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HD 7970 or GTX 680?

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They gave the GHz edition an 8.5 because it was supposed to be priced at $500 and because they reviewed one with a reference cooler on it.

The custom models at $450 are much more attractive - heat and noise aren't going to be issues. If power draw matters to you, obviously Kepler is the way to go. IMO power draw is irrelevant on $400+ graphics cards. It's also only $20 more than that 670 TOP, so they offer very similar value.

IMO it's a pick-em between those two. The GTX 680 is a bad deal right now, so I wouldn't get that. It depends on what resolution you're gaming at (7970 does much better above 1080p), what games you want to play (each card wins some games and loses in others), and what power supply you want to get (you could get away with a pretty meager power supply with the GTX 670).

Personally, I'd take the 7970 GHz edition because out of the box it is the fastest card out there, it's a great deal for $450, and you can overclock it easily to improve performance even further (you can overclock Kepler cards, but it's not as simple).

EDIT Didn't realize that the 670 DCU II TOP is out of stock. So yeah, 7970 GHz edition @ $450 is my recommendation.

It seems the GTX 670 DCU2 TOP is back in stock?
Had to rewrite my post. Sigh. Not sure what's going on.

In comparison, there's a new card that I saw on Newegg for $450:
Sapphire Tech Vapor-X HD7970 Ghz 3GB

Don't confuse with previous Sapphire 7970's. This has a max 1050MHz GPU clock and should run about 10% faster and quieter than a reference HD7970.

*According to the TechPowerup link in the above comment the new GHz 7970 basically trades blow with the GTX680 (better in some games, behind in others) but it's currently cheaper. However the price is almost the same ($10 more?) than the Asus GTX 670 DCU2 TOP which is truly an awesome card.

Still, after all my previous and current reviewing I've come to this conclusion:
1) Hey, this card is back in stock?:
Asus GTX 670 DirectCUII TOP (must be the TOP version)
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=71741&vpn=GTX670-DC2T-...


2) If you want great value, and don't have a preference of NVidia or AMD consider this one:
(don't confuse this new HD7970 with the previous ones)

***If you can get the Asus 670 DCU2 TOP from NCIX for $439 with free shipping then simply drop everything and order it. That's my opinion. In the benchmarks you can basically substitute a stock 680 card for its performance.

It's nearly identical in most ways to the HD7970 GHz edition, including price, but IMO it beats out the AMD card due to driver support, PhysX, TXAA, FXAA, Adaptive VSYNC and some minor other reasons. It's probably quieter too.

SN1P3R2921 said:
Hey guys. I'm building a new system and cannot decide between these two cards. I've watched a ton of benchmarks so all I want is a complete answer.
Thanks!
I will quote another member and i totally agree with him Your not going to get anymore complete a answer than looking at benchmarks sorry but that's NOT going to happen and fanboys will be fanboys so i suggest you don't waste your time. Quote : matto17secs wrote :

It's understandable that you would be confused. There are a few issues: 1) People are going to make claims without backing it up with proof, 2) People make blanket statements, when the reality is that certain games favor certain hardware, 3) People make a few FPS advantage seem like a "win", when it usually falls within the margin of error and makes no difference in terms of performance.

Your best bet it to always do your own research using the many review websites and don't always believe everything reported by random anonymous posters on a public forum.

The correct answer is they are both essentially the same in performance overall. Depending on which games you intend to play, one will perform better than the other.


Benchmarks show that the 7970 GHz edition is as fast or a teeny bit faster than the 680, at the cost of higher power draw. So, if you care a lot about power draw, you can get the 680. If you care about getting the best bang for your buck, get the 7970 GHz edition.

Reviews actually aren't super helpful about the 7970 GHz edition because 99% of them are reviews of a reference version, hence the heat/noise problems. They also review it as if it were $500. It's a bad deal under those conditions. However, at $450 and with nice custom models, it's a great high-end deal.

I'd agree with the consensus above, which I think is something like this: (1) the 670/680 is more efficient; (2) the 680 is a bit overpriced given its modest gains over the 670, especially some good custom 670s; (3) the 7970 will have a slight edge at high resolutions (that is resolutions above 1080p), especially with high AA settings; (4) in some games, one card or the other will be better; (5) custom GHz editions of the 7970 are markedly better than original release 7970s or reference GHz edition 7970s. So just weigh those things for yourself. Bottom line, you're not going to be making a bad choice no matter what card you get. That's why it's hard to advise.

Guys @ stock comparison lol kepler autoboost, the cards are pretty much even trading blows in several games. Now when you start to overclock both cards you begin to see why the 7000 series is so good, it pulls away from the 680. Overall the 7970 is the better card, but if your more into to 3D like me than go for the 680.

PS I have both sli and xfire setups.
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