Upgrading from a 2GB 6950?

[Moonrise]

Hi all,

I am on basically my second home made gaming PC. Right now I am running a 3570k, 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz ram, and a 2GB HD 6950 GPU. In general, it is great and handles almost everything I need without issues. I do have one concern though and it is making me wonder if I should upgrade to a newer/better GPU.

I play Skyrim quite a bit and love utilizing the myriad mods available, typically for graphics enhancements. Generally, the 6950 is more than capable of running the game at a good framerate @1080p, but I have noticed I need to drop the internal resolution down to about 720p to have it run smoothly with all the mods I want.

Being a person that likes to spend money (and wants to plug my 6950 into my old PC so I can sell it easier), I would like to upgrade my GPU so I can more easily handle these heavily modded games at the resolution I want (which will be 1080p and sometimes with a second monitor setup for my desktop). The 6950 has been good but not up to that demanding a task, so I would like recommendations on if I should upgrade (and if so, to what GPU), assuming a max budget of lets say...$300. If it makes sense to just wait for the next generation of cards to come out, I will probably do that.

 

[Face2Face]

Are you running an ENB? The 6950 should be fine with texture mods.

 

[Moonrise]

Yeah, I have one I am pretty sure. I am not so sure it is the texture mods as much as it is some of the gameplay mods (such as the civil war mod). It tends to slow down during the large scale battles and during thunderstorms and snow(which for me is very often).

I probably could figure out some settings to get it to work right and fix the issues. Should I be setting things using the CCC rather than the in-game settings?

 

[Mr Expert]

Skyrim is no reason to upgrade. Even with a 1GB GTX 560 I ran that game with lots of mods and AA @ 60fps.

 

[Moonrise]

That's great, but I'm telling you that it is lagging for me. So yes, Skyrim is my reason for upgrading or at least finding more efficient ways of utilizing the GPU for in-game performance. Pointless or not, I want to be able to run the games I play at the highest settings possible. For the record, I have about 40 mods running in the game. About 20 are texture packs, while the others are minor things like weapons, added quests, etc.

 

[Mr Expert]

That's great, but I'm telling you that it is lagging for me. So yes, Skyrim is my reason for upgrading or at least finding more efficient ways of utilizing the GPU for in-game performance. Pointless or not, I want to be able to run the games I play at the highest settings possible. For the record, I have about 40 mods running in the game. About 20 are texture packs, while the others are minor things like weapons, added quests, etc.

So get a better card then . You answerd your own question.

 

[Smoblikat]

So get a better card then . You answerd your own question.

Not really, he asked for a suggestion.

@OP, HD7970's can easily be had for =<300$

 

[Mr Expert]

Not really, he asked for a suggestion.

@OP, HD7970's can easily be had for =<300$

Good then so get the best GPU for the budget then. I don't see any HD 7970 fopr $300 though but an HD 7950 is in that price point as is the GTX 760 both of which are soild upgrades from the good old HD 6950.

 

[Smoblikat]

Good then so get the best GPU for the budget then. I don't see any HD 7970 fopr $300 though but an HD 7950 is in that price point as is the GTX 760 both of which are soild upgrades from the good old HD 6950.

You really like being difficult, dont you?

Clearly if the OP knew what the best GPU for his budget was he wouldnt have asked this question in the first place....for an expert, you sure dont have much expertise in answering questions.

300$ HD7970's can be had quite frequently in the used market, newegg has one for 315$, but its 299$ after MIR.

 

[Mr Expert]

You really like being difficult, dont you?

Clearly if the OP knew what the best GPU for his budget was he wouldnt have asked this question in the first place....for an expert, you sure dont have much expertise in answering questions.

300$ HD7970's can be had quite frequently in the used market, newegg has one for 315$, but its 299$ after MIR.

I never push for MIRs. I am sure the OP can muster up another $20 onto of the $300 and another $10 for shipping and tax.

 

[Face2Face]

Yeah, I have one I am pretty sure. I am not so sure it is the texture mods as much as it is some of the gameplay mods (such as the civil war mod). It tends to slow down during the large scale battles and during thunderstorms and snow(which for me is very often).

I probably could figure out some settings to get it to work right and fix the issues. Should I be setting things using the CCC rather than the in-game settings?

What are your in-game settings? What ENB are you running? Disabling SSAO and installing this Patch boost performance quite a bit. With SSAO enabled in Project ENB wit COT my 7950 OC'd gets pushed pretty hard -Avg 40-50 FPS @ 1080P 4XAA.

 

[0___________0]

NE has a 7970 right now for $295 at checkout with a promo code, then a $20 rebate to bring it down to $275. Price is only for today with the 25off2013aug code. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008

 

[Moonrise]

I may take that 7970 then. I figured the 7970 was a safe bet but I like to get the opinion from others because I really don't get too involved in just checking out benchmarks online and deciding from that. I like to hear about overall experiences and user issued as well. $300 for a 7970 is too good a deal to pass up though and it will allow me to game will with my second monitor hooked up as well. I could also get a bit more for the other computer I plan on selling if I use the 6950 (or just may be easier to sell; it is a difficult market to sell used computers it seems).

 

[Mr Expert]

NE has a 7970 right now for $295 at checkout with a promo code, then a $20 rebate to bring it down to $275. Price is only for today with the 25off2013aug code. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008

It's actually $319 with $20 MIR Plus S/H and TX so it well over OPs budget of $300.

 

[Moonrise]

It ends up costing $322 shipped after tax, which is at least within reason. I had accounted for that when listing my ideal budget, of course. I know the price on the page is going to be less than what I pay.

UNFORTUNATELY, as I was checking out I got a text. "We need to book flights to Michigan and a hotel for three days"...greeeeaaaattt. -_-

 

[0___________0]

It's actually $319 with $20 MIR Plus S/H and TX so it well over OPs budget of $300.

If you had any reading comprehension you'd have noted I posted a promo code that takes $25 off. Last time I checked, 320-25=295. Second, he said "assuming", never said it was a hard capped budget. And thirdly, he already commented and said he was comfortable with it; I think he can make his own decisions about his budget and doesn't need any more 'Expert' help. Also, only people in 3 states would have to pay sales tax.

 

[Moonrise]

Sadly I am in one of those states too. Goddamned California and our stupid taxes. But yeah...I may still find a way to buy the damn thing anyways because it is an awesome deal and would let me go another two years or more without really needing an upgrade (at least, I hope).

 

[Smoblikat]

If you had any reading comprehension you'd have noted I posted a promo code that takes $25 off. Last time I checked, 320-25=295. Second, he said "assuming", never said it was a hard capped budget. And thirdly, he already commented and said he was comfortable with it; I think he can make his own decisions about his budget and doesn't need any more 'Expert' help. Also, only people in 3 states would have to pay sales tax.

100% agree..

I didnt even know about that promo code.

 

[Mr Expert]

Sadly I am in one of those states too. Goddamned California and our stupid taxes. But yeah...I may still find a way to buy the damn thing anyways because it is an awesome deal and would let me go another two years or more without really needing an upgrade (at least, I hope).

Well it will play BF4 on Ultra @ 30fps but that's still good.

 

[0___________0]

100% agree..

I didnt even know about that promo code.

It's only good for today and there's some stuff you can't use it on, it also requires a minimum purchase of $250. Any GPU that comes with free games/stuff are excluded. A lot of the AMD GPU's don't have the Never Settle bundle right now, so it works for them, like this 7970. But all of the nVidia cards with the free Splinter Cell game won't get the promo applied. Too bad, a GTX 760 like the EVGA ACX for $230 is very nice.

@Moonrise: If you want to drop the price down slightly you can get a lot of excellent deals on good 7950's right now, they aren't too much slower than a 7970, especially if you put a good OC on, clock for clock the 7970 isn't that much faster.

 

[Moonrise]

I think I will do that then. I have heard great things about the 7950 and I am not afraid to overclock a bit for the added performance. As long as it hits the $250 mark I can use that promo code and get it even cheaper.

 

[0___________0]

I think I will do that then. I have heard great things about the 7950 and I am not afraid to overclock a bit for the added performance. As long as it hits the $250 mark I can use that promo code and get it even cheaper.

NE has the HIS IceQ 7950 for $220, decent card, or you could spend a little more and get the nicer MSI Twin Frozr, it's $260 but eligible for the promo, so $235.

 

[raghu78]

OP get a HD 7950. prices have crashed to clear stock for upcoming HD 9900 and HD 9800 cards. crazy deals are going around. grab one for USD 240.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202026
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161429

average overclocks are 1100 - 1150 mhz. should max any game at 1080p.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/07/02/msi_n760_tf_2gd5oc_gtx_760_overclocking_review/5

 

[Moonrise]

I got the Sapphire 7950. Ended up being $260 after California's ridiculous sales tax and delivery costs. In hindsight, I probably should have just grabbed the $220 card and saved some money but I do feel comfortable buying the Sapphire Brand card. I am a big fan of them and MSI.

 

[borderdeal]

If they have not shipped the Sapphire card yet u might want to cancel it and get the MSI instead. It is on sale for $209 after rebate and promo code