Tough Choice with 7970 reviews.....

[mikeny]

I'm torn between waiting for a 7970 in 2-3 weeks, a GTX560 ti (448) or a GTX570. I figure if I choose a 580, I might as well get a 7970.

Native resolution for 24" LG LCD: 1900x1080
Games I play: Civ 5, Cities XL 2011 (video hog), and APB Reloaded (MMO). I might play SW: Old Republic but not sure. Possibly Planetside 2 (MMO).

System Im building but only need SSD and video card:

i5-2400 (hold me down till IB) and got it at a basement price!
Asus Gen3 z68 board
SSD (Crucial M4 or Intel's new 520) 120-128GB
Logitech 5500 5.1 Digital Speakers (XFI Forte sound card)
Windows 7
16GB Corsair Vengeance LP
CM Hyoer212+ Heatsink/fan
CM HAF 932 Full Tower
Corsair HX 850w PSU
HDDs carrying over from previous system build
LG x22 DVD-RW (carrying over)

 

[kajabla]

I'd insist that you get a 2500K if you hadn't gone and got that 2400. You can get it at Microcenter for $180, and it'll handle any graphics hardware that comes along for a good while.

I think a 570, and another later, is the best thing here.

Go with Crucial or an ADATA S510. I kinda lean ADATA, as it's $170.

Grab a Hyper 212 EVO for $4 more. It's significantly better.

 

[mcnumpty23]

depends if you are in a hurry--so far the early reviews of the 7970 look encouraging so a few driver updates and

support for msi afterburner and availability and a good price point make it very much worth looking at

7970 review

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/1

 

[kajabla]

Not a good price point compared to 570 SLI, I think. Good compared to a 580, but that's not exactly a value card.

 

[mikeny]

Not a good price point compared to 570 SLI, I think. Good compared to a 580, but that's not exactly a value card.

I thought, 1 card is better; more stable than 2 because you could run into micro-shuttering. I was thinking of a 570 but thats the price of a 6970 and if i choose 6970, i might as well choose the 7970...see my headache!!

I actually got the 2400 at $135 and the hyper+ was highly recommended. Not doing any O/C.

I was looking at the Crucial M4, Samsng 830 or if Intel releases the new 520 soon.

 

[mcnumpty23]

7970 still looks really good now more reviews are out--if like me you prefer 1 card over sli or xfire

only thing against it is it may be a bit loud--but when asus , msi etc bring out non reference coolers and

overclocked versions--as it looks like a great overclocker i can see it replacing my gtx570

might cause a little bit of a price war with nvidia?

any guesses how much its going to be? - i was hoping around £399 to compete with the gtx580

 

[Kkkk1]

Well the 7970 gets my vote even if it is 3 months away. This is based purely on performance. I'm not too sure about bang for buck. However at a later date you could xfire another for completely insance performance.

 

[mikeny]

7970 still looks really good now more reviews are out--if like me you prefer 1 card over sli or xfire

only thing against it is it may be a bit loud--but when asus , msi etc bring out non reference coolers and

overclocked versions--as it looks like a great overclocker i can see it replacing my gtx570

might cause a little bit of a price war with nvidia?

any guesses how much its going to be? - i was hoping around £399 to compete with the gtx580

MSRP is $550 for 7970

KKK1: The release date is January 9th

 

[mcnumpty23]

MSRP is $550 for 7970

KKK1: The release date is January 9th

$550 really?

$550 is only £350--that puts it below the cost of a gtx580

 

[mikeny]

$550 really?

$550 is only £350--that puts it below the cost of a gtx580

From other threads, I read that MSI and the other makers were caught off guard by AMD releasing the 7970 on January 9th and they could be in short supply.

 

[kajabla]

In the USA, 580s cost $500ish. Electronics tend to be more expensive in the UK. The 7970 will be a good bit more expensive than the 580.
Micro-stuttering isn't an issue with high-end cards like the 570. It's a problem up until around the 560.

 

[mikeny]

In the USA, 580s cost $500ish. Electronics tend to be more expensive in the UK. The 7970 will be a good bit more expensive than the 580.
Micro-stuttering isn't an issue with high-end cards like the 570. It's a problem up until around the 560.

Kaj, really, about the 570 and SLI? Hmmmm, the 570 is looking real good then and if the 570 drops in price; instead of looking real good; it would be upgraded to real tasty I'm still torn; the 7980 has new architecture, 3GB of video ram, 384bit; and the reference cards/drivers scored nicely; I can't imagine that when MSI engineers a twin frozr III 7970...it might be a killer which brings me back to my sticky point....570 or 7970? And if the 7970 is less than $550 or even 6-12months from now if it drops in price....a CF'd 7970....WOW! I think I made up my mind concerning SSD....Samsung 830....still video card is up in the air...570 or 7970.

 

[kajabla]

3gb is absolutely useless on low resolutions like 1920x1080.

 

[mikeny]

3gb is absolutely useless on low resolutions like 1920x1080.

So the 7970 would be overkill to the highest degree? Even with the new architecture?

 

[kajabla]

It's still faster than any other single GPU, but 570 SLI would be a better value and perform far better.

 

[woshitudou]

So the 7970 would be overkill to the highest degree? Even with the new architecture?

I ordered my 7970 already. The new architecture brings it in line with Fermi so I'm most pleased. I'll drop in a 2nd later to get 7990 power.

The 3GBs of ram is awesome. There is no chance of running out of gpu mem in high res ultra HD textured gaming and that means no more skips while textures swap. I've been waiting for a standard card with more ram for a while. There is much mem for Partially Resident Textures to stream in to and with compute being worked in to apps and games there is a lot of high bandwidth ram to play with. For people who work in 3DS, they can render larger and more complex scenes. Overall it's great.

Your setup is good. If you can go without a cool case then I'd recommend grabbing a cheap case and putting the extra savings towards the cpu cause cases dont' make your gaming faster.

 

[woshitudou]

It's still faster than any other single GPU, but 570 SLI would be a better value and perform far better.

The 570 SLI is a nice setup but it's not a good choice over the 7970 because the 7970 is a single gpu next gen solution. If the 570 had a good upgrade path then it'd be ok but it doesn't have an upgrade path so it's coffin is already ordered. With the 7970 you get a single gpu next gen solution with a great upgrade path (becomes a 7990 style monster when u drop the 2nd in). It also has an effective 3gb for games/apps to utilize opposed to the effective 1.28gb in an sli configuration. The only reason I would choose a 570 sli over the 7970 is if I didn't like AMD and wanted to support nvidia. Otherwise it's a bad choice.

 

[kajabla]

^This last reason is a good one, that it doesn't have an upgrade path, but google some VRAM stuff. It really doesn't have an effect; more is not better unless you're doing multi-monitor stuff.

 

[mikeny]

I ordered my 7970 already. The new architecture brings it in line with Fermi so I'm most pleased. I'll drop in a 2nd later to get 7990 power.

The 3GBs of ram is awesome. There is no chance of running out of gpu mem in high res ultra HD textured gaming and that means no more skips while textures swap. I've been waiting for a standard card with more ram for a while. There is much mem for Partially Resident Textures to stream in to and with compute being worked in to apps and games there is a lot of high bandwidth ram to play with. For people who work in 3DS, they can render larger and more complex scenes. Overall it's great.

Your setup is good. If you can go without a cool case then I'd recommend grabbing a cheap case and putting the extra savings towards the cpu cause cases dont' make your gaming faster.

Ordered it already? From who? I checked newegg and it's not there? Is it still $550? I googled it and saw that it's $900 for preorder in Europe....OUCH! If that;s the price when it gets closer here in the US....forget it! But still hung up lol....570 or 7970.

 

[kajabla]

From whom.

 

[mikeny]

Cuda and PhysX is tempting since I haven't had a nvidia card since 2002. I saw the MSI Frozr III GTX 580 for $499 an has 1.5GB; maybe a 2nd one when prices possibly go down.

Deeper issue; Part of me wants to try a Nvidia but Kepler is coming.....lets say in 4-5 months. The specs on the 7970 are very impressive with new architecture and it's coming in a few weeks. I thought i read something that the 7970 might have something that now rivals PhysX/Cuda or am I just wishing because deep down I want the 7970 lol. Seriously, Im so confused and in the middle about what to get.

 

[woshitudou]

Ordered it already? From whom nom nom nom? I checked newegg and it's not there? Is it still $550? I googled it and saw that it's $900 for preorder in Europe....OUCH! If that;s the price when it gets closer here in the US....forget it! But still hung up lol....570 or 7970.

From Sapphire, I always buy Sapphire cards for some reason. It's fate. They make good cards cheaper than everyone else. Anywhom I went to my local pc guru and asked if they could get it and they called Sapphire's distributor for our country directly and arranged to have one shipped to me (them) as soon as it enters the country on Jan 20th.

It's costing me $800. Included in that $800 is $550 + 100 VAT + 150 proooofit. The proooofit is applied to everything here cause I'm a foreigner. It seems like a lot of money but it cost me $800 for my 5970 thru them so I'm accustomed to the high prices. That's just the way it is when you want something luxury in a place where everyone is poor.

 

[mikeny]

From Sapphire, I always buy Sapphire cards for some reason. It's fate. They make good cards cheaper than everyone else. Anywhom I went to my local pc guru and asked if they could get it and they called Sapphire's distributor for our country directly and arranged to have one shipped to me (them) as soon as it enters the country on Jan 20th.

It's costing me $800. Included in that $800 is $550 + 100 VAT + 150 tax. The tax is applied to everything here cause I'm a foreigner. It seems like a lot of money but it cost me $800 for my 5970 thru them so I'm accustomed to the high prices. That's just the way it is when you want something luxury in a place where everyone is poor.

You mentioned Copenhagen? Yes, VAT, I'm familiar with it. I love Sapphire! Every Radeon I get is Sapphire. Never had to call/email tech, never had a problem. Ive gotten a stock card and a overclocked one from them.

 

[woshitudou]

Ya, I like Copenhagen. It has so much fantastic history and is relaxing and peaceful except when foreigners burn cars or beat up locals. I may go back next month. VAT is too expensive there. It's 25% and income tax is between 38-68% or so. When I was last there tax on a new automobile was 180%. It seems really high but they were rated as the happiest country in the world last year so it's working good.

My first Sapphire was the Radeon 9800 Pro then the Sapphire 1950XT then the Sapphire 5970 and now this new card. They won me through support on my 5970 when they sent me a custom BIOS.

 

[kajabla]

Custom BIOS? Keep talking