New AMD driver to reduce frame latency issues.

He'll never buy one then. There is always something better coming along soon plus when you buy brand new cards almost always the drivers for the first two or three months are terrible with the brand new card.

 

You just described the entire article linked in the first post

 

Can't test trifire yet, my psu hasn't come in the mail yet, was supposed to arrive on Friday .

7950s are now going for 300, with the 2 absolute best versions (in my opinion thr HIS IceQ X2 and MSI Lightning) going for 320. These are based on the ghz edition model which is the best model AMD offer, but are then built on the 7970 pcb, then they add further high quality components.

If you look at any review of the HIS IceQ X2, MSI lightning (or even the equivalent sapphire) you will see the insane safe, stable and super cool overclocks they are consistently capable of achieving. They even surpass stock 7970s and GTX680s.

Also, if you don't have the best cooling and/or case, and/or you're using multiple gpus, the HIS IceQ X Turbo (different than the X2) is awesome. It has a blower fan design that doesn't allow a drop of hot air to re-circulate back into your case like every other card does.

I am super SUPER impressed with HIS and their 7xxx series cards. In most 7950 round up tests (usually consisting of 5 or 6 7950s) they constantly are either the 1st or 2nd most overclockable, the 1st or 2nd (usually 1st) coolest, and despite all this, dont suffer in noise as they are usually 2nd or 3rd quitest in noise levels.

My next upgrade will most likely be triple HIS 7950 IceQ Turbos with their awesome "made for multi GPU" cooling systems, or the IceQ X2 which is just as quick, if not the quickest 7950 you will find period.

I can't wait for these to drop further.

 

Well, it's not an issue of trying to have a newer card than anyone/everyone, it's whether or not what is on the market now (like the gtx670 and the hd7970 in the $400-$500) price range is worth stepping up to from a 6950 2GB.??


BTW Spinelli... the card I have is a HIS IceQ, it has been problem free thus far and stayed very cool. Of course my case is maxed with fans so 50-55c is what it runs with the triple monitor rez.

 

it seems they released the new drivers for hd 3000,4000,2000 series. I'm installing right now from the ati site the 13.1

edit: omg tested portugal,palm beach and belgium with same settings I used before(high set) and no stuttering! no fps drop in entire track. so smooth that it hurts

that is true but imagine if you're not well informed and spend 500$ on top ATI card and after 1 week comes out a new ati top card for 550$ and the one you bought drops to 400$ I would die. lol
he has a good setup just enough until new cards arrive then It's a good upgrade IMO

 

I wouldn't buy anything from current series (nvidia 600 and AMD 7000) if I was running 6950. I don't think there is enough performance difference and/or not enough for the price. I would wait for the next series from both and see how those cards compare.

 

Thank you Abriel and TiTan, that was what I was wondering... if it was a big enough performance gain to warrant replacement at that price. I have hesitated trying crossfire because I've heard they have their own problems but if I could pick up a second card cheap it might be worth a shot. I have the mobo to handle and a 850w Corsair psu.

If I wait for the next series of non-ref cards I may end up waiting a year though right?? Considering I hate to buy something the minute it hits the market at primo price. If that time estimate seems right I suppose CF would be a reasonable "filler" until I can make a sizable upgrade. Sound right?

Thanks for you help.
Bailey

 

I'd go for the crossfire lopsided

 

Without the experience of owning AMD CF, I would pass on such a setup. Too many reports of stuttering.

 

If the frames are high then probably no stuttering, if using vsync then no stuttering, if you use a frame rate limiter then no stuttering, but yes it generally isn't as fluid as single cards, but most people don't notice the stuttering especially if you cap your frames so they dont jump around, that makes it great. I us dxtory to limit my frames to around 120 in all my sims, it's great, no stuttering or hickups, but when you disable the crossfire then I admit it does feel more fluid, almost like you have vsync on

 

I installed the 13.1 and have lost about 15 to 20 fps with all the same settings in ccc.

I was coming from the 11.4s and was getting 60fps flat with sync on video now under 40fps.
Infact regardless of my Sync setting it remains the same and make no difference.

Installation: uninstalled all ati software, rebooted, started in safe mode, ran driver sweeper cleared all ati files.

Rebooted installed 13.1 then AMD_Catalyst_12.11_CAP2 All for Win 7 64 bit OS

I have played with all the setting but fps remains the same im not seeing any gains and am considering going back to the 11.4s, this is why im reluctant to update drivers its been a step backwards.

 

The 13.2 beta 4 does away with the CF stuttering. Along with a bunch of other bugs. Like directx9 flickering. Cleared up my Skyrim, and rf2. IMO, it's the best driver I've used.

 

Agree that upgrading from 6950 is not worth it, the difference is very small.

In general though, people who run some cheaper and mid range cards I would advise those not to wait months and simply buy something because the next generation is not going to make that much difference either. 8000 series will be the same architecture with just more cores, speeds and so on. A real big leap should come at beginning of 2015 with 20nm process (currently 28nm).

 

Holy crap!!

 

Last year's step in GPU performance was actually quite large. It is not often that a generation increases the performance 40-50% as the 680 and 7970 did. Switching from a 6950 to a top-end card could more or less double the frame rate and if you call that "not enough" or "not worth it"... If not upgrading now you're stuck with poor performance for maybe another year.

As you say the coming generation will not give the same increase as the last one did and that is mainly because by using the same technology there isn't space to include more transistors. That is definitely the case for AMD and according to preliminary specs they seem to be conservative with the next generation. With nVidia on the other hand the 680 was meant as the mainstream GPU and they have room to more or less double the number of cores. The Titan that is to be released in a month was intended as the performance GPU and will be a huge step! But not a cheap one...

 

Oh no, you're killing me! lol
I've got this in the cart just waiting for a sale. Do I, don't I?
You know how it is... you do all this research, get your heart set on an upgrade then someone says stop, someone says go and I am waiting for a sign. A sale sign would do it! lol

 

Updated OP to latest AMD Catalyst 13.2 BETA 5 (12.100.17.0 February 2)

The driver we are REALLY waiting for is 13.3 - but this contains much of what we need already!

Awesome driver.


EDIT: Just my 2 cents - HD7900 series will drop in price dramatically when the HD8000 series is released (very soon). THEN is the time to look into crossfire 7900s.

 

AMD Catalyst 13.2 BETA 5 official download link:
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/amdcatalyst132betadriver.aspx

 

My 2 cents again - xfire HD7870's outdo a GTX680 for the same price (not really surprising - by about 10%), but when the HD8000 comes out you will be able to do that with HD7970's - 30% faster again than Xfire 7850's. Not sure what nVidia have coming up though?

EDIT: Holy bajeezuz:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=416&products_id=22591

 

Wow Nand, that is some price tag on that card, but what performance