Bottleneck HD 7770 / Upgrade options?

[zachcook21]

Hello everyone!

Everyone here seems to be super friendly/helpful, so I thought I might come to you guys to drop some knowledge. I am looking to get a new graphics card, because I feel like that is where my bottleneck sits. Here is my current setup:

i7 3770 3.4 (3.9 turbo) (not unlocked)
12GB DDR3 RAM
2TB HDD 7200RPM
750w PSU (80 plus)
AMD HD 7770 (not sure of exact specifications, but it appears to be a very cut and dry model)

Budget is not necessarily a problem, but bang for buck is always nice!

Ahead of time, thank you guys for the help!

 

[coozie7]

Nice rig.
We'll really need to know the resolution of your monitor (or monitors), what type of games you play and budget before making any solid suggestions.
If you're not after totally maxing out the most taxing games out there on triple monitors the HD7850 or 7870 are good right now, though.

 

[zachcook21]

Nice rig.
We'll really need to know the resolution of your monitor (or monitors), what type of games you play and budget before making any solid suggestions.
If you're not after totally maxing out the most taxing games out there on triple monitors the HD7850 or 7870 are good right now, though.

Thanks!
As far as monitors go, I am only running one. It's a 24", so it does the trick for me. I would like to run everything at 1920x1080, and I would also like to run everything at max. I figure this will cost me a pretty penny... but several different reviews/reports/benchmarks have got me confused. I have considered snagging a 7950 or 7970.. or maybe even a 670 if I'm feeling like spending a little extra... but I've seen instances where the GTX 480 is still beating many of the newer cards, and at a $199.99 price point? so confusing haha

 

[hang-the-9]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-4.html

For about $200 get a Radeon 7850 although there wold be cases where you can't max out all settings in all games with that card. The next step up to a 7870 should do it though, but it's over $250.

 

[coozie7]

@zachcook21: You've nailed the issue yourself, there, mate
I'd leave the GTX480 alone: They can run very hot, even with the fans set to high, noisy, very noisy, speeds and those with aftermarket coolers are going to dump that heat into your case.
With such an up-to-date, and potent, rig I'll suggest you fo either the 7950 or 660Ti, they're both very close in performance to their more expensive 7970/670 cousins and somewhat cheaper.
There are plenty of options but I value quiet, cool running hardware and would pay a little more for a card with better cooling (and they usually come with a factory overclock, getting them even closer to, or even exceeding the performance of stock clocked 7970/670s').