660 Ti vs. 7950?

[h2l]

Alright, I'm sure you guys have seen this question a billion times, but I tailored the question to suit my needs rather then just, "which card is better in general?".

So, I run a single monitor, max resolution is 1440 x 900, 75hz max refresh rate, and I plan to run an SLI/CrossFire, with whichever card I wind up getting. I am likely never to upgrade to another/larger monitor. I like this one too much, and when/if it dies on me, I will almost certainly buy another of the same one.

I play BF3, L4D2, Dead Island, some PS2 and N64 emulators, and I would definitely like to play any new games that are coming out for PC like BioShock Infinite, etc...

So, which card should I buy for my situation? The 660 Ti? Even though I hear it's pointless to get if you are doing an SLI setup, or the 7950? Pretty much the same price.

Here's the rest of the computer specs:

Windows 7/XP 64Bit
8GB Kingston HyperX Blu RAM
i3-2120
Asus P8H61
Ultra 550W
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 250GB HDD

However, I am upgrading to an i5-2500k, a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5h, and an OCZ ZX Series 1000W PSU, in the next month. I also plan on doing serious overclocking on the GPU, among other things lol.

 

[gamerkila57]

an HD 7950 would be better

Edit: 1000w is way overkill

 

[h2l]

Yeah, once the price points dropped on the AMD and I read that the 660 Ti is crippled by its memory bus while using an SLI config I was kind of turned off by it.

Also, I've been informed by many people here that the 1000W PSU I chose is a good one, and is not overkill for the amount of overclocking I intend to do. Are you saying otherwise?

 

[gamerkila57]

750w is plenty

 

[h2l]

lol, but you have a Corsair 850w...

 

[gamerkila57]

yes because i'm adding an 8150 and HD 7970 GHz CFX

 

[h2l]

3 important things from your post:
1) At 1440x900, you are absolutely wasting your money by running two graphics cards. You will see zero benefit from it, and in fact it's likely to cause unnecessary problems. It's the technological equivalent of lighting a stack of money on fire and then punching yourself in the face. One of these graphics cards is MORE than enough for that low of a resolution.

2) On a related note, at this resolution the limiting factor in performance is often the CPU. You will want to overclock your 2500k a bit even with just one graphics card at this resolution in order to get the most from it.

3) Since you want to overclock, get yourself a nice 7950 and be done with it. 40% overclocks (from stock 800 MHz) are common on custom 7950s. No Kepler card can even approach that type of overclocking insanity... you can easily push a 7950 beyond stock 680 performance if you get a custom one and have a bit of luck with your overclock.

A single 7950 would be my recommendation based primarily on #3.

Good info there bro.

For 1) I hear ya about the burning money and punching my own face, but you have to understand, I don't plan on buying two of these cards at the same time. I will buy one, and then a year or MORE down the road, when prices drop, and it seems like a good idea, I will buy a second one. That's how I did it with my 7600GT's. By then, I might have no choice but to upgrade to a different/better monitor. See where I am going with this? I'm just preparing for the future when prices drop, and things change.

For 2) Don't worry, I intend on overclocking my i5-2500k much more then "a little bit".

For 3) A single 7950 is pretty much what I decided on anyways.

Now for the question. What do you mean by a "custom one". I know some GPU's overclock better then others, but in general, my budget is pretty much $300-$315 flat, not including shipping, so I can't run around buying 7950's that are approaching $400. Would you care to rattle off a few brands/names of cards that you would recommend for heavy overclocking?

Thanks!

 

[h2l]

yes because i'm adding an 8150 and HD 7970 GHz CFX

Those are two different graphics cars right? I think I'm confused because I thought you couldn't SLI/CrossFire two different cards. Or are you not going to CrossFire those? Or are you, and I just have no clue what I am talking about?

 

[gamerkila57]

Those are two different graphics cars right? I think I'm confused because I thought you couldn't SLI/CrossFire two different cards. Or are you not going to CrossFire those? Or are you, and I just have no clue what I am talking about?

AMD FX 8150 CPU and 2x HD 7970 GHz Crossfire

 

[gamerkila57]

best in my opinion

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127667

 

[andrewcarr]

Go with a 7950 (you don't need two unless you plan on buying two more of those monitors you love). Here is a good review of the different options.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7950-review-benchmark,3207.html
I would go with that MSI too. You can chose whether you want the OC or stock one (it says they aren't both sold in the us but they are). Since you plan to OC the card anyways I'd just stick with the normal version.
Normal- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161407
OC- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161415

Lastly the OCZ PSU are good but save yourself some money you only need the 850W even with all the OC you are planning to do.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341044
and if you don't believe me check this out (one of the more accurate PSU calculators)
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Edit- other PSU to consider the 750w here is a great deal (all are from what is commonly considered the best PSU company). There isn't that much of a difference between gold and platinum standards just platinum is slightly more efficient (highest rating with gold being second).
750w ($40 off promo code)- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087
850w- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102
860w- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151111

 

[mactronix]

3 important things from your post:
1) At 1440x900, you are absolutely wasting your money by running two graphics cards. You will see zero benefit from it, and in fact it's likely to cause unnecessary problems. It's the technological equivalent of lighting a stack of money on fire and then punching yourself in the face. One of these graphics cards is MORE than enough for that low of a resolution.

2) On a related note, at this resolution the limiting factor in performance is often the CPU. You will want to overclock your 2500k a bit even with just one graphics card at this resolution in order to get the most from it.

3) Since you want to overclock, get yourself a nice 7950 and be done with it. 40% overclocks (from stock 800 MHz) are common on custom 7950s. No Kepler card can even approach that type of overclocking insanity... you can easily push a 7950 beyond stock 680 performance if you get a custom one and have a bit of luck with your overclock.

A single 7950 would be my recommendation based primarily on #3.

This 7950 overclocking you are talking about. I'm not calling you out on it but would love to see some links showing this.
A brief look on techpowerup shows the fastest third party card they have over clocked not even Matching a 680.

I'm not about to put full faith in a single review which is why im asking for any links you may have.

Mactronix

 

[gamerkila57]

Go with a 7950 (you don't need two unless you plan on buying two more of those monitors you love). Here is a good review of the different options.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7950-review-benchmark,3207.html
I would go with that MSI too. You can chose whether you want the OC or stock one (it says they aren't both sold in the us but they are). Since you plan to OC the card anyways I'd just stick with the normal version.
Normal- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161407
OC- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161415

Lastly the OCZ PSU are good but save yourself some money you only need the 850W even with all the OC you are planning to do.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341044
and if you don't believe me check this out (one of the more accurate PSU calculators)
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Edit- other PSU to consider the 750w here is a great deal (all are from what is commonly considered the best PSU company). There isn't that much of a difference between gold and platinum standards just platinum is slightly more efficient (highest rating with gold being second).
750w ($40 off promo code)- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087
850w- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102
860w- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151111

way to over priced this is a great quality psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

 

[h2l]

Thanks guys. This is why I really love tomshardware. Always good stuff. I'll definitely be doing my research on which card to get, and I may just pinch my pennies and wait a little longer until I can afford one of the better more powerful 7950's.

As for the PSU, I was looking at this one since it's got really great reviews: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011 - It isn't fully modular like I would have liked, but all it has connected is the 24-pin and the PCIe power cables, and the rest is modular, so that's pretty much not a problem.

What do you guys think?

 

[gamerkila57]

Thanks guys. This is why I really love tomshardware. Always good stuff. I'll definitely be doing my research on which card to get, and I may just pinch my pennies and wait a little longer until I can afford one of the better more powerful 7950's.

As for the PSU, I was looking at this one since it's got really great reviews: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011 - It isn't fully modular like I would have liked, but all it has connected is the 24-pin and the PCIe power cables, and the rest is modular, so that's pretty much not a problem.

What do you guys think?

look at my last post

 

[h2l]

It isn't modular at all, and it's only bronze energy certified, not gold. I need it to be at least somewhat modular, and I definitely need to save money on my electric bill, even if it's only a few dollars haha.

 

[andrewcarr]

As I posted before if you can manage the $110 this PSU is a great deal with the current promo code for $40 off ($160 regular price).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087

Review
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-psu-efficiency,2796-23.html
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/09/25/seasonic_x_series_x750_power_supply_review/9

 

[h2l]

Yeah, that is a great price but I won't be able to buy it before the promo ends anyways, so by the time I have to buy a new PSU I will have to choose between that one, and the one I just linked to.

 

[Smeg45]

I'd get a Corsair TX 750 v2 + a Gigabyte Windforce 7950. I'm getting these exact parts in three days to complement my OC 965. At 1080p the 7950 will smash any game and Gigabytes version is not only built to last but built to be pushed to the limit. As a bonus the TX is not modular so you don't have to worry about cabling and rail issues.

 

[mactronix]

I guess a lot of it comes down to pricing where you are and what your budget can afford.
Things really are tight price/perf at the moment.
Its a similar state of affairs we had when the 560Ti was new, get a decent third party card and you are talking seriously more performance than a stock card.

At this point I feel the 670Ti is probably the best of both worlds. That's just my preference at my local price point you understand.

Mactronix

 

[h2l]

Best of both worlds, if you can even afford one. I however, can not.

 

[17seconds]

As I check out the charts, I'm seeing the GTX 660 Ti as a faster card at lower resolutions. I also know that BF3 and Valve games, like Left4Dead, will favor Nvidia cards.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_660_Ti_Power_Edition/28.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_660_Ti_Power_Edition/8.html

 

[17seconds]

My reading of the reviews indicates that the GTX 660 Ti overclocks extremely well.

My summary for the GTX 660 Ti would be: higher performance for the resolution, good overclocking abilities, cheaper, more efficient, better performance in the games in question.

 

[h2l]

Alright, so here's something else I have been thinking of.

Why spend $300+ on a card that I won't even be able to use to its full potential, considering my monitor, right? I mean, if my FPS will be locked at 60 since my refresh rate is only 75hz, why would I get a card like the 660Ti or the 7950?

If I bought one of these high end cards, will it be worth it with regards to any games that come out in the next, 2, 3, years?

Because of my monitor, would I be better off just buying a cheaper card? Something like a 560 Ti? Or maybe something like a GTX 570 Fermi?

 

[Smeg45]

Your FPS won't be locked unless you enable Vsync which you shouldn't do unless you have to as it hammers performance. Turning on Vsync at 60 FPS per second can drop to around 30FPS. The 7950 will also last for a while yet, especially when Crysis 3 and Metro Last Light come out. By then the 7950 will still be a great option but the 500 series GPU's will have run out of puff.