Oh Boy GPU Choices for the games I want to play

[Annarin]

Alright so I need some assistance narrowing my choices down...

I will be gaming at 1920x1080 on a single monitor. I know that any of the cards I look at will be overkill for what I'm doing right now but please help me narrow down my selection within the cards I've already looked at.

The games I will be playing the most of and wish to have the best possible performance in include:

Guild Wars 2
Planetside 2
Skyrim

Other games that are less important but I might still play include, WoW, SC2, Diablo 3, and Quake Live.

Right now the budget is $500.00 USD. If I wait till next month I will be able to tack on $50.00 more. I do not care about the free games being offered with any of the cards so don't factor that in to the equation. That being said, here is what I'm considering.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121671&Tpk=matrix%207970

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121635

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121634

If I buy any of these cards I will be purchasing them locally as the price is the same (yay price matching!) and I don't have to wait to have it shipped.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[alvine]

I would go for the 7970, when you overclock the card it will be on the pair with 680

 

[prototype18]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121635

This is the best option.That asus is a great brand and this one is cheaper.U dont need to add 30 $ for some MHZ . U can OC it by yourself.

680 is a great card .

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/05/21/asus_geforce_gtx_680_directcu_ii_top_gpu_review/

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/55064-asus-gtx-680-directcu-ii-top-review.html

Will do really good with all of your games

 

[Annarin]

I would go for the 7970, when you overclock the card it will be on the pair with 680

So what happens when the 680 is OC'd?

 

[rene13cross]

So what happens when the 680 is OC'd?

alvine is misinformed. Currently, the GHz edition of the 7970 outperforms the GTX 680 (not by all that much, but still). If you were to OC both cards, the 7970 would go further (if you're lucky, even much further) than the GTX 680.

On the other hand, the 7970 has a higher power consumption than the GTX 680 but is also slightly cheaper generally, than the GTX 680. If you're in Europe (like me), the 7970 is MUCH cheaper.

 

[squirrelonfire]

680. The 7970 has fans problem, especially the Gigabyte model.

 

[samuelspark]

Matrix 7970 best card. You can overclock it to insane speeds. The cannot be overclocked due to boost speed.

 

[technoholic]

Assuming (like everyone here) you have a nice power sup, i'd get a HD 7970 Ghz Edition over a GTX 680. When i take into consideration what games you want to play with this new card, you may want to consider a GTX 670

 

[Ceee9]

if u dont mind, i would suggest a gtx 670, a lot more cheaper then 680 and 7970,
even though the performance not on par with those card(most) but its margin can be forget by the price gtx 670 offers.

 

[prototype18]

If u want to drop down u can go to the Gtx 670 FTW version.

It has a PCB 680 and a 680 reference cooler (a bit better than 670 cooler)

It is the best Gtx 670 out there.

The second one after that is the Asus one.