Many people are thinking about upgrading to a fresh 79xx ATI out now, or a 78xx soon to be released. Most of these people are upgrading from the DX10 generation GPUs like the 4000 series radeons and the 200 series nvidea. Some are upgrading from the low end first dx11 generation cards like the 5750. If you decide to buy now, expect a huge performance boost, but at a price. Nvidia has yet to provide competition to the new 7000 series ATI products.
If you do decide to get to get a 79xx card for 450-550$, pay attention to the cooler it uses. The ASUS DCU II is already available and is nearly as effective as MSI's Twin Frozr at a much lower price mark-up, just remember its a 3 slot wide cooler. And MSI is now debuting its 7950 version of the Twin Frozr, and the test results for cooling and noise are every bit as awesome as they are for the other Twin Frozr cards:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-hd-7950-twin-frozer-iii-review/9I am not sure what MSI is going to charge as a premium, but on a 450$ card, anything under a 80$ would be not outrageous considering the Twin Frozr prices in the past.
I know some people cant wait, and if you are wealthy enough, you probably shouldnt. Nvidea's new cards should come out late spring early summer, and knock the current prices way down. Most people expect Nvidea's 600 series to outperform the 7000 series by a decent margin, which is what I would expect too. But at this point, because ATI got such a huge leap out infront of nvidea, I expect the two companies to release their near-ish future generations in a staggered succession, rather than simultaneously. It is easily expected that ATI will respond to the 600 series outperforming the 7000 series by releasing re-tuned current tech, or by rushing out another die shrink generation.
And for those wanting to buy the 68xx or 69xx series for cheap, ignore the current sales and wait until the 78xx series pushes down the midrange market sometime feb-march. Save some cash.
Im probably going to get a nice ASUS DCU or MSI TF 7850. 79xx is way too pricey right now for me, and my double 4890s are burning a hole in the ozone, my ear drum, my pocket, and my wall.
