MSI PE 670 vs Sapphire 7970 OC

cheti

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Hey,
im between these two cards still and the MSI PE is 20euros more expensive.

I wanna install 2 1080p monitors in the future (i will always be playing on a single 1080p and monitor stuff on the second screen) and i want the best performance for RIFT, BF3, DOTA2, LOL etc. basically all popular games out there.

I have an fx-8120 and a corsair gs600 (I will OC my cpu past 4.0ghz that it is now once i get better case and airflow :))




Your suggestions ! :p
 

regina_49

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I actually own the 670 PE and i can honestly say i have no regrets worth every penny it also preforms better a little better in (BF3, GTA IV, open world games like Skyrim and Fallout 3). it uses less power. Quote: MSI's GTX 670 Power Edition is another formidable custom-design GTX 670 implementation. Thanks to its overclock out of the box, it matches performance of NVIDIA's much more expensive GTX 680 spot on. Compared to the stock GTX 670, the performance increase is 7% averaged over all our benchmarks.
MSI's Twin Frozr IV cooler does a great job keeping the card cool, temperatures are low, even at the increased clock speeds of the Power Edition. While idle fan noise is whisper quiet, noise under load is not optimal in my opinion. We've seen other GTX 670 cards deliver a much quieter experience under load, it looks like MSI keeps favouring lower temperatures over low noise as recent reviews have shown.
GPU overclocking potential of the card was in the typical range of overclocks we've seen on other cards, memory is just a bit lower, but the impact is relatively small. Considering that MSI is using a close-to-reference PCB design that just uses a larger PCB, these differences could be random though.
Price-wise, MSI's card is available in retail at $430, which is not unreasonable, other overclocked GTX 670s come at similar pricing. Given the currently available custom GTX 670 designs from other manufacturers, most of which are very good, I think it wouldn't hurt MSI if they dropped their price another 10 bucks or so, to draw more attention. Source: 9.7 rating MSI Twin Frozr IV http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_670_Power_Edition/33.html
 

selayan

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Are you talking about the 7970 saphire dual x card? In terms of Bf3, the 670 MSI or Gigabyte/evga/Whatever is better. For dual monitors pretty much the same thing. Unless you are gonna do a lot of encrypting/decoding, video editing, or anything that requires a lot of gpu processes, running 3 monitors at extreme resolutions, the 7970 isn't really needed for 1920x1080 gaming.
 

redeemer

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Well for 1080p the 670 is a good buy if its cheaper than the 7970 however. Now you said you will run two monitors in the future, so i recommend a 7970Ghz Gigabyte Windforce or Sapphire Dual Fans.
 
i'd take the 7970 because its essentially the reverse standing on how toms would vote for the 670 over the 7970. the 670 is favored because its essentially similar but cheaper. If the 7970 is cheaper, then the 7970 would be the better buy.
 

regina_49

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Better question do overclock or not and your not going to get one that preforms better than the other in all games it doesn't work like that sucks i know.
 

selayan

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Yeh if you plan to go crazy on overclocking I hear the 7970 is the way to go. If not, then the 670 is better since you can still overclock and it runs mainstream games like Bf3/Batman better.

I mean we arent talking about non playable performance. Once you stop worrying about oh how many fps do I get, you won't notice.
 

cheti

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well, the PE is 20 euros more expensive and I do plan to overclock the cards atleast a little bit to gain performance.

also i have a gs600 and an fx-8120 OC to 4.6 in the futuer with a h100. Can the PSU handle alll that ?

But yeah, two 1080p monitors in the future (currently i have 1080p and 1280x1024 monitors)
 

selayan

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Both cards will do fine for what you want to accomplish. But its up to you if you want to spend $430 and shipping for the 670 or get a Saphire 7970 for the same price. The 7970 is the current faster card.

I want the 670 but I'm not looking at one that is close to the price of a 7970. For example the Gigabyte OC 670 model is $399 or the Evga FTW which is $10 more.
 

cheti

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shipping is 0 euros for me so thats not a problem :)
the only difference is that i want to do 2 1080p monitors in the future and 670 msi pe is 20 euros more expensive than the 925mhz sapphire 7970 oc
 

selayan

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Is it this model?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102961

Are any of your monitors going for more than 1080p? If so then the 7970 would be better.
Anything special that the msi has being its a 670 that other factory overclocked models don't have?

I know msi is pretty good with parts, cooling, I had one myself. But if the issues is the money then either get another 670 model like Gigabyte OC with the three fans, or go for the 7950 I linked.
 

davemaster84

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I strongly recomend the 7970 OC, it's bit strange than it's cheaper than the 670 because here even the standard 7970 is more expensive than a 680. The 7970 has proven to be better than any nvidia card, but if you have to chose nvidia go for the 680 instead, it would be closer in performance to the 7970. Still I think ati is the good choice atm, cheers.
 

selayan

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http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/555?vs=508

See the benchmarks, while the 7970 seems like its better than the 680, it is faster. But notice how its only better at some games.

Games like portal/Batman/BF3 do better with nvidia.

No reason to go for a 680 at all. The price of a 7970 is 429 if you go with the one I linked. I would like this one but I'm not sure it would fit in my Roswell Challenger case.

The 670 OC models use the 680 PCB board and offer performance close to the 680, just 8% less than 680 actually. But when you overclock it, you match the 680 quite easily.

I would not get the 680, why pay nearly 500+ for that card when you get matching performance with the 670 or 7970. Keep in mind the 7970 does not have physix if that matters to you, to me it may not. Also, I hear problems with the 7970 drivers but that may be corrected.

Also keep in mind what games you will play. If its mostly those games that would do better with nvidia, go with the 670.
 

selayan

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Because the Gigabyte is $399 where as the MSI 670 Power edition is $429. If you were settling on getting a 670 why would you pay 30 more just because of the brand. Both Gigabyte and Msi are known to be good companies.

A similar type model for 680 is around $550 or a so maybe less.

And if you are forking over $300 + for a card why isn't it important to save what you can if you are considering high end models on both ends.
 

selayan

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Yeh I see that but the Gigabute model clock is 1059. The Evga clock is 1087Mhz but it only has one fan. In terms of the clock, those numbers aren't much as either card could reach that clock speed under tests. The review of that gigabyte model said they reached a boost of 1189 at the most under tests.

The core clock on the MSI is higher, not sure if that means it will perform better by much compared to all the rest, or if it would be better to get the 7970 model for the same price. Saphire edition does not have stats on its core clock.
 
the challenger i believe fits up to about 11" in legnth without hitting the hdd cage so fitting it might be tough


though googling stuff, Think_Alien on overclock.net uses a challenger along with an asus 7970 dcII, which is 11", so its probably advised to get in contact with someone liek him to ask how much room is left for the card
 

selayan

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I don't mind spending a little extra for the 7970 but I don't think the Roswill Challenger will fit it. I wouldn't be able to get one of the reference OC models anyway because they are bigger.
 
I went to go measure my Rosewill Future case(which is essentially a mod of the challenger with similar dimensions) without counting the front panel, and I know that it can fit a printer papers length with about half of an inch left(printer paper legnth is 11")
 
i know for the fact that the 7970 is hotter than the 670, what i dont know is the newer benchmarks for consumption/heat ratio as CCC 12.8 supposedly decreased the power consumption of AMD cards
 

selayan

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Thanks, googling that card seems its 10.8 inches I believe. But core clock is 925Mhz. I'm guessing it should fit if I finnagle the mobo power cable out and over the card. Damn this is a tough decision.

Either get the Evga 670 ftw when I can find another deal or teh Gigabyte 670 now..or that Saphire 7970 but I hear that thing runs hot. One day I'll just buy something because I've researched too much and getting tired.
 

selayan

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And if i do get the 7970 this would be my first Amd card..so that makes my decision tougher as compared to a 670. The smallest 670 is 10" and the largest one is the Gigabyte OC model at about 10.75. I hate deciding.