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7970 upgrade or crossfire 2560x1440 help

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  • Crossfire
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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January 2, 2014 8:18:41 AM

Hello everyone I need some advice on an upgrade. Im currently running two 27" 2560x1440 monitors for gaming and photo editing. My games dont play as smooth as I want (skyrim BF4) and they used to when I had a solo 1920x1200. Im running a 7970 with my i7 4770k asus z87 pro 16gb 1600mhz ram. Im trying to decide if I should get another 7970 or grab a r9 290x. Would I see benefit from either of those or am I missing something. im just unsure if the dual 2560x1440 is just making the 7970 work harder than it can keep up with or if I should be overclocking (which I havent done) or if I need to alter my setup a bit. Ive done so much reading but havent found anything close enough to solve my question so I will ask here and hopefully get somewhere. Thank you!

More about : 7970 upgrade crossfire 2560x1440

January 2, 2014 8:28:06 AM

i have to say grab another 7970 for a cheaper option if your psu can handle it and in theory it will be more powerful. i have a 1440p as well and I play bf4 on ultra @ 96+ usually with a very small over clock of 1100mhz and 1500mhz(6000). what 1440ps are you using? did you overclock your monitors? I know for me @ 60hz it felt horribly laggy, I overclocked it to 96 and it runs awesomely smooth. I can go up to 120hz but you would have to play around with the dvi frequency in CCC since I get some small glitches at that frequency.

I would also reccommend putting a 120 fan between them blowing towards the rear of the case as wel;l for the heck of it. My cards never go over 70-75c depending if my heat is on or not haha which is not often with xfire haha
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January 2, 2014 8:32:06 AM

The price of AMD cards are up. I cant find a cheap 7970/280x. I'd say sell the 7970 now as you can get to sell high for a used gpu and gun for the 290 so long as it has an aftermarket cooler.

As far as OC the gpu...7970 can turn things up. I have an ASUS DII and it OC like a champ. I run it stock tho at 1080p I am just fine.
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January 2, 2014 8:36:07 AM

According to this the R9 290x has a significant edge against your 7970 (@1440p), even if you did purchase a second one, it would certaintly be better if you just got the R9 290x (you would be able to overclock it as well and save on energy cost, since its one card). Now because of the Bitcoin madness, they are currently overpiced by $100-$150. Price wise the 7970 makes sense.

Warning! even if you get a second 7970 some of your games may not work too well with Xfire. Check the web for a list of those

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1032?vs=1056

Good Luck
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January 2, 2014 9:00:46 AM

you can grab a good used 7970 for cheap on ebay or amazon usually if you want to go that route.

I havent run into a game yet that doesnt work with with xfire besides wow, but thats more of a game issue and still runs fine most of the time
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January 2, 2014 9:09:06 AM

I have a 750w corsair gold psu. Ive never overclocked a monitor and never knew you could do that!! The r9 290x must be pretty new because theres so many out of stock on newegg and I can't seem to find anything reasonable for used 7970s and new ones seem harder to find! Such a confusing time for gpus for me right now.
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Best solution

January 3, 2014 9:09:59 AM

If you ever wanted to go with the green team, now is a good time! You can sell a used 7970 for good money and be in range of a 780. Otherwise, just sit on your gpu for about a month or so. The miners will dump used gpus on the market soon and CF 7970 or 280x will be cheap.
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