Replacing my GTX 660ti 7870 or 7950

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Adrian_JH

Adrian_JH

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Jul 4, 2012
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Hello my fellow TomsHardware Brethen. As the title states im replacing my card. I want to get either a 7870 or 7950. I know the 7950 is roughly same performance as 660ti. However money is an issue. The nvidia drivers keep crashing and make the experience with the card rather horrible.

And yes I have replaced drivers countless times with clean installations new drivers and old. Didnt fix the issue.

Anyway onto the meat of the matter. At the moment I have BF3 looking to get BF4 I game on a 1680 * 1050 screen and I cant see myself upgrading soon, since money is an issue.(Quite satisfied with the resolution) I also play LoL and Dragon Nest SEA. I may get other games in the future...but im not sure yet. So the ultimate question is...

Which GPU? 7870 or 7950? Any advise or help would be appreciated....lemme know the FPS you get on your 7870s and 7950s on the latest titles as well. please ^^
 
Solution
iam2thecrowe
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/677169-nvidia-mobile-kepler-6xx-master-overclocking-guide-workaround-max-clocks-oc-stability.html create the NVidia inspector batch file using the template on this site, adjust the clock speeds to suit.

Using batch files for simple switching between power modes

overclock.bat
nvidiaInspector.exe -setBaseClockOffset:0,0,135 -setMemoryClockOffset:0,0,500 -setpowertarget:0,111 -setVoltageOffset:0,0,187500 -setGpuClock:0,2,1311 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3500 -forcepstate:0,2

force_idle.bat
nvidiaInspector.exe -forcepstate:0,8

default
nvidiaInspector.exe -setVoltageOffset:0,0,0 -setGpuClock:0,2,705 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3000 -forcepstate:0,16

I just created shortcuts to these...
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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You seem to have answered your own question.

You already know that an HD7950 will give similar performance and that an HD7870 won't give the same level of performance. It's basically a question of money for you and that's your own decision.

Here's a card with good customer reviews and in case you weren't aware it comes with 4 free games which I believe is more than an HD7870 so you have to include that into the value:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202007

Games included (redeem codes once received):
- Bioshock Infinite
- Tombraider
- Crysis 3
- Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon ($15 standalone expansion)
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Here's a graph of BF3 that shows the relative performance of different graphics cards:
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/club3d_radeon_7870_joker_review,17.html

Keep in mind there are many settings you can adjust and I suggest you attempt to keep the FPS as high as possible rather than the highest quality with low frame rates.

I like to tweak so that I get 60FPS most of the time with VSYNC on to avoid screen tearing. In most games you probably want to use 4xAA (anti-aliasing) at your resolution.
 
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iam2thecrowe

iam2thecrowe

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i don't understand, you have drivers crashing and your solution is to get another brand? reinstall your OS. if that doesn't work return the card its probably faulty. For all you know you could have a faulty motherboard or PSU or RAM, put the new 7950 in and the PC will still crash. Maybe try troubleshoot more than just driver reinstall before you waste your money, you know AMD doesn't have a good track record with drivers either, and there are plenty of people with 660/660ti's that have no such issues.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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I agree, though he did reinstall Windows and the drivers. I think there's probably a very good chance he'll get the same problem.

*If you want to troubleshoot your crashing issue further, post EXACTLY what's happening, and your motherboard, PSU, RAM and Windows version data and I'll attempt to help.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Jun 2, 2007
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^+1.
But...
@ Adrian_JH: It might be better for you to start another thread and see if we can kill your problem without wasting money, Nvidia drivers are highly regarded and do not give much trouble generally.
If you choose to take this route, please give full specs of the system, in some cases the devil is in the detail.
In the meantime: Make sure your OS is fully updated, Windows does this automatically by default, but it won't hurt to check.
Run Dxdiag (Start>search programs and files, then type Dxdiag and click on the shortcut that appears) to check that installation is not corrupted.
Update ALL the drivers you can find for the system.
If the system has both onboard sound and a add in sound card, remove the soundcard and test, I had issues with games crashing, thought it was graphics related but it turned out to be a iffy soundcard.
At that res I'd say a 7870 is adequate, if you can find one a 7870XT (1536 cores) is a real monster in disguise, despite its number it is actually a cut down 7950 and performs almost as well, usually for a good deal less cash ;).
 
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Adrian_JH

Adrian_JH

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To all of you ....

1. I am a computer science major student - therefore I am not a full blown noob.

2. I have checked and double checked my system for errors, whether it be PSU, RAM and so forth. I have stressed tested gpu, interestingly enough it didnt not crash unless it was overclocked.

3. I have owned a graphics card before this nvidia and it never gave problems and to boot it was AMD.

I highly doubt the problem really is else where in the system as it has been working flawlessly until i put in the nvidia card and the drivers would crash for no reason. I didnt think it would be the card itself as the card works REALLY GREAT when the drivers arent crashing in my face.

The driver crashes are at random....it crashes alot when i play League of Legends....I find when i turn the settings to high and NO shadows....it plays really stable....anything higher nothing but crashes. When i play Battle field 3....barely any crashes ive had at most 2....most of the crashes came from playing LoL.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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@ Adrian_JH: Calm down, mate, no insult was intended.
And edit the post before someone alerts the mods and you get banned, I'm OK with swearing, others may be more sensitive.
I do n't know your plans for the 660Ti but returning it under warranty is a good idea, even if you replace it, at least you can recoup some of the costs incurred by E-baying it.
As for a replacement, the HD7870XT/LE is favourite, cheaper than a full blown 7950 and only slightly slower, look for cards marked as XT/LE or with 1536 cores rather than the standard 1280.
 
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iam2thecrowe

iam2thecrowe

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although with the amount of reports of crashing/failing/dead XT/LE 7870's, your probably best to stay away from them if you don't like to troubleshoot hardware issues.
I have actually had a few crashes with my 660, only in crisis 2 and 3, underclocking the card works (and in crysis help page they stress that even factory OC'd cards may not be stable in their games and you may need to underclock). The other thing I found that totally fixed any crashing, was using NVidia inspector to force the clock rate so it doesn't use boost clock and keeps the clock rate stable. this fixed all my problems, I could just rma but I might wait till its nearly out of warranty, then get a new card:)
 
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Adrian_JH

Adrian_JH

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Eh sorry got a little excited about it XD. Erm....I forgot to say. I cant return nor RMA card cause im not from america :)
 
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Adrian_JH

Adrian_JH

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Oh Oh !! I WIll give that atry Nvidia Inspector....#googles..

Ok...so I got the little thing...and I am thinking about underclocking the card to what its supposed to actually be...i have the Super clocked version of the EVGA GTX 660ti with a boost clock of...1059 and core clock of 980.....the normal gtx 660 ti has 915 core clock and 980 boost clock.....and each has the same effective memory clock.....to underclock the card to a normal GTX 660ti do i simply just reduce the core clock value to 915 and leave the memory clock at what it is??? I also use msi afterburner....So...if anyone could help me that would be graet...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=GTX%20660ti&bop=And&CompareItemList=-1%7C14-130-809%5E14-130-809-TS%2C14-130-810%5E14-130-810-TS&percm=14-130-809%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-130-810%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24
 
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iam2thecrowe

iam2thecrowe

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Jul 4, 2010
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http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/677169-nvidia-mobile-kepler-6xx-master-overclocking-guide-workaround-max-clocks-oc-stability.html create the NVidia inspector batch file using the template on this site, adjust the clock speeds to suit.

Using batch files for simple switching between power modes

overclock.bat
nvidiaInspector.exe -setBaseClockOffset:0,0,135 -setMemoryClockOffset:0,0,500 -setpowertarget:0,111 -setVoltageOffset:0,0,187500 -setGpuClock:0,2,1311 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3500 -forcepstate:0,2

force_idle.bat
nvidiaInspector.exe -forcepstate:0,8

default
nvidiaInspector.exe -setVoltageOffset:0,0,0 -setGpuClock:0,2,705 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3000 -forcepstate:0,16

I just created shortcuts to these on my desktop so I could just doubleclick a batch file and use that setting. You can still use msi afterburner to monitor clocks, fan speed etc, but don't use it for overclocking.
 
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Solution
Adrian_JH

Adrian_JH

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Jul 4, 2012
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Okay...so I read the thread you showed in the link...and re-read it and re-read it....to try to make sure I understand as much as I can.

Now...please correct me if im wrong...I do not want to overclock the gpu at all. It's fine without any OCs...So with that said using the template....What should the values look like then?

TEMPLATE overclock.bat
nvidiaInspector.exe -setBaseClockOffset:0,0,135 -setMemoryClockOffset:0,0,500 -setpowertarget:0,111 -setVoltageOffset:0,0,187500 -setGpuClock:0,2,1311 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3500 -forcepstate:0,2

MY overclock.bat
nvidiaInspector.exe -setBaseClockOffset:0,0,000 -setMemoryClockOffset:0,0,000 -setpowertarget:0,100 -setVoltageOffset:0,0,187500 -setGpuClock:0,1,980 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3006 -forcepstate:0,2

Compare the two....the values I have for GPUclock and MEmclock are for my gpu....Im not sure about the part with the offsets...since I dont want any OC i set them all to 0....and the power state thing is left at 2 for custom....Im not sure about the voltage offset.....
 
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Adrian_JH

Adrian_JH

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Jul 4, 2012
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Okay...so I read the thread you showed in the link...and re-read it and re-read it....to try to make sure I understand as much as I can.

Now...please correct me if im wrong...I do not want to overclock the gpu at all. It's fine without any OCs...So with that said using the template....What should the values look like then?

TEMPLATE overclock.bat
nvidiaInspector.exe -setBaseClockOffset:0,0,135 -setMemoryClockOffset:0,0,500 -setpowertarget:0,111 -setVoltageOffset:0,0,187500 -setGpuClock:0,2,1311 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3500 -forcepstate:0,2

MY overclock.bat
nvidiaInspector.exe -setBaseClockOffset:0,0,000 -setMemoryClockOffset:0,0,000 -setpowertarget:0,100 -setVoltageOffset:0,0,187500 -setGpuClock:0,1,980 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3006 -forcepstate:0,2

Compare the two....the values I have for GPUclock and MEmclock are for my gpu....Im not sure about the part with the offsets...since I dont want any OC i set them all to 0....and the power state thing is left at 2 for custom....Im not sure about the voltage offset.....
 
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Adrian_JH

Adrian_JH

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Jul 4, 2012
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DUUUDE!!! This program is a god send!!!!!! OMG!!! I havent had a crash since using it to make the core clock constant and not all jumpy....I believe now its the dynamic boost tech that causes it to crash I turned my settings back up to all for LoL shadows on and everything havent had a crash its a simple tool once you understand how to use it too thanks SOOO FREAKING MUCHH!!!!
 
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iam2thecrowe

iam2thecrowe

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Jul 4, 2010
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no problem, I have had the same frustrations with that boost clock and did a lot of trial and error before finding this solution. I just hope this information gets back to NVidia and the graphics card manufacturers, as the fact that I needed to do this to get my card to work properly, left a little sour taste in my mouth from NVidia. I wonder if the AMD "boost edition" cards suffer the same issues?
 
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iam2thecrowe

iam2thecrowe

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Jul 4, 2010
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that doesn't do jack. it still uses boost clock and clock speed fluctuates and things still crash. Nvidia inspector forcing clock speed is the only way I have found to force a stable clock speed. The batch file is easy to set up, the template is there, and its fast to access from making desktop shortcuts.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Strange problem.

My GTX680 has had zero issues in Windows 7 or 8.

I wonder if your particular card might have an issue that would be solved by returning it for replacement. I remember when a previous graphics card (HD3870) started having issues I got driver problems as well as crashing. I replaced the card and all was good.
 
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