7870 or 660?

[feedtheduck]

Hi everyone,
I'm having trouble deciding between the GTX 660 and the radeon 7870. They seem to be back and forth in benchmarks-660 winning some, 7870 winning some. I'm asking this question because of two cards on sale:
HIS IceQ H787Q2G2M for $199.99 w/ rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161404&Tpk=N82E16814161404
MSI 660 OC $205.00 w/ rebate:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127699

Which of these two cards will give me better performance? Which one should I get?

 

[TheBigTroll]

the 7870. much better buy. but then id suggest getting the xfx since it is much smaller

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=69829&vpn=FX787ACDFC&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1368

 

[Guest]

i'd suggest the 660. why?
Limited Warranty period (parts): 3 years

as opposed to the 2 years for the IceQ

 

[rdc85]

7870 is much better card. u will see the the drop of performance of 660 when AA is increased..

Well nothing wrong with HIS, their cooler considered one of the best... (but they bulky and their design somewhat strange but effective)

about their CS/warranty, cannot said anything (never had experience)

 

[dudewitbow]

i'd suggest the 660. why?
Limited Warranty period (parts): 3 years

as opposed to the 2 years for the IceQ

if a gpu was defective, it would probably broken by the time 2 years is up. 2 years is plenty amount of warranty period. the main part that actually needs a long warranty period is HDD

 

[TheBigTroll]

from what i heard, his has crappy non existent customer service.

 

[bigcyco1]

I would pick the 7870 i am not telling you to just that's what i would do there no such thing as future proofing however i am willing to bet money the 7870 being more "future proof".

 

[iemidget]

7870 is much better card. u will see the the drop of performance of 660 when AA is increased..

Well nothing wrong with HIS, their cooler considered one of the best... (but they bulky and theid design somewhat strange but effective)

about their CS/warranty, cannot said anything (never had experience)

Honestly the difference between AA x4 and AA X16 is minimal. However the difference in particular games that run Physx like BL2 and Batman Arkham Asylum between the two cards I suggest the 660. When playing at 2560X1600 resolutions which almost no one plays at because of the fact that monitors that support that resolution can cost TWICE as much if not more than a 1920X1080 monitor Yes maybe the 7870 has the edge. But the assumption that in every game the 7870 does better is not true

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6276/nvidia-geforce-gtx-660-review-gk106-rounds-out-the-kepler-family

That is a review of the GTX 660 and 7870 with 4x MSAA on all games. The gtx 660 pulls ahead in a few games and past 60 fps unless you have a 120hz monitor your not going to notice any real world difference. If you want to play games that support physx which only NVIDIA cards are made for because AMD cannot run it smoothly or efficiently. I still suggest the 660.

 

[dudewitbow]

Honestly the difference between AA x4 and AA X16 is minimal. However the difference in particular games that run Physx like BL2 and Batman Arkham Asylum between the two cards I suggest the 660. When playing at 2560X1600 resolutions which almost no one plays at because of the fact that monitors that support that resolution can cost TWICE as much if not more than a 1920X1080 monitor Yes maybe the 7870 has the edge. But the assumption that in every game the 7870 does better is not true

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6276/nvidia-geforce-gtx-660-review-gk106-rounds-out-the-kepler-family

That is a review of the GTX 660 and 7870 with 4x MSAA on all games. The gtx 660 pulls ahead in a few games and past 60 fps unless you have a 120hz monitor your not going to notice any real world difference. If you want to play games that support physx which only NVIDIA cards are made for because AMD cannot run it smoothly or efficiently. I still suggest the 660.

ಠ_ಠ
Physx is nvidia only because its an nvidia technology, not that amd cards cant run it

 

[TheBigTroll]

bios mod but you do have to jump through some hoops

 

[jtenorj]

I'd go with hd7870 if it'll fit in your case. Not a big supporter of physx myself(future consoles rumored to have amd graphics). You also don't have to play
the rebate game on that hd7870. Finally, the hd7870 overclocks quite well while the gtx660 overclocks like crap(unless you mod the card and water cool,
risking card, psu, mobo, and everything connected to it). I say that because the 175w tdp 7870 on 2 pcie 6pin leads has 50w of headroom while the 140w
tdp gtx660 on 1pcie 6pin has 10w of headroom. Cards with a 28nm gpu inside beg you to at least try overclocking, except gtx660(for the above reasons)
and gtx650(at a base clock of 1050 to 1080, it's already closer to max clock than 7750, which is faster at stock and has a lot more frequency headroom).

 

[rdc85]

well i'm not fans of physX. Lot of game using CPU based PhysX more than GPU based. not mention titles that not use any physX..

I will not said the ratio (google will said better than me). PhysX is good addition if u planing to spend lots of hours into game that use it...

Please take this as my oppinnion only...

 

[Guest]

if a gpu was defective, it would probably broken by the time 2 years is up. 2 years is plenty amount of warranty period. the main part that actually needs a long warranty period is HDD

a longer warranty is always better period.

glad you are such the hardware expert to know when components fail


edit: btw, i wouldn't touch a PSU with less than 5 year warranty.

 

[TheBigTroll]

borderlands 2 without physx looks like crap

 

[dudewitbow]

a longer warranty is always better period.

glad you are such the hardware expert to know when components fail


edit: btw, i wouldn't touch a PSU with less than 5 year warranty.

of course psus can fail too, but for most gpu failures, it most of them happen due to transportation DOA. what is the % chance that a gpu will die out specifically after the 2nd year, and before the end of the 3rd year. The number is probably really slim. Its like comparing caviar blue HDD's to caviar blacks. there's a 3 year difference, but does it really stop people from buying blues, no. A single year shouldn't be as big. By your logic, the best mode of option for warranty is getting an XFX model, as they have single gpu lifetime warranty, which is better than all other warranties.

 

[bigcyco1]

Hi everyone,
I'm having trouble deciding between the GTX 660 and the radeon 7870. They seem to be back and forth in benchmarks-660 winning some, 7870 winning some. I'm asking this question because of two cards on sale:
HIS IceQ H787Q2G2M for $199.99 w/ rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161404&Tpk=N82E16814161404
MSI 660 OC $205.00 w/ rebate:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127699

Which of these two cards will give me better performance? Which one should I get?

The reason why they go back and forth is not because the benchmarks your looking at are not legit it's because different games favor different hardware you should take that into account but i don't think you should make your overall choice that way unless that's what's most important to you.

 

[Guest]

of course psus can fail too, but for most gpu failures, it most of them happen due to transportation DOA. what is the % chance that a gpu will die out specifically after the 2nd year, and before the end of the 3rd year. The number is probably really slim. Its like comparing caviar blue HDD's to caviar blacks. there's a 3 year difference, but does it really stop people from buying blues, no. A single year shouldn't be as big. By your logic, the best mode of option for warranty is getting an XFX model, as they have single gpu lifetime warranty, which is better than all other warranties.

you think you know what my logic is but do not. rather egocentric of you if i may say.

the warranty also reflects the workmanship and quality of the components by how long a manufacturer is willing to stand behind them. and yes the XFX would be even a better choice not only for the warranty but it performs much better. but the OP didn't ask about that so bringing it into the discussion is irrelevant unless you want to reach for some sort of validation.

getting back to the topic at hand which is the OP asking what is a better performing and what he should get; try answering that instead of making erroneous physx and irrelevant warranty comments from the peanut gallery or have a big cup of STFU.

or how about backing your claim on how and when gpus fail; now that ought to be exciting

 

[bigcyco1]

you think you know what my logic is but do not. rather egocentric of you if i may say.

the warranty also reflects the workmanship and quality of the components by how long a manufacturer is willing to stand behind them. and yes the XFX would be even a better choice not only for the warranty but it performs much better. but the OP didn't ask about that so bringing it into the discussion is irrelevant unless you want to reach for some sort of validation.

getting back to the topic at hand which is the OP asking what is a better performing and what he should get; try answering that instead of making erroneous physx and irrelevant warranty comments from the peanut gallery or have a big cup of SThttp://img.tomshardware.com/forum/uk/icones/redface.gifFU.

or how about backing your claim on how and when gpus fail; now that ought to be exciting

smacked! :lol: jk chill out guys life is to short to sweat the small stuff.

 

[dudewitbow]

you think you know what my logic is but do not. rather egocentric of you if i may say.

the warranty also reflects the workmanship and quality of the components by how long a manufacturer is willing to stand behind them. and yes the XFX would be even a better choice not only for the warranty but it performs much better. but the OP didn't ask about that so bringing it into the discussion is irrelevant unless you want to reach for some sort of validation.

getting back to the topic at hand which is the OP asking what is a better performing and what he should get; try answering that instead of making erroneous physx and irrelevant warranty comments from the peanut gallery or have a big cup of STFU.

or how about backing your claim on how and when gpus fail; now that ought to be exciting

I never made a statement bashing physx. I only corrected another user who said that amd cards cannot run physx because its not strong enough . Buying a gpu based off of a 1 year difference in warranty is pretty negligible. What you tried to imply earlier was that the 660 is better than the 7870 when it really comes down to what settings and what game. the 7870 is a dual 6 pin card which is currently being compared to a single 6 pin card power consumption wise(as cards with slightly more power consumption is naturally stronger on relative comparisons). The HIS cooler is a great cooler, and at 200$ it retains some of the best pricing for the 7870. during the 7950 heat sink testings, the turbo variant of the HIS cooler(the one that looks similar to the one in question) was awarded the most efficient in cooling, the normal would follow suit on being a good cooler. I mean telling someone to "STFU" means that you're trying to censor what legitimate statements I can give. Coming at a user with such a negative attitude, and putting words in my mouth that I didn't even say(by shooting down physx, rdc85 made the statement not me...). What users SHOULD be going on is telling the pros and cons of each of the choices(as there ARE pros and cons) and not blasting another user as it gets OP nowhere.


It can cleanly be stated like:

660 pros:
single power pin, more efficient in power consumption
can utilize physx
great performance in nvidia based games
cuda enhanced programs(there is a list) for quicker compute times

7870
dual pin connectors allow for slight general advantage in power consumption for overclocking purposes
can take higher anti aliasing levels more readily
does great in any games that utilize OpenGL or used in generic gpgpu processing.

 

[jtenorj]

borderlands 2 without physx looks like crap

Borderlands 2 looks like crap period(imho), but does look notably better with physx(which does not require an nvidia gpu to use in that game, btw).

 

[dudewitbow]

Borderlands 2 looks like crap period(imho), but does look notably better with physx(which does not require an nvidia gpu to use in that game, btw).

the cell shading art style in general are essentially hit and miss for some gamers. you can trace cell shade hate from all the way back to things like the legend of zelda: the windwaker, which gained some praise from some people and hate from others. I personally like the art style of borderlands, but my cousin likes the game, but thinks the art style causes a strain in his eyes after some time. So really, its more or less preference to cell shade or not.

 

[bigshootr8]

well, not to derail this but yea where you can run Physx on a AMD card the performance drop is very very noticeable it all comes down to in the end what games you play if you don't care about the eye candy in NVIDIA meant to be played games AMD is a solid way to go. I've had my 660Ti for about a week now and love it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127697

 

[jtenorj]

gtx660 operates close to tdp. that's why it sucks at overclocking (compared to most other cards with a 28nm gpu).

7870 uses much less power while gaming than tdp(if 7970 being like 250w max/190w average 6970 and 7950 being like 200w max/140w average 6950 is anything to go by. 7850 uses far less than its 130w tdp while gaming as well).

Amd can use physx too(not sure if its through the cards shaders, on the cpu, or both).

twimtbp is overrated. Some of those games run better on a radeon of otherwise similar price/performance.

Cuda has been around a while, but kepler kinda sucks at it. The gains amd has made in the gpu compute arena with the gcn architecture, however...

7870 can overclock quite well. Not as well as a card with lower starting clocks(7750, 7850, 7950, 7970 non ghz ed.) but far better than gtx660.

The extra rops on the 7870(and to a lesser extent the extra bandwidth) do help with traditional multi sample and super sample aa.

Did I mention you don't have to screw around with a rebate on the 7870 in question versus the gtx660 in question?

Edit:I think I take a little to long to compose my posts compared to some of ya'll.

 

[bigshootr8]

I know for certain the CPU can when I play Arkham City it has a option for CPU to run my physx unsure about the AMD part but because the card doesn't have the tech it does really slow down performance. I think it really comes down to personal flavor some people like nvidia some like AMD/ATi the 7850 and the 660ti and some extent 7950 all perform relatively close to one another. But like I said in my last post it really depends on what you play game wise. That's why in most reviews you will see one brand having better results in certain games.

 

[jtenorj]

The gtx660ti and hd7950 are about the same speed, but 7850 is way slower(unless heavily overclocked). When talking overclocking, gtx660ti can get to gtx670 levels of performance and 7950 can get higher that 7970(non ghz ed.) levels of performance. They will thrash a 7850(which is 100 bucks cheaper).

7870 is close to gtx 660ti and hd7950 and can overclock well, but is more limited since it starts at a higher clock. Here's a link about gtx660 overclocking:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/09/19/asus_geforce_gtx_660_directcu_ii_overclocking_review/

Pretty dismal(compared to other cards with a 28nm gpu), but not unexpected.