=p&xf=1439_GTX+970#xf_top
Yes, wait until summer to get a new card.... "Soon" for AMD is around June to August time frame. So, if you can wait 3-5 months to get a new graphics card, I'd recommend doing so. If you need a new card now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the GTX970, regardless of the overblown VRAM "issue" that is non-existent for most users.
Thanks everyone.... I went ahead and went with the MSI R290 Gaming edition which should be a significant upgrade over the 7870.