Better GPU for my rig Sapphire 7970 HD ghz edition, Gtx 680 2gb or Gtx 670 Ftw 4gb

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Roflstomp

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Apr 12, 2013
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As the title states, which is better for my current rig setup Also i would like to know if this GPU will even fit on my case NZXT Phantom 410 Mid-tower
*i5-2500k OC'd @4.6ghz
*Nvidia GTX 560 1gb (finally upgrading from this and by the looks of it, 7970's are the way to go right now)
*Asus P8Z68-v Pro/Gen 3
*Thermaltake TR2 850watt ( got it on sale super cheap..i know i know overkill if I'm not SLI but hey, a bargain is a bargain =p.)
*Shitty 20 inch monitor i got from a friend 1600x900 reso, going to buy http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236305 as it is on sale atm.
*8 Gb G.skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600
I will possibly get dual monitors in the future though, but as of now, my desk cannot fit 2 monitors. Also i do plan on streaming a lot of BF4 when that is released, also the reason why i am upgrading right now.
Also if anyone else has any other suggestion im all ears Thanks in advance =)
 
Solution
slicedtoad
The 7970 costs slightly more and is slightly faster. If you ever wanted to add a second card (like in a few years when the price is down), the 7970 is the better choice. Otherwise, it's up to you.
Running dual screen is the same for both of them. Usually you don't play games on two screens though since you get a bezel in the middle. 3 screens is preferred. If you do get 3 screens, the 7970 is probably a slightly better choice. Running a game on 1 screen and something else on the other won't affect vram or gpu performance with GPUs this expensive.

Another thing you could look at to decide is which programs you use to do video stuff (streaming or rendering or whatever) and check if they can be accelerated with CUDA or OpenCL or both...
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DarkSable

DarkSable

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Sep 27, 2012
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For a 1080p monitor, you need to understand something. Anything beyond 2GB of VRAM will NOT give you better performance.

Other than that, I'd suggest a 2GB 670. It will easily max all but two games. (Those being crysis 3 and far cry 3.)

The 680 is a horrible pick because it's only 5% faster than a 670, but it costs 25% more.

Between the 670 and the 7970, the 7970 will have a better framerate, but it also has worse frame latency. On a 60Hz monitor, however, that won't be noticeable. Since both cards will max games pretty much equally, I'd go with the cheaper 670 - this one, to be specific: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787
 
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R

Roflstomp

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I do know that having more on-board ram will not give me better performance, but since i plan to stream BF4 and have dual monitors by then i figured that extra memory will help keep things stable. Also what do you mean the 7970's have more "but it also has worse frame latency." is that similar to input lag?
 
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slicedtoad

slicedtoad

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Here's a really useful thread on vram usage:
http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=42084
Note that there are some anomalies in the list though and look closer at the averages of a game rather than the outliers.

For bf3 up to 2GB is useful at 1920x1080. With a multi monitor setup, more can be useful. Keep in mind though, that a single 7970 or 670 won't be bottlenecked by vram in a 3x1920x1080 but rather by it's speed. More Vram is usually only useful with multi-gpu setups.

I wouldn't worry about frame latency. You won't notice it unless you are running a multi-card setup (even then, most people don't notice).

Both the 7970 and 670 are good choices. I prefer the 7970 since it can OC (670s have their voltage locked). But if you aren't into serious OCing, then the 670 is probably a better choice.
 
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R

Roflstomp

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Yea, I'm not too crazy about OC'ing, i only OC'd my CPU mainly because it was so easy and the i5's are relatively stable for OC'ing, but im only upgrading so i can run Battlefield 4 when that is released at max settings since the game seems like it will have insane visuals. So, if i Get a 670 2gb FTW i should be fine for a dual monitor setup? I am also really trying to be "future proof" i do not want to have to upgrade this GPU in the next year, i want to at least run this set up for about 2-4 years (depends on future releases of vid games really)

Edit: bah i guess i didnt hit reply, @SlicedToad. Also this is my first post on these forums lol Also i forgot to ask, will Either GPU's Sapph 7970 HD or 670 2gb FTW fit my case with some ventilation?
 
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royalcrown

royalcrown

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And just what is wrong with this one ? :p

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121707
 
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slicedtoad

slicedtoad

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The 7970 costs slightly more and is slightly faster. If you ever wanted to add a second card (like in a few years when the price is down), the 7970 is the better choice. Otherwise, it's up to you.
Running dual screen is the same for both of them. Usually you don't play games on two screens though since you get a bezel in the middle. 3 screens is preferred. If you do get 3 screens, the 7970 is probably a slightly better choice. Running a game on 1 screen and something else on the other won't affect vram or gpu performance with GPUs this expensive.

Another thing you could look at to decide is which programs you use to do video stuff (streaming or rendering or whatever) and check if they can be accelerated with CUDA or OpenCL or both. CUDA is nvidia and OpenCL is AMD.

But really, you likely won't notice much difference in the cards, choose whichever company you prefer. Or if you really want the reassurance 3GB of vram provides you, go with the 7970.

edit:
oh, and both cards will fit, You have about 12" of clearance in that case. the larger of the 7970s are about 11.5". 670s are around 10"
 
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R

Roflstomp

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Apr 12, 2013
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Alright, thank you very much for this information it helped me alot, i might just go with a 7970 since it is on sale at the moment and is cheaper than the 670ftw, and I might want to SLI later on down the road.

 
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G

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the 670 can max out far cry 3 even the gt 640 could
 
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