Is one 780M better than two ATI 7970m?

Please keep reliability out of the equation. Im one of the minority that have awesome working 7970s, maybe its because I have a latter model with revised cards, who knows but my cards run great and have been overclocked since day one. No overheating, no stuttering, etc.

Will I see a noticeable boost with in game performance with one 780m? Again my 7970s are running great, I can still play modern games maxed out like Middle Earth.

I know two 780s would probably kill the 7970s but I cant afford that upgrade right now.

 

1 heavily overclocked 780m is about as powerful as 7970m CF. You might notice better game performance and probably lower frame times using a single 780m vs 7970m CF. I'd make the move to 780m if you were planning to SLI them down the road.

 

Definitely not. The 7970M crossfire paired with latest drivers and a modest overclock (950/1300) can easily hit 13300 in 3dmark11

However if you plan to add another 780M to SLI your system, you should definitely get the 780M now. Or better yet, save up your money and get a single GTX 970M or 980M. Less problems and very powerful cards.

Personally, I will not be moving from my 7970M Crossfire setup any time soon.

 

If your 7970M CF setup is working rock solid for you, keep it. Moving from that to a single 780M will just disappoint you. I know you said to disregard reliability, but I do have to say that you're pretty lucky to have two 7970Ms that are still working.

I don't know what laptop you have, but if it's an M18xR2, I would wait until I could afford a single 980M instead of messing around with a single 780M and then eventually scrounging up another for SLI. To do it correctly, you'll need new heat sinks and an SLI connector, so you've got to look at that additional cost as well.

Looks like the 7970M is going for roughly $250 on eBay, so you could recoup $500 or so there.

I'm rambling on here, but long story short, keep your current tech until you can acquire a 980M. And again, I'm assuming you've got an R2.

 

I was in the same boat as you at the start of the year: 7970m xfire working beautifully but wanting more power. The only upgrade really worth while is 980m sli. In theory a single 980m is roughly the same 7970m xfire (firestrike they are basically identical) so if sli isnt supported you will have a similar or better experience regardless of the game.

 

I have the R9 m290x crossfire setup in a AW18 and easily get into the 12000's using 3dmark11. The 780m sli setup will top it, but not by a whole lot.

 

Just in case you were still unconvinced, here is my latested 3Dmark11 run: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10344003
Happens to be the highest score for the 7970M on the 3Dmark site.

 

Thank you all, Im going to keep the 7970s for now, will save and go to the 980m SLI after tax season.