So I need to upgrade my PC, and I'm looking to do so as cheap as possible. I can pick up another 7850 for around $200, or I can sell my 7850 and use the money towards a higher end GPU like a 7970, 680, or 770. Possibly even a 7950 or 670. I am not waiting for 8xxx AMD. I am willing to buy used. Also, has AMD fixed all the microstuttering and frametimes with Crossfire? I need to run BF3/BF4 1080p, all LOWEST settings, and minimum framerate 60fps, I will not tolerate less for competitive play. You do not want frame dips in tournament play.
Well, the microstutter has been fixed, and you will get more then enough performance to max out any game other than Metro and Crysis with two 7850s. If you don't want to wait for the next gen of cards, have a well ventilated case, and don't mind the extra power consumption, I would say go for dual 7850s, and wait untill next gen to buy a single high end card.
Well I'm 16 so I don't care about power consumption LOL I don't pay the bills. And I have a 750W PSU so I can OC for days. Also, I don't play Crysis or Metro so Xfire just keeps sounding better and better.
Go for a single card setup. It will save you hours of headaches trying to figure out what went wrong. Go for something like a 770, 680 or 7950.
And it will save your parents some money on the bill.
So what does this mean?
The GTX 760 is a really attractive card at the moment (the 770 is even more attractive, if you have that kind of cash available), but crossfire would be the cheapest way to go for you. I say get a new card if you can swing it, and if you can't, then don't worry about it and get a second 7850 if you want. You can find 7850s for ~$150. That said, I have heard that crossfire can be a real bitch. So whatever you want to do is perfectly fine. If you are ok with risking the headaches and want to save some cash, then go for crossfire. If you have the extra money, get something like a 760 or 770. Just my thoughts on it though.
The 760 has mediocre performance. Not worth and upgrade from my current card when I can't Xfire it. Also I know lots of people who have Crossfire setups and have never had issues.
Just so you know, the 760 has performance which rivals a 670 as well as the 7970 and generally beats the 7950 (check the link at the bottom of my post), and it can be used in two way (or three or four way) SLI configurations. The 760's performance is far from "mediocre".It is a serious option to consider.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7103/nvidia-geforce-gtx-760-review/10
Have you ever had experience with crossfire? Have you ever had problems with it? Because I DO have experience with it, and I never had a problem.
I would just grab a 7970 or gtx 770 4GB simply because they have more vram. More vram means more detailed environments can be put on the screen and it also means you'll be able to run higher resolutions.
No need to go all the way up to a 770 just for more vram. Not saying that the improvement from a 770 over a 760 wouldn't be worth it, but if money is an issue and you want more vram (which I completely support btw), then you can get the 4gb version of the 760.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130937
For the performance increase I would be getting for the money I'm paying, yes the 760 would be mediocre. From what I hear CF scaling is almost 100% and new drivers with more improvements are rumored to be around the corner. Also those are singleplayer benchmarks, and it doesn't even say what drivers they were using for the AMD cards when everybody knows the new series of drivers greatly improved performance.
I don't see a point in getting a gtx 760. A 7970 should outperform it.
Also, I am having to sell other items to upgrade. I simply cannot come up with $300 for not that great of a performance increase. I kinda changed my mind about selling my 7850, we are in the middle of a season for CEVO and I can't go without a card for more than like two days.
Because a 7970 costs a lot more than a 760 for not much in the way of improved performance.
I have two 7950s. Sometimes I crossfire it, sometimes I don't. Depending if I am mining bitcoins or not. One Card gives me minimum60fps on max settings in skyrim. 40 or so fps on max settings crysis.
I personally would say two 7850's are the way to go. I see them around $160. Which is half the price of a 7950. So personally I think its worth the price, if your thinking price/performance.
I picked the 2 7950's cuz price to performance is on par with the 670's and not far from the 7970. And I've done my research for months.
As far as the 770's. I wouldnt touch that unless I went for Xtreme Perfomance build.
So....
Go for the 7850. It's worth more then my comment or anyone else's.
"On the AMD side we’re using a mix of Catalyst 13.5 (7970) and Catalyst 13.6 (7950, 7870)." Don't blame the benchmarks for not showing what you want them to show. I would be willing to bet that CF 7850s would give just about the same performace (more or less depending on the game) sa a 760. I would love to see benchmarks with a direct comparison between the two, but I have yet to find any. Like I have said before, CF would be the cheapest way to get a decent performance increase, and if that is the way you want to go, then go right on ahead. There are pros and cons for either way you go in this situation and it is up to you to make the final call.
Found benchmarks comparing the two directly. Seems that they are pretty close in performance, with the CF 7850 on top throughout. It looks like that is the right way to go.
http://kotaku.com/the-gainward-nvidia-gtx-760-benchmarked-and-reviewed-576675407
^
There needs to be a Teksyndicate styled like button.