7950 -> 780 justifiable?

[Villain]

I'm going to have some extra money by the end of the month, enough to afford a 780, and I'm wondering if anyone has an opinion on whether or not it would be a logical decision. I am currently using a 60hz monitor, though I will be upgrading to a BenQ 144hz monitor in May (which is the main reason I am contemplating getting the 780). I'm also not sure about the 290x as it appears to be more expensive from every website I have looked at (Amazon, Newegg).

 

Also, if anyone can comment on the software side that would also be appreciated (Physx, Adaptive Vsync, Lightning boost etc.). I've heard most of their software technology is just "meh" but I'm curious.

[CoolBeans]

Another 7950

[Joshyy]

A 290 (Faster than a 780 for a cheaper price) or another 7950 as Coolbeans suggested. 

[Villain]

Another 7950

 

I've actually done this already, but decided to sell my card to a friend. The crossfire performance was amazing in the games that had support for it and the improvements they've made on the drivers is great, but considering not every game has good crossfire support and there are still many frame pacing and stuttering issues, I'd prefer to stick with a single GPU. Also my current 7950 has an aftermarket cooler that takes a ton of space, so in order to fit another I really have to squeeze it in.

[tristan1035]

A 290 (Faster than a 780 for a cheaper price) or another 7950 as Coolbeans suggested. 

A 290(X) is a blowdryer, wait for non-reference or get a 780, the increase in fps will be worthwhile. 

[simtransporter]

290 will give you slightly better value if you can live with the heat and noise. Otherwise the 780 is a great card, especially with the price drops.

[heineygoat]

Another 7950

Would be the best option in price to raw performance.

But IMO the drivers still aren't great. Less than half of the AAA titles in my Steam library actually make use of my second GPU on CCC 13.9. And in games on 13.11 beta my second GPU just gets pinned at constant 99%, where as the other GPU behaves normally, usage will go up and down corresponding to what's actually going on in the game, weird.

 

IDK maybe its just my pair of cards?

[Villain]

Noise levels are pretty important to me, I prefer to maintain a very quiet PC. From what I've heard the 290 is extremely hot, and I have a feeling it will be difficult to develop a quit and efficient cooling design without charging $100+ more. I guess what it will come down to is whether or not good non-reference cooling designs come out by the end of the month. Can anyone comment on if Physx or any other software sided technology is worth the worse performance/price ratio? Currently I'm leaning towards the 290 assuming the better cooling isn't going to ramp the price up drastically.

[samuelohagan]

In my opinion I suggest people to never fall into the pc gaming trap, the 7950 is plenty fast enough. If I where you I would either save up the money, or spend it on steam games. 7950 to 780 is not that big of a boost, and in my opinion is not worth the money. 

[grayperview]

Not worth it, there really isn't £450 difference in performance between the cards

 

the 7950 will be a good card for another 2 years yet.

 

7950 can pretty much play everything out there at 60fps, on max settings or slightly lower in some cases.

 

Ask yourself this is it worth the money to play the handful of games that the 7950 can't quite max out???

[SlaughterSmurf]

Yes, I am going to upgrade my 7970 to a 780, maybe if you sell off your 7950 and pony up to a 780ti it would be worth it even more?

[Humbug]

Not justifiable, don't get sucked in. Take a step back and think about how else you could use that money. Meanwhile play games and let the 7950 fulfil it's destiny.

At the very least wait until 20nm GPUs in mid 2014.

[Umeshwarnath]

290

[grayperview]

Also hang off buying that monitor, Gsync is just around the corner, wait until they come out, then and then only would it be justifiable in getting an Nvidia card.

[xAcid9]

Wait for non-ref 290 or slap in 3rd party cooler, but i don't think the gain is justifiable unless you never overclock your 7950.

 

Get 780 or 780Ti if u're planning to buy G-Sync monitor.