Sapphire Vapor-X 7950 w/ Boost or XFX 7970 Ghz Ed for next 3-5 years?

Minnefornian

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Jun 23, 2015
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So I was looking for a sub- $150 GPU to start my rig that will be used for Xbox One style gaming on Windows 10 on a 1080p TV. I ended up getting two cards off eBay accidentally and one was a sapphire Vapor-X 7950 instead of the 7970 I wanted. I paid $20 more for the 7970 and want to dump one of them on eBay.

So realistically how different are the cards for the next few years?
 
Solution
20 $ more is worth it for a 7970, since it's likely 10% faster and can overclock rather nice as well. It will hold you the next few years just fine, just not ... 5 years.

I'd argue you try to buy a 4 GB VRAM R9 380. Same or faster performance than a 7950 and some 5% slower than a 7970 GHz ocasionally. The 4 GB VRAM is more future proofing for the next 3-5 years than the raw GPU power of the 7970 GHz. And as always, overclocking for 10-15% more performance is really easy.

Cryio

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Oct 6, 2010
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20 $ more is worth it for a 7970, since it's likely 10% faster and can overclock rather nice as well. It will hold you the next few years just fine, just not ... 5 years.

I'd argue you try to buy a 4 GB VRAM R9 380. Same or faster performance than a 7950 and some 5% slower than a 7970 GHz ocasionally. The 4 GB VRAM is more future proofing for the next 3-5 years than the raw GPU power of the 7970 GHz. And as always, overclocking for 10-15% more performance is really easy.
 
Solution

Cryio

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Usually, an overclocked FX83x0 will do just fine up to a 7950/285/380 GPU. However, if you want the best performance, you'd need an i5.

Any i5 would do. Get the cheapest Ivy or Haswell one you can find. It will be perfectly adequate.