Graphics card upgrade, 6950 still acceptable?

[3VIL_G3NIUS]

So currently I have a 5770 and it has served me well for the last 2 years. I bought it second hand for $110NZD about this time in 2012 and it is decent for a lot of games, however some are just unplayable so it might be time for an upgrade.

Thing is I don't really want to spend heaps, but I want the best increase in performance I can get which means second hand is probably the best option.
I can get 2 6950's for $300NZD, maybe $250NZD if I'm lucky, but the 6950 is still from the end of 2010, only a year newer than the 5770. Although they performance increase would be very large I'm not sure if such old cards are worth it.

However from what I can find, crossfire 6950s would be about as good as a 7970/280x, probably slightly slower, but would be faster if unlocked to 6970s.

However the cheapest I can find a 280x is this for $280+ or from a proper store for $440. Of course there is no guarantee that someone won't bid the price up from $280 on the first option. 

$280 gets a 270 from a proper store...

$250 is as much as I want to spend really... Or I could just get a single unlockable 6950 for $150.

Help please!  :unsure:

[Paralectic]

Why don't you purchase a GTX 760/770?

[3VIL_G3NIUS]

Why don't you purchase a GTX 760/770?

I was going to get a second hand 680 but the bidding went to $360.

cheapest 760 is this galaxy one for $360

and cheapest 770 is a gigabyte windforce starting bid $365 or 395 buy now. 

770=680 which is about the same as crossfired 6970s so it's worse price to performance and they are both more than I want to spend anyway. nVidia stuff is just rediculously expensive here, a titan black costs $2000

[Paralectic]

I was going to get a second hand 680 but the bidding went to $360.

cheapest 760 is this galaxy one for $360

and cheapest 770 is a gigabyte windforce starting bid $365 or 395 buy now. 

770=680 which is about the same as crossfired 6970s so it's worse price to performance and they are both more than I want to spend anyway. nVidia stuff is just rediculously expensive here, a titan black costs $2000

What about a GTX 660Ti/760? They are the same cards and aren't that expensive anymore.

[3VIL_G3NIUS]

What about a GTX 660Ti/760? They are the same cards and aren't that expensive anymore.

Like I said in the previous post, a 760 is $360

And this is all the 660/660ti results, as you can see, very few, and still not as good value for money

[Paralectic]

Like I said in the previous post, a 760 is $360

And this is all the 660/660ti results, as you can see, very few, and still not as good value for money

With my GTX 660 SC 1200/1175 overclocked with the new 337.50 drivers by nVidia I can get a stable 60+ FPS in Conquest Large maps in Battlefield 4 in combat heavy situations combined with levolution and my GPU stays below 80 degrees celcius on a reference blower cooler design.

[3VIL_G3NIUS]

With my GTX 660 SC 1200/1175 overclocked with the new 337.50 drivers by nVidia I can get a stable 60+ FPS in Conquest Large maps in Battlefield 4 in combat heavy situations combined with levolution and my GPU stays below 80 degrees celcius on a reference blower cooler design.

 

They still cost more than what I want to spend, and I could get more for my money

[Paralectic]

They still cost more than what I want to spend, and I could get more for my money

What's your exact budget?

[GuideMe002]

then get a 750ti

[3VIL_G3NIUS]

What's your exact budget?

$250 or as close to it as possible. The less the better. Maximum price/performance ratio

 

then get a 750ti

The are like $250 at their cheapest. I think i have a winner on price to performance for the 6950s.

 

Is there any reasons not to get older cards if they perform better for the same price than a newer architecture? I know that crossfire/SLI isn't as good as a single card, but if it's better value then it's no problem. Also of course crossfire 6950s would use lots more power, but my psu is more than up to the task so that's not a problem

[maazster]

Don't bother with a 6950, if you want an upgrade looks for a 7870 Tahiti LE or a 760.

[Lord Pantaloons]

What about a GTX 660Ti/760? They are the same cards and aren't that expensive anymore.

not the same, there is a very noticeable difference between the two.

[3VIL_G3NIUS]

Don't bother with a 6950, if you want an upgrade looks for a 7870 Tahiti LE or a 760.

Why don't bother with it? I was going to get 2 6970s at the time I built my PC, but got the 5770 while I was saving for them (2 of them was worth $1200 at the time) and just didn't bother getting them in the end because the 5770 was good enough for what I was playing.

What is wrong with older architecture if it is cheaper for the same or better performance? I understand why nobody would get a 2600k these days when it costs practically the same as a 4770k, but not much has changed since, and the same probably goes for graphics cards. Looking at the benchmarks that Slick does for the videos the difference between cards is like a couple fps. Personally I don't consider that a difference at all. 5770 -> CF 6950s would be a difference, a huge one. 

stuff doesn't seem to lose value too bad here. I've seen 5770s sell for $80 this year, only $30 less than what I paid for mine 2 years ago. And it's a 5 year old card.

7870 is out of stock/expensive. Over 300. same goes for 760.

EDIT: I just noticed you have a 6950, when did you buy it, and is it still good?

[Lord_Kitty]

There are some pretty good deals for some GTX 760 on eBay. You might want to check that out.

[3VIL_G3NIUS]

There are some pretty good deals for some GTX 760 on eBay. You might want to check that out.

I live in New Zealand, shipping would destroy any savings. I had a look at a few, shipping is between $25-$50 and there is $45 of import tax on top of that. And the cards themselves are $250, so I'd have to pay like $350. I could have got a 680 SOC for that much earlier today, which is better since 680=770, plus after market cooler vs reference.

 

Thanks anyway though

Anyone have any reason not to crossfire the previous architecture of cards? Smaller processes only seem to reduce power usage if you are comparing them by processing power, and of course adds features like true audio or game streaming and stuff like that.

What could a card like a 280x/7970 give me that CF 6950s couldn't? Less power usage I don't care about, benefits of a single card doesn't justify spending more (or spending the same for less performance)... Anything else? Reduced resale value I guess, but considering my 5770 only lost $30 in 2 years I don't think that'd be much of an issue. Especially since I've been offered them at a sweet price to start with, could probably sell them in a year for what I paid

[maazster]

Why don't bother with it? I was going to get 2 6970s at the time I built my PC, but got the 5770 while I was saving for them (2 of them was worth $1200 at the time) and just didn't bother getting them in the end because the 5770 was good enough for what I was playing.

What is wrong with older architecture if it is cheaper for the same or better performance? I understand why nobody would get a 2600k these days when it costs practically the same as a 4770k, but not much has changed since, and the same probably goes for graphics cards. Looking at the benchmarks that Slick does for the videos the difference between cards is like a couple fps. Personally I don't consider that a difference at all. 5770 -> CF 6950s would be a difference, a huge one. 

stuff doesn't seem to lose value too bad here. I've seen 5770s sell for $80 this year, only $30 less than what I paid for mine 2 years ago. And it's a 5 year old card.

7870 is out of stock/expensive. Over 300. same goes for 760.

EDIT: I just noticed you have a 6950, when did you buy it, and is it still good?

I bought the 6950 over two years ago, the thing is its not that much of a great overclocker, it is starting to choke on games on highest settings without AA. Its still a great card but if you really in the market for a newer graphics card then the 6000 series is a miss, 7000 series have a great variety of cards, the 7870 beats the 6950 and the 7870 Tahiti LE version beats a 6970 and a stock 7950.

[dylandylandylan]

So currently I have a 5770 and it has served me well for the last 2 years. I bought it second hand for $110NZD about this time in 2012 and it is decent for a lot of games, however some are just unplayable so it might be time for an upgrade.

Thing is I don't really want to spend heaps, but I want the best increase in performance I can get which means second hand is probably the best option.

I can get 2 6950's for $300NZD, maybe $250NZD if I'm lucky, but the 6950 is still from the end of 2010, only a year newer than the 5770. Although they performance increase would be very large I'm not sure if such old cards are worth it.

However from what I can find, crossfire 6950s would be about as good as a 7970/280x, probably slightly slower, but would be faster if unlocked to 6970s.

However the cheapest I can find a 280x is this for $280+ or from a proper store for $440. Of course there is no guarantee that someone won't bid the price up from $280 on the first option. 

$280 gets a 270 from a proper store...

$250 is as much as I want to spend really... Or I could just get a single unlockable 6950 for $150.

Help please!  :unsure:

 

Hey man, there are a few HD7950's on trademe at the moment, one I believe is around $270, I was looking at purchasing it for my crossfire setup, but I'd rather let someone like you have it!

[3VIL_G3NIUS]

I bought the 6950 over two years ago, the thing is its not that much of a great overclocker, it is starting to choke on games on highest settings without AA. Its still a great card but if you really in the market for a newer graphics card then the 6000 series is a miss, 7000 series have a great variety of cards, the 7870 beats the 6950 and the 7870 Tahiti LE version beats a 6970 and a stock 7950.

Crossfire is a different, story, but yeah. It is quite old.

 

Hey man, there are a few HD7950's on trademe at the moment, one I believe is around $270, I was looking at purchasing it for my crossfire setup, but I'd rather let someone like you have it!

Just found the one you are talking about, I kinda expect it to rocket up with bids within a week like everything seems to do. And for the buy now price I have a fixed price offer on a 7970, but that finished like 9am tomorrow, and I don't really want to pay $330.

Do you think it'll stay at $270 till the end? That's great of you to be willing to give it up for someone in extreme need of an upgrade! lol

I'm assuming I can keep my 5770 in there to run my secondary VGA screens? Since the new cards only have a single DVI-I port.

[dylandylandylan]

Crossfire is a different, story, but yeah. It is quite old.

 

Just found the one you are talking about, I kinda expect it to rocket up with bids within a week like everything seems to do. And for the buy now price I have a fixed price offer on a 7970, but that finished like 9am tomorrow, and I don't really want to pay $330.

Do you think it'll stay at $270 till the end? That's great of you to be willing to give it up for someone in extreme need of an upgrade! lol

I'm assuming I can keep my 5770 in there to run my secondary VGA screens? Since the new cards only have a single DVI-I port.

 

You'd be surprised man, I had a 7950 on trademe for $250 awhile ago, and no one bid when I had it on there. So depends on whether people are willing to spend money or not, might as well just watch them! Considering you'll be paying substantially lower than we pay here brand new for technology, it's unbelievable.

 

I'm unsure on running the two cards like that, I haven't run two cards from different families before, someone else will have to swoop in and save the day on that question

 

at the end of the day spending the money on the 7950 will be well worth it, and the only reason I'm recommending "last gen" graphics cards over the newer ones is because I know how much brand new graphics cards cost here, and it defeats the price vs performance margin.

[GamerDude]

Let me put it this way, you'd want a HD7950 at the very least if you want a good gaming experience. I have a HD7970 in an old C2Q X9650 system, though the CPU isn't exactly a beast now, it can keep up with modern games, and due to the HD7970, I can max out most games at 1200P, not AAA titles like Metro LL, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3 and the like. For any other graphically less intensive games, the HD7970 slices thru them like butter......the HD7950 is a little weaker than the HD7970 (obviously) but it's still one hella powerful card.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Let me put it this way, you'd want a HD7950 at the very least if you want a good gaming experience. I have a HD7970 in an old C2Q X9650 system, though the CPU isn't exactly a beast now, it can keep up with modern games, and due to the HD7970, I can max out most games at 1200P, not AAA titles like Metro LL, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3 and the like. For any other graphically less intensive games, the HD7970 slices thru them like butter......the HD7950 is a little weaker than the HD7970 (obviously) but it's still one hella powerful card.

The ONLY reason I upped my HD7950 to the 290, was I liked enabling higher levels of AA (8xAA), the HD7950 will still play MANY titles over 60fps quite easily @ Maximum Quality options with slightly lessened AA settings.

@ the right price, its a beast!

[3VIL_G3NIUS]

You'd be surprised man, I had a 7950 on trademe for $250 awhile ago, and no one bid when I had it on there. So depends on whether people are willing to spend money or not, might as well just watch them! Considering you'll be paying substantially lower than we pay here brand new for technology, it's unbelievable.

 

I'm unsure on running the two cards like that, I haven't run two cards from different families before, someone else will have to swoop in and save the day on that question

 

at the end of the day spending the money on the 7950 will be well worth it, and the only reason I'm recommending "last gen" graphics cards over the newer ones is because I know how much brand new graphics cards cost here, and it defeats the price vs performance margin.

Fair enough, a 7970 isn't really worth $60 more is it? Taking the risk that the 7950 won't go up in price. Trademe needs a counter offer button so you can haggle if the seller's made you an offer

I doubt many people have tried it, lol. But considering people have run dedicated physx cards before I assume it works. I guess if nobody knows then I can give it a try and help out anyone who ever asks it.

Heck yeah, pretty much anything is an upgrade haha. And even the latest gen is pretty much rebadged stuff anyway. Not just graphics cards, but everything is so much more expensive here, it's rediculous 

 

Let me put it this way, you'd want a HD7950 at the very least if you want a good gaming experience. I have a HD7970 in an old C2Q X9650 system, though the CPU isn't exactly a beast now, it can keep up with modern games, and due to the HD7970, I can max out most games at 1200P, not AAA titles like Metro LL, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3 and the like. For any other graphically less intensive games, the HD7970 slices thru them like butter......the HD7950 is a little weaker than the HD7970 (obviously) but it's still one hella powerful card.

The ONLY reason I upped my HD7950 to the 290, was I liked enabling higher levels of AA (8xAA), the HD7950 will still play MANY titles over 60fps quite easily @ Maximum Quality options with slightly lessened AA settings.

@ the right price, its a beast!

 

That's great to know! Hmm, guess a 7950/7970 is the way to go then, especially if it's for the same price but without crossfire hassles

[SkilledRebuilds]

Pretty sure in any AMD GPU system the Nvidia card for Physx is disabled?

You used to need an older modded driver package to re-enable it. Meaning your running older drivers without optimizations for new GPU's or game titles.

The performance you lose isn't worth the extra little pretty's that are enabled.

[3VIL_G3NIUS]

Pretty sure in any AMD GPU system the Nvidia card for Physx is disabled?

You used to need an older modded driver package to re-enable it. Meaning your running older drivers without optimizations for new GPU's or game titles.

The performance you lose isn't worth the extra little pretty's that are enabled.

I'm not using a physx card, I want to know if I can have a 5770 running secondary monitors while the 7950 runs my main one. Using a dedicated Physx card was just an example of using different GPUs at once.