7950 Boost -> 970 @1080p Worth the upgrade?

[Barfo]

So I got some unexpected performance bonus and I was thinking about upgrading the old videocard.

I game at 1080p only but I like to crank the details up and a smooth frame rate, I was wondering if I'll get a noticeable performance gain with the 970...both seem more or less the same regarding power consumption and noise.

 

[Face2Face]

Not the exact same comparison, but you could compare the 7950 @ 925/1250 to a GTX 780 @ 1150/1625 - which would be pretty close to a decent GTX 970 @ 1080p

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2354937

 

[Chevron]

Why not look at getting a decent screen rather. A 2560*1600/1440 or 1920*1200p IPS monitor.

You could even look at a 2560*1080 if you feel like it.

 

[Barfo]

Why not look at getting a decent screen rather. A 2560*1600/1440 or 1920*1200p IPS monitor.

You could even look at a 2560*1080 if you feel like it.

I could either upgrade my monitor or video card, if I do the monitor I can't do the video card

 

[Mondozei]

Monitor is a better upgrade at this stage. Lots of stuff happening there. The GPU development is certainly faster than the stagnation in the CPU market but it's slowing down. Games aren't seeing as large jumps in fidelity either.

 

[Headfoot]

290 is the best bang for your buck still in that price range.

 

[amenx]

Monitor is a better upgrade at this stage. Lots of stuff happening there.

Agreed. Out of all components, monitors take precedence imo. Things will look better even with lower game settings due to screen size and res increase. Plus a monitor upgrade will be felt and appreciated 100% of your time on PC, not just the time spent gaming.

 

[ShintaiDK]

 

[kawi6rr]

290 is the best bang for your buck still in that price range.

This

 

[andg]

Even better, get a used 290. It will cost half as much as a 970.

 

[Chevron]

I could either upgrade my monitor or video card, if I do the monitor I can't do the video card

Which is fine. A nice IPS monitor makes everything better, including movie watching, reading text on websites and gaming. You'll feel more "wow" from a decent monitor.

 

[ocre]

Back to the OP's original question,

yes, i think that the 970 would actually be an upgrade over the 7950boost.

I went up from a 760 OC and i can actually play games on way higher settings. WatchDogs is now on ultra with downsampling (DSR) HBAO high+ SMAA where before I struggled at high/med. Some may say Watchdogs is a bad example but its one of the most improved as far as IQ on my system. I also find myself using the Geforce Experience games settings and it seems to be way more useful to me. I wouldnt have attempted DSR on watchdogs had it not suggested it. I may not have ever even tried it at all. Just didnt think it would make a difference worth the performance hit. I was ignorant

So I do think a 970 class card would be a noticeable upgrade. It doesnt have to be nvidia, as others suggested the 290x and that would be great as well. I can only speak for the 970. I didnt even buy it cause i thought i needed the performance. I actually bought it because i am putting my other graphics card in another spare system i had. The fact that every single game I have played so far had better IQ really surprised me.. DSR surprised me. I really thought it wasnt a big deal and a gimmick but to see it in real time while playing games has completely changed my opinion. Pictures dont do it justice. In your games its much more clear and noticeable.

But thats not a 970 thing. The 290x has VSR and you wont be missing out. I am not sure if AMD has a similar optimized game setting feature and some might not find it useful. I just have a very large game library and the geforce experience one by one optmized so i could see how and what all the suggested changes was. This had me playing games i hadnt in a long time and i guess seeing the IQ improvements was kind of neat.

Sorry to go on about it. I just never even used used the feature. I tried it when it first came out and it resulted in crappy frame rates so i never used it again. This time though, it seems to be much more accurate

So that describes my personal upgrade to a 970 from a somewhat comparable card

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Yes. I went from a 7970GE to my current 780 and it was a nice enough upgrade performance wise.
The fact that I actually made a little money doing so was icing on the cake (thanks LTC miners! )

 

[SteveGrabowski]

It would be a pretty major upgrade:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1033?vs=1355

Though if you're buying a video card and a 1440p monitor, I bet you do better buying the 1440p monitor first and then whatever $350 card is the best value later on. That probably won't be the 970 once the R9 300 series launches.

 

[tential]

I have the same card OP. I'm not upgrading until the R9 300 series comes out to see what the deal is.

 

[AVP]

Why not look at getting a decent screen rather. A 2560*1600/1440 or 1920*1200p IPS monitor.

You could even look at a 2560*1080 if you feel like it.

1ms 120/144hz 24'' come in those resolutions?

 

[Chevron]

1ms 120/144hz 24'' come in those resolutions?

1ms = TN = Crap

 

[Super56K]

I'd recommend a 290 on sale, but either that or a more expensive 970 is fantastic for 1080p. IMO, a 290 for as close to $200 as you can find is the smarter buy with the 3xx series and Nvidia's 960 on the horizon, but a 970 is an excellent card - albeit at a premium.

I used a 7870xt (~7930) for about a year. I have a 22" 1080p monitor at the desk and a 60" TV + sound system (or wireless headphones) for controller based games. I picked up a tri-x 290 Thanksgiving, and not long after the Omega drivers released with the VSR stuff. It really opened up how hard I can push the card. On about any game within the last few years I can increase resolution and details to optimize around 60fps, whereas before it was simply max details at 1080p with tons of performance left over.

tl;dr - If you like your monitor now, getting a 970 or 290 with the inclusion of global SSAA support is a wonderful thing.

 

[tential]

I'd recommend a 290 on sale, but either that or a more expensive 970 is fantastic for 1080p. IMO, a 290 for as close to $200 as you can find is the smarter buy with the 3xx series and Nvidia's 960 on the horizon, but a 970 is an excellent card - albeit at a premium.

I used a 7870xt (~7930) for about a year. I have a 22" 1080p monitor at the desk and a 60" TV + sound system (or wireless headphones) for controller based games. I picked up a tri-x 290 Thanksgiving, and not long after the Omega drivers released with the VSR stuff. It really opened up how hard I can push the card. On about any game within the last few years I can increase resolution and details to optimize around 60fps, whereas before it was simply max details at 1080p with tons of performance left over.

tl;dr - If you like your monitor now, getting a 970 or 290 with the inclusion of global SSAA support is a wonderful thing.

What games have you been playing, how has VSR helped your image quality?
I'm in a similar situation with a 80 inch projector / 70 inch screen and I wanted a VSR capable card to improve IQ. Do you really notice it?

 

[RussianSensation]

So I got some unexpected performance bonus and I was thinking about upgrading the old videocard.

I game at 1080p only but I like to crank the details up and a smooth frame rate, I was wondering if I'll get a noticeable performance gain with the 970...both seem more or less the same regarding power consumption and noise.

It really depends on the games you play. If you play SC2, Diablo 3, LoL, WoW, L4D series, Counter Strike, DOTA 2, Team Fortress 2, then I don't think it's worth upgrading for. If you play a lot of GPU intensive titles like Arma 3, Crysis 3, Tomb Raider, Metro LL, Ryse Son of Rome, DAI, Skyrim heavily modded, then it's probably worthwhile. Generally speaking if the games you currently play don't run satisfactory to your liking, then it's time to upgrade. Otherwise, GPUs will continue to get faster and/or cheaper over time. If you can afford to wait 6-9 more months, keep waiting as you'll get an even faster card for $350. Right now 970/980 can be priced however NV feels like since they are competing against 1-year-old AMD series. It's not really an optimal time to buy imo. However, if you feel like in 6 months you'll spend this money and won't have anything left for upgrading, then get a new card now.

 

[Makaveli]

1ms = TN = Crap

I agree with you but for some speed matters more than image quality.

 

[therealnickdanger]

My setup:

i5-3570K OC
GTX 970 OC
ASUS VG248QE (1080p 144Hz TN)

I can play pretty much anything at max settings at 120-144fps, which is my preference. The only reason I chose the 970 over the 290 was better 1080p performance, HDMI 2.0 for my 4K60 TV, and the possibility of upgrading to a G-Sync panel (since FreeSync is still vaporware).

 

[Leyawiin]

Its worth it IMO. I have an HD 7950 oc'd to 1100/1400. I tried an MSI GTX 970 Golden Edition (sent it back for coil whine) and with the games I play the improvement was quite noticeable. Even with WoW (Warlords of Draenor is more demanding that one would think). At 1920x1200 I had to use a mix of Ultra and High settings to stay mostly at 60 FPS. With the GTX 970 I could use "pure" Ultra and it was butter smooth.

 

[Dankk]

I agree with you but for some speed matters more than image quality.

Yup. I won't be buying any IPS monitors unless I happen to see one that has a 2ms response time or less.

 

[Chevron]

Yup. I won't be buying any IPS monitors unless I happen to see one that has a 2ms response time or less.

Why? Do you get paid to play games? Otherwise you're just torturing your eyes for no reason.