[closed] AMD Graphics card upgrade (6990, 7770, 7950, 7970)

I am planning to upgrade my graphics card for my desktop. My current system has a single AMD Radeon HD 5750 and it has served me very well in the past as I was able to max out the settings in every game. However with the advancement of PC games which require more power/processing, I thought it was a good idea to upgrade my graphics card.

After days of local vendors to see what is available and hours of web browsing and reading reviews, I narrowed my search to 4 cards:

Radeon HD 6990
Radeon HD 7770 (http://goo.gl/A1wAI)
Radeon HD 7950 (http://goo.gl/jlVfg)
Radeon HD 7970 (http://goo.gl/3NDvM)

Any help choosing among these cards (or suggesting alternatives) will be appreciated. Also will I replace the one I have or is it possible to add a second graphics card and combine (cluster) their power

P.S I'm a huge AMD fan and accept nothing else so please no recommendations for Nvidia

Update 1.1:

For those curious, after reading the recommendations here and some googling I decided to go for the HD 7970.

hd7970 680gtx amd desktop graphics gtx hd6990 7970 hd radeon

asked Jul 09 '12 at 18:47

timonline
246●6●9●16

closed Aug 15 '12 at 18:44

Tim Fontana
15.3k●135●199●368

The question has been closed for the following reason "The question is answered, right answer was accepted" by Tim Fontana Aug 15 '12 at 18:44

3 Answers:

oldest newest most voted

if you own a few oil companies , then you can consider the GTX 680, it is a insanely expensive card but still offers the best performance (especially when overclocked)

It is also not very loud (you will most likely never hit the temperature needed to push the fan to 100%

also currently has better driver support.

the 7970 is also a great card (though I have never personally used it) but from the benchmarks, you wont really notice the difference between the 7970 and the 680 with current games.

answered Jul 09 '12 at 19:35

Razor512
15.6k●34●80●242

7970 every time, but as much as you seem to hate them, the new Kepler chips wipe the floor with Southern Islands cards from AMD. Consider a GTX 680, you won't regret it over an AMD card, I promise.

answered Jul 09 '12 at 18:51

Tim Fontana
15.3k●135●199●368

My issue with Nvidia cards is that several benchmark results show that an AMD processor (my processor family) with an AMD card was faster than with an Nvidia card.

Moreover, Nvidia drivers are notorious for crashing windows, because their drivers are not, in my opinion, well tested or up to the standards that I expect.

Finally, I had several bad experiences with Nvidia cards asd my previous two devices used to ridiculously overheat (60C-70C) with a moderate workload and eventually burned despite my efforts to regularly clean the fans and reapply the thermal paste.

I will look into the GTX 680 and would not mind being proven wrong :D

(Jul 09 '12 at 19:00) timonline

Question about 7970 and 7950, I heard that I can buy 7950 which is much cheaper and just overclock it up to 1.01 GHz to match the performance of the 7970. The card will not be as stable I understand but will save a hundred bucks or two

(Jul 09 '12 at 19:02) timonline

If you're gonna go that rout make sure it has a fan or at least get a PCI slot fan.

(Jul 09 '12 at 19:29) ClosetFuturist

No, the 7950 has less ROPS, it will not be the same as the 7970, whatever you are lead to believe.

(Jul 09 '12 at 20:53) Tim Fontana

0	I would go by the benchmarks. answered Jul 09 '12 at 19:13 ClosetFuturist 1.7k●6●14●27

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Asked: Jul 09 '12 at 18:47

Seen: 930 times

Last updated: Aug 15 '12 at 18:44

[closed] AMD Graphics card upgrade (6990, 7770, 7950, 7970)

The question has been closed for the following reason "The question is answered, right answer was accepted" by Tim Fontana Aug 15 '12 at 18:44

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