7970 Ghz edition for $140 ?

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cmi86

cmi86

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I am looking to replace my GPU as cost effectively as possible and found a couple 7970's on CL for between $140-$160. My main concern is that I want to know if the 7970 is still a capable 1080P card as it is quite dated now. Should It remain viable for the forseable future or should I save more money and get a 290 or something from the 3XX line ? I was going to go nvidia but the 960 was a flop and the 970 is overkill plus they lied about it which kind of puts me off. There are 770's on CL for around $200, are these a good deal ?
 
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sincreator
Funny, I have been using my 7970ghz edition that was used for two years in a mining rig without any issues what so ever. I have had the card for over a year now myself.

The HD7970 GHZ can handle high/ultra in pretty much any game at 1080p.

Best bang for buck card IS the AMD r9 290. 100$ cheaper than a GTX970 on average, and here is the comparison:

r9 290 vs gtx970: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1068?vs=1355

The gtx970 overclocks a lot better, and uses about 100w less under load, but isn't much faster than the r9 290. Not enough to warrant a $100 premium IMO.
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tambeshakunt

tambeshakunt

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Whatever you buy, make sure you don't buy used.

The 7970 is now discontinued but the same chip is used in the r9 280/280x. So its a rebrand . Yes the 7970 is a very capable card that can play a lot of new titles on max settings at 1080p. I used to have one XD.

As for 'bang for buck' at the moment, the GTX 970 is still the best choice imo. Get a newer one and anyway the 'ramgate' doesn't affect you at 1080p.
 
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sincreator

sincreator

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Funny, I have been using my 7970ghz edition that was used for two years in a mining rig without any issues what so ever. I have had the card for over a year now myself.

The HD7970 GHZ can handle high/ultra in pretty much any game at 1080p.

Best bang for buck card IS the AMD r9 290. 100$ cheaper than a GTX970 on average, and here is the comparison:

r9 290 vs gtx970: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1068?vs=1355

The gtx970 overclocks a lot better, and uses about 100w less under load, but isn't much faster than the r9 290. Not enough to warrant a $100 premium IMO.
 
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cmi86

cmi86

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Thanks for the input. I have had pretty good luck with second hand cards so far. I make sure to furmark them to hell and back and then run heaven a few times too. So far my test before buy method has not failed me. I know the 970 is nice but it just costs too much. If spending that amount of money ever becomes an option I definitely want to see what the R9-3XX line has to offer before pulling the trigger.
 
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cmi86

cmi86

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Yeah I was looking at the 290 but unfortunately current pricing puts all the 290's even worth buying at about 275-300 which is still a lot more than I would like to spend. The way I see it is current 280X's are in the $250~ish range so if I can get a 7970 for $140 that's a steal. I havn't been gaming for a while and I'm not really up on current requirements so I just wanted to make sure the 7970 was still relevant.
 
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sincreator

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If you are in the US, here is a good priced r9 290: $259.99 after rebate card, and a lot faster than a r9 280x: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131549

 
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cmi86

cmi86

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Yeah I saw that one and really liked the look if it too. Unfortunately there is some pretty well documented black screen issues with it so I kinda wrote it off.
 
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sincreator

sincreator

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Keep checking the prices daily though for the r9 290. A couple days ago the MSI Gaming version was only $239.99 after rebate card, and the HIS one was only $10 more than that. They have been hovering around the $250 mark for a couple weeks now, and I see that those models are now sold out. Once back in stock they may be back down in price again.
 
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cmi86

cmi86

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I would jump all over that MSI for 239.99 ;) Maybe I'll hold off for a week or so before snagging a cheap 7970 to see if the 290 comes down enough.
 
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