Potential 7870 Buyer; Better Options for Price?

TwoBits

Honorable
Jun 13, 2013
39
0
10,540
Hello, I have been researching GPUs for the interests of running a single gaming monitor setup that can handle max settings on most games at or above 30fps.
At this point I believe I have settled on the AMD 7870 GHz Edition (Manufacturer unknown). Price Range is around 150-250. Only want 6xx/7xxx generations. Obviously more money will get me generally a better GPU, I am looking for best card for the pricing along the above guidelines (Max @ 30fps).

Two Questions:

1. Should I be worried about the reports of black screens around 15 minutes into gaming for ~5% of 7870s? Or better yet, is there a fix?
2. Am I flawed in thinking the 7870 is best for the price?

Additional Information/Questions:

I may at some point buy a second monitor but this would not be for gaming i.e. Teamspeak, browsing... all while in-game. Does that affect anything?
I may not purchase any GPU for a couple months should I be considering price drops for 670/79xx?

Just for reference:
AMD FX-8150 at 3.6GHz
ASUS M5A97 MOBO
2x8GB 1600 GSkill RAM
 

TwoBits

Honorable
Jun 13, 2013
39
0
10,540


Thanks for the reply. Would you say the 660Ti is worth the jump in price?
For example settling on the 660Ti I would soon find that 7950 is just a bit more causing a continuous loop of paying just a bit more for a bit more performance. So assuming the price is flexible my main goal is to get the best deal. So if theoretically GPU "A" gave me a 15% performance increase with only a 7-8% increase in price over GPU "B" then I would get GPU "A".