GPU Upgrade (Around 500€-600€)

[slsmaster]

Hello dear OC3D Community!

As the titel already says me and two of my friends want to upgrade our GPU's. At the moment I have a overclocked ZOTAC GTX 480 AMP! running at 850MHZ Core Clock and 2000 MHZ Memory Clock. My goal with this upgrade is to run all modern games at 60FPS MINIMUM, so that the framerate never dips under this cap at all details maxed out. I already thought of two options:

1) 2x MSI HD 7870 HAWK (will be released at the end of March or April) in Crossfire (or any other HD 7870 with a good custom cooler and PCB in CF)

or

2) 1x GTX 680 (Custom Version, dont know which one because their isnt even one presented jet)

I really dont know what to buy. Of course 7870 CF would be faster and I also would have the ability to oc them. But my problem now is: Are there still immensive problems with microstuttering like in GTX 2xx times? Because at that time I had a GTX 295 in my system, which had immensive problems with microstuttering. Are the AMD-Drivers stable in CF-Mode? So guys, what do you think is the better option for peformance/value?

My current Rig:

Intel Core i7 3820 SB-E with NH-D14 Cooler

Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 Mainboard

Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB DDR3 1600MHZ Memory

GTX 480 AMP! Graphics Card

CM HAF X Case

750W Silverstone Strider Plus Power Supply

 

[SavageCupcake]

with that kind of rig i would get the 680 for now and go sli if need be in the future

crossfire seems far better than it used to but i would still prefer 1 more powerful card over 2 lower range ones

just my opinion

 

[tharionos]

and the 7970? ? , could be their alot more expensive where u are from but mine costed 519 euros

or the suggest 680 is good tho altough i sadly cannot comment on it , since i have no experience with the new nvidia models

 

[yassarikhan786]

What resolution do you game at? Single screen setup or multi screen? The 3GB 7970 would be better for 3 monitors over the 680, but if you're only going to be using a single monitor grab the 680.

 

[mrDMxtreme]

MINIMUM 60 fps? depending on your display(s) that is going to very almost impossible, the AVG fps can be above 60, but for minimum to NEVER dip under that is kinda unrealistic unless you game on a tiny res. or non-demanding games

i'd go for the 680, then sli it later (but if you're not in a rush, wait for the 4gb version to come out- if you have triple displays)

 

[Rastalovich]

Yeah, resolutions and game types/examples.

480 @ 850 kicks some serious rear already, so I don't think you'll mind holding out for something like a custom 680, or if impatient a custom 7970 would be good right now.

Don't particularly like reference cards myself, as the likes of MSI/Zotac do such a good job of pushing performance further.

(oh and single card over a xfire/sli for me too)