Overclocked 670 versus overclocked 7950

[exoforce]

Hi, I am designing a new gaming system and I am stuck between the gtx670 and the 7950. I have heard that the 7950 can be over clocked passed the 670 and I have a few question:

1. Can the 670 be overclocked and by how much? I have heard that the newer versions are locked.

2. How much will over clocking shorten the life of the card?

3. Is you touching the voltage dangerous? And is it still worthwhile to get a 7950 if I don't want to mess with the voltage?

Thanks for your help!

 

[bigcyco1]

Well the thing is with overclocking there no guarantees it's luck of the draw. Both cards will be a good choice do not worry about it.The 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.

 

[rotorite86]

Not sure if it helps, but I have a conservative OC on my 7950.

I am running 1000/1500 (20 Li) with a Sapphire 7950 (stock I think is 925/1250). Temps never get out of the 50s. The GPU has dual fans.

With a 4.2GHz OC, I am scoring a 1587 in Heaven 3.0. Avg 63.0 FPS (1920x1080 -- 8x AA, 4x Anis, Tesselation Normal, AMD Beta Drivers). Should give you a decent idea if you are looking at a similar rig.

 

[exoforce]

Well the thing is with overclocking there no guarantees it's luck of the draw. Both cards will be a good choice do not worry about it.The 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.

Thanks for the two suggestions, I have spent hours looking at their reviews and trying to figure out which one I should get. I wonder if others can also give me some suggestions and advice, and help me figure out if I want to pay an extra $60 for the MSI 670 or go with the Vapor-X 7950. If the increased performance justifies the price I might go with the 670, otherwise I might try the 7950 and try and OC it.

Actually the 7950 has a 20$ rebate offer atm for a final price of 310. So is 80 dollars worth it for the 670? And how reliable are the rebates?
Edit: Here is my current design, please let me know if there are any major flaws or improvements that can be made!

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yaZl
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yaZl/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yaZl/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($178.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($309.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill THOR V2 ATX Full Tower Case ($124.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro M 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($105.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Razer RZ01-00152400-R3M1 Wired Optical Mouse ($47.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1600.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-17 22:34 EST-0500)

Thanks for your help!

 

[bigcyco1]

Thanks for the two suggestions, I have spent hours looking at their reviews and trying to figure out which one I should get. I wonder if others can also give me some suggestions and advice, and help me figure out if I want to pay an extra $60 for the MSI 670 or go with the Vapor-X 7950. If the increased performance justifies the price I might go with the 670, otherwise I might try the 7950 and try and OC it.

Actually the 7950 has a 20$ rebate offer atm for a final price of 310. So is 80 dollars worth it for the 670? And how reliable are the rebates?
Edit: Here is my current design, please let me know if there are any major flaws or improvements that can be made!

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yaZl
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yaZl/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yaZl/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($178.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($309.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill THOR V2 ATX Full Tower Case ($124.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro M 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($105.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Razer RZ01-00152400-R3M1 Wired Optical Mouse ($47.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1600.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-17 22:34 EST-0500)

Thanks for your help!

looks good to me you can save money by getting cheaper case

 

[footlong96]

currently have my gtx 670 overclocked to 1215mhz core. I get about 47.1fps average on heaven benchmark on everything maxed and 1080p.

 

[DarkSable]

Just throwing out there, even with a stock 670 or 7950, there are going to be very very few modern titles that you can't flat out max at 1080p and 60fps. My heavily overclocked 670 runs most games at max and 1080p with 120fps; there isn't a single game it won't run max at 60fps.

I would imagine the same would be true for the 7950, though with a bit more difference between stock and overclocked. (And it'll run hotter, so you'll need better cooling.)

 

[exoforce]

Best answer selected by exoforce.