7970 Getting RMA'd....Buy gtx 780?

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getdamafiaonyou

getdamafiaonyou

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Mar 4, 2013
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So basically my sapphire 7970 is garbage. At first I thought I was just unlucky, because the card couldnt maintain a stable overclock, and when I say overclock, I mean 50mhz on clock or mem. Now it crashes windows, and crashes...CALL OF DUTY. I'm scared to even run it on crysis 3 anymore. So off to sapphire it goes. My question is this. I'm getting a new monitor, the 144hz asus 3d monitor. And thought about playing around with 3d, however it will also bring me closer to my 3 monitor setup (currently 1 1080p and 1 old ass ibm) so I'm thinking of selling whatever they send me back, and just picking up a gtx 780 for now, and in a few months picking up another one. I kinda want to test out the 3d, and After having all these issues with the AMD card after trying one to rave reviews, I'm pretty unsure. Especially since right now I could add another 7970 for what, like 300 bucks. Opinions?
Also, i5 3570k at 4.6
Corsair builder 600w
16GB (dont remember which)
Asus sabertooth z77.
128 OCZ ssd
2x 2tb seagate barracuda
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Is your card stable at STOCK speeds?

If so, I'm pretty sure you can't return it.

Also, if you go the 3D route you basically HALVE your effective frame rate. You also drop your frame rate a lot by getting three monitors.

When you get a 144Hz monitor there's also the question of VSYNC.

I personally found the best combo of parts/settings to be this:
1) 27" monitor (2560x1440 but set to 1920x1080 if I can't achieve 60FPS at full quality)
2) GTX680/HD7970

So I have a nice big 27" screen that looks awesome at 1080p quality and can hit 60FPS either at full or almost full quality for any game. For games that look even better at 2560x1440 I can do that too (Diablo 3, Starcraft 3... basically small text/HUDs).

You talk about overclocking your graphics card which is to increase your frame rate, but then you talk about getting going 3D or triple monitor which is not really playable without something like a 2xGTX780 if you want to also hit the high quality at 60FPS or whatever your VSYNCing to.

I hope that helps you in your decision.
 
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Darkman69

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Best to just keep the GPUs at factory specs to ensure stability and quality. If you need more performance get a faster card and or CF/SLI. This formula has worked flawlessly for me since I started using it some years ago.
 
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getdamafiaonyou

getdamafiaonyou

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Thanks for the reply, I'll try to be clearer. Right now, I've got 2 monitors. One is old ass IBM. I'm going to get rid of it, and in the mail currently is that 144hz monitor, because why not. I will purchase 1 more monitor later, not sure which though, I may got he 1440 route, or may not, havent made up my mind. Before I go triple monitor I would purchase another 7970, which should be enough to push them all (assuming I go with 3x1080) I guess the biggest question I've got is am I just stuck in bad luck, or is the 7970 NORMALLY better than this? and sorry, I thought I was clearer, It is NOT stable at stock clock. Hell windows movie editor crashes it. Thanks for your input though, I'm heavily leaning toward abandoning AMD and going with a 780, and then adding a second 780 in a few months.
 
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getdamafiaonyou

getdamafiaonyou

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Problem is it's crashing at factory specs.
 
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Darkman69

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You broke the GPU cause you OCed it to much for to long. It's not AMD's or Sapphires fault that you ran their product outside of the parameters that they designed and tested it to work under. You might also be running a craptastic PSU which could cause you more problems than you can shake a stick at.
 
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getdamafiaonyou

getdamafiaonyou

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Did you read anything? It would not overclock 50mhz. So I stopped trying and set it to stock. Where it continues to have issues. If I fried something by trying to set it 50 over then I call shit product. I also listed my PSU. It's not crap.
 
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17seconds

17seconds

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You definitely want to read up on Crossfire frame latency problems before you go that route. A GTX 780 will give you much more joy with multiple GPU's on a multi-monitor system. And their prices are coming down as well.

Here are a series of articles on problems with Crossfire and Eyefinity that has really shaken up the industry over the past 6 months or so.
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-Rating-Dissected-Full-Details-Capture-based-Graphics-Performance-Test-3
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-Rating-Dissected-Full-Details-Capture-based-Graphics-Performance-Tes-12
 
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getdamafiaonyou

getdamafiaonyou

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Thank you. I haven't ever used crossfire for gaming. I had a machine running 2x...I don't remember a few years ago for 3 monitors. But it was only used for 3d models and Photoshop, school. Simple stuff. Didn't know it was that bad.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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You may find this article very interesting. I recommend reading the entire thing but I linked to the PERFORMANCE SUMMARY:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_770_Direct_Cu_II_OC/27.html

Article Main Points:
1) Micro-stutter has been tested as minimized on the GTX770 more than any other setup (I can't even recommend AMD Crossfire at all). May have been a different article though...
2) The GTX780 costs 54% more for 10% more performance
3) This particular Asus design appears to be the best by far (VRM cooler, backplate, heat-pipes, double-sealed fans)

With free digital games, the AMD cards are pretty impressive in value (though I usually buy with Steam later for much cheaper). Games aside, this particular card is an incredible value at $420 (though you'll have to WAIT a little while). I suspect the price is going to go up. That's what happened to the Asus GTX670's.

My advice is this:
1) order this Asus GTX770 (about $420)
2) RMA your current card once the 770 arrives (you'll be waiting a few weeks) and perhaps DOWNLOCK slightly to avoid issues
3) SELL the RMA'd card once you get it back

Asus GTX770 points:
- excellent cooling/noise for this Asus model (should be very reliable)
- backplate for this model
- Adaptive VSYNC
- SLI (multi-GPU) micro-stutter issues vastly improved (tested in a different web site)
- ShadowPlay

Shadowplay works similar to the PS4's design. The dedicated GPU transcoding chip samples the digital output so that you can create VIDEOS of your gameplay with apparently only about 3% performance hit rather than the hit of 40% or whatever it is without this feature! (depends on system setup). Cool!

Shadowplay should be coming soon to GTX600 and GTX700 series cards.
 
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getdamafiaonyou

getdamafiaonyou

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ive been eyeballing the770. But i'm concerned about the 2gb vram, I don't want to be bottlenecked by it and it's speed when attempting to run higher resolution or 3d.
 
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Darkman69

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Did you see how much Vram Metro last Light uses ? This is an indicator of how future games will be.
 
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17seconds

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index.php

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/metro_last_light_graphics_performance_review_benchmark,8.html
 
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17seconds

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They are coming out with 4GB versions of the GTX 770. The GTX 780 has the wider 384-bit memory bandwidth to help push those higher resolutions. The GTX 780 has better overclock scaling as well. Either one would be fine.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Except the 780 currently costs 54% more than the 770 for 10% more performance.

2GB is plenty for a single desktop except in rare cases or going with multi-monitor. Correct me if I'm wrong, but 3D doesn't really affect VRAM requirements?

TESSELLATION is a feature that's going to be used much more now that next-gen consoles are here. This feature should actually REDUCE the amount of VRAM required. However, I don't have a crystal ball.

If it's a concern, definitely wait for models with 3 or 4GB.

SLI: The new 700 series is much better at minimizing micro-stutter so I'm leaning towards recommending SLI. Be aware that VRAM is CLONED in SLI, not added. If you have a 2x (GTX770 2GB) setup you have a 2GB video buffer, not 4GB. If you're going with multi-monitor or have serious concerns for future demanding games a 2x (GTX770 4GB) might be the best value when available.
 
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