R6870 upgrade

[conlan]

Looking for the current "best bang for your buck" single card upgrade from my R6870. I need to milk another year outta this rig. I don't game as much as I used to, but when I do, I want it right. Mostly play AH2, BF3 etc. I thought about getting another R6870 for crossfire, but that would max out my PSU.

System specs:
Corsair HX520W
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
Intel Q9450 @ 3.0 gHz
4 GB GSkill PC8500 (soon to be upgraded to 8 GB)
R6870

EDIT....I am not brand loyal...3dfx, ATI, nVidia...i've owned 'em all

 

[gradoman]

How much are you looking to spend?


~$160:

GTX 660
HD 7870/R9 270



~$200 and possibly limited by your CPU:

R9 280
GTX760


Found a 270x for $165 here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127761&cm_re=r9_270x-_-14-127-761-_-Product

That would be pretty good and it comes with a couple games.

 

[conlan]

Thanks!

Lookin' for the best bang for the buck....I know i'll be CPU limited, but that's ok...my Pro gaming days are over, lol.
Thanks for the link!

 

[buklau]

I would just grab a used 7870 on ebay for as low as $80 and call it a day.

 

[conlan]

I would just grab a used 7870 on ebay for as low as $80 and call it a day.

Is a 7870 that much of an upgrade from a 6870?

 

[SPBHM]

Is a 7870 that much of an upgrade from a 6870?

Ryse is probably the best looking game at the moment, and you would jump from 20 to 40+ FPS with very high settings

in reality you would play with lower settings with the 6870 and get a decent experience (not 20 FPS) I think... so it's up you to decide if it's worth the extra image quality and/or framerate... but the difference is significant, it's VLIW5 vs GCN and higher clocks and double the memory, the 7870 is much faster on most newer games.

but your CPU can be a serious limitation for some games, and mantle could help on the few games that support it, another positive for the GCN cards.

 

[RussianSensation]

I would agree that a used 7870/7950/7970 is a good fit. If you are buying a new card, HIS r9 290 on Newegg for $230 is a smoking deal but your CPU will bottleneck it. That's why grabbing a cheap 7870 now for $80 as a stop-gap is a good strategy.

 

[conlan]

Ok....will do...Thanks

 

[gradoman]

I would just grab a used 7870 on ebay for as low as $80 and call it a day.

Hadn't even thought about eBay. R9 270x is basically a 7870.

 

[buklau]

If you have an ebay account, try sell your old 6870 then you only have to spend the difference to grab a $80 used 7870 on ebay. I think this is the most cost effective way to extend your rig for another year. If you don't have ebay account, try selling it on craigslist for like $40. I'm pretty sure there will be someone who's interested buying it. Then you only spend $40 to get a 7870.

Can you push your CPU overclock further let say 450x8 = 3600mhz? If you can, then I would look into getting a 7950 or maybe even a 7970 instead to minimize the CPU bottleneck.

 

[Leyawiin]

R9 270X or R9 280.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127761
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202112