For my build I think I want to go with a 7950 and wait until the next generation and then upgrade. Will a 7950 be good enough until the 8000 series or whatever comes out. Is this a good idea?
In short: The 7950 is a good choice.
Longer answer: I honestly do not believe the 680 and the 7970 are worth it. The 670 and the 7950 are so very close to their older siblings, and yet they cost a lot less. The 7950 generally beats the 670.
People often skip generations. If you have the option to crossfire the 7950, it will last you until the 9000 series.
I could buy 2, it wouldn't be an inconvenience. The only thing is that I know that crossfire just isn't as good as a single, more powerful card.
Two 7950s is approximately one 780 (in price, not performance). Perhaps the 780 is a little more, depending on the prices in Germany.
But, considering its gaming performance is the same as the Titan... I think it is worth considering.
What resolution are you running?
I don't have a computer atm lol. I was planning on picking up a 120hz monitor and playing at 1080p.
780 is good for high refresh rates or high resolution. Might be worth it to you.
I am actually nearing the process of buying a PC, too. Going to build mine after the Haswell release, consider all options.
Thats exactly what I'm doing, waiting for haswell that is. I was considering the 780, I like the game deal from AMD, but the 780 may be my best option.
Don't forget the 770 is out soon, too. It will be good to see how it compares to the 680 and 7970. It is my belief that the 770 will beat them. However, I do not know if it will be worth its launch price. We shall see
True, I don't want to play the waiting game though. I've been looking forward to building a pc for quite sometime and now that the semester is over, I finally have the time.
The 770 is launched a couple of days before Haswell, on the 31st of May
Oh, cool. Hopefully its reasonably priced.
Probably not xD
It is largely a rebranded 680. Though, it will be improved and more efficient. Also, it comes with the Titan cooler as a reference design, or your twin frozr design and other after market coolers.
And 3GB of ram, i'm guessing.
It was rumoured to have 3GB. The 780 was supposed to have a 5GB variant to accompany the 3GB. I think the 770 will have 2GB.
They will be shooting themselves in the foot if it only has 2GB.
I would like to have seen 3GB. It is what the 6xx cards should have had. But, games do use Vram dynamically. You can play any game with 1GB of Vram. So it shouldn't matter too much.
Right, but for the money not having 3GB is unacceptable imo.
I don't think there is a good enough excuse to not have 3GB. People know how to utilise that Vram. E.g Skyrim mods.
Exactly, they need to get their shit together on that, they are way behind.
I think the 7xx cards have some special kind of "x factor", some kind of witchcraft inside them. Nvidia are making optimisations and possibly implementing new technology. I don't hold the answers. Check out the "Linus" videos of the 780.
The 780 runs faster, not just because it has more shader units et cetera, but because it is optimised for gaming, in some sense. I think they've introduced technology which reduces frame stutter. This would lead me to think that although the 770 could have 2GB of Vram, it wouldn't perform the same as 2GB on a 6xx card. The optimisations will see less bottlenecking.
In short, Vram might not have been the issue on the 6xx cards, and we shouldn't necessarily focus on it. Much in the same way that a 4 core processor might beat a 6 core. It is all in the design.
Anyway, you're a timezone ahead of me. Get some sleep.