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My current build is as follows:

ATI 4870 512mb
Intel Q9550 @ stock 2.83 GHz
4gb DDR2 800 MHz RAM
640gb 7200rpm HDD
1680x1050 res monitor (I will either upgrade to 1920x1080 soon or invest in Eyefinity)

My goal is to play BF3 and Skyrim comfortably at max settings. So my plan was set: purchase a Noctua cooler and OC my CPU to 3.8 GHz, buy another 2gb's of RAM, and replace my aging 4870 with a ATI 6950 2gb, which I would flash to 6970 specs. I am straying away from Nvidia because my mobo doesn't support SLI but it does Crossfire, allowing me to get another card down the line (or would you rather purchase a faster, single GPU solution? Micro-stuttering has me a bit worried). I was also considering an SSD, but seeing all the problems related to them at the moment I am hesitant.

Well now I read this: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=23158

And I no longer feel comfortable pulling the trigger when the 7000 series is just around the corner. Problem is, I will miss playing these games in all their glory for a few months to come

What would you do in my situation? A friend of mine told me to buy a 5000 series card in the meantime, but I'd rather save the money and put it towards a totally new card.

Just stick with your current build.

At 1680x1050, your machine will be able to play Skyrim and BF3 acceptably well.

Make the jump on a 7000 GPU with three cheap 1080p monitors.

$48 2x2 GiB PC2-6400 Mushkin Silverline 996760 (DDR2-800, CAS 5, 1.8 V)

ImSpartacus wrote:

Just stick with your current build.

At 1680x1050, your machine will be able to play Skyrim and BF3 acceptably well.

Make the jump on a 7000 GPU with three cheap 1080p monitors.

I've heard rumors that the new cards will be PCI-E 3.0... What does this mean if my mobo only supports 2.0?

If I would have to upgrade my mobo as well I might as well build a new system.

nisten wrote:

ImSpartacus wrote:

Make the jump on a Radeon HD7000 GPU...

I've heard rumors that the new cards will be PCI-E 3.0... What does this mean if my mobo only supports 2.0?

It means that the PCIe 3.0 cards will work at the PCIe 2.0 rate. You won't see a difference.

nisten wrote:

My goal is to play BF3 and Skyrim comfortably at max settings. So my plan was set: purchase a Noctua cooler and OC my CPU to 3.8 GHz, buy another 2gb's of RAM, and replace my aging 4870 with a ATI 6950 2gb, which I would flash to 6970 specs. I am straying away from Nvidia because my mobo doesn't support SLI but it does Crossfire, allowing me to get another card down the line (or would you rather purchase a faster, single GPU solution? Micro-stuttering has me a bit worried). I was also considering an SSD, but seeing all the problems related to them at the moment I am hesitant.

I always tend to recommend single card setups but dual cards can be worth it - dual 460s always seemed to be worth the hassle and the money - I think they end up as fast as a 580 or so. I think dual 6870s put up some respectable numbers too. But micro-stutter seems to be much worse on Radeons according to Scott's micro-stutter article.

Dual 6870s tend to be a fair bit faster than a single 6970 and, picking the cheapest of each, two 6870s will be 10% less money than a single 6970 after rebates.

How much those games are CPU limited? I imagine even if you only get to 3.4 or so that would probably be pretty adequate, but I dunno.

Just some stuff to think over.

A second 4870 for cheap would be a nice stop-gap. They don't cost much these days at all.

TheWacoKid wrote:

A second 4870 for cheap would be a nice stop-gap. They don't cost much these days at all.

Yeah, I was going to mention that, but then I thought that's just about the same performance as a 6870...

Personally I'd replace the gpu but would buy used on ebay or from a for sale forum. You should factor in the value of selling off your gpu into the price of what you are looking for.

You should buy a upgrade like ATI Radeon graphics card for good results,this is more reliable than NIVIDIA i think, but NIVIDIA is also one of the best.