GTX 660 ti vs Radeon 7950

[blacknemesist]

Hello.

I am going to purchase a new rig for gaming and programming,running server emulation for local debugging and server programming,watching full HD movies and photoshop works.

Both CPU and GPU will be OCed.
Running Windows 7 Ultimate.
1920x1080 resolution.
HDD 7200 rpm.

This is what I have in mind:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mDCk

- I am going to run SLI/Xfire in the future.Is the PSU good or is it overkill for my system?I would prefer to have a PSU with 4 x 6+2 on the 12v rail.
- MSI RADEON HD7950 OC 3GB GDDR5 costs me the same as the MSI GTX660 ti power edition OC.Which way to go?Will the setup work for SLI/Xfire?Which card do you recomend for HD7950(might get a good deal on other brands)?

I play everything from Skyrim to Guild Wars 2,meaning CPU depend and CPU little effect on FPS.I dont mind loading screens.

Any other comments on the build are welcome.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jmsellars1]

SLI isn't really necessary unless you plan to play over multiple monitors and/or in 3D. The cash would be better spent on a decent single card. 16GB isn't really necessary for gaming either, you wouldn't even fully utilise 8GB in games.

I would drop to 8GB RAM, get a decent 500W+ PSU and a cheaper cooler/mobo to save enough cash to get something like the HD 7970. Or a HD 7950 and a SSD perhaps?

EDIT: To answer your question, I think the HD 7950 is just slightly better in most games.

 

[blacknemesist]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mEmc

So something like this would be able to work for Xfire in the future?
The 7970 is over 100 euros for the standard card over an MSI twin frozr3 OC.The difference between the 7950 and GTX660ti is around 50 eur which i recovered from downgrading to 8gb.

This is not a full gaming setup,it will be a work station for programming and photoshop aswell so i like to keep the setup balanced.Adding a 7970 would mean getting rid of the noctua for stock fan + 30 eur.I think it is way to much for the standard edition,to be honest even the 7950 is a little too pricy but seems a better investment.

The xFire will come in 1-2 years by buying a used card cheap.So something like this would be able to work for Xfire in the future?

 

[jmsellars1]

Crossfiring after that length of time wouldn't be smart. That setup is sufficient to do so but there is a reason people don't suggest crossfiring 2 year old cards now.

For example, you could buy a couple of 2 year old GTX 460's for around $250 and it would give slightly better performance than a HD 7850 while consuming around 2.5x the power. Or you could buy a more powerful HD 7870 for $20 less and consume half the power, run a lot cooler and quieter and run into less compatibility issues.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150605

 

[FinneousPJ]

7950 is definitely closer to GTX670 than 660 (Ti).

 

[Thomas Creel]

Check these out and find out for yourself:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

Get an SSD ( I Suggest one at 64GB or 128GB ) for your OS + favorite games.

 

[blacknemesist]

This is really getting very close.
From all the benchmarks and reviews I have seen,including those on TH the 7950 wins over the 660ti in 50% the cases and loses the other 50%.
TH review even admits that their results come from their setup and on the way they test and that it can be either right or wrong.
Considering the 7950 is 50 eur(~14%) expensivier than the 660ti,runs hotter and that amd releases drivers when they want while nvidia is much more supportive I am going for the MSI 660 ti power edition.

jmsellars1 you are missing the point of my sli solution:I am spending no extra for the SLI ability and in 2+ years I can get a used GTX 660ti for say 150-200eur (current price is 310 eur) and be able to keep my setup going for more time.So instead of buying an overpriced high-high-end card that I can't SLI/xFire because they will always be extremely expensive preformance/price I can get one good card now and get another used to keep the system updated.I bet that whatever you can buy in 2 years for 200 eurs will be nowhere close to 2 x GTX 660 ti.I did that with my old setup with one GTS250 and about 2 years later I bought another for 100 eur and was able to keep my system going for 6 years.Total cost was ~1100eur(original setup)+100 extra GTS250,1200 total divided by 6 years makes ~200eur per year.
Over 300eur for a graphic card here is Portugal is not very good buy,prices for "new" GPU declines very very slowly.

Plus nvidia can still push their cards more through firmware for the relatively new 660ti while the 7950 is older and can be improved much less.

The SSD is a good idea,would love one but 130eur for a crappy SSD with 90gb(lowest i've seen) is a bad deal.Besides taiwan has resumed drive manufacturing as it was before so prices will drop fast as demand will soon be met and surpassed.I'll buy one then

 

[blacknemesist]

Best answer selected by blacknemesist.

 

[blacknemesist]

SLI isn't really necessary unless you plan to play over multiple monitors and/or in 3D. The cash would be better spent on a decent single card. 16GB isn't really necessary for gaming either, you wouldn't even fully utilise 8GB in games.

I would drop to 8GB RAM, get a decent 500W+ PSU and a cheaper cooler/mobo to save enough cash to get something like the HD 7970. Or a HD 7950 and a SSD perhaps?

EDIT: To answer your question, I think the HD 7950 is just slightly better in most games.

This was supposed to be the best answer.
Just check the prices on america and the 7950 is cheaper than the 660ti making it a better choice if you can buy from there.
Here the MSI 7950 OC(368euros) is over 60 euros more expensive than the MSI GTX 660 ti power edition(305euros today,price dropped),so the GTX660ti wins the price/performance.