Need Advice on MSI R7950 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC vs. MSI N670GTX-PM2D2GD5/O

[Alejolas]

Hi All!

As the title says, I would like to have some help choosing between this two cards. Why only MSI? Cuz my MoBo is MSI and I think they communicate pretty well if everything is MSI or the same manufacturer. I'm a casual gamer, I currently have a Sapphire HD 5770 but I think it's time to upgrade. I would like to play games such as BF3, WoW Pandaria, Fifa 2013, CoD Black Ops 2, Diablo and such. My budget goes between this two cards aprox 450 - 500 USD. If you think I should choose any other card that definitely beats the MSI and you think that my theory of communication between same manufacturer products is wtf, then I'm open to any possibilities

Here's the R7950 from the MSI website: http://www.msi.com/product/vga/R7950-Twin-Frozr-3GD5-OC.html

And here's the GTX670 also from the MSI website: http://msi.com/product/vga/N670GTX-PM2D2GD5-OC.html

More info on my machine:

Board: MSI P67A-GD80 (B3)
Memory: 4GB DDR3 1600MHZ PATRIOT X 2 = 8GB
Video: Sapphire HD 5770 Vapor-X
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K
And a 700W PSU which I don't remember brand or model

 

[luciferano]

Which is better would depend on how you use the card, the resolution that you play at, what games you play, and at what settings you play with in those games.

 

[bucknutty]

Isent the MSI 670 the one that made all the headlines because MSI unsafely overvolted the GPU by bypassing the PWM circut? If that is the same board I might shy away from that one.

 

[Alejolas]

Which is better would depend on how you use the card, the resolution that you play at, what games you play, and at what settings you play with in those games.

Well, I would like to play the games I stated before and new releases mostly at 1400 X 900 cuz its the max my Monitor can handle, at most higher settings, very high or ultra.

 

[Alejolas]

Matching GPU and motherboard manufacturer makes no difference except aesthetic.

The 7950 and 670 are in pretty different price brackets, so your question is mainly one of budget - if you want to spend $300, the 7950 is the best option, if you want to spend $400, the 670 is a good option.

The 670 competes with the 7970 - both around the $400 mark. BF3 and WoW perform a bit better on Nvidia so I'd say grab the 670 unless you plan on overclocking. I also wouldn't recommend any of MSI's 7970 cards unless you want the Lightning (which is a bit overpriced).

Well its weird, in my country both cards are around $450 - $500 being the 670 cheaper. Exactly the MSI 7950 TWIN FROZR 3GB is USD $488 and the MSI 670GTX 2GB DDR5 is USD $438. Now I'm more confused.

 

[luciferano]

Well, I would like to play the games I stated before and new releases mostly at 1400 X 900 cuz its the max my Monitor can handle, at most higher settings, very high or ultra.

It's probably not going to make much of a difference which way you go here because both cards are very overpowered for that resolution. You'd probably have to have huge AA to hide the low resolution jaggies and other such settings, so AMD's advantage in that might let them win, but it'd be like saying that a 200" TV is better than a comparable 180" TV, both are overkill.

 

[luciferano]

Well its weird, in my country both cards are around $450 - $500 being the 670 cheaper. Exactly the MSI 7950 TWIN FROZR 3GB is USD $488 and the MSI 670GTX 2GB DDR5 is USD $438. Now I'm more confused.

It's GDDR5, not DDR5. Some sites mistake this, but trust me, there is currently no such thing as DDR5 except as a theoretical tech that hasn't been created yet. DDR4, DDR5's predecessor, won't even hit the market for about one to three years, meaning that DDR5 is probably about five to seven years away.

Prices vary between different models. Some 670s are cheaper than some 7970s, some 7970s are cheaper than some 670s.

 

[bucknutty]

I would avoid this board.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/MSI-GTX-660-670-overvolting-PowerEdition,18013.html

P.S. I have 2 MSI 470s and an MSI 250 and they have been great.

 

[Alejolas]

It's GDDR5, not DDR5. Some sites mistake this, but trust me, there is currently no such thing as DDR5 except as a theoretical tech that hasn't been created yet. DDR4, DDR5's predecessor, won't even hit the market for about one to three years, meaning that DDR5 is probably about five to seven years away.

Prices vary between different models. Some 670s are cheaper than some 7970s, some 7970s are cheaper than some 670s.

Then, and having in mind the article about the Overvolting done to some other MSI models, the big question is: Which video card should you recommend I get?

And thank you for explaining me all this.

 

[Alejolas]

Best answer selected by Alejolas.