So with the new 7 series cards coming out..

[LordGreynick]

Have we worked out the best $ / Mh/s / joule ratio?

[1713524319]

1713524319

[tritium]

only the 7970 has been tested (there are some threads on here about them) the 7950 will be out at the end of the month and around $400/£300 possibly and the 7990 in march at rumored to be $800 or so

the new nvidia cards might make the price of them come down too if they beat their performance but that is not for a few months

and as for the 78XX and lower we have no idea what they might be like

the cards boast good power saving etc but that is for gamers who dont run their cards or machines 24/7

[SlaveInDebt]

this thread is very related to me. should i buy 6990s or 7970s or wait....     have money, want to mine but too stupid, lulz:)

~$850 for 7990's and 1+ gh/s is where it's going to be at. I expect 1.2gh/s (oc'ed and reasonable temps/power)  personally and depending on Nvidias release we may see some pricing battles.

Rumored ~March/April for 7990 and shortly after Nvidia's cards.

[Littleshop]

The 7990 at $850 will be a pretty good deal.  It is far less then the price of two 7970's.

[tritium]

it depends on what is more important to you, pure MH/W, pure MH/$(or£), MH/slot or what most people do a combination of the 3

so would 6x 7970 with 2 motherboards etc or 3 7990 with 1 board be better? you need to decide that.

[singular]

Waiting for PSUs and extenders $"#%%#$/

I tested a little and what do you guys think is safe operating temp of gpu? Im not liking it over 65°C but then it gives me around 620 MH/s per card, id like to get some more..

[Chefnet]

why you need 5 boards? is it not possible to run 5 or more on them? But respect for 7870, I need more money :-)

[singular]

Ye i screwd it cuz at start i thought PSUs wont be enugh for more than 3 per motherboard, but now i measured power draws and platimax 1500 will be more than ok for 4 cards/mobo, i just need all PSUs to arrive (now i only got 1, they didnt have all 5 in stock) and damn extenders too

[DeathAndTaxes]

Very pretty but very expensive.

$550 per GPU * 4 + $200 for MB/CPU/RAM + $200 PSU? = $2600 per rig for ~2.5 GH/s.  $1.04 per MH?

3x5970 used (or some used 5870s) for $300 ea + $400 MB/CPU/RAM for ~2.2 GH/s.  $0.59 per MH.

[singular]

I know that but new 5970 is almost impossible to get, and even used are hard to get here so i went for these plus resale value will be higher i think.
GPUs and PSUs were a little more because here in EU prices are higer I also plan to add 5th card to every rig if i deteremine PSU can take it (and i think it will, but id like to measure it first so i wont be left with 5 7970 to stick in my ass )
Anyway for now thats it until 7990 comes out

[terrytibbs]

so i wont be left with 5 7970 to stick in my ass

this made my day

[Mousepotato]

Very pretty but very expensive.

$350 per GPU * 4 + $200 for MB/CPU/RAM + $200 PSU? = $1800 per rig for ~2.5 GH/s.  $0.72 per MH?

3x5970 used (or some used 5870s) for $300 ea + $400 MB/CPU/RAM for ~2.2 GH/s.  $0.59 per MH.

Wait, where can we get 7970s for $350?  I will go max out my CC right now!!!

[Chefnet]

you come from  eu? What have you paid for the cards? 500€

[DeathAndTaxes]

Wait, where can we get 7970s for $350?  I will go max out my CC right now!!!

Oops.  Sorry.  Updated to reflect real prices.  Not sure where I got $350 from.  Maybe a good dream.

[Mousepotato]

Oops.  Sorry.  Updated to reflect real prices.  Not sure where I got $350 from.  Maybe a good dream.

Damn!  It was plausible enough... I thought it might have been a SlickDeals promo or something.

[despoiler]

I tested a little and what do you guys think is safe operating temp of gpu? Im not liking it over 65°C but then it gives me around 620 MH/s per card, id like to get some more..

90-100C is where they start to throttle.

I run mine at 1125/685 @ 1100mV 50% fan and I stay < 80C

[portron]

Waiting for PSUs and extenders $"#%%#$/

I tested a little and what do you guys think is safe operating temp of gpu? Im not liking it over 65°C but then it gives me around 620 MH/s per card, id like to get some more..

and I thought my little 4x collection of 7970 was cool.

I'd like to jump on something like this too, but I'm waiting to see how the BFL stuff pans out before dumping a ton more money in to GPU's

[someone703]

Do you guys think the 5970's will hold their resale value fairly well once the 7990s are out?

Wondering if it might be a fairly safe idea to buy a 5970 for ~$300-350ish, mine until the 7990s are released, then try to sell the 5970 for about how much I paid for it to put towards a 7990.

Any thoughts are appreciated.  I'm sure there are some people here who have been around long enough to have seen how the release of next gen video cards have affected the older gens' values.

[Littleshop]

I do think 5970's will drop some but slowly.  It is a great card and mining it can make money.  As long as it makes money it's value will not drop too much.

If the price of bitcoin drops, then all bets are off and the value will certainly fall.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Do you guys think the 5970's will hold their resale value fairly well once the 7990s are out?

Wondering if it might be a fairly safe idea to buy a 5970 for ~$300-350ish, mine until the 7990s are released, then try to sell the 5970 for about how much I paid for it to put towards a 7990.

Any thoughts are appreciated.  I'm sure there are some people here who have been around long enough to have seen how the release of next gen video cards have affected the older gens' values.

Given that @ $300 the 5970 outperforms anything at that pricepoint (and a couple pricepoints above it) and is still viable for essentially every game on the market, and has solid following among miners I don't really see 5970 dropping much below $300.

Now full disclosure I may be biased as I own 15 of them but I bought them intentionally because the 5970 outperforms every single 6000 series & 7000 series card except the 6990 & 7990.  The 6990 is still $650 and the 7990 will be released at $800.   I don't really see 5970 going down in value until 7970 are heavily discounted which should be Q3 at the earliest.  When you can get a 7970 for $<400 it likely will be "lights out" for 5970.  Still at that point I will simply run them into the ground.  If the network gets too efficient I can underclock/undervolt them and achieve higher MH/W than any 7000 series card.  That would be worst case scenario but it ensure that they 5970 will likely be economical until I burn them out.  I figure I got at least 18 more months on them.

I wouldn't pay more than $350 shipped though.  I will buy any card I see for $300 shipped.  About a month ago it was easy, open ebay any day of the week at there was a 5970 for ~$300.  Weirdly prices have RISEN in the last month but be selective.  5970 will likely hold $300 price point but buying at $400 pretty much guarantees a $50 to $100 loss.

Here is what is available on the market for high end gaming currently and in the near future:

HD 5970 - 4.6 GFLOPS   $300 to $350 used
HD 6990 - 2.7 GFLOPS   $400 available
HD 7970 - 3.8 GFLOPS   $550 available
HD 7950 - 3.2 GFLOPS   $450 (feb ? )
HD 7870 - 2.7 GFLOPS   $300 (Q1 2012 ? )