Recommend a GPU for my situation?

Direhelmet

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May 24, 2013
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So I am currently looking for a new GPU and was leaning towards a 760, then a 7950 but now i'm at a lose again so lets just start a ground zero. My rig is a prebuilt with a i7 - 860, 8 gb ram, ATI HD 5770 running three 27" monitors in eyefinity it runs amazinly well but games of course get a laggy running the monitors these days. Now because its a prebuilt the mobo of course has one PCI 2.0 i cant just swap motherboards cause i would have to buy another mother board, CPU and buy windows again.

So i have decided to buy a new GPU now and upgrade the entire system later and use the card i buy now again. I have a budget of $300 but i can push it to about $400 if its a no comparison kinda thing this a particular card is amazing or something. What card would you recommend for my set up that i can pair in SLI/crossfire later on down the road but will still be extremely well on its own now in eyefinity/surround for now running 3X 27" at 1080 monitors. mostly racing sims. I run no 3D. im also in canada
 
Solution
You should not go for HD 7950 here because -

1) It is weaker than GTX 760 in almost all games. Even HD 7950 Boost can't compete with 760.
2) It does not crossfire well (Two cards) and you would encounter issues.
3) It lacks TXAA, Physx, Cuda, etc.
4) It costs more than GTX 760.

Nvidia is a better choice here but remember that you need 4 GB version of GTX 770 to be able to play modern games on three displays properly at decent frame rates. GTX 760 would do too by the way, but not as satisfying as GTX 770.

GTX 760 2 GB retails for $250.
GTX 770 2 GB retails for $400.
GTX 770 4 GB retails for $450.

Remember, make a good choice here so you would not need to get another GPU in your future computer too.
Jun 29, 2013
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10,760


get the gtx 760, dont hesitate, its faster than an hd7950
 
You should not go for HD 7950 here because -

1) It is weaker than GTX 760 in almost all games. Even HD 7950 Boost can't compete with 760.
2) It does not crossfire well (Two cards) and you would encounter issues.
3) It lacks TXAA, Physx, Cuda, etc.
4) It costs more than GTX 760.

Nvidia is a better choice here but remember that you need 4 GB version of GTX 770 to be able to play modern games on three displays properly at decent frame rates. GTX 760 would do too by the way, but not as satisfying as GTX 770.

GTX 760 2 GB retails for $250.
GTX 770 2 GB retails for $400.
GTX 770 4 GB retails for $450.

Remember, make a good choice here so you would not need to get another GPU in your future computer too.
 
Solution
You should not go for HD 7950 here because -

1) It is weaker than GTX 760 in almost all games. Even HD 7950 Boost can't compete with 760.
debatable.
2) It does not crossfire well (Two cards) and you would encounter issues.
That is true.
3) It lacks TXAA, Physx, Cuda, etc.
TXAA only blurs
Physx is a gimmick.
Cuda is only useful in some cases.
4) It costs more than GTX 760.
Its pretty much equal after rebate


Despite that above arguments, I will also recommend the GTX760 simply because you plan to add another GPU at some point.
 

Upgrader011

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Jan 24, 2013
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You won't lose windows when you replace the motherboard and CPU btw. And no neee to replace CPU. Just buy a new motherboard. If you're not comfortable with taking it out watch videos on how to and how to replace CPUs
 

Direhelmet

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May 24, 2013
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You cant upgrade a prebuilt motherboard rig with oem windows man... The board and OS are kinda married if you would
 
Changing the motherboard is barely going to help, at most it will allow the OP to overclock (unlikely with the OEM 'board) and he'll still be stuck with an obsolete 1156 socket.
At which point did anyone ask if the OPs' power supply can run the upgraded card? Or, indeed which card is currently installed?
As a matter of price, it's been recommended the OP get a 4Gb version of the GTX760-a sensible choice for multi monitors-but it's actually more expensive than the HD7950 and, AFAIK AMD cards do support multiple monitors better than Nvidia.
Oh, and will one of these cards actually fit the OPs' case? He has not specified if it's a full/mid tower, slimline tower or desktop.
 

Upgrader011

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Jan 24, 2013
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I have done it. I've replaced my CPU, Motherboard and graphics card out of a pre build and windows still runs and Is registered. If yoy don't feel safe about it make sure you have your windows 7 recovery disk
 

Direhelmet

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May 24, 2013
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It may be a pre built but im not an idiot lol this is the only prebuilt computer i own ive built all my others. i upgraded it to a full size phantom 001-rd as well as a 750w psu when i upgrade mobos obviosly i will the cpu at the same time i do wanna wait untill ddr4 is released later this year (we hope) as well as the supported boards then either a haswell or if the new socket type is out by then over the 1150. And i have a r 5770 in now. But thanks for your recommendation and comment. :)
 
@ Direhelmet: ^ Good to hear you're not going to get a case of the Big Bad Angry ;). Missed the bit in your post about the 5770-me bad.
Difficult choice.
There's only a few FPS between the GTX760 and HD7950-it depends on what review you read but 6-8% is n't to my thinking a deal breaker and it depends on which cards are compared-you know, some are factory overclocked, some are not.
Sticking to budget I'll recommend the HD7950-you're familiar with AMD cards, their drivers and using multiple monitors with that hardware so it should be a fairly straightforward upgrade.
Push to the $400 limit and I'll go for the GTX770 all day though, the lowest priced HD7970 GHz card worth having on Newegg is $50 over budget and TBH, it's only a few FPS faster than the GTX770 across 3 screens but only a few GTX770s' creep in under budget, though.