AMD SAPPHIRE HD 7970 GHz Edition 6GB GDDR5 TOXIC still a good buy?

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gohomecookrice

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Looking to upgrade my gt 740 graphics card. Found the AMD 7970 used on craigslist for $280. Can anyone tell me if its worth it or not since that card did come out a long time ago. If not, what other graphics card could I get around 300 thats comparable to the AMD 7970? Any input would be awesome, thanks guys!
 
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jac0brah

jac0brah

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Don't get the 7970 mate, i spent 80 dollars less and got a 280x, which is basically a done up version of the 7970. for that price range, you can get yourself a nice gtx 960? or ofcourse a 280x
 
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gohomecookrice

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Is the 280x or the gtx960 able to run 4k or 1440p resolution? I was really looking forward to getting a 1440p monitor thats why. Thanks for taking the time to reply btw :)
 
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jac0brah

jac0brah

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Yes theyll both run 4k from what ive read recently, also if you look at these benchmark results, it shows that the 280x is more suitable for 4k gaming: http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-960-radeon-r9-280-4k-benchmarks/
 
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lcp1109

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For 20 or 40$ more you can buy an GTX 970, much better then performance then a r9 280x, or a 7970

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2015-vga-charts/compare,3664.html?prod%5B7347%5D=on&prod%5B7288%5D=on&prod%5B7215%5D=on

The option between r9 280x and the hd 7970 will depend on the brand and model of each card.

You can see by this two reviews: http://www.legitreviews.com/amd-radeon-r9-280x-video-card-review-asus-xfx-msi_126195/3 and http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4828/sapphire_radeon_hd_7970_ghz_edition_toxic_6gb_video_card_review/index4.html ; that the cheapest R9 280x is slower then the HD 7970 you want to buy. But I dont think the difference is worth the money. But in therms of build quality, that HD 7970 is probably mutch better then the cheapest r9 280x out there (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9280xtdfd)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102997 (check your reviews)
 
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jac0brah

jac0brah

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In au the 970's cost around 480 au dollars new, whilst 280x brand new is about 280-300
 
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coozie7

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I guess the 'au' is Australia?

If so I know stuff there is stupidly expensive but $280 for a old card like the HD7970 is too much, especially if you can get a brand new R9 280X for the same amount.
Overall the R9 280X is slightly faster but the differences are small, if you can knock the Craiglist seller down to a more reasonable price the HD7970 is still a strong card, with either you'll be looking at high/max settings in most games at 1080 rez.

At 1440 they'll both struggle to maintain smooth gameplay without dropping the settings to med/high, but it will vary a lot according to the game and exactly which settings you tweak: As a long time AMD user I can say the best way to hammer the frame rate is to apply more than 2xAA for example.

No card for <> $300 will run games at 4k res, even flagship cards like the R9 290X and TitanX need to be run in a dual card SLI/CF configuration to handle 4k res well.

The above comments apply to the GTX960 as its overall performance only a little below that of the R9 280X.

Before jumping in, bear in mind the AMD cards will typically need 1 6 pin and 1 8 pin PCI-E power leads to run and a good quality 600Watt power supply while almost all the GTX960 cards need a single 6 pin PCI-E lead and 500Watts.
 
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Kitt Sue

Kitt Sue

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The HD 7970 can do 1440P pretty comfortably. Don't expect to max out triple A titles but it does a fair job. The HD 7970/280X is a better buy than the GTX 960 for 1440P.

The only downside is buying a used HD 7970... the card is a couple yrs old and there's a good chance its warranty is expired now, so if it dies you're $280 in the hole
 
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Kitt Sue

Kitt Sue

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The warranty doesn't start from production date, it starts from retail sale date. If he's buying it from Craigslist (where people sell USED stuff) that means the warranty period started when the original owner purchased it... and with an HD 7970 there's a good chance it was originally purchased a pretty long time ago. It only comes with a 2-year warranty, so it could be up by now
 
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lcp1109

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