Videocard upgrade? HD7970/680?

[Oraijon]

Good morning good people. A few weeks ago I made my entry into the multi monitor gaming scene and already encountering a few issues on the first day I quickly found my way to this site and dubbed it my new Bible :)
So first off a small thank you for the info I've so far gotten from said Bible.

Introductions aside I'm still looking for some advice, I'm considering a videocard upgrade and I just cant decide the wisest course of action.

Currently I'm using 3 screens in Eyefinity/Landscape (Dell 2412M's) in a resolution of 5760x1200 (or 6004x1200 including bezel compensation). The rest of the relevant specs of my gaming rig are:

- Intel i5-2500k (not overclocked)
- 8 GB 1600 (Corsair Vengeance low profile)
- 2x Crossfired AMD HD 6950

Though Catalyst 12.3 seems a lot better than the previous drivers I still strongly consider a videocard upgrade to get rid of microstuttering and game compatibility issues with Crossfire and other headaches you guys are no doubt also familiar with when running SLI/Crossfire. But also for a little boost to be able to keep playing new games on this new resolution at high detail settings.

I've got my eye on a HD7970 (Gigabyte with windforce cooler) for ~€440 or a GTX 680 (EVGA) for ~€460 when it becomes available again. Though I've seen plenty of reviews I've seen none that properly compare those two cards with a Crossfired 6950 on Eyefinity resolutions.

Right now I have a slight preference for the 680 since it generally seems a bit faster but I'm worried that in a year or two the 2 GB vram will hit it's ceiling and might make me regret moving to the green camp. So what would would you guys think is the wisest choice? Go with 680, 7970 or stick with my "old" 6950's?

[SantaCruz]

i would go with the green camp.. however the 680 will have a 4gb edition aswell.. so maybe wait for that?

[Haldi]

Will cost way more^^

But if i were you. I'd wait another year. Are the micro stutter that bad that you cant stand them anymore?
If you can sell your two old 6950 for cash then go with a new SingleGPU.
If not. You're way cheaper, and you also have some difference in performance with an HD8xxx or GTX7xx next year.

7970vs680 isn't a big difference! This game AMD has 10%more FPS that game Nvidia has some more!
2GB Vram aren't a problem with 5760x1080! Except you use 8xAA or more! But 4x still Looks great! Right?

Nvidia has this new Features like Bezelcorrection On/Off with Hotkey, but only supports 3x Landscape(+1)

Depends entirely on which faction you like more!

[Oraijon]

Thanks for the responses so far. Though I did hear rumors about a 4 GB version coming, I didnt know yet that they were more than rumors so that's good to know.

The microstuttering was mainly terrible with Assassin's Creed (40 fps looking like 20), but a few patches and an driver update later that one is very playable now and I dont really notice any anymore.

Thing is though, I like playing with all the important detail settings maxed and I'm kind of noticing that right now I'm either BARELY able to do so or not at all, and I dont mind cranking down AA settings at all since I hardly see the difference between Off and 8x. Skyrim barely runs fine like that but the FPS does drop down to 28 in some areas (60+ in others). In Deux Ex I've had to crank down a few detail settings already, and even WoW in Ogrimmar is struggling to keep things above 30.

So all in all I have a feeling that my 6950's just cannot really keep up on this new resolution, and I was playing with the idea to go with a 680 (4 gb edition, yay!) or 7970 and selling my 6950's while I can still sell them for a decent price.

[Wijkert]

When the 7950/7970's where released I bought an 7950 OC from Sapphire (because of the great cooler). The 7950 replaced my 2 6950's in xfire. The reason I did that was microstuttering. I am quite sensitive when it comes to things like that, so for me it was a very good upgrade. Have sold both 6950's for 360 and paid 430 for the 7950. I would recommend you do the same. As Haldi said, the 7970 and the 680 are very similar. I would go with the 680 and maybe wait for the 4gb version though. Some high demanding games (eg bf3) can fill up 2gb very easily in triplewide res.

[Oraijon]

Hmmm... yeah I'm probably going that route, waiting for the 4 GB version (waiting sucks! :P)

If i'm going to spend that much money it'd better be on something that lasts :)

[Wijkert]

If i'm going to spend that much money it'd better be on something that lasts :)

Although I understand that you like hardware that lasts (especially if it is expensive). Sadly though, videocards never last long. There always will be a newer, faster videocard within one year. For me that is part of the fun. Upgrading every few months if possible :p.

[Oraijon]

Oh I've been a PC gamer since my 386, I know hardware doesnt last long, I meant "relatively" long :P

[Haldi]

there are two (or just the palit ?) 4GB 680 anounced! for something like 600 E

[Oraijon]

Yeah I'm eyeballing the Palit one on a webshop for 550. Already mailed them to ask when it would be available, so will probably preorder it once my salary comes in and once they've answered my question :P

Even though it's damn tempting to get another card that I can get sooner :P

[Oraijon]

Pfft....
Website updated their price to 623 and availability to 2-3 days. Mot*******ers....

Looks like i'll be ordering an Asus HD7970-DC2T-3GD5 (slightly overclocked 7970) tomorrow instead :P

Saves me freaking almost €200 and I should have it by the weekend...