My next £250 upgrade, just GPU?

[bluepumpkin]

Hi, in the past I would be quite comfortable making my own decision but it has been a couple of years since i tracked closely what is happening in the GPU market (re-naming/re-branding the same cards really does my head in). So the question is, given my current build below where would I invest ~£250. It is for gaming only, I was thinkin that i should spend every penny on the GPU, maybe a newly reduced in price Nvidia GTX 770? All opinions welcome

CPU - i5 3570k @3.4GHz
Motherboard - MSI Z77A GD55
Memory - 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP (8GB 2x4GB CML8GX3M2A1600C9 LP)
Storage - 840 EVO 128GB SSD + 2x1TB Samsung Spinpoint
Graphics Card(s) - XFX 6870 DD
PSU - Antec TP-650
Case - Fractal Design R3
Monitor(s) - Iiyama E2274HDS

BTW - I will be over-clocking the CPU to 4GHz in all likelihood but i just had a motherboard death last week and i am too scared to put the OC back to 4GHz quite yet (give it a month)

[kalniel]

Yup, just GPU would give you the most significant boost.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would look at the R9 280X or HD7970GE:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...gaming-3g.html
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-a...2xdl-dvi-plusf
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-g...ms-dl-dvi-i-hd

[Scainer]

is £250 the absolute maximum or can it stretch £10 - £20?

I would look at these two...
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-m...1536-dport-dvi
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-a...i-d-hdmi-dport

I personally believe the nVidia product is better on the whole, and the fact that the 280x chip is getting silently replaced/updated means if you favoured AMD it could be best to wait. I don't believe the replacement will make any performance difference as it sounds like the efficiency will be improved which will likely reduce heat (and to contradict myself possibly then let its legs stretch more).
I think the extra 1GB is not a concern at 1080 gaming, although in the future this could matter but I would expect at least another generation or two, and by this time you will want an upgrade anyway.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Here are my thoughts about the R9 280X and GTX770:

http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-car...ml#post3088513

I think with the next generation consoles,games will shift to much higher resolution textures,so there could be situations where the extra VRAM is useful,especially when modding(you can see this with Skyrim). ATM,many PC games are ports of console games,which have limited VRAM,meaning textures are not that big. A recent example is in the Crysis series. Crysis2 for PC had lower resolution textures than the original Crysis as the former was made for consoles too,unlike the first game.

[Scainer]

I don't know the fact from fiction, or technical from fantasy, but ...
The consoles GPU performance is meant to be around the level of 7850. I just don't think the world is going to change overnight.
The 8GB is not likely to be used is the same convention as it once was. I can see it used as a sudo RAMDisk or something.
Can the GPU actually pump out what is needed?

Most gamers play with mainstream products so that is the 270x or 760. Why make a game and put so much time and effort when the majority wont see it? Time is money, and this is why I still think we are one or two generations/improvements away from the utopia you suggest. I am just trying to look at it from another angle. Consoles stunted the development, and some of the tech used will be two years old when released.

[teppic]

All of the indications are as CAT says.

For £250, the clear choice is the 280X or 7970. The 770 even after a price cut still isn't as fast, and has poorer specs for next gen games.

[Luke7]

I don't know the fact from fiction, or technical from fantasy, but ...
The consoles GPU performance is meant to be around the level of 7850. I just don't think the world is going to change overnight.
The 8GB is not likely to be used is the same convention as it once was. I can see it used as a sudo RAMDisk or something.
Can the GPU actually pump out what is needed?

Most gamers play with mainstream products so that is the 270x or 760. Why make a game and put so much time and effort when the majority wont see it? Time is money, and this is why I still think we are one or two generations/improvements away from the utopia you suggest. I am just trying to look at it from another angle. Consoles stunted the development, and some of the tech used will be two years old when released.

I agree with your 'angle' on some levels however, I would say improvements will be much larger than you think. Just compare the PS3 to the PS4 spec wise and even a 50% increase in graphical gaming goodness would be huge and translate to PC (on some level). Here is the good news.. The ps4 offers MORE than a 50% performance increase over the PS3 so surely to the heavens developers will at least make some use of it? They'd be daft not to otherwise what is the point in buying a XBONE or PS4 if the quality of gaming is the same as the previous gen?

[Scainer]

Hold on the 680 was seen as the better card and only the game bundle made AMD's offering the better value, not the better card.
The 770 is an improved 680 and the 280X is a ever so slightly lesser 7970GHz.

[kalniel]

Hold on the 680 was seen as the better card

Prior to driver updates and a speed bump from the Ghz editions.

Things aren't as decisive now, but with AMD lead in consoles and mantle it's worth having a really good look at whether you think you'd benefit (if you play games that are also going to come out on consoles, then yes, you are).

[teppic]

Hold on the 680 was seen as the better card and only the game bundle made AMD's offering the better value, not the better card.
The 770 is an improved 680 and the 280X is a ever so slightly lesser 7970GHz.

That's not correct. The 680 at launch was faster, but that was before AMD's driver relaunch, which put the 7970 comfortably ahead and has remained so since. The 280X is not a 'lesser' 7970.

[dodgydrains]

280X is a ever so slightly lesser 7970GHz.

I don't agree, 280X is actually the best a 7970GHz can be.

[Domestic_Ginger]

I don't agree, 280X is actually the best a 7970GHz can be.

I disagree. I would say they were equal XD

[kalniel]

Depends if you mean the new 280X XTL's or the old XTs

[Scainer]

I don't agree, 280X is actually the best a 7970GHz can be.

I disagree. I would say they were equal XD

Architecture analysis - R9 280X

The R9 280X is almost identical to the incumbent Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (GE) from an architectural standpoint. In fact it should be marginally slower as its core speed runs at a maximum 1,000MHz, compared a possible 1,050MHz for the core-boosting HD 7970 GE.

[bluepumpkin]

Thank you all very much, I see I have stirred up a debate on which GPU.... but it is good to see that, as i thought it is the GPU which will make the difference...cheers

I will look into the 770 options and the R9 280X and since they seem to be close in performance I will perhaps make my decision based on heat/power (as my PC is in a cupboard i am aware of the limitations on my PSU)