Asus AMD HD 7970 Matrix Platinum 3GB or MSI GTX 680 Lighning 2GB

I'd say unless you are upgrading to a higher resolution the 680 is the better option.
Instead of getting a card that will last a couple years i recommend getting a card that works now then selling it and putting the money towards a new one when the next gen comes out or you see a need for an upgrade.

firstly thanks for reply   to be honest the reason was looking at the matrix platinum is partially because of the 3 free games with the current promotion (value of around £60 at the moment sleeping dogs far cry 3 and hitman, also 20% off battlefield 4 when it comes out) but also the fact that when OC'd it seems to have relatively similar or better framerates for the most part other than on starcraft 2 and AvP (which i know is AMD optimized) the main games i wana play are starcraft 2 Diablo 3 and Guild Wars 2 but the AMD sorta seemed better value when i considered the 3 free games and the pricing point for both cards is at £420, again thank you and just sorta trying to justify one way or the other...:/

the 7970 is probably the better value this is true. I just prefer nvidia. Plus nvidia has physx and adaptive v-sync. What you should be comparing is what BOTH cards can do when overclocked. As far as I know the 680 will beat the 7970. The answer isn't usually day and night you have to figure out what is more important to you.

Nvidia? Simple, GTX 680 DirectCU II was born TOP, a video card generous in every respect. With high performance and the heat sink slot DirectCU II to the top of the range 3 ASUS is set to make inroads into the hearts of hardcore overclockers thanks to a generous factory overclock and quality components designed to increase the frequency.Although not part of the series "ROG" the GTX 680 DirectCU II Top trace the line between video cards ASUS Classic those belonging to the elite end, it encloses, in an evening gown, the muscles of a ROG without but resume particulars identifying video cards Matrix.This 680 is the shot caller slaps the other 680's around makes them bow down! I would be all over that Asus TOP for its high factory overclock, cool temps, and really, really quiet fans,heavily modified PCB, with an efficient VRM design to produce low temperatures, improved voltage regulation circuitry, much better Chil controller , specially binned chip and voltage control and monitoring support that you won't find on most other non-reference cards.The thing a straight beast!If you prefer to spend less i would go for AMD's HD 7970 and its more powerful brother HD 7970 GHz Edition have been on the market for a while now. MSI has also launched their HD 7970 Lightning in June. Now ASUS has released the HD 7970 Matrix - a card that will directly compete with MSI's HD 7970 Lightning.ASUS has increased clock speeds to 1100 MHz. That is 50 MHz more than the GHz Edition and higher than any other HD 7970 card, including the MSI Lightning. Memory clock is, with 1650 MHz, also higher than any other AMD card.



The card comes with a powerful triple slot cooling solution and adds many features for hardcore overclockers like support for VGA Hotwire, voltage control, and three buttons for direct GPU voltage control. You will also find voltage measuring points and a Turbo-fan button to set fan speed to 100% on the card.


Price-wise, the HD 7970 Matrix comes at $480, which is quite a price increase given AMD's recent price drops for the HD 7970.The other cards i would recommend are Sapphire's HD 7950 Vapor-X comes with a large dual-fan cooler that uses the company's famous vapor-chamber technology. On the Vapor-X you will also find a "Lethal Boost" button which switches to a second BIOS with higher clock speeds. With this BIOS, clocks are increased to 950 MHz GPU and 1250 MHz memory.
Pricing of the Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X is $330 which is a 10% premium. Also,MSI's GTX 670 Power Edition uses the famous Twin Frozr IV cooler from the MSI Lightning and comes with a large clock speed boost out of the box, making its default clock speed even higher than GTX 680 stock clocks.That would be a solid choice for the price imo they currently are going for $389.99 a piece that doesn't look unreasonable, given the improved cooling and higher clocks but it's up to you.

Yes I would definitely recommend the ASUS top card I have one and it really a basass card. Very VERY quiet, runs cool, and fast as they come. Only problem is price and it takes up 3 slots.

  very true i traded two 570's for one and when i saw it in person and held it for first time i was like holy crap   what a monster!And then when gaming with it something strange happened this came to mind Asus 680 Top = http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=w... and couldn't get that out my head the whole day

hahaha   someone knows how i feel lol!

well im not bothered by the cost to be honest and im willing to spend up to £420 which is around $670 but now i think about it when i move out next year i cud sell the card and buy like an GTX 690 for my own personal computer...so i suppose ill grab the AMD 7970, when you said they released the matrix that will directly compete with the 7970 did u mean it wil compete with the 680? but just wondering overall do you think the 680 that i specified has higher performance than the matrix? (excluding costs) and thank you so much for replys guys! i sure hope i ahve space for these GPU's my MOBO is only an ASUS P8Z77-M

looking at the 670 i can get the TOP version for £335 or the non top for £320

I would go for the 670 Top if you can get it and it's cheaper check it out TechPowerUp says it's the best and gave it a 10 rating the only card that has ever received that award is 670 TOP http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_670...

ok thank you very much, tried to give best answer but its not an option for some reason o.O but anyway I can order the 670 TOP for £335 used (like new) from amazon, if its gone by time i have the money then i can get one for £350, thank you!!

Your welcome!And don't worry about best answer i don't help just for that lol.

hahaha i merely meant its a nice way to show appreciation   i get paid on friday so that 670 TOP SHALL BE MINE! hopfully by time it arrives my new PC rig will have arrived, its got an intel i5 3570 3.3GHz the 670 TOP (obviously  ) 16GB ram samsung 830series 256GB SSD+1TB WD 7200rpm HDD   so excited my old computer is nearly 9 years old now so this is guna be crazy for games!!!

Congrats!Sounds good enjoy!