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Need a new GPU for high res display

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  • Performance
  • Graphics
  • Displays
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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September 6, 2013 2:53:24 PM

I recently bought a Dell 3007WFP-HC which is a 2560 x 1600 native display (I hate 16:9 displays), I was already thinking about upgrading from my EVGA GTX 460 1 GB and now I think it's even more needed. On some games I've had to turn settings down a bit to keep from too much of a performance hit. I like being able to set everything on high with respectable FPS. I have previously used a 1920 x 1200 display and found the 460 did the level of performance I wanted at that resolution, though just a bit better would be nice.

I'm running an i5 3450 on an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard with 16 GB DDR3 ram and an ABS Tagan 800 watt PSU. I'm using an Antec P182 case with just air cooling. Temps under load are around 76 C, idle is 43 C.

Hoping this will give some insight into suggestions for a video card that can run the majority of games on high at 2560 x 1600. Don't need AA or any of that. I just got BF3 in the humble bundle recently along with Crysis 2 so those are probably the more demanding games I have. I still occasionally play Metro 2033 (The original) and World of Tanks (Surprisingly demanding, or more likely it's just inefficiently programmed - either way it doesn't run as fast as it should).

This is a related question, I want to dual screen with my old 1920 x 1200 display (Purely so I can have chrome up on it and a game on the 2560 x 1600 display, I find myself alt tabbing a lot as it is) - will this be particularly stressful on the video card considering the second monitor will only be displaying chrome and I won't be playing any videos or flash things while a full-screen game is up?

I was thinking originally of a GTX 760, but not sure given my high res if this would be adequate or if I should go for something like the 770. Also while I'd like to buy a video card soon, I can get by for a bit if there will be either new releases/tweaked editions soon or if nicer game bundles will be coming out with them (I think right now it's Splinter Cell, probably soon it will be BF4). I definitely want a GPU with multiple fans, none of the stock solutions as they never seem to cool well enough and end up being noisier.

More about : gpu high res display

September 6, 2013 2:59:42 PM

What you need is a card with relatively higher memory bandwidth, bits and memory(at least 3gb) in other words, your card would have to be powerful enough to use that extra vram.
A 4gb gtx770 is pointless since it only has 256bit memory interface and it wouldn't really help unless you go gtx770 sli.
hd7970 and the gtx780 are the only 2 suitable single gpus for that resolution because they are both 384bits.
hd7970oc recent price drop around $320 is something you might wanna look at.
September 6, 2013 3:29:28 PM

I was looking at some of the benchmarks here, seems that 760 and the 7970 are mostly equal but on tessellation the 7970 did a solid 60 FPS on the extreme test and the 760 choked at 26 FPS. I want to make sure I can get the most real world benefit out of the card I choose, because most of the games they're within a few FPS of each other and the 760 is $260 to the 7970's $350.
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September 7, 2013 12:46:09 AM

RavinRivie said:
I was looking at some of the benchmarks here, seems that 760 and the 7970 are mostly equal but on tessellation the 7970 did a solid 60 FPS on the extreme test and the 760 choked at 26 FPS. I want to make sure I can get the most real world benefit out of the card I choose, because most of the games they're within a few FPS of each other and the 760 is $260 to the 7970's $350.


I was recommending the hd7970 for $309
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

or $279(after rebate)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

for $350, you should look at a high end hd7970ghz like the sapphire vapor x edition

at 1080p, the hd7970 goes on par with the gtx670/680

however, at 2560x1440/1600 is where the hd7970 and hd7950 really shines
September 7, 2013 1:47:34 AM

Ah, I was actually looking at the GHz editions. The GHz edition is what basically seems about equal to the GTX 760. I imagine the normal 7970 would be just below the GTX 760 by a few FPS, but still costs another $20 more. I am looking exclusively at benchmarks at 2560x1440 since that's the closest to my native and I'm not really seeing any games that are massively differing in performance. I can appreciate that the Radeon should perform better because of the additional ram and memory bandwidth, but in benchmarks it's not really showing up from what I'm seeing. Can you show me any benchmarks where the 7970 GHz performs significantly better than the GTX 760?

EDIT: Ok, so I have found a few that at least seem interesting (Why are the benchmarks here not returning similar results as elsewhere?). Figured since I called you out on it and found the proof I'll show it for anyone else in a similar boat to me. Here are just a few that I found (All tests are at 2560x1440):

These are from Tech Report








So my question, 7970 vs 7970 GHz - what's the real difference? Is the GHz version essentially like an EVGA Superclocked card? I'm liking the triple fan Gigabyte 7970's in both GHz and non-GHz edition. The regular 7970 is $280 as you listed, and the GHz is $350. Is the GHz worth another $70? How is the GTX 770 in this price point since it's $380-400?

I am a bit concerned about the number of failures in reviews I'm seeing for 7970s. Full disclosure, I've been with Nvidia since the 6600 series way back when. I'm not opposed to a Radeon, but the driver issues and reliability scare me - and Radeon doesn't have EVGA who I usually buy from. Any feedback in this regard? Kinda not digging the non-GHz 7970 since I see people say to just overclock them and now the triple fan 7970 from Gigabyte can't do it anymore because of a firmware lock. I like the dual fan Sapphire you linked at $305, I just don't want a really loud GPU. Don't care for Sapphire's 2 year warranty to Gigabytes 3 year, wonder if anyone can give feedback on either? I haven't had a GPU fail for a long while now.
September 7, 2013 2:36:27 AM

the 7970 ghz is a tahiti gpu that has been binned high by amd at the factory. these tahiti gpus are luck of the draw from the manufacturing process, they basically will overclock better than your average 7970 so amd is comfortable clocking its stock clocks higher without issues such as heat or high voltage requirements to hit those clocks. if you clock a 7970 and a 7970ghz edition at the same clocks, say 1150mhz core and 1575mhz memory, they will perform exactly the same or within 99.9% of each other. most 7970's will get that high anyway. but 7970ghz will go farther on the overclocks than most regular 7970's, usually by about 100mhz using the same voltage.

the 7970/680/770 are so close together in performance in modern heavy gpu games that it really doesnt matter, personal preference and price should be the deciding factor. the 770 is in reality just a gtx680 ghz edition.
September 7, 2013 2:44:56 AM

Interesting, I think I would be happy with GHz level performance so no further OC is needed. I tend to just run GPUs at stock clocks, my GTX 460 is not overclocked at all and I didn't have major complaints with its performance. I'm more worried now about the noise of the Sapphire 7970, seems there a lot of complaints of noise with these. Is this going to be one of those "I can either have the performance and the noise or lose some performance for a quieter card" kind of things? The GTX 770 seems to be fairly quiet from most reports I can find, but lots of complaints that the 7970 is loud. I don't use headphones, so I don't want to hear this thing whirring away under my desk since I sit right next to it. I find my GTX 460 is sometimes louder than I'd care for. I know liquid cooling would be a good thing at this point, but that's a whole other mess I don't want to get into right now.

It just occurred to me, I know a demanding game I play - Arma II and probably III in the near future. Those things require a lot of power, no benchmarks are made for them though. Any idea what will perform best in that?
September 7, 2013 5:01:19 AM

also mind you most benchmarks dont really represent the true performance of the hd7970 and hd7950 since a very recent driver update has significantly improved their performance. Also a gtx760 does not quite beat a gtx670 and the gtx670 is inferior to the hd7970( I am a gtx670 owner and I am admitting it)
So I don't think you should put the gtx760 above the hd7970

The fan speed of the hd7970 does get louder when you use its boost functionality. Its a sacrifice you'd have to make for the power that you gain from it
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