The 7970/680 are both fast cards. Very fast. If you only have a single "typical" sized monitor (1920x1080 is the most common), then these cards are total overkill. And likely will be for the next 3-4 years.
If you look at them in terms of money per performance right now, they look pretty poor at these typical resolutions, because they can't really give you anything more than a video card that costs half as much can give you (anything over 60Hz is pretty much a moot point, and a $200-250 video card can give you that with pretty well nearly every single option on in today's video games at 1080p).
They do look a bit better if you look forward: they will continue to perform well on future titles. Heck, a 8800 GTX still can play most titles at 1080p, and it's about 6 years old now. That card was $549 retail when it first shipped on Dec 2006. Something like an 8600 from the same era, stands no real chance at performing very well on most titles today.
So you can think of that price as "futureproofing", or you can think of it as unnecessary and cut back to something a bit more "bang for the buck" today.
Personally, I tend to cut back just a bit, because I like to upgrade my hardware a bit more frequently. Other people just like to get it working and never touch it again until it either dies or it's just become so obsolete it can't limp anymore, so there are good cases for going either way.
I just mention it because the 480/5870's (from 2 generations ago) can still pretty well play every game nearly maxed in 1080p, and here we are 2 generations later, there is the possibility to save a good bit of cash if you are just using one typical monitor. But in the same vein, when the 480 was out, the 460 was the "bang for the buck" card - it's still a decent card, but some of the newer titles will start to stress it. Buying a 480 then would be ~$500. Buying a 460 then was about $200-$250, and upgrading it now to get back to what is roughly the same visual quality would be if you had bought the 480 in the first place is about $200-$250 again, but you'll get PCI3.0 and DX11.1 and a lot lower power consumption...
The 7970/680 are both fast cards. Very fast. If you only have a single "typical" sized monitor (1920x1080 is the most common), then these cards are total overkill. And likely will be for the next 3-4 years.
If you look at them in terms of money per performance right now, they look pretty poor at these typical resolutions, because they can't really give you anything more than a video card that costs half as much can give you (anything over 60Hz is pretty much a moot point, and a $200-250 video card can give you that with pretty well nearly every single option on in today's video games at 1080p).
They do look a bit better if you look forward: they will continue to perform well on future titles. Heck, a 8800 GTX still can play most titles at 1080p, and it's about 6 years old now. That card was $549 retail when it first shipped on Dec 2006. Something like an 8600 from the same era, stands no real chance at performing very well on most titles today.
So you can think of that price as "futureproofing", or you can think of it as unnecessary and cut back to something a bit more "bang for the buck" today.
Personally, I tend to cut back just a bit, because I like to upgrade my hardware a bit more frequently. Other people just like to get it working and never touch it again until it either dies or it's just become so obsolete it can't limp anymore, so there are good cases for going either way.
I just mention it because the 480/5870's (from 2 generations ago) can still pretty well play every game nearly maxed in 1080p, and here we are 2 generations later, there is the possibility to save a good bit of cash if you are just using one typical monitor. But in the same vein, when the 480 was out, the 460 was the "bang for the buck" card - it's still a decent card, but some of the newer titles will start to stress it. Buying a 480 then would be ~$500. Buying a 460 then was about $200-$250, and upgrading it now to get back to what is roughly the same visual quality would be if you had bought the 480 in the first place is about $200-$250 again, but you'll get PCI3.0 and DX11.1 and a lot lower power consumption...
So I can see going either way.
"Futureproofing" is what I'm attempting to aim for. When I get this all figured out and put together, I'll be wanting it to last me a good while and not have to bother with it until I start having problems running games on at least high settings at a comfortable FPS (which I'm hoping is a good couple of years) or I want to play in extremely high resolutions (eyefinity or whatever). I'm sure it's an awesome experience (eyefinity), and maybe I'll try it out one day just for fun with just the one card, but I'm quite content with one monitor for gaming and one for having a browser open, movie runnig, etc.
Also, I have money RIGHT NOW. My thinking is, since life is starting to pick up and get serious, I may not have all this extra cash in another year or so (if I get married, if I end up with kids, insurances, bills that keep appearing in my mailbox, etc). So if I can get something that will last a long while now, upgrading won't be something I have to worry about for a while, and maybe I can just put back a few bucks here and there, so when the time to upgrade does come, I'll be all set.
Windows 7 Professional Upgrade - digital download Academic discount - $65 (requires a valid .edu email address)
That's about the cheapest ~legal~ option I've seen. It does require that you have another copy of Windows product on hand (basically any version of XP or Vista installation DVD). If you want the official DVD it's another $15 for them to mail it to you, and it takes about 3-6 weeks (although all you really need are the install files and your CD Key, as the install DVDs are all the same).
The next best bet is Windows 7 Home Premium OEM edition, which is available through Newegg or many other retailers, and is right at $100.
There is also, right now, the option to run Windows 8 Preview, for Free. That only works until Windows 8 goes live (this fall), then you will have to buy an OS, and it's still "Beta" level software, so you may encounter bugs and other incompatibilities, but it's a viable option right now.
Comments
Well when you say "nice price ratio"
The 7970/680 are both fast cards. Very fast. If you only have a single "typical" sized monitor (1920x1080 is the most common), then these cards are total overkill. And likely will be for the next 3-4 years.
If you look at them in terms of money per performance right now, they look pretty poor at these typical resolutions, because they can't really give you anything more than a video card that costs half as much can give you (anything over 60Hz is pretty much a moot point, and a $200-250 video card can give you that with pretty well nearly every single option on in today's video games at 1080p).
They do look a bit better if you look forward: they will continue to perform well on future titles. Heck, a 8800 GTX still can play most titles at 1080p, and it's about 6 years old now. That card was $549 retail when it first shipped on Dec 2006. Something like an 8600 from the same era, stands no real chance at performing very well on most titles today.
So you can think of that price as "futureproofing", or you can think of it as unnecessary and cut back to something a bit more "bang for the buck" today.
Personally, I tend to cut back just a bit, because I like to upgrade my hardware a bit more frequently. Other people just like to get it working and never touch it again until it either dies or it's just become so obsolete it can't limp anymore, so there are good cases for going either way.
I just mention it because the 480/5870's (from 2 generations ago) can still pretty well play every game nearly maxed in 1080p, and here we are 2 generations later, there is the possibility to save a good bit of cash if you are just using one typical monitor. But in the same vein, when the 480 was out, the 460 was the "bang for the buck" card - it's still a decent card, but some of the newer titles will start to stress it. Buying a 480 then would be ~$500. Buying a 460 then was about $200-$250, and upgrading it now to get back to what is roughly the same visual quality would be if you had bought the 480 in the first place is about $200-$250 again, but you'll get PCI3.0 and DX11.1 and a lot lower power consumption...
So I can see going either way.
"Futureproofing" is what I'm attempting to aim for. When I get this all figured out and put together, I'll be wanting it to last me a good while and not have to bother with it until I start having problems running games on at least high settings at a comfortable FPS (which I'm hoping is a good couple of years) or I want to play in extremely high resolutions (eyefinity or whatever). I'm sure it's an awesome experience (eyefinity), and maybe I'll try it out one day just for fun with just the one card, but I'm quite content with one monitor for gaming and one for having a browser open, movie runnig, etc.
Also, I have money RIGHT NOW. My thinking is, since life is starting to pick up and get serious, I may not have all this extra cash in another year or so (if I get married, if I end up with kids, insurances, bills that keep appearing in my mailbox, etc). So if I can get something that will last a long while now, upgrading won't be something I have to worry about for a while, and maybe I can just put back a few bucks here and there, so when the time to upgrade does come, I'll be all set.
0118 999 881 999 119 725... 3
Oh since you mentioned Windows License:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/en_US/cat/categoryID.37826100
Windows 7 Professional Upgrade - digital download
Academic discount - $65
(requires a valid .edu email address)
That's about the cheapest ~legal~ option I've seen. It does require that you have another copy of Windows product on hand (basically any version of XP or Vista installation DVD). If you want the official DVD it's another $15 for them to mail it to you, and it takes about 3-6 weeks (although all you really need are the install files and your CD Key, as the install DVDs are all the same).
The next best bet is Windows 7 Home Premium OEM edition, which is available through Newegg or many other retailers, and is right at $100.
There is also, right now, the option to run Windows 8 Preview, for Free. That only works until Windows 8 goes live (this fall), then you will have to buy an OS, and it's still "Beta" level software, so you may encounter bugs and other incompatibilities, but it's a viable option right now.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/consumer-preview