Upgrade question, worth going from a 6970 to a 280X?

Thinking about getting one of the re-branded 7970's that just came out, but not sure if it be worth it to or not, i was hoping to see some new cards this year but it seems everything new is going to be in the high end. Also wondering if its a good time to upgrade my processor, im still running a 2500k at 4.2Ghz, is there a 1155 socket processor out right now that would be worth upgrading or should i just stick with what i have for now? Thanks!

I'd say no and no, but it depends on how much money you have I guess. Going from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge won't do a lot for you and I doubt the bump you'd get from a 280X would be worth the $300. Maybe it would be worth it if you could use Crossfire, which I know works across generations with some ATI cards, though I'm not sure if the 6970 and 280X can do that.

your 2500k should be pretty alright still, i mean, have you ever run into a situation where it doesnt cut it? why the need to upgrade?

The longer you wait, the better the time is for an upgrade, just keep on waiting, until you feel you need an upgrade.

Still dont know what the price of the 290 and 290x are going to be, and how that might affect nvidia pricing. i'd hold out until BF4 launch or a tad bit longer if i was in the market for a new card.

Yea, for the most part my stuff works ok yet, i guess im just itching for the next leap and its not quite here yet. I'll wait it out until theirs a larger generation gap, thanks guys.

Honestly I'd wait about a year just to see how PS4 and Xbone ports are holding up, and to see if that forces a huge performance leap from nVidia/ATI.

@ajamafalous: thats not the way it works.

Nvidia and AMD are constantly innovating every year, regardless if a new console is being released or not.Consoles never actually help that process go faster, they just take the most optimal parts at the time of their release.

On the software side though, because the two coming consoles are so similar, architecturally, we might se cross platform optimization become easier for the developers.
But on the hardware side, it would look the same regardless if consoles got released this year or not.

TSMC and global foundries are preparing new proccessnodes though, this happens about every or every other year, and lets Nvidia and AMD produce more powerful and complex chips while still being the same size as the prior generation.

we'll probably see this node with nvidias coming maxwell series.

Regarding the processor, I'd say no. As long as your CPU is at a decent speed (which at 4.2 it appears to be) than you shouldn't really have to worry. I've been in a similar situation as you, been running at ATI 5870 for a couple of years now and feel it's time to upgrade. I'm personally going for a R9 280x (or 7970, prices seem fairly equal for obvious reasons) which shall last me a good few years for my needs.

@devildoll said:

Obviously nVidia and AMD aren't just resting on their laurels until a new console comes out (since the console have their cards in them to begin with), but a new console launch will a) force people to upgrade their GPUs because of performance drops, and b) force competitive pricing, if nothing else. Now is a bad time to upgrade your GPU regardless of whatever reasoning you want to use.

@ajamafalous: The coming architectures are planned out years in advance. they can't realize it all today, because the manufacturing tech does not exist yet.

Intel for example, has roadmaps reaching as far as 2018, if not longer.

A new console generation might mean more demanding games, yep, but, the graphics cards available on the market at that point in time will be the cards available, regardless of a console just launched or not.

AMD announced during their latest earnings call that they will be transitioning to 20 nm during 2014, so that's when we'll see a new generation, hopefully delivering a major leap in performance sometime next year.

Until then, we probably wont be getting anything more interesting than the 290x and the 780 Ti from nvidia.like you said, its probably best to wait until l those two get released if you are in the market for a card, anything further out than those will probably be a few months or more.

If you can't find a HD7970 for cheap, yes, it is worth it, i recommend the HIS iceQ X2 Turbo.

Regarding your CPU, the 2500k is still a beast, one of the all time best buys.

1) Processor... there are very few games that are really CPU bound (granted the CPU will make a difference, but we're talking 1-3 FPS in the 50-70 fps range), really big RTS (Supreme Commander/SC2) or some flight sims may show a more significant gain... this could change with everyone now writing for more powerful hardware, but that's not going to become evident for a while, so it's best to wait...

2) You don't mention what card you're running now (I'm on a HD 6870 which is fine, if I turn off SSAO, for almost everything) but I'm going to wait until the new cards ship and a downshifted spin gets released (as it'll support DX11.2 vs DX11.1 and will push the older parts even cheaper if you decide to go that way).

Once everything (in the boldnew "TrueHD"™©® gaming world) begins to shake out next spring/summer you'll have a much better idea what you'll want to look at upgradewise...