So whats the latest with graphics cards atm?

I currently have a ATI 6950, probably not the best purchase I ever made tbh. while its served me well, it doesn't support 2x dvi and hdmi without extra adaptors... and is starting to lag behind in games like Battlefield 4.

I suppose the upcoming benchmark of PC Games will be Star Citizen.

Whats the latest and greatest "mid-range powerhouse" graphics cards? say £200-250 tops that is one of those cards that screams "Brilliant power, brilliant value" e.g like the Nvidia 8800 GT and ATI 5770 of its times ( or possibly better? )

are any of you upgrading soon, or do you think its too early into the "next gen" console life to decide?

Are there any upcoming cards I should be aware of? any features worth grabbing a nvidia over ati?

I'm so out of sync with it all now :P.

280X Toxic would serve you very well if you can stretch another 20 quid. Also if you can find one....

As mentioned above, the 280x is a great choice (the overclocked models will give you 2x the performance of a 6950).

I don't think its two early into the generation to upgrade. The xboxone/ps4 are using lowend cpu's and an overclocked 280x is equal (if not faster) than both consoles GPU combined together

As above, for £200-£250 the 280X is what I recommend.

You could go with a 770 too I suppose. Though they're more difficult to recommend with 2GB VRAM.

GTX 760 and AMD 280x are what you want to look for. 280x is a bit better though.

Thanks! are there any "coming soons" to be taken into consideration though? Not really in a rush as of yet.

Nothing soon that we know of.

Not that I know of, anyway :P

You can wait for the 290 aftermarket brands to show up. but that's a difference price budget

If you don't want to wait for aftermarket coolers, a 290 (not the 290x) with custom cooling is probably the best choice right now. he non-reference cards aren't coming until Q1 2014 at the earliest

Dunno where I heard it, but they were supposed to reach the marked for christmas sale.

Gibbo, the Purchasing Manager from OCUK, said they won't be here this side of Christmas.

I have a 6870 and it's been serving me well so far. I bought it knowing I wouldn't max everything. I'm still waiting to see if there's something coming out (game or technology) that's really going to warrant the new graphics card. I'm sure I'll be upgrading my video card in 2014 - just going to see when.

If I were you, I'd wait. As others had said, the 290 is the best bang for your buck, but it may be worth waiting for the aftermarket brands for cooling/noise solutions.

get an nvidia card, AMD cards are in too much demand right now and its pissing me off. I might have to buy an nvidia card again....sigh. Nvidia cards have crappy features and weak bang for buck, otherwise I wouldn't mind buying one.

Nvidia cards have crappy features? what a laugh, also weak bang for your buck what a joke. A prime example is the GTX 760, The 760 is comparable with a normal 7970 and has the ability to overclock to surpass the GTX 670 and being on par to 7970ghz GTX 680/GTX 770 at 1080p for a whole $250. And if you able to get close to or beyond 1.2 ghz the 760 will actually outperform All those cards list above at 1080 resolution.

I recently bought a 7870, I'm putting my money on Mantle, so I hope it turns out good.

crappy stripped down features as in 2gb of vram, and no compute performance compared to the radeon cards. I have absolutely no temptation for a 760 when a 7970 is at the same price. Of course now that the demand for radeon cards are up, its much harder to find a 7970 at its true price point of around $250.

Why are you even mentioning overclocking?? The radeon cards destroy nvidia cards in overclocking clock for clock. So a 7970 overclocked slightly is already at a 770 heels, and if it overclocks to 1200mhz or beyond (mine was capable of that), it compares well with a 780.

Again, I want a graphics card, but my options are pretty limited at the moment. I don't want to get a 760 either....damn now I kind of regret selling my 7970 when I did

I think some of us said you possibly would...

Anyway R9 280x is the same card.

How is 2gb a stripped down feature or lower OpenCL compute speeds that really does not matter in games.... get a 4gb model then..... the card itself is designed for 1080 gaming, it outclasses the 7870/r270 and 7950 and GTX 660 series and can compete with 7970ghz/r280 and gtx 670680/770 series.

The 7970 is no where in the sub $300 price range anymore if you can find one they are all in $330+ ranges and since they are no longer made many are $400+. Why are you comparing AMD cards vs Nvidia's clock per clock? you can not compare clock rates directly because of the architecture differences. The overclock head room on the 7970ghz is a lower ratio since the gpu already uses more then 275w out of its 300w limit and most only able to overclock to 1.1 to 1.2ghz and then having to put up with the fan speed and much higher temps.. Also the GTX 760 OC headroom is much higher ratio and uses less power by an average of 70w less.

You could have picked up a GTX 760 for around $230 on BF or CM. You can not beat the 760 performance per dollar, unless you go with weaker gpu's...

Have no idea why you sold that 7970, and planned on using on board graphics.... Your options are only limited because of you being bias which does not help.