Graphics card setup replacement / recommendation

Danger781

Hey all, I'm currently without graphics so I'm looking for a replacement for my XFire 7950 setup. Returned both cards to Amazon. The 7950s served me well for about a year and a half or so. Handled almost anything I threw at them flawlessly.

Current setup:
Running at 1440p. Managed to overclock it to 96Hz but not that concerned about dropping back to 60.

AMD 8350 Processor
ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2.0 mobo
Fractal Design Define R4 case


Budget:
Not really too much of a concern. The 7950's cost me a little over €500, so I don't mind going above that again. For argument's sake let's set a limit of €800.

Genghiz Cohen

GTX980?

Eogclouder

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

GTX980?

Pretty much the best option if you want stuff to run confidently at 1440p, the power requirements aren't mad for it either.

circadian

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

GTX980?

This. My 970 is killing everything at the minute.

Dard23

With the budget why not just get the best? Gtx 980, you could almost sli them with that budget. More conservatively gtx 970. The r9 295 is probably another good option. Would you change your processor? An i5 would give you better gaming performance due to the stronger single core performance.

Serephucus

Get an EVGA 980 for the moment, then Step-Up to a 980 Ti later on (I'd imagine it'll be out within three months).

Genghiz Cohen

Serephucus wrote: »

Get an EVGA 980 for the moment, then Step-Up to a 980 Ti later on (I'd imagine it'll be out within three months).

The AMD R9 3XX rumours might force an Nvidia reaction early.

Serephucus

That's true, but given NVIDIA's thoughts on pricing recently, I wouldn't put it past them to charge the rumoured $1,350 per card anyway, unless AMD seriously undercuts them.

Genghiz Cohen

Serephucus wrote: »

That's true, but given NVIDIA's thoughts on pricing recently, I wouldn't put it past them to charge the rumoured per card anyway, unless AMD seriously undercuts them.

or the leaked benches are accurate.

Danger781

Yeah the EVGA 980 is £450 (€600) off Amazon. Looks like a solid cooler. I assume that would fair better than what my 7950s could do?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00O3JZAYA

Seeing some people mentioning new cards coming out in the near future. I assume there's no point waiting to see what they offer? Suppose when the new cards come out, the 980's might drop in price a little bit.. could possibly go SLI then.

I haven't kept up with the latest news over the past few months at all so apologies for the silly questions. Once my rig was built I was lost interest a little bit, hah

Genghiz Cohen

Danger781 wrote: »

Seeing some people mentioning new cards coming out in the near future. I assume there's no point waiting to see what they offer? Suppose when the new cards come out, the 980's might drop in price a little bit.. could possibly go SLI then.

Only rumours.

Danger781

Dard23 wrote: »

Would you change your processor? An i5 would give you better gaming performance due to the stronger single core performance.

Would have to change the motherboard then as well. I'd probably change my cooler as well because I hate the one I have. At that point I'm getting close to replacing the whole lot.

I'll definitely be looking into it in a few months.

Serephucus

Reasonably credible though, in the sense that rumours usually follow a pattern. First we'll here generic "X card is on the horizon", then some specs, then maybe a shipping manifest, then die shots, then benchmarks. All of these could be false of course, but we have all of these for the 980 Ti / Titan X so far.

The reason I suggested EVGA is that they have a Step-Up program, where up to three months after date of purchase, you can upgrade to a newer/better card, by paying the difference (and cost of shipping for your current card).

TerrorFirmer

GTX970 Sli would be not much more expensive than a 980 and would kill it performance wise...

Danger781

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

GTX970 Sli would be not much more expensive than a 980 and would kill it performance wise...

Thought about that, but then I'm limited to that setup. If I get the 980, then I'm taking a temporary performance hit but leaving myself open to get a second one for SLI, or take advantage of the Step-up program assuming a new card comes out within the next 3 months.

EDIT: Hmm, it's only €100 more to get SLI 970s. Interesting.

EDIT: Sapphire AMD R9 290 TRI-X is £50 cheaper per card when compared to a 970. XFire works out the same price as a 980.

Dard23

Danger781 wrote: »

Would have to change the motherboard then as well. I'd probably change my cooler as well because I hate the one I have. At that point I'm getting close to replacing the whole lot.

I'll definitely be looking into it in a few months.

You'd probably get over 150 selling the processor and motherboard you have now. That would nearly get you a new i5. I just picked up a brand new i5-4690k for 190.

Dard23

Danger781 wrote: »

Thought about that, but then I'm limited to that setup. If I get the 980, then I'm taking a temporary performance hit but leaving myself open to get a second one for SLI, or take advantage of the Step-up program assuming a new card comes out within the next 3 months.

EDIT: Hmm, it's only €100 more to get SLI 970s. Interesting.

EDIT: Sapphire AMD R9 290 TRI-X is £50 cheaper per card when compared to a 970. XFire works out the same price as a 980.

You would need a very well ventilated case and a probably over 800w PSU for that setup, the 290s I mean. If you have that then go for it. A moderate overclock and it outperforms the 970. I personally have a MSI R9 290 GAMING and it's a beast. The tri-x had better cooling though in all honesty.

Danger781

Dard23 wrote: »

You would need a very well ventilated case and a probably over 800w PSU for that setup, the 290s I mean. If you have that then go for it. A moderate overclock and it outperforms the 970. I personally have a MSI R9 290 GAMING and it's a beast. The tri-x had better cooling though in all honesty.

I think I'm okay in terms of power / air movement. My PSU is 800W or 850W, can't remember for sure. Although I really don't like AMD drivers / software after using them so far, so I think I want to give Nvidia a chance.

Danger781

Okay I just looked up some benchmarks, which more or less made my decision for me. SLI 970 is so so much better value than going the 980 route. Performance wise it blows the 980 away completely, almost averaging double the FPS in some games. Even SLI 980s aren't much of an improvement over SLI 970s.