Upgrade Advice from Crossfire 4890's?

[crazekid362]

Hey guys, here is my current system:

i7920@4ghz
6gb DDR3@1600
500gb HDD
1920x1080p monitor
(X2)4890's (both 1gb+overclocked)

Currently every game I'm playing(Guild Wars 2, Planetside 2 beta, and BF3 occasionally) I can do so with near max settings, highest resolution, etc. With that said, I'm not looking to upgrade GPU very much for performance improvements, but rather convenience, less power draw, less heat, less crossfire headaches, etc. All though, any improvement in FPS+VRAM is always a good thing, but from what I understand, my two crossfired 4890s are pretty powerful, even when compared to today's modern cards(on par with a 6950 or so I believe).

So what do you think would be a good upgrade from this? I was thinking the GTX 660TI as I like the idea of PhysX, but I've heard tons of people bashing Nvidia for the low bus width, so I'm not sure on that one. 670 has a higher bus width but is also $100 more so that is out of the question. I am okay for waiting a bit as I hear the AMD 8000 series will be released before the end of the year, in time for Christmas hopefully. The only thing that would sway me to go AMD again this time around, would be if the 8000 series support DX11.1. This is the same reason I bought my 4890s over Nvidia's counterpart, for DX10.1. So many options though, what do you guys think?

 

[refillable]

AMD's planning

So the first thing is, the 7000 series GPUs already support DX11.1.

The 660 Ti will still be fine with low bus bandwidth. It will only affect performance in high resolutions and/or when you're running 1920x1080 with AA settings cranked up. Although it will also greatly affect compute performance and that makes the 660 Ti a slow card in GPU compute.

As for the 670, It is an excellent choice, but I'm pretty much guessing that you want this upgrade to be under $300. But way to go if you want a 670 .

I don't think the 8000 series card will be released anytime in this year as AMD's planning image shows. Rumors say it will be either released at the beginning or in the middle of the year 2013.

I will opt you the 7950, it's $300, has good performance in gaming and compute, supports DX11.1 and probably it's going to be the best card for $300 until the release of the 8000 or the 700 series card next year.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150616

If you want to get the 660 Ti instead, no problem. But I will recommend it only when you only do gaming and you won't crank the settings up. I know some people would but most don't want to sacrifice quality for framerate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127697

I will also opt you the 670, but only if you're willing to pay $400.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787