AMD Phenom XII 965 BE: Max power with GTX 760 or Radeon 7950? Crossfire?

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Ian Davis

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Jun 16, 2013
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Hi guys, this is my first post here on Tom's Hardware. I've long used the forums for support but now I'm wondering... Would it be more effective to use a GTX 760 or Radeon 7950 with my AMD Phenom XII 965 BE? I really don't know much about Crossfire and how it works.
What would be my money's worth?


On a side note, I've been thinking of overclocking my Phenom. Beyond buying an aftermarket cooler, is there a good tutorial any of you guys/gals might be able to refer me to? Is Easy Boost (a piece of software included in ET6 for Black Edition CPU's) a good option?
 
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iam2thecrowe

nvidias frame...
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iam2thecrowe

iam2thecrowe

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Jul 4, 2010
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crossfire is poo, i expect a proper crossfire frame pacing fix in next gen cards, they have a software fix now but doesnt work 100%. Nvidias sli doesnt have this problem. If your looking at potentially getting a second card, then go nvidia. If you just want a single card, chose either, the 760 is probably slightly faster than 7950, trade blows depending on game/settings etc. You wont notice a difference at all with your cpu anyway, it will be the bottleneck. Dont use easyboost to oc, do it properly, read some articles, there are plenty. A good cooler like a coolermaster hyper212 should have you hitting 4ghz on that cpu fairly easily.
 
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Swordkd

Swordkd

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A 965 won't bottleneck a 760. You will get better FPS after overclocking though. The 7950 is a great card if you can find one for about 200, whereas a great 760 is about 255. The difference in performance isn't worth the extra 55 dollars.
 
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Ian Davis

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Would the GTX 760 be better future proofing? I'm willing to spend a bit extra for a superior product so long as it truly is superior.
 
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Ian Davis

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Jun 16, 2013
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iam2thecrowe said:crossfire is poo, i expect a proper crossfire frame pacing fix in next gen cards, they have a software fix now but doesnt work 100%. Nvidias sli doesnt have this problem. If your looking at potentially getting a second card, then go nvidia. If you just want a single card, chose either, the 760 is probably slightly faster than 7950, trade blows depending on game/settings etc. You wont notice a difference at all with your cpu anyway, it will be the bottleneck. Dont use easyboost to oc, do it properly, read some articles, there are plenty. A good cooler like a coolermaster hyper212 should have you hitting 4ghz on that cpu fairly easily.

I assume by "do it properly" you mean adjusting the BIOS?

 
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iam2thecrowe

iam2thecrowe

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nvidias frame pacing is apparently done with hardware, where ati's frame pacing is done with software so its less efficient. also has lower performance scaling, not effective at all resolutions, no dx9 support, no eyefinity, more cpu overhead. nvidia has been addressing frame pacing/even frame delivery for much longer than amd, who have only just started to fix it.
 
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8350rocks

8350rocks

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The GTX 760 ~ GTX 670...so, no...it's not truly superior. The HD 7950 is a good buy for less money, and there isn't a "gap" in performance at all, as was pointed out earlier.
 
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Ian Davis

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Thanks, good to know.

 
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