# 7870 to 280x worth it?



## tuunade988 (Feb 20, 2014)

atm ive got a gigaybte 7870 and am thinking about upgrading to a 280x. Im a big gamer, i play games like battlefield 4 quite alot. So my question is, is it worth upgrading from a 7870 to a 280x? Games like thief are coming out and i want to play them on decent graphics at 1080p. My 7870 is also struggling abit on battlefield 4, im playing it on ultra and high settings at 1080p. In alot of maps like siege of shanghai and the new maps like caspian border, I tend to get frame rates as low as in the 30s, but maps such as operation locker, i get frame rates up to 90 - 140. Should i upgrade? i mean $400 is alot of money.


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## erocker (Feb 20, 2014)

I find it hard to imagine that they are basically still charging close to $500 bucks for what is essentially a 7970. Now is a horrible time to upgrade. Sure, it will be better with the 280x, but pretty expensive for a 1 1/2 year old card.


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## tuunade988 (Feb 20, 2014)

yeah.. im kinda tight on money atm as well, i mean im still able to play most recent games, but yeah like i said, games like battlefield 4 my 7870 is starting to struggle with.


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## Scheich (Feb 20, 2014)

60% more is nice, but 2560 is 100% more pixel than 1650 and the next gfx batch comes in october which might close the gap


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## Tatty_One (Feb 20, 2014)

Do yu have a crossfire motherboard and a decent PSU?  maybe a more effective way would be to buy another (possibly 2nd hand) 7870 to give you that performance boost you seek.


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

You also may want to take a look at the sale forum here...


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## fullinfusion (Feb 20, 2014)

erocker said:


> I find it hard to imagine that they are basically still charging close to $500 bucks for what is essentially a 7970. Now is a horrible time to upgrade. Sure, it will be better with the 280x, but pretty expensive for a 1 1/2 year old card.


Well im paying $599 plus tax per 290 card. and the 280x isn't a 1.5 yr old card.

Sure its re-brand but it's also an upgraded re-brand as they say. Better everything...It's gotta be a tad faster then a 7970 and Hell Id grab one if I didn't sell my last 7970


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## Jetster (Feb 20, 2014)

You can buy a GTX 780 for $500 much better deal. AMD has too high of a demand right now


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## GreiverBlade (Feb 20, 2014)

tuunade988 said:


> yeah.. im kinda tight on money atm as well, i mean im still able to play most recent games, but yeah like i said, games like battlefield 4 my 7870 is starting to struggle with.


eh? my R9 270 (which is basically a 7870ghz rebrand with some tweak) handle BF4 without any problem... 

but as many said : price are going up  due to cryptocurrency, again not in switzerland ... strange maybe swiss people go more for Asics block erupter than AMD gpu...


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## fullinfusion (Feb 20, 2014)

Jetster said:


> You can buy a GTX 780 for $500 much better deal. AMD has too high of a demand right now


Now why would I buy a green card? Tell me please.

A 780 overclocked to the balls beats a STOCK 290-290X clocked card.

Clock up the radeon gpu and say bye bye 780 lol.

Plus look at what ppl are getting for used ATI cards, A hella  lot more then the green card but that's just my opinion.

Look at what amd is doing with drivers, Mantle is in the mix so why not go with a new tech? *plus the green team will slam mantle* have an I3-I5 and amd is the best bet!

I know 780 vs 280X is a clear winner but hey if your going to spend a hun less then a 780 then why not spend a hundred more and have something?


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

Not to repeat myself...  but I can't believe some of you complaining about GPU prices haven't looked at a very particular thread in the for sale forum...  There just might be a GPU in there tonight priced like it should be...  

Ah, mods, forgive me for the not so subtle plug...  But it really is worth pointing out.


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## under_score (Feb 20, 2014)

AMD Radeon™ R9 290X. Take a look at this. See if it fits your needs.    -- My suggestion.


http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/R9/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-r9-series.aspx#2


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## fullinfusion (Feb 20, 2014)

R-T-B said:


> Not to repeat myself...  but I can't believe some of you complaining about GPU prices haven't looked at a very particular thread in the for sale forum...  There just might be a GPU in there tonight priced like it should be...
> 
> Ah, mods, forgive me for the not so subtle plug...  But it really is worth pointing out.


Ever think some dont want used? But forgive me and thanks for the tip


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

That's actually an excellent point and might explain a bit the lack of um, response.  Granted, my card hasn't been put in sweatshop mining conditions (I want all my cards to last longer than they do in most gaming rigs) but I get your point.  Thanks.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 20, 2014)

fullinfusion said:


> Now why would I buy a green card? Tell me please.
> 
> A 780 overclocked to the balls beats a STOCK 290-290X clocked card.
> 
> ...



No, I dont have to overclock my 780 nearly as much as you seem to believe to match and beat 290/290x.


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## fullinfusion (Feb 20, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> No, I dont have to overclock my 780 nearly as much as you seem to believe to match and beat 290/290x.


Well coming from you I take what you say with a grain of salt. Reviewers here seem to sway more towards me then your comment states.

I said a 780 overclocked can beat a factory stock clocked 290 290X card, but just give the AMD gpu a tiny bump and it's like see ya!


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle, having tried both.  AMD does win when both are overclocked though, which really settles it.  Still, it's not hard to push a 780 to beat a stock 290X...  and 780s are so much more affordable on an average day, lol

I currently run with AMD...  But I bought when they were cheaper...  A lot of them...


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## fullinfusion (Feb 20, 2014)

R-T-B said:


> I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle, having tried both.  AMD does win when both are overclocked though, which really settles it.  Still, it's not hard to push a 780 to beat a stock 290X...


No its not, but just do what the green guy does, and clock the red card up.

TBH I've owned green before and after having a 290 I was totally amazed on how well videos look.

Thats just one of my observations.


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

I'll agree there, having owned both NVIDIA has always been a bit behind on video optimization and playback...  they still kick intel in the nuts there but who doesn't? lol

CUVID is a cool technology for video acceleration though, and speaking of proprietary exclusive tech, CUDA is also pretty damn awesome.  PhysX is meh.  Mantle is awesome beyond measure if they can reach the performance figures they are talking about.  I'll call it a tie in proprietary technology stuff for now, but an AMD win if they improve Mantle.

I still buy NVIDIA for linux rigs though, because AMD doesn't know how to code a linux driver for shit.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 20, 2014)

fullinfusion said:


> Well coming from you I take what you say with a grain of salt. Reviewers here seem to sway more towards me then your comment states.
> 
> I said a 780 overclocked can beat a factory stock clocked 290 290X card, but just give the AMD gpu a tiny bump and it's like see ya!



You said a 780 overclocked to the balls. Nice try changing what you said. Now go on, go enjoy your "better looking" placebo effect videos.


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

It could be placebo, especially at this point, but back in the day one of the (few) pros to the Radeon HD 2xxx series was they could decently decode blu-ray, while nvidia was still having some issues with picture quality (especially in 24FPS mode), iirc.


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## XSI (Feb 20, 2014)

tuunade988 said:


> . My 7870 is also struggling abit on battlefield 4, im playing it on ultra and high settings at 1080p. Should i upgrade? i mean $400 is alot of money.



Do you use AA like 4xMSAA? or other? If so lower it and you should be ok. On my pc in signature with 6870 i tried BF3 and i played on ultra with no AA and had 40+ fps. With AA it was 20-25fps.


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## GreiverBlade (Feb 20, 2014)

and i bet the OP will not find a single useful thing in all those comment ...

@tuunade988 : what's the rest of your rig ... can you fill the System Specs in your account management (or state it here ...)
i am wondering what could drag down your PC for BF4 ... as i wrote previously even in high settings i get a playable FPS with my main rig (X4 760K R9 270)

now for the AMD VS Nvidia poll : start a new thread if you want but stop doing it here, pretty please with sugar and cream on top.


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## Jetster (Feb 20, 2014)

fullinfusion. I was referring to his statement that he was goin to upgrade to a 280X. A GTX 780 at $500 is a better deal. A R9 290 is another issue and if he can afford it then yes. I would rather have an AMD anyday


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## buildzoid (Feb 20, 2014)

He should get a second R9 270(X) or HD7870 and crossfire them should get him close to the performance of a R9 290.


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## Devon68 (Feb 20, 2014)

> *7870 to 280x worth it?*


Short answer NO
Maybe upgrade in 6 months to something else.The 7870 is enough for now.The difference in ultra and high in BF4 is small.


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## Tatty_One (Feb 20, 2014)

In performance terms it's worth it for a 30% performace improvement, the cost to replace though is quite high, I only last week was in the same dilemma (I have a 7870), I ended up ordering a GTX 770, matches and often betters the 280 but where I am (UK) and in the US (Newegg) a fair bit cheaper.


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## Durvelle27 (Feb 20, 2014)

fullinfusion said:


> Well coming from you I take what you say with a grain of salt. Reviewers here seem to sway more towards me then your comment states.
> 
> I said a 780 overclocked can beat a factory stock clocked 290 290X card, but just give the AMD gpu a tiny bump and it's like see ya!


I can agree with this on the benchmark side of things but gaming you wont notice much Differenece.

In benchmarks my 290 @1215/1450 still beats my 780 @1300/1850


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## Ahhzz (Feb 20, 2014)

erocker said:


> I find it hard to imagine that they are basically still charging close to $500 bucks for what is essentially a 7970. Now is a horrible time to upgrade. Sure, it will be better with the 280x, but pretty expensive for a 1 1/2 year old card.



Yeah, it blows me away. you would almost have been better off buying factory right off the bat, before the 'miners discovered how good the cards were for mining. Now, instead of having a really sweet card at a sweet price range, we're screwed until the next generation of mining cards hits. I really hoped to get one soon to have for SC, guess I'll be waiting a lot longer...


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## tuunade988 (Feb 20, 2014)

I can't crossfire my 7870, I don't think my motherboard supports it. Ive got the GA-78LMT-S2P motherboard.


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## tuunade988 (Feb 20, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> eh? my R9 270 (which is basically a 7870ghz rebrand with some tweak) handle BF4 without any problem...
> 
> but as many said : price are going up  due to cryptocurrency, again not in switzerland ... strange maybe swiss people go more for Asics block erupter than AMD gpu...


what kind of frame rates are you getting with the 270 though? and at what settings? because im not really satisfied with 30 - 50 fps in big open maps, which bf4 is mainly all about. 30 - 40 fps is HORRIBLE and just doesn't feel smoothe at all to me.

EDIT: sorry for the double post, mantle does help me alot... maybe i should just wait for AMD to release new drivers where mantle is more optimized for me. At the moment mantle makes the game stutter alot for me, but if there were no stutter, it would be so much better for me than dx11.


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## GreiverBlade (Feb 20, 2014)

tuunade988 said:


> what kind of frame rates are you getting with the 270 though? and at what settings? because im not really satisfied with 30 - 50 fps in big open maps, which bf4 is mainly all about. 30 - 40 fps is HORRIBLE and just doesn't feel smoothe at all to me.
> 
> EDIT: sorry for the double post, mantle does help me alot... maybe i should just wait for AMD to release new drivers where mantle is more optimized for me. At the moment mantle makes the game stutter alot for me, but if there were no stutter, it would be so much better for me than dx11.




fun 30fps is the limit to be smooth but above the eye don't make a big difference, i play in high settings and i get 40-50fps average
i play at 1080p on a 32" TV but i rarely notice any stutters or slowdown, but : i don't do MP



GreiverBlade said:


> @tuunade988 : what's the rest of your rig ... can you fill the System Specs in your account management (or state it here ...)
> i am wondering what could drag down your PC for BF4 ... as i wrote previously even in high settings i get a playable FPS with my main rig (X4 760K R9 270).



sorry to repeat myself


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

Ahhzz said:


> Yeah, it blows me away. you would almost have been better off buying factory right off the bat, before the 'miners discovered how good the cards were for mining. Now, instead of having a really sweet card at a sweet price range, we're screwed until the next generation of mining cards hits. I really hoped to get one soon to have for SC, guess I'll be waiting a lot longer...




Used cards are out of the question for you I guess?


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## tuunade988 (Feb 20, 2014)

my rig is: AMD 1100t
                16gb RAM
                radeon 7870 GIABYTE 2gb
                corsair HX 850 PSU
                 windows 7 64bit
                motherboard: GA-78LMT-S2P



GreiverBlade said:


> fun 30fps is the limit to be smooth but above the eye don't make a big difference, i play in high settings and i get 40-50fps average
> i play at 1080p on a 32" TV but i rarely notice any stutters or slowdown, but : i don't do MP
> 
> 
> ...



60fps is my minimum. 50fps i can make an exception for, but any lower is just slow and laggy for me. Theres a massive difference between 30 fps and 60 fps, the eye may not be able to see it, but you can definitely feel it especially in a fps game. When you say "i don't do MP" does that mean you don't play multiplayer?


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

That seems pretty decent...  Got any heavy processes/software running?  What are you using for antivirus?  Some of the lesser quality antivirus suites can bog you down pretty bad, ironically.


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## GreiverBlade (Feb 20, 2014)

tuunade988 said:


> my rig is: AMD 1100t
> 16gb RAM
> radeon 7870 GIABYTE 2gb
> corsair HX 850 PSU
> ...



well ... it's kinda better than my
Athlon X4 760K @ 4.6
MSI R9 270
Tt Smart SE 530
8gb 2133 RAM
FM2A88M Ex4+

check the background running apps ... 

edit: ninja by R-T-B


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## tuunade988 (Feb 20, 2014)

im using avast.. and i usually have steam and skype running in the background.


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

I'd run a malware check just in case, and also make sure you are using the latest drivers...  oh wait, you said yo used Mantle.  nvm then.


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## tuunade988 (Feb 20, 2014)

ah ive recently ran a malware check with malwarebytes, so i should be okay there. Its my 7870 lol, i guess i cant be expecting 60fps on high settings on all maps at 1080p with a 7870, but maybe when mantle is fixed it might be alot better.


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

Yeah, the overclock on the user we're comparing you with may have some to do with it as well...  4.6Ghz is not bad...  Makes my current socket 1366 i7 965 build at a conservative 3.6Ghz cry, even with intels better per clock performance.

I'd say in the end, don't upgrade yet.  Just hold out.  If you have to upgrade, like I said earlier there's a steal in the sale forum for a 7970 Ghz edition (which is >280X by a small bit) right now, but otherwise it's not worth it, and even then it's questionable.


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## tuunade988 (Feb 20, 2014)

yeah i guess i wont upgrade than. Might just wait for mantle to get fixed up and hope that my 7870 can play the new THIEF game at 1080p on decent settings.


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

Yeah, I have high hopes for Mantle.  You have to remember it's in beta.  It'll get better...  heck for a beta even it's decent.


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## erocker (Feb 20, 2014)

fullinfusion said:


> Well im paying $599 plus tax per 290 card. and the 280x isn't a 1.5 yr old card.
> 
> Sure its re-brand but it's also an upgraded re-brand as they say. Better everything...It's gotta be a tad faster then a 7970 and Hell Id grab one if I didn't sell my last 7970


Nah man. Its a rebrand.


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## R-T-B (Feb 20, 2014)

Indeed.  Actually, the 7970 Ghz edition is slightly faster than a 280x.


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## Devon68 (Feb 20, 2014)

> 60fps is my minimum. 50fps i can make an exception for, but any lower is just slow and laggy for me. Theres a massive difference between 30 fps and 60 fps, the eye may not be able to see it, but you can definitely feel it especially in a fps game.


With my 7850 I get about 30-35 on ultra in battlefield 4,
and I get about 55-60 on high in battlefield 4


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## RejZoR (Feb 20, 2014)

The main problem with 280X is that it's actually a rebranded last year's card. So that will be like upgrading from HD7870 to HD7970. It is an upgrade, but not by 2 generations where performance would usually be much higher. I own the HD7950 and seeing how expensive 290X is and that lower versions are basically what i already have with different name, i'll just wait for R9 380X or R390X...


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## Ahhzz (Feb 20, 2014)

R-T-B said:


> Used cards are out of the question for you I guess?


Nah, I'm running dual 6950s right now, and I was hoping to hit a solid sweet spot in performance-to-money ratio with the new cards... I don't know. Guess I'll just wait a while  also, I wanted a new model for... see below


RejZoR said:


> The main problem with 280X is that it's actually a rebranded last year's card. So that will be like upgrading from HD7870 to HD7970. It is an upgrade, but not by 2 generations where performance would usually be much higher. I own the HD7950 and seeing how expensive 290X is and that lower versions are basically what i already have with different name, i'll just wait for R9 380X or R390X...



I thought one benefit to the new R2x0 line, was that it added direct 3-display support without the need for active DP? So I could run 3 HDMI connections from one card? " _In addition, gamers more accustomed to AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology will be freed to use virtually any combination of display outputs when connecting matching monitors to the DVI or HDMI outputs on their system." _Is that not the case?


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## BiggieShady (Feb 20, 2014)

tuunade988 said:


> hope that my 7870 can play the new THIEF game at 1080p on decent settings.



It will, no doubt, at similar image quality as PS4. That should be 'medium' setting in most new games.


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## fullinfusion (Feb 20, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> You said a 780 overclocked to the balls. Nice try changing what you said. Now go on, go enjoy your "better looking" placebo effect videos.


Listen here squirt I forgot to add in* to the balls* and im sorry to tell you but its not placebo effect videos im watching for info.. its actually a tpu sorce aka reviewer I got my info from mmkay so calm down we all play nicely together here cool.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 20, 2014)

Honestly, I would just wait for Nvidia next gen Maxwell, or AMD Rx 300 series. NVidia Maxwell is said to be out 2nd half of this year. Im thinking sometime during the summer.


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## BiggieShady (Feb 20, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> ... Now go on, go enjoy your "better looking" placebo effect videos.





fullinfusion said:


> ...  im sorry to tell you but its not placebo effect videos im watching for info.. its actually a tpu sorce aka reviewer I got my info from mmkay so calm down we all play nicely together here cool.



I'm sorry to be sorry but it is placebo, out of the box AMD has couple of prost-processing filters active and saturation boosted a bit ... if you want that with Nvidia you need to pull some sliders around.


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## Ahhzz (Feb 21, 2014)

Guys, can we really not turn this into another red-green war? Way off-topic, anyways.....


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 21, 2014)

just crossfire with another 7870 (if your card has the Pictarin Chip) or a 7870XT,7950,7970 (If your chip is Tahiti LE)


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## rubenclavs (Feb 21, 2014)

tuunade988 said:


> atm ive got a gigaybte 7870 and am thinking about upgrading to a 280x. Im a big gamer, i play games like battlefield 4 quite alot. So my question is, is it worth upgrading from a 7870 to a 280x? Games like thief are coming out and i want to play them on decent graphics at 1080p. My 7870 is also struggling abit on battlefield 4, im playing it on ultra and high settings at 1080p. In alot of maps like siege of shanghai and the new maps like caspian border, I tend to get frame rates as low as in the 30s, but maps such as operation locker, i get frame rates up to 90 - 140. Should i upgrade? i mean $400 is alot of money.



Crossfire 7870 would be awesome and can save you and won't junk that 7870 of yours.


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## GreiverBlade (Feb 21, 2014)

but it seems he can't


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