Old High End GPUs for 2015?

Hardware Hub GPU
1

Lately, i have been looking at the old high end gpus at amazon. Specifically the HD 7950 (im picking this over the 7970 because i read that it is just a 7950 but OCed). Right now the price of the Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 is close to the price of a GTX 760 in my local store.

I play a lot of games, currently playing AC Unity and it runs really badly on my hd 7750. This could later be fixed with patches by Ubisoft. 

Main Questions:

1. Would the HD 7950 run a poorly optimized game like Unity?

2.  will it be worth getting for 2015? 

3. I am also considering getting a gtx 960. but it depends if the 7950 is similar if not better and if prices are similar.

Thanks in advance, i have a lot of questions so feel free to answer all or just some.

2

1) Probably. AC Unity is trash. The game is unoptomized and unfinished. Dual GTX 980 systems struggle. With some patches it will be better. That being said a 7950 would be a massive step up from a 7750. 

2) Maybe. Depends what is coming out from AMD and nVidia.

3) Ehh. No real news yet on the GTX 960 so IDK about that one.

The 7950 and 7970 perform similarly. The 7950 has less stream processors but with a serious OC you can get it close to a 7970. A 7970 should always be faster and with an OC there will be an even bigger delta. 

Why these cards though? They have both been rebranded as the R9 280 and the 280X. You could prob find those easier and for similar if not better prices. Also look at the R9 290. It is even faster and can be had new for $250. 

Also what PSU do you have? You may need to upgrade for any of these GPUs. 

3

the reason i chose these cards was because as the new cards are coming out they were getting cheaper. i have had a look at the 290, wow you were right. I am now definitely going to reconsider and get the r9 290 instead. 

But if the GTX 960 beats it, which i doubt. then i will get the new card or maybe the gtx 970

My PSU is a Corsair 80+ efficient 650 watts. I dont remember the exact model. 

Thank you so much, you have been a big help!

4

I doubt the 960 will beat it. The 970 only wins over the 290 by a bit. Especially at higher resolutions. 

Plus who knows when the 960 will be around. Remember too that AMD will be launching the Radeon HD Rx 3XX series in February of next year. That may shake things up. 

 

That PSU will be fine for any of these cards. 

5

I would get the 290 , but it depends on prices , ween also need full build to know for PSU wattage .

In terms of prices , I would not pay over 90$ for a 7950 and 100$ for 7970 , and the 280 / 280x are rebranded 7950 / 7970's .

So 290  , here they can be gotten for 260€ and it destroys any other similarly priced GPU .

6

Apparently the GTX 960 will be released around next year because of how well the GTX 970 and 980s were selling, so Nvidia decided instead of releasing it this year they will get a bigger profit because people will decide to get the 970s and 980s.

thanks for the replies guys. 

if anyone else reading this forum please feel free to reply, i am looking for more opinions