7970 or R9 280x for BF4

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jkteddy77

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I'm looking for a high performance AMD (don't want any Nvidia suggestions) Card for BF4 and more in my current build. Now that the AMD's next R9 sereis has been announced, I must ask, which should I buy: An old clearence 7970 or wait and pay full for an R9 280x?

Keep in mind, even a clearence 280x will cost about the same as a brand new 280x! What I want to know is if there is any Structural differences between them? It's turning out to look like a straight up rebrand of the 7970, about as strong as a 7970 GHZ edition.

I've also heard that the 280x will support Directx 11.2, will have great driver support, while the 7970 may fall behind on new features, and that BF4 will be optimized for the R7 and R9 series cards even more.

I'm in an internal battle now, looking for the cheapest parts possible at the moment for the latest up to date Mid-High performance PC I can possibly build at my budget. Would a 2 year old card really be a smart choice for me?

So, Which should I buy?

P.S. I want to shell out $400 for an R9 290x, but It sounds too far away for me to wait for. Any info about its release?

Thank you!
 
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corvetteguy1994

corvetteguy1994

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Yeah just get the 7970 and later when they get even cheaper crossfire them. with 13.10 drivers frame pacing is great and with my 2 watercooled 7970's i score 12700 in 3dmark firestrike and any game i get 100+fps in no prob. 7970 brah
 
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jkteddy77

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yea, but its about as fast as a 7970 ghx edition, A card I can't find below $320.
XFX's brand new 280x comes out next week for $329
http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/Radeon-R9-280X-Spotted-With-Dual-Fan-XFX-Cooler-386711-2.jpg?1380274216
The advantage of the 280x is the directx 11.2 support and newer architecture. which could really come in handy in the coming year. I'm trying to prolong this PC 4 years if possible, an already 2 year old card wouldn't help that any.
Thoughts?
 
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jkteddy77

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I Still dunno about Crossfiring, Is it really that stable yet? My budget for graphics right now really is about $400, which is why I'm itching for that R9 290 to be released (its between the power of a 7970 and just under a 780)
Is there a lot of heat off those cards? I'd have to have stock clocking in crossfiring with just air cooled case. Would that be enough to keep the temps down?
 
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Pavel Pokidaylo

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The 290X will not cost $400.
Crossfire is fine now with the frame pacing and will only get better with future driver updates.
I doubt that corvetteguy gets 100fps in "any game" as he says. You won't get 100fps in the most demanding games with maxed settings on two 7970s. I have 7950s crossfired and overclocked and I don't get anywhere near 100fps in games like Crysis 3, Metro LL, Tomb Raider, FarCry 3 on maxed settings. I get 60fps or close to it but many times it will dip into the 50s and 40s even high 30s sometimes.

With the new GPUs right around the corner, I'd wait to see some reviews and benchmarks on them before making any decision. By then the price of the 7970 may drop a bit also, if you decide to go for it.
 
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clutchc

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Cutting edge pioneers need deep pockets. Are you one? ;-)

As to the CF question. Like Corvetteguy says, the beta driver is showing good results so far. And will soon be incorporated into all their drivers. I personally tested both the 13.8 and 13.10 betas with the system in my sig (2 x hd 7870) and couldn't detect any m-s in the games I tried with it. And high end cards like the hd 7970 normally have much less of an issue with m-s anyway.
 
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jkteddy77

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:/ bud, get those crossfired cards checked on. That sounds like the performance of one 7950. My friend has one, he played through Tomb Raider on absolute Max with tressfx without dipping below 70fps
 
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jkteddy77

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Drivers sound nice, but what I was saying is that the 7970 and the 280x are basically the same price, but 280x is newer. Why not get the later version?
 
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Pavel Pokidaylo

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Yep, your friend didn't dip below 70fps on one 7950 with maxed settings + TressFX...

http://www.techspot.com/review/645-tomb-raider-performance/page3.html

Out of the games I listed, Tomb Raider actually runs best. On my Crossfired 7950s I can hover around 60fps with all settings maxed besides shadows. I have to turn shadows down from Ultra to normal (only one setting down), otherwise I drop like 20fps.
 
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jkteddy77

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I don't think he had EVERYTING on, he had the AA and AF down. Those are actually suprisingly scary numbers! Look at my GPU. I REALLY need an upgrade. I ran Tomb Raider Ultra textures, medium shadows, and some light AF at a solid 35fps on my GT 640 . . . this card only has 394 cuda cores . . . I sure hope people get more than that out of those cards.
 
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jkteddy77

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I know they will have identical perfoirmance, but its the little features that I think will future proof the 280x. The updated GCN structure, the 11.2 support, the supporty for AMD's Mantle. I'm looking for your opinion, which would you buy if you had to use this PC for 4 more years?
 
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toyftw

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The 280x only after it's been tested, and significant user reviews to confirm it's
value & performance. I would not jump on it right away.

 
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corvetteguy1994

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Cough watercooled....highly overclocked cough
 
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Pavel Pokidaylo

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When I had just the one 7950 and overclocked to almost 1200 on the core I saw increases in FPS in most games. I don't know why but for some reason I don't really see much increase in FPS when I overclock the crossfired setup. Maybe I just need to test it in other games besides Crysis 3.
I have the Sapphire 7950 Flex cards and I can get near 1200 on the cores without touching voltage. I just raise the power slider to 20%.

I still need to buy a good cooler for my 4670k and overclock it. I just downloaded the 13.10 driver and it seems to do better than 13.8.
I'm happy with the performance I'm getting though. In Crysis 3, FarCry 3, and Tomb Raider I get 60fps by toning down one or two settings.
The games still look amazing and I don't notice the difference but I'm sure if I knew exactly what to look for I would see it. Metro LL is different though, it runs at a constant 60fps at max settings but when I turn up the AA to X4 the fps is cut in half.

When I ordered my first 7950 for 300 bucks I thought I'd be able to run any and all games at max settings and 60fps with no hiccups. I was mistaken and it makes sense because there are cards that cost twice or even three times as much money. If all games ran perfectly on a 300 dollar card then what would be the point of these super expensive cards or multi-gpu setups?

A 7950 can run most games perfectly fine though. I think there's only a handful of games that can really push high end GPUs. But then again, when you are spending this much on GPU, you probably aim to play those demanding games.

 
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jkteddy77

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I'm planning on waiting a week or so after release to see reviews, but I'll need one very soon. I'll need one for BF4's release. I can't wait, I can hardly run BF3, my favorite game, now.
 
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jkteddy77

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I'm trying to get the best I can afford ($400) because I plan on getting the best performance I can for the longest possible. I basically want a GPU I'll use until I can't play at 30fps on low. It'd be awesome to be able to play at max or very high at 60 for a few years.
 
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Pavel Pokidaylo

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The best single card you can get right now for that price is the GTX 770. An overclocked 7970 can probably get you the same performance for $100 less. I'd wait and see what the new AMD cards have to offer though especially with all the talk about the new consoles using AMD and how they are making it easy for developers to do multi-platform games. It may result in way more games being optimized for AMD.
 
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determinologyz

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I honestly think you should wait it out. I have seen so many people buying past gen cards right around when the new cards is releasing then they have buyers remorse and ready to return/sell they old to get the new. Plus i would wait to have more options
 
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jkteddy77

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Yeah, that R9 290 is the one I really want. The power of a 780 for $400. Problem is, they've said nothing of when the non-x series cards are being released. Time is a factor for me :/
 
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determinologyz

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https://www.facebook.com/amdallaccess

OCT 15th is the date.. I might have to check out the gpu and see how she runs
 
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jkteddy77

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Yeah, that's the R9 290"X", the Titan killer. That sucker is going to be the strongest single consumer GPU. It's also going to be over $600 . . . I want the R9 290. They haven't released much info about its release, as they are trying to sell the first tier of "X" series cards. The 290 is only 10% less powerful than the 290x, but costs over $200 less. That's my target card, but I might have to settle for a 280X if it isn't announced soon.
 
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