Hd 7970 or gtx 670/680

[irvinth]

hello ive been reading about the hd 7970 and the gtx 670/680 and as far as nvidia gtx goes, the gtx 670 and gtx 680 are almost the same and the 100 dollar gap is not worth it but is the hd 7970 really that much better from the 680? i plan to do sli (2 way) on either of those
my specs are:
Intel core i7 980X 3.33ghz
GIGABYTE GA X58A UD3R
KINGSTON HYPER X 6GB RAM
COOLER MASTER HAF 932
CORSAIR AX 850W
WD CAVIAR BLACK 1.5TB
ATI RADEON HD 5870

 

[dudewitbow]

the 7970 is for overclock enthusiast normally(hence how there's a series performance difference between a 7970 and a 7970 ghz edition, which is basically a heavily overclocked 7970 to its high limit on a brand new pcb) Amd cards tend to work better on high resolutions and multiple screens(higher vram, better resolution scaling). if its a single screen at 1920x1080, I would recommend the 670 for the fact that its stock is better, generally performs spectacular in several games since games in general are Nvidia favored, as well as ability to use physx when its wanted.

 

[stanistheman]

7970ghz is the single fastest gpu in the world right now. not only that it has more vram then the 670/680 and also it has a bigger bit interface. No reason to pick up the 670/680 over it unless you want 3dvison or cuda/phsx http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-benchmark,3232.html. the 7970 always wins at higher resloutions and at 1080p it trades blows

 

[ElMoIsEviL]

Well based on recent tests with updated drivers the Radeon HD 7970 is tough to beat. Not only that but if you're a real enthusiast you're likely going to want to try new and interesting things with your card. One of those things may be to break Wifi passwords or maybe use it to crack password protected archived files. You may do like me and use your card to mine for bitcoins.

When it comes to raw computing power there is nothing, not even a Tesla card, on the market that can touch Taxiti XT. The Radeon 7970 is a work of art in that department.

This may sound a little poetic but the Radeon 7970 is like a powerful engine that purrs when stressed with complex mathematical problems to solve. It eats through mathematical code like a Tiger tackling its prey. Truly a wonder to see. I think Tahiti XT is the single reason why I am learning to code for OpenCL now.

 

[beethree]

I gree with that above me. I used to have nVidia cards and was a fan of them. (except those ugly horrid 400 series cards).

I got 2 7970's and do gaming as well as Adobe programs like After Effects, Premiere Pro and the rest. These cards are awesome. I feel ashamed I only have one monitor. I have shamed my family, but I plan to buy more later, possibly 3 total, and I know I won't have a problem with it at all.

 

[17seconds]

According to Tom's Hardware "Best Graphics Cards for the Money" August 2012 edition, the GTX 670 is the only card over $400 that they give full recommendation.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-6.html

It's impossible to say one is "faster" than the other. There are plenty of reviews showing a reference GTX 680 trading the performance lead with a Ghz edition 7970 depending on the game. Let alone a custom factory overclocked 680, which would be my personal preference.

So the way you make this decision is to look at benchmarks for the actual games you intend to play. Certain games will favor one over the other.

Then decide if you place any value on the extras that come with the Nvidia ecosystem: PhysX, Adaptive VSync, FXAA, TXAA, better driver support, Turbo Boost, and lower power consumption. If your games prefer AMD cards and you place no value on the Nvidia extras, then you truly deserve to buy that AMD card.

Just in case you can't make up your mind, here is a description of the PhysX effects in the upcoming Borderlands 2 game. It's really one of the few things that you can definitively say that one card has and the other doesn't.
http://physxinfo.com/news/7865/borderlands-2-will-be-enhanced-with-gpu-physx-effects/

 

[bystander]

For pure gaming, the 670 and 680's are great, but they are crippled in the OpenCL and DirectCompute department.

If all you do is game, I'd lean towards the 670/680, especially if you like 3D. If you do bitcoining or use OpenCL programs, the 7950/70 overwhelmingly outperform the 670/680's.

 

[redeemer]

If you know what your doing and a hardcore enthusiast than get the 7970 plain and simple. Its the better all around solution and can overclock like there no tomorrow. However at 1080p grab a 670 it still fast and has some tech like TXAA that maybe be used in some upcoming titles.

 

[redeemer]

Well based on recent tests with updated drivers the Radeon HD 7970 is tough to beat. Not only that but if you're a real enthusiast you're likely going to want to try new and interesting things with your card. One of those things may be to break Wifi passwords or maybe use it to crack password protected archived files. You may do like me and use your card to mine for bitcoins.

When it comes to raw computing power there is nothing, not even a Tesla card, on the market that can touch Taxiti XT. The Radeon 7970 is a work of art in that department.

This may sound a little poetic but the Radeon 7970 is like a powerful engine that purrs when stressed with complex mathematical problems to solve. It eats through mathematical code like a Tiger tackling its prey. Truly a wonder to see. I think Tahiti XT is the single reason why I am learning to code for OpenCL now.

Its pretty ridiculous how powerful the Tahiti architecture really is, it performs better than Kepler and still retains high compute processing power. OpenCL is awesome and yeah even cards like Telsa costing thousands cannot touch a 7970.

 

[michaelmk86]

You can always save a little bit of money and buy a HD7950 and OC to 1200MHz core and you will get GTX680 performance or more.

 

[redeemer]

According to Tom's Hardware "Best Graphics Cards for the Money" August 2012 edition, the GTX 670 is the only card over $400 that they give full recommendation.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-6.html

It's impossible to say one is "faster" than the other. There are plenty of reviews showing a reference GTX 680 trading the performance lead with a Ghz edition 7970 depending on the game. Let alone a custom factory overclocked 680, which would be my personal preference.

So the way you make this decision is to look at benchmarks for the actual games you intend to play. Certain games will favor one over the other.

Then decide if you place any value on the extras that come with the Nvidia ecosystem: PhysX, Adaptive VSync, FXAA, TXAA, better driver support, Turbo Boost, and lower power consumption. If your games prefer AMD cards and you place no value on the Nvidia extras, then you truly deserve to buy that AMD card.

Just in case you can't make up your mind, here is a description of the PhysX effects in the upcoming Borderlands 2 game. It's really one of the few things that you can definitively say that one card has and the other doesn't.
http://physxinfo.com/news/7865/borderlands-2-will-be-enhanced-with-gpu-physx-effects/

A 7970GHZ stock benched against a stock GTX 680 ( with autoboost 1200mhz)? No the 7970 once overclocked is the fastest single gpu card out. Matto we realize that you like Nvidia so do I I have two 680's, but you should not provide false information. Physx, Adaptive Vsync and TXAA are not really sellers, there are like 40 physx titles from 2007 till now. Even BF3 the hottest game out uses none of those features. The 600 series by far has the worst drivers at launch and their NV control pnael software suite is no where near Catalyst Centre. The 7970 Vanilla is now $429 make it the best value in the highend right now. Futhermore your comparisons and graphs are outdated. High clocks and 12.7 drivers beat out any kepler card regardless of clocks.

 

[irvinth]

yeah im leaning more to the 7970 card now its price/performance ratio is amazing and im planning to get 2 more monitors soon and crossifre 2 way the video cards

 

[17seconds]

A 7970GHZ stock benched against a stock GTX 680 ( with autoboost 1200mhz)? No the 7970 once overclocked is the fastest single gpu card out. Matto we realize that you like Nvidia so do I I have two 680's, but you should not provide false information. Physx, Adaptive Vsync and TXAA are not really sellers, there are like 40 physx titles from 2007 till now. Even BF3 the hottest game out uses none of those features. The 600 series by far has the worst drivers at launch and their NV control pnael software suite is no where near Catalyst Centre. The 7970 Vanilla is now $429 make it the best value in the highend right now. Futhermore your comparisons and graphs are outdated. High clocks and 12.7 drivers beat out any kepler card regardless of clocks.

Must you always go for the personal attack? Accusing me of false information without providing anything substantive of your own really lacks sophistication. I can say all the great features of the 7970 are terrible, but the problem is... there are none!

So let's put this "false information" to the test shall we?

The Gigabyte 7970 SOC is clocked at 1080 mhz. It is 7% slower than a GTX 590.

The MSI Twin Frozr III (not the Lightning to keep the comparison fair) is clocked at 1059 mhz. It is 5% slower than a GTX 590.

So, there you have it a higher clocked 7970 loses to a lower clocked GTX 680. I can do this all day long too, because the GTX 680's overclock higher than the 7970's do. When all is said and done, the GTX 680 is the faster card. The 7970 cannot keep up even at top clocks.

 

[dudewitbow]

the problem with the list as a whole is the cards are at factory overclock stocks. toms themselves got the 7970 soc from 1080 mhz to 1300 mhz, which is a ~20% increase in actual clocks meaning the 7970 is still under overclocked by their lists. The GPU boost inside 680's tend to hold back the gpu after some point when overclocking heavily.

 

[17seconds]

the problem with the list as a whole is the cards are at factory overclock stocks. toms themselves got the 7970 soc from 1080 mhz to 1300 mhz, which is a ~20% increase in actual clocks meaning the 7970 is still under overclocked by their lists. The GPU boost inside 680's tend to hold back the gpu after some point when overclocking heavily.

That's a rare overclock then. Most 7970's are going to top out at around 1200 mhz with overvolting. That's a walk in the park for a GTX 680.
http://www.behardware.com/articles/853-18/roundup-the-radeon-hd-7970s-and-7950s-from-asus-his-msi-powercolor-sapphire-and-xfx.html

 

[dudewitbow]

That's a rare overclock then. Most 7970's are going to top out at around 1200 mhz with overvolting. That's a walk in the park for a GTX 680.
http://www.behardware.com/articles/853-18/roundup-the-radeon-hd-7970s-and-7950s-from-asus-his-msi-powercolor-sapphire-and-xfx.html

people in this thread seem to be able to get past 1200 fine, one did with stock voltage other did 1275 with air

 

[17seconds]

people in this thread seem to be able to get past 1200 fine, one did with stock voltage other did 1275 with air

Too bad that doesn't show up very often in reviews.

Bottom line, my initial post had zero false information. There is no calling one faster than the other in blanket terms.

 

[redeemer]

Must you always go for the personal attack? Accusing me of false information without providing anything substantive of your own really lacks sophistication. I can say all the great features of the 7970 are terrible, but the problem is... there are none!

So let's put this "false information" to the test shall we?

The Gigabyte 7970 SOC is clocked at 1080 mhz. It is 7% slower than a GTX 590.

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/Gigabyte/HD_7970_SOC/images/perfrel_1920.gif

The MSI Twin Frozr III (not the Lightning to keep the comparison fair) is clocked at 1059 mhz. It is 5% slower than a GTX 590.

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_680_Twin_Frozr_III/images/perfrel_1920.gif


So, there you have it a higher clocked 7970 loses to a lower clocked GTX 680. I can do this all day long too, because the GTX 680's overclock higher than the 7970's do. When all is said and done, the GTX 680 is the faster card. The 7970 cannot keep up even at top clocks.

My 680's cannot go past 1230 core but my 7970's are stable 1280 core @ 1.28v.

I believe your are the only one that thinks 680 is a better overclocker!

 

[beethree]

Recommending a 600 series card for gaming is reasonable. Recommending a 600 series card when someone wants multiple monitors, or to do editing or other work besides gaming is not as reasonable. 7970's overall have the better value over the 600 series if you like to have horsepower for other-than-gaming tasks.

 

[bystander]

Recommending a 600 series card for gaming is reasonable. Recommending a 600 series card when someone wants multiple monitors, or to do editing or other work besides gaming is not as reasonable. 7970's overall have the better value over the 600 series if you like to have horsepower for other-than-gaming tasks.

The 600 series of cards are also great at up to 3 monitors, but I agree with the rest.

I'd also add that the 600 series is great for 3D gaming/viewing as well.

 

[verbalizer]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/07/30/msi_geforce_gtx_680_lightning_overclocking_redux/6
MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning Overclocking Redux

Gameplay Summary

The highest stable overclock with voltage on the MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning using the default BIOS had a significant performance increase compared the overclock without voltage tweaking. In Max Payne 3 it was 8.9% faster than the overclocked MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning without voltage tweaking and 14.1% faster than the stock video card. BF3 Singleplayer the highest overclock was 16.1% faster than its stock settings. In BF3 Multiplayer it averaged 74 FPS and was 9.8% faster than the overclock without voltage tweaking, and 15.3% faster than the stock video card. In Batman it was 7.7% faster than the overclock without voltage tweaking and 14.5% faster than the stock video card. In The Witcher 2 it was 8.9% faster than the OC without voltage tweak and 14.3% faster than the stock MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning.

Basically, the performance increase between the overclock with and without voltage tweaking was higher than the performance increase the stock MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning experienced from the overclock without voltage tweaking. In other words, voltage tweaking provided over double the performance increase compared to the overclock without voltage tweaking.

With fans at 100% the GPU temperature on the default BIOS increased to 62c using voltage tweaking.

The LN2 BIOS had an even higher overclock which pushed the GPU extremely close to 1400MHz, and put the memory over 7GHz GDDR5. In MP3 it was 8.1% faster than the Overclocked AMD Radeon HD 7970 and 18.1% faster than its stock settings. In BF3 SP it was 4.3% faster than the Overclocked AMD Radeon HD 7970 and 17.9% faster than the stock MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning. In Batman the overclocked MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning was 16.2% faster than its stock settings, and 19.3% faster than the Overclocked AMD Radeon HD 7970. In The Witcher 2 it was 2.4% faster than the Overclocked AMD Radeon HD 7970 and 14.3% faster than the stock settings. The overclock on the LN2 BIOS increased the performance above the Overclocked AMD Radeon HD 7970 in every game.

With the fans at 100% the GPU temperature on the LN2 BIOS increased to 73c using voltage tweaking and 300% Power Limit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127693

 

[verbalizer]

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/GeForce-GTX-680-RoundUp-EVGA-Zotac-Gigabyte-Asus/?page=6

 

[beethree]

The 600 series of cards are also great at up to 3 monitors, but I agree with the rest.

I'd also add that the 600 series is great for 3D gaming/viewing as well.

I give 3D to nVidia hands down.

At 3 monitors 600 series can do great, but eyefinity is just going to be better at it.

 

[verbalizer]

I give 3D to nVidia hands down.

At 3 monitors 600 series can do great, but eyefinity is just going to be better at it.

let's see, what game and resolution.?

 

[iamcacao]

7970ghz is the single fastest gpu in the world right now. not only that it has more vram then the 670/680 and also it has a bigger bit interface. No reason to pick up the 670/680 over it unless you want 3dvison or cuda/phsx http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-benchmark,3232.html. the 7970 always wins at higher resloutions and at 1080p it trades blows

Are you kidding me? At 1080p or lower (which is what most people play at) a gtx 680 or even a 670 would destroy a 7970, ghz or not! 7970 ghz is only good for triple monitor and even then it doesn't really perform well in modern games. In my opinion it's useless, especially since it's almost as expensive as 2 gtx 670s