HD 5970 or GTX 570?

[Rickylam]

Good evening all,

I'm absolutely stumped as to what card I should purchase for my system. I've been using the 5770 for the past 2 years and I've finally decided to upgrade as I have been noticing a lack of performance in newer games.

At the moment I am deciding between the 5970 and the 570. I'm asking as to which one will give me the best performance on max settings on games. Also I am asking for suggestions with any other cards which would be better than these two within my price range

My price range is $350 - $400 max

Current system is

Intel i7 870 @ 3.89 GHz
750W Power Supply
HD Radeon 5770 1GB
8GB DDR3 Ram
Asus P7P55D-E Motherboard


Thanks!

 

[kitsunestarwind]

The 5970 is absolute beast , but i'm sure for that kind of money you can find a better new card?

What country/currency are you in so people can give relevant pricing

 

[photonboy]

Why are you considering these older cards at all?

With the budget you have you should be looking at something like an HD7970. If you prefer NVidia then look at the GTX670.

*Investigate if the BORDERLANDS 2 free coupon with the GTX660Ti or above NVidia cards is still available. Not sure where to confirm (NVidia?).

Quick points:
1) HD7970, HD7950 and GTX670 are your best choices

2) NVidia has PhysX, TXAA, and Adaptive VSYNC (AMD should add adaptive VSYNC in drivers at some point)

3) HD7970 might beat the 670 slightly based on price but there are other factors like the above features

4) at this price point, get a solid name with a good, quiet cooling solution

GTX670 cards (note these are overclocked versions so better than stock 670):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685

HD7970:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102982

HD7950:
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=67546&vpn=GV-R795WF3-3GD&manufacture=Gigabyte&promoid=1061

For $440 which is just above your max price there is also the Asus GTX670 "TOP" edition. http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/NVIDIA_Series/GTX670DC2T2GD5/

Here's the REVIEW:
*Note this card looks exactly like another 670 card which is slower.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/55270-asus-gtx-670-directcu-ii-top-review-21.html

SUMMARY:
- HD7000 or GTX600 series (HD7970, HD7950 or GTX670)
- quality brand with good cooling solution
- Borderlands 2 still free with GTX660Ti and above?

*Feel free to ASK ANYTHING related to hardware or how games perform.

My system:
i7-860 OC'd
GTX680 (ASUS TOP)
8GB DDR3
Win 7 64-bit

 

[photonboy]

Asus GTX670 TOP card price had gone way up since I last checked (about $480). Not a good value at all now.

Just FYI, but this is the card I own and love:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121634

*If I were FORCED to pick a card for you it would be the GTX670 Gigabyte version OR the HD7970 Sapphire version. I think the Sapphire would slightly have the edge on raw frame rates but I'd probably recommend the GTX670 on features after having used my GTX680.

I use Adaptive VSYNC in several games. I also use PhysX but not in all PhysX titles because of the frame rate hit.

TXAA:
This is an UPCOMING anti-aliasing method exclusive so far to the new NVidia GTX600 cards. It's in the UNREAL 4 engine and will be in other games as well.
Long story short, anti-aliasing with TXAA will be more efficient versus FXAA or MSAA. Just FYI.

 

[JJ1217]

The 670 TOP is going up because its discontinued. Wouldn't recommend it, its not worth it at all anymore. I've heard things about the Gigabyte Windforce 3 coolers being very heavy, and very loud. Something I wouldn't recommend.

I also wouldn't consider PhysX to be a reason to get a Nvidia card, as I found out today, you can use an ATI card as a master card, and then use a Nvidia card as a PhysX card.

 

[JJ1217]

Also, DO NOT GET the MSI GTX 670 PE, you will regret it. Do not get the 660ti PE either.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/MSI-GTX-660-670-overvolting-PowerEdition,18013.html

 

[Kamen_BG]

Pretty much everthing the others said is true but i must add something else.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-memory-bandwidth-anti-aliasing,3283-13.html
According to this article AMD cards have better AA performance than competeing Nvidia models.And although this isn't really a dealbraker for Nvidia cards i'd still suggest you take a look at it.

As for the cards you should consider buying.Here's a few i think you should take a look at.
First up is the Sapphire Radeon 7950 Vapor-X.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202003&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
It's almost as fast as a GTX 670.It features a very, very good cooler allowing it to run very cool without making too much noise.

The second card is the Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
It's very fast.Around 5% faster than the HD 7950 above.It also features a pretty good cooler and all the other extra's nvidia cards have.The most important of which in my opinion is Adaptive V-Sync.(Physics can run on AMD cards too)

And the last card on my list is the Sapphire HD 7970 OC(Note that they are sorted by performance).It's again a very fast card.Sometimes it outperforms the GTX 670 and sometimes it doesnt.But overall it's about 2% faster.The reason why i think this is a better choice than the GTX 670 is because it has a wider frame buffer, allowing to take a smaller performance hit from things like AA.

 

[Kamen_BG]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102982&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

[Rickylam]

First up is the Sapphire Radeon 7950 Vapor-X.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202003&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Thanks for all your replies everyone. It says that this card, Sapphire Radeon 7950 has PCI Express 3.0 x16. I know for a fact my motherboard supports PCI 2.0 only so does this mean I won't be able to use this card?

 

[Kamen_BG]

You will be able to use it without any problems because PCI-E 3 is backwards compatable with PCI-E 2 .The key difference between them is that PCI-E 3.0 has double the bandwidth of its predecessor but unless you're running a Quad-Fire ir Quad SLI system there won't be any significant (>2%) difference.

 

[Rickylam]

You will be able to use it without any problems because PCI-E 3 is backwards compatable with PCI-E 2 .The key difference between them is that PCI-E 3.0 has double the bandwidth of its predecessor but unless you're running a Quad-Fire ir Quad SLI system there won't be any significant (>2%) difference.

Thank you!

 

[Rickylam]

Best answer selected by Rickylam.