nadim615

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Hi all,

So I've been debating for a little while on whether to get a new GPU or not, and I think it would probably be a good idea. So I've settled on the two cards that seem the most reasonable (GTX 690 is way overpriced), the GTX 680 and the Radeon 7970. Benchmarks place them about equal, so I'm not sure really which one to get. I dont really have a preference between Nvidia or AMD, so just looking for some opinions. Maybe some more accurate benchmarks? Maybe one does way outperform the other? I'm not 100% sure. And for reference, the current card I have right now is the GTX 570, if you were to suggest another card that is better than this but worth the value. The 7870 seems better (benchmark wise) but barely, so doesnt seem worth buying another card for a miniscule improvement. I'm also attempting to get BF3 to run on Ultra at a steady 60+ fps, and hopefully run the next Battlefield game (when it comes out) with my future purpose. COD, even a potato can run.

*EDIT*
Seems to be some confusion on what resolution I'd be aiming to run the game at, and thats 1920x1080 on Ultra settings. I really dont care about 2500x1600 performance, I'm never really gonna be going up to that high of a resolution.. Also, I (believe I) have a decent processor, the i5-2500K, if that helps at all. And for OC'ing, its either way. Not really a huge fan of it, but don't really mind doing it either. Kind of funny as how I have an unlocked CPU, but meh it was an extra $10 for unlocked so I went for it.. :p
 

asalikus

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First of all GTX680 is the best card out there right now. Now, I hate people telling me to buy GTX670 instead of GTX680 but if you want the best card you can buy the GTX680. If you want a budget build and poor unlike me :D (just kidding), You should buy the GTX670 its 5% slower and $100 cheaper, so that's what you can do right now. But if I were you I would wait for GTX685 its only few months away, will be (I think) $100 more expensive, 25%-35% faster than the GTX680 and it looks like you do not need to (necessarily) upgrade your card right now. Its still a good card. Only upgrading to GTX685 will be a real upgrade in my opinion. You might get the performance of SLI GTX570s. There is another option, that's if you have an SLI motherboard, you can just buy another GTX 570 for $300 get almost the double performance and spend $300 less on upgrading. I hope I helped you with your problem. :)
 
Get the GTX 680. It beats the 7970 and does it with less power, heat, and noise. It also does a lot better in BF3 than the 7970.

imageview.php

http://www.guru3d.com/article/vga-charts-summer-2012/12

Please do not wait for something called a GTX 685. It exists only in rumors at this point.
 

asalikus

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I agree with you about the rumors but he doesn't need to buy it any soon so I just told him about it. Thank you.


 

nadim615

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Haha thx :) Probably not going to SLI, my motherboard does support SLI but there's like no room at all in my case, it will like barely fit xD So I'll be running a cramped, intense heat SLI. Plus SLI is like 1.5x performance boost, not really 2x :p And well if there's a GTX 685 coming out soon for only $100 more thats 25-35% better, I think I might wait for that :p More worth the upgrade..
 

nadim615

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Oh. Well that sux, about only rumors : ( the benchmarks for the 680 though do look pretty promising, about a 20FPS gain : D But I guess I can wait and see, because I still gotta go out and make the money to get a new card :p
 

asalikus

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:) No problem, make sure to rate my comment you know what I mean by that right :D ;)


 

theconsolegamer

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The difference is neglible in BF3 and the 7970 is actually cheaper. The 7970 runs better on BF3 and Metro than the GTX 680 on almost all bechmarks and cost less.
 
The 7970 tends to perform better as settings and resolution increase. Even at stock settings it will match or beat the GTX680 at 2560x1600. Almost all reviews pit the stock GTX680 against the stock HD7970. AMD dropped the ball by shipping the card with extremely conservative stock clocks and most vendors are selling it with a healthy 20-25% factory overclock. At these settings it will match or beat the GTX680 in almost all games that aren't specifically optimized for NVidia
 

Stickem

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Look, I wouldn't even compare the 7970 and the 680 at 2560x1600 right now. %99 of gamers don't even use that resolution. 1080p is the most common and I am sure that would be the resolution nadim615 will be using. His interest is getting BF3 to run in ultra settings and maintain 60+ fps. One thing he has going for him is that Nvidia has optimized their cards and drivers to work better with BF3 than AMD/Raedeon has. Judging by his preference, it sounds like he leans more on Nvidia already.

My suggestion is to consider a 680 or a 670. As long as you have a good processor paired with one of these two video cards, you will easily achieve your goal of 60+ fps in BF3 in Ultra settings in 1080p. The 670 goes for $400 and is %5 slower than the 680. You can easily OC a 670 to equal a 680 using software like Precision X from EVGA. Buying a 680 will cost you $500 and you might have to deal with supply issues still depending on where you look for one.

Personally, I'd prefer to save $100 and go with a 670 and just do a small OC to equal the 680 speeds and be a happy camper =)

If you read more than just 1 review, you will see that the 670 and 7970 rival each other and the 680 out paces the 7970 by a decent margin in most games.
 


Not sure where you got that statistic....

It might not double your FPS but it does double your performance. Well not double but +95%.
 


+1

Modern AFR techniques put average SLI/CFX gains in the 88-96% range with LGA2011 platforms being towards the upper end
 


I just read your sig and started drooling...

I really like your 7970 CF-X. Some people don't understand what they are capable of OC'd. I just sold my 6870 CF-X with plans to 6950 CF-X, kind of a small step I know, but I have one of the 6950's right now and after I was able to bypass the AMD clock limits I was amazed at how high I could take it and how much it improved performance...

Not to mention I was able to sell both 6870's for $140 each and get both 6950's for $165 each, pretty solid bang for buck setup IMO.
 

asalikus

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Yeah, I agree with you, forgot about that.

 


The headroom on the 7970s is amazing. Unfortunately they get hot as heck though when pushed. When idle though they're barely above room temp
 

zakattak80

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before i answer this i have to ask do you have intention to overclock the card you choose to get. if your going to do overclocking then i'd suggest a 7970. it is the overclocking king when it comes to performance gains beyond stock clocks. the flaw is it well be using much more power and fps per dollar is lower then the 680 at stock speeds.
 
I'm personally waiting on a GTX 680 after much research, but most people would be happy with the HD7970.

*I strongly recommend non-reference coolers which run cooler and quieter. Sapphire Technology makes awesome AMD cards. Asus makes both AMD and NVidia. There are others.

Recommendations:
1) GTX 670 (Asus DirectCU II)
2) GTX 680 (Asus DirectCU II TOP)
3) HD7970 OC (Sapphire Technology)

Summary:
If I had to recommend one card it would be the Asus DirectCU II 670. It's available now (the 680 is not) and performs identically to a stock 680.
 

Triton05

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Gigabyte GTX670 windforce 3 is only 399. Comes clocked at 980Mhz. I have my set to 1005Mhz and it boosts to 1188Mhz without an issue. I can max it stable to 1257Mhz for benching purposes. ITs silent / hangs in the low 70C's and cannot be heard. I don't know why everyone is all of a sudden humping this ASUS card. Alot have had issues with it. Just look through the forums. *Shrug* The Gigabyte card comes with a metal spine too, works like a back plate in supplying extra support due to the size of the card. ( uses the 680 PCB )

87b509b7_GIGABYTE-GTX-680-OC-1.jpeg