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[bro1]

Listened to Anandtech's podcast about Haswell and Broadwell. That's some depressing shit. Not just pathetic increases in performance, but BGA and software locked bullshit. I hope AMD has some breakthrough to pierce this monopoly thing Intel has on Desktops.

Guess I'll get LGA 2011 refresh later this year and use that until ~2016.

That was an old podcast. Things have changed since then.

 

[Pandemic]

I'm still in the process of getting a new PC, but are their any new PC parts whether it be graphics card, etc that will be released in the next few weeks, that'll be worth the wait? My budget is around $2000... And it will used for gaming, work, etc.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I asked this question about 100hz but no one bit on it. I want to test things properly and see if my monitor is really doing 100hz as I basically manually created a resolution with 100hz enabled and I've been working with it for a few days. Things are still smooth and I can tell on the desktop that my mouse is scrolling smoother but I can't really see a difference in games unless I'm really not trained for this yet.

 

[kpjolee]

I'm still in the process of getting a new PC, but are their any new PC parts whether it be graphics card, etc that will be released in the next few weeks, that'll be worth the wait? My budget is around $2000... And it will used for gaming, work, etc.

Titan just came out, but probably not going to fit within your budget. Haswell is not coming out until June. It is likely that new graphics card won't come out until latter part of this year.

 

[Koroviev]

Thanks for the input. Just saw this from the OP, how would you say the two compare, give the close prices?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130661

Edit: Yeah, that GTX 560 is $170 after rebate and is looking mighty tempting right now. That's about the max I'm willing to pay, and there seems to be a good selection of cards at that price.

What's your resolution? You're probably better off spending an extra $20 to get a card with 2GB of VRAM.

 

[abasm]

I asked this question about 100hz but no one bit on it. I want to test things properly and see if my monitor is really doing 100hz as I basically manually created a resolution with 100hz enabled and I've been working with it for a few days. Things are still smooth and I can tell on the desktop that my mouse is scrolling smoother but I can't really see a difference in games unless I'm really not trained for this yet.

Is your in-game refresh rate set above 60 Hz? And are you actually hitting 100+ fps?

 

[Esiquio]

What's your resolution? You're probably better off spending an extra $20 to get a card with 2GB of VRAM.

1280 x 1024. I do not foresee getting a new monitor this year at all. I do have two monitors, but they are different size and I will run games in only one of them.

 

[Koroviev]

1280 x 1024. I do not foresee getting a new monitor this year at all. I do have two monitors, but they are different size and I will run games in only one of them.

I would consider investing in a widescreen monitor, but I suppose it makes more sense to get the GPU in place first.

Yeah, I meant K.

Sorry, I came off a bit harsh there.

Anyway, I would invest in a 3770K if you can find one for under $300. (There have been various promotions as of late, particularly the Micro Center promotion.) Otherwise, the 3570K should more than suffice.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Is your in-game refresh rate set above 60 Hz? And are you actually hitting 100+ fps?

Yes, on almost any game. I have SLI 670's so it's not that. The custom resolutions I made pass all the way up to 100hz. Interestingly enough, with 95hz it shows v frequency 07KHz h frequency 95hz.

When I switch it to 100 it says h frequency 12khz v frequency 0. I'm guessing it just can't display higher digits and 2 but as I said, games feel smooth but since this is my first foray into such high refresh rates, I'm really not accustomed to testing other than moving my mouse around.

Most of my ingame options either go with 60 or just vertical sync. Some games actually have the option to go 100 but I have found that plenty of my games won't list it while some will.

 

[Koroviev]

Yes, on almost any game. I have SLI 670's so it's not that. The custom resolutions I made pass all the way up to 100hz. Interestingly enough, with 95hz it shows v frequency 07KHz h frequency 95hz.

When I switch it to 100 it says h frequency 12khz v frequency 0. I'm guessing it just can't display higher digits and 2 but as I said, games feel smooth but since this is my first foray into such high refresh rates, I'm really not accustomed to testing other than moving my mouse around.

I don't have much experience with this, but I would be concerned about the lifespan of the monitor. Have you considered making the jump to a true 120Hz+ display?

If you don't mind the matte finish (I do...), then the 144Hz Asus is available from Newegg for $300.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I don't have much experience with this, but I would be concerned about the lifespan of the monitor. Have you considered making the jump to a true 120Hz+ display?

If you don't mind the matte finish (I do...), then the 144Hz Asus is available from Newegg for $300.

Something to consider in the future. Right now, 100hz shows no artifacts and so are others who've tried it with this monitor. So far so good as there's no difference in temps or performance but I'm just trying to see if I can spot the main differences as it seems really smooth but not sure if I'm looking at this right.

 

[Rodney McKay]

Whelp, I finally got my new Mobo, CPU, RAM, Heatsink, and SSD installed!

I hadn't intended to buy a new harddrive, but I forgot to back it up before I installed everything, and I REALLY didn't feel like replacing everything any putting it all back. Since I needed to do a full reinstall of Windows I figured it would be the best time to just buy a new harddrive (as mine is 3-4 years old at this point).

Went to Fry's and got a 256gb Samsung SSD (HOLY CRAP those things are tiny and light!)

I had two scares during the process, first with screwing in the board, and second with updated the board's BIOS. I didn't have one of the pegs screwed in tight enough, so when I screwed the board down it wouldn't tighten all the way and I couldn't get the screw to come out either (the peg would unscrew instead)! I worked it out in the end though and it seems very stable.

Then after I installed the updated BIOS and rebooted, the computer just kept turning on and shutting off over and over and over again. I had to reinstall the original BIOS to get it to stop. No idea what the issue was, but I won't touch that again.


Now I'm just looking for good overclocking instructions so I can get the most out of my i5. I don't think I'll boost it all the way to 4.4GHz since I'm sure I don't have the best ventilation in my case, but I think I could easily get it to 4GHz.

Even at default clockspeed I can already play Mario Galaxy on Dolphin pretty much perfectly, I just need to get my bluetooth drivers updated to get my Wii Remote to work. In the meantime I've got Witcher 2 reinstalling. Can't wait to give that a second runthrough!

 

[Koroviev]

Whelp, I finally got my new Mobo, CPU, RAM, Heatsink, and SSD installed!

I hadn't intended to buy a new harddrive, but I forgot to back it up before I installed everything, and I REALLY didn't feel like replacing everything any putting it all back. Since I needed to do a full reinstall of Windows I figured it would be the best time to just buy a new harddrive (as mine is 3-4 years old at this point).

Went to Fry's and got a 256gb Samsung SSD (HOLY CRAP those things are tiny and light!)

I had two scares during the process, first with screwing in the board, and second with updated the board's BIOS. I didn't have one of the pegs screwed in tight enough, so when I screwed the board down it wouldn't tighten all the way and I couldn't get the screw to come out either (the peg would unscrew instead)! I worked it out in the end though and it seems very stable.

Then after I installed the updated BIOS and rebooted, the computer just kept turning on and shutting off over and over and over again. I had to reinstall the original BIOS to get it to stop. No idea what the issue was, but I won't touch that again.


Now I'm just looking for good overclocking instructions so I can get the most out of my i5. I don't think I'll boost it all the way to 4.4GHz since I'm sure I don't have the best ventilation in my case, but I think I could easily get it to 4GHz.

Even at default clockspeed I can already play Mario Galaxy on Dolphin pretty much perfectly, I just need to get my bluetooth drivers updated to get my Wii Remote to work. In the meantime I've got Witcher 2 reinstalling. Can't wait to give that a second runthrough!

That's always fun. The trick is to remove the board and keep the standoff stationary with pliers while removing the screw.

 

[M3z_]

Okay got my Prodigy put together with the parts I have right now.

Black Prodigy
Corsair h100 w/ 2 SP 120's
i5 3570k @ 4.4Ghz
Asrock Z77 ITXe
8 GB Avexir Ram @ 1866mhz
120 GB Patriot Pyro SSD
Corsair CX600

Now I just wait for the 7950 I ordered today

 

[Touch]

What should my idle temps be at with a 3570k/212 Evo? I'm looking at RealTemp and my min is 33 27 30 23, max 37 32 37 29. I also have never used RealTemp before so I have no idea what I'm looking for or at. :lol

 

[Rodney McKay]

That's always fun. The trick is to remove the board and keep the standoff stationary with pliers while removing the screw.

I felt like a total fucking idiot for making that mistake, haha.

The worst part is I didn't even need to unscrew them in the first place since they were all in the same position as my old motherboard!

 

[Cpt Cook]

Massive update to my PC. I got rid of the old i7-930, she did me well for nearly three years, we have a lot of good memories. Also a shout out to my DFI Lan Party Jnr motherboard, it was the best board I've ever had, and probably ever will, R.I.P. DFI.

In with the i7-3930k and six cores of 4.8GHz goodness. I was expecting good results in synthetic benchmarks but what I got was nothing short of outstanding. Shows you just how important CPU performance is with a CF or SLi setup.

All games got a significant boost and Crysis 3 on max settings at 2560x1600 is a thing of beauty.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/95253

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/150687

 

[scogoth]

Massive update to my PC. I got rid of the old i7-930, she did me well for nearly three years, we have a lot of good memories. Also a shout out to my DFI Lan Party Jnr motherboard, it was the best board I've ever had, and probably ever will, R.I.P. DFI.

In with the i7-3930k and six cores of 4.8GHz goodness. I was expecting good results in synthetic benchmarks but what I got was nothing short of outstanding. Shows you just how important CPU performance is with a CF or SLi setup.

All games got a significant boost and Crysis 3 on max settings at 2560x1600 is a thing of beauty.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/95253

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/150687

Did the same thing, said bye to my 930 for a 3770K and it is amazing.

 

[memecomplex]

Something to consider in the future. Right now, 100hz shows no artifacts and so are others who've tried it with this monitor. So far so good as there's no difference in temps or performance but I'm just trying to see if I can spot the main differences as it seems really smooth but not sure if I'm looking at this right.

Don't worry about it, spend some time at 100hz and when you do decide to go back to 60hz, you should definitely feel the difference. Or you can do what all enthusiasts do for fun: switch back and forth to make an A to B comparison and spot the difference.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Don't worry about it, spend some time at 100hz and when you do decide to go back to 60hz, you should definitely feel the difference. Or you can do what all enthusiasts do for fun: switch back and forth to make an A to B comparison and spot the difference.

Been doing a lot of that but just moving windows around I can tell there is more fluidity. Going back to 60 and stuff moves around a little more rough and is kind of jarring depending on what you're looking at when things are in motion. Even at 100hz it's still really smooth.

 

[memecomplex]

Been doing a lot of that but just moving windows around I can tell there is more fluidity. Going back to 60 and stuff moves around a little more rough and is kind of jarring depending on what you're looking at when things are in motion. Even at 100hz it's still really smooth.

When I did mine on my old CRT, I could tell the difference right off the bat (also due to the CRT's zero input lag). Try setting your mouse's polling rate to 1000hz if you haven't already. Pick your favorite fps (one that goes up above 100 fps), turn off Vsync and mouse smoothing and play. The first time I did that I thought I was 21 again playing Quake 2 with l33t skillz (which in hindsight I realized was also running past 100fps).

 

[mkenyon]

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphi...art-3-First-Results-New-GPU-Performance-Tools

Interesting article using new tools to measure perceived frame rates (They call it "Frame Rating"). Looks like under these conditions, AMD still has some work to do on their drivers when running CrossFire.

When omitting what they call "runt" frames, CrossFire is barely offering a perceived increase in framerate, and noticeably inferior to SLI, all the while AMD's card is consistently doing a better job than nVidia when only running a single card.

They haven't disclosed most of the methodology. For all we know, these results might be from older drivers. Gotta wait till they do the full write up.

 

[Pandemic]

Hey, I'm still looking to purchase a PC, and I've found this build on PCCaseGear (Australian website), and was wondering if it's worth the $1849.00 (think this price also includes the $100 fee of them building it)
System Components:
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard
Graphics: ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II Overclocked
Memory: Corsair Vengeance CML16GX3M2A1600C10 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001
Solid State Drive: Samsung 840 Series 120GB SSD
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB SATA DVDRW Drive
Case: Corsair Graphite 600T Special Edition White Case
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Plus 600W ST60F-P
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with SP1

 

[Threi]

Got a CM Xornet mouse since it has a rebate (on top of it already being cheap as hell)...and my Logitech G5 is starting to visibly age.

Using it...i'm kinda torn. On one hand i like the smaller, rounder form factor and its more comfortable to move around (and the scroll wheel is way better), but on the other hand it feels more flimsy than my worn-down g5. And I can't really do the index on left button/middle finger on scroll wheel/ring finger on right button because its too small. So scrolling is kinda annoying.

Also would be nice if i could get some software to map the buttons...I like mapping middle click to the side button.

But for $20 (with a $10 rebate) its a great mouse.

 

[Cpt Cook]

I get nearly double the frames with CF 7970 in BF3 at 2560x1600.

 

[Gotchaye]

Got a CM Xornet mouse since it has a rebate (on top of it already being cheap as hell)...and my Logitech G5 is starting to visibly age.

Using it...i'm kinda torn. On one hand i like the smaller, rounder form factor and its more comfortable to move around (and the scroll wheel is way better), but on the other hand it feels more flimsy than my worn-down g5. And I can't really do the index on left button/middle finger on scroll wheel/ring finger on right button because its too small. So scrolling is kinda annoying.

Also would be nice if i could get some software to map the buttons...I like mapping middle click to the side button.

But for $20 (with a $10 rebate) its a great mouse.

I got one of these a few months ago and it did take a little while to get used to, but now I like it a lot. Now my default grip has my index on the left button and my middle finger on the (right side of the) wheel, with my ring finger in the groove that says Xornet and my pinkie bracing the right side (mirroring my thumb). Middle finger does double duty, but it's pretty easy to right click even while remaining in contact with the wheel (rotating around the side of it).

 

[scogoth]

I get nearly double the frames with CF 7970 in BF3 at 2560x1600.

Read the link. The whole point is if you discard frames that are rendering say less then 10 vertical pixels then the perceived frame rate drops dramatically. If you look at the frame times the CF bounces up and down like crazy. The full review will shed some more light on it. Like mkenyon said it looks like they are using old AMD drivers that have higher fps but terrible frame time variance. New drivers are supposed to smooth out the frame times a lot.

 

[Smokey]

Hate to do it, but I'm bailing out of building my Titan PC. Trying to cancel orders from Newegg, Amazon, and NCIX. I know technology always advances, but I think I would regret it if I spent $7000 on whats out there now. I'll just game on my ASUS laptop until Maxwell cards with 6gb GDDR5 hit shelves... by then TB SSDs should be affordable, Highend HASWELL CPUs should be out and about, and hopefully Samsung will finally have more magic RAM in the form of DDR4... Plus my fiance had a talk with me... >.>

oh one of those talks huh.

 

[Windom Earle]

I am having a hard time deciding between using Speedstep or a locked frequency for my 3770K. What do you guys recommend?

Anyone?

 

[cyen]

Anyone?

Any reason why you dont want to user speedstep?

I keep it on, it downclocks the cpu speed when its not needed meaning lower power consumption a less heat.

 

[metalshade]

Still, one day I'll go for a true tenkeyless design like a KBT Pure or something.

I just bought one of those, with browns.
One of the nicest things I have ever touched.
Takes a while to get used to the extra key-presses to access certain functions, but it is brilliant for comfy couch setup.

 

[Ellimist22]

I am trying to put together a new quiet gaming PC, any help would be appreciated.
Your Current Specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3 GHz / 6 GB DDR2 / Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3HP / ATI Radeon HD 3200 / Foxconn ISO-450PP 350W / Foxconn Mid Tower
Budget: up to $2,500 / Australia
Main Use: 5. Gaming, 4. General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback), 3. HD Streaming, 2. Emulation (PS2/Wii), 1. Light Gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080p, buying two new 27" monitors
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60FPS, nothing specific, but let's say Crysis 3
Looking to reuse any parts?: 3 x WD Green WD20EARS 2TB HDDs
When will you build?: Looking to buy this week
Will you be overclocking?: Maybe, in the future

I have come up with this: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/FCZr
CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K - $229
CPU HSF: Noctua NH-U12P SE2 - $72
Mobo: Asus P8Z77-V LGA1155 - $193
RAM: G.Skill Ares F3-1866C9Q-16GAB 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 - $119
SSD: SanDisk Extreme 240GB - $195
HDD: Western Digital Red 3TB WD30EFRX - $169
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX670 OC 2GB - $419
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 USB3.0 Black - $148
Case Fan: Fractal Design Silent Series Case Fan 140mm - $14
PSU: Silverstone Strider Plus 750W - $145
ODD: Lite-on IHBS312 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer - $75
Monitors: Viewsonic 27" VA2703-LED - $199 x2
Speakers: Logitech LS-21 Speakers Black - $21
OS: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade 64-bit - $15

I am going to buy from CPL, which will add $105 to put it all together and brings the total to just over AU$2,300.
What do you think of the build? Is there anything you would change/add/remove?

 

[masterkajo]

I have some questions and hope someone here can help me.

My current PC specs:
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K @ 3.3GHz
Motherboard: Asus P8H67 Rev.3
RAM: 2x DDR3 2GB
SSD: Samsung 830 128GB
HDD: 2x Seagate ST3250820AS ATA 7200RPM
GPU: Asus HD 5770
PSU: Corsair 430W
OS: Win 7

1. Could this run The Witcher 2 and Bioshock Infinte (and current to "next gen" games) at an acceptable level? (eg: I can play Sleeping Dogs at medium at about 34FPS but at max I get 13FPS average)

2. I am thinking of upgrading to an Asus HD 7870. Will my PSU be enough for that? Also, is the 7870 a good choice?

I did some calculations on this site http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine and get 360W with my 5770 and 410W with the 7870. So my max 430W PSU should work theoretically. Don't know how reliable the site is, though.

I don't have much money right now since I just started working but was thinking of using the 7870 for about the next 2 years and then build a new PC. Or would the 5770 be enough for the next 2 years? Probably not, though.

Thank you!

 

[Hawk269]

Need some help.

I am tying to secure erase one of my SSD's, but it keeps telling me it is in a Frozen State. The software suggests that I disconnect the power to the SSD for a few seconds and reconnect, but the same error occurs. I have the new Samsung 840 pro and need some major help here.

Thanks!

 

[joeygreco1985]

Hate to do it, but I'm bailing out of building my Titan PC. Trying to cancel orders from Newegg, Amazon, and NCIX. I know technology always advances, but I think I would regret it if I spent $7000 on whats out there now. I'll just game on my ASUS laptop until Maxwell cards with 6gb GDDR5 hit shelves... by then TB SSDs should be affordable, Highend HASWELL CPUs should be out and about, and hopefully Samsung will finally have more magic RAM in the form of DDR4... Plus my fiance had a talk with me... >.>

I feel your pain bro. I'm putting my PC upgrade off until after my wedding next year

 

[kami_sama]

At least!! I finally bought the new card!

A Sapphire 7950 and a LG ips monitor, for about 400 euros.

 

[lmpaler]

Holy crap, I didn't realize Haswell is supposedly so close to coming out(June). Now I am debating on waiting to build the new rig until it drops or just go with the tried and true Ivy Birdge. Thoughts GAF?

 

[Koroviev]

I have some questions and hope someone here can help me.

My current PC specs:
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K @ 3.3GHz
Motherboard: Asus P8H67 Rev.3
RAM: 2x DDR3 2GB
SSD: Samsung 830 128GB
HDD: 2x Seagate ST3250820AS ATA 7200RPM
GPU: Asus HD 5770
PSU: Corsair 430W
OS: Win 7

1. Could this run The Witcher 2 and Bioshock Infinte (and current to "next gen" games) at an acceptable level? (eg: I can play Sleeping Dogs at medium at about 34FPS but at max I get 13FPS average)

2. I am thinking of upgrading to an Asus HD 7870. Will my PSU be enough for that? Also, is the 7870 a good choice?

I did some calculations on this site http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine and get 360W with my 5770 and 410W with the 7870. So my max 430W PSU should work theoretically. Don't know how reliable the site is, though.

I don't have much money right now since I just started working but was thinking of using the 7870 for about the next 2 years and then build a new PC. Or would the 5770 be enough for the next 2 years? Probably not, though.

Thank you!

No, the 5770 is a rather weak card at this point. The 7870 is good, but the 7950 at $300 is probably the best value if you can swing it.

As for the PSU, I think you're more likely to run into connection issues. Look up the PCIe requirements for the card and check to see if your PSU even has the necessary connectors.

 

[Koroviev]

Holy crap, I didn't realize Haswell is supposedly so close to coming out(June). Now I am debating on waiting to build the new rig until it drops or just go with the tried and true Ivy Birdge. Thoughts GAF?

Haswell is likely going to be a revision favoring efficiency over increases in power, so I'd say go with Ivy rather than waiting. If you're looking to build around a socket with a future, then there's always Sandy Bridge-E as well.

 

[teh_pwn]

Holy crap, I didn't realize Haswell is supposedly so close to coming out(June). Now I am debating on waiting to build the new rig until it drops or just go with the tried and true Ivy Birdge. Thoughts GAF?

Depends on what you have now.

I'm on Sandy Bridge. I'm waiting until Haswell benches come out to decide whether or not to get Haswell or Ivy Bridge EX. Rumors are not good...10% increase in performance over Ivy, no increase in CPU frequency due to on chip voltage regulator.

 

[Koroviev]

I am trying to put together a new quiet gaming PC, any help would be appreciated.
Your Current Specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3 GHz / 6 GB DDR2 / Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3HP / ATI Radeon HD 3200 / Foxconn ISO-450PP 350W / Foxconn Mid Tower
Budget: up to $2,500 / Australia
Main Use: 5. Gaming, 4. General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback), 3. HD Streaming, 2. Emulation (PS2/Wii), 1. Light Gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080p, buying two new 27" monitors
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60FPS, nothing specific, but let's say Crysis 3
Looking to reuse any parts?: 3 x WD Green WD20EARS 2TB HDDs
When will you build?: Looking to buy this week
Will you be overclocking?: Maybe, in the future

I have come up with this: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/FCZr
CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K - $229
CPU HSF: Noctua NH-U12P SE2 - $72
Mobo: Asus P8Z77-V LGA1155 - $193
RAM: G.Skill Ares F3-1866C9Q-16GAB 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 - $119
SSD: SanDisk Extreme 240GB - $195
HDD: Western Digital Red 3TB WD30EFRX - $169
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX670 OC 2GB - $419
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 USB3.0 Black - $148
Case Fan: Fractal Design Silent Series Case Fan 140mm - $14
PSU: Silverstone Strider Plus 750W - $145
ODD: Lite-on IHBS312 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer - $75
Monitors: Viewsonic 27" VA2703-LED - $199 x2
Speakers: Logitech LS-21 Speakers Black - $21
OS: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade 64-bit - $15

I am going to buy from CPL, which will add $105 to put it all together and brings the total to just over AU$2,300.
What do you think of the build? Is there anything you would change/add/remove?

It's pretty solid, but you could save money in a few places. Here are some suggestions:


- Look into getting either the Samsung 840 Pro or the M4 instead of the SanDisk drive.
- 8GB of RAM should be more than sufficient.
- If you're not going to SLI, opt for either the 7950 or the 7970. 7970 Ghz edition is arguably one of the best single GPU's available.
- Consider a 120Hz+ panel if you like responsiveness. Huge improvement over 60Hz is you can find one for a decent price.

 

[gilljoy]

So My GTX 570 has died

I'm RMA'ing it and going to sell the replacement and use this as an excuse to upgrade.

I'm thinking of a GTX 680 or a 7970. Not sure which to pick up performance wise and theres nearly a £100 difference on the 680 than there is on the 7970 not taking into account the 2 free games.

I remember back when I got my 570 ATI didn't have as good performance as Nvidia is this still the case?

 

[Koroviev]

So My GTX 570 has died

I'm RMA'ing it and going to sell the replacement and use this as an excuse to upgrade.

I'm thinking of a GTX 680 or a 7970. Not sure which to pick up performance wise and theres nearly a £100 difference on the 680 than there is on the 7970 not taking into account the 2 free games.

I remember back when I got my 570 ATI didn't have as good performance as Nvidia is this still the case?

Nope, AMD has really turned things around in the drivers department. 7970 Ghz edition is arguably one of the most powerful single GPUs on the market right now.

 

[BackwardsSuggestions]

If I purchased a GTX680, would I be bottle-necked by my i5-2400?

 

[Koroviev]

If I purchased a GTX680, would I be bottle-necked by my i5-2400?

Depends on the game. The main issue is that you can't overclock.

 

[CrashPrime]

So My GTX 570 has died

I'm RMA'ing it and going to sell the replacement and use this as an excuse to upgrade.

I'm thinking of a GTX 680 or a 7970. Not sure which to pick up performance wise and theres nearly a £100 difference on the 680 than there is on the 7970 not taking into account the 2 free games.

I remember back when I got my 570 ATI didn't have as good performance as Nvidia is this still the case?

Single card = AMD 7970 ghz. Less expensive than nVidia, usually out performs, more overclocking potential, and that's not even factoring in the free game bundle.

Multi card = nVidia GTX 670 or 680's.

 

[lmpaler]

So My GTX 570 has died

I'm RMA'ing it and going to sell the replacement and use this as an excuse to upgrade.

I'm thinking of a GTX 680 or a 7970. Not sure which to pick up performance wise and theres nearly a £100 difference on the 680 than there is on the 7970 not taking into account the 2 free games.

I remember back when I got my 570 ATI didn't have as good performance as Nvidia is this still the case?

The only thing you'll miss out on is PhysX, if you care lol. To me seeing it in action is cool, but right now AMD is giving out free games with the cards. It seriously doesn't get better than that

 

[teh_pwn]

So what's the deal with the free games? Is AMD struggling to compete, or are they clearing inventory for a Q2 release of 8000 series?

Derp, nevermind. I saw Q2 on wiki, but that's OEM.

 

[gilljoy]

Think I'm going to pick this one up:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-073-HS

Any other recommendations?

 

[Koroviev]

Think I'm going to pick this one up:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-073-HS

Any other recommendations?

AFAIK, HIS is a brand to avoid if you live in the UK. I would go for either Gigabyte or MSI.