GTX 670 4gb vs Radeon 7970 3gb

[iSpecialTime]

I am trying to pick parts for a new gaming rig, and i'm not quite sure if i should go nvidia or radeon.

Which of these two would you pick?

GTX 670 4gb vs Radeon 7970 3gb

 

[Tom Burnqest]

Both are great. Flip a coin.

 

[iSpecialTime]

Both are great. Flip a coin.

Gah! If it were that easy, I wouldn't have asked the question

 

[JohnGalt1]

Vouch Tom Burnqest. You'll probably get a lot of flaming from Nvidia fans, and AMD fans against both cards. If you plan on going SLI/Crossfire in the future, you might want to see if either card has problems with micro stuttering.

 

[mayankleoboy1]

Concerning performance, a HD7970 wins hands down. Specially with the latest beta drivers, the HD7970 has become quite fast. Plus it has shitloads of compute performance, which can come in handy.

Cons : Uses fair amount of more power, hence more heat and potentially more noise of the cooling system.

 

[bigcyco1]

These sorts of threads are a flame war itching to happen!Do the flip the coin suggestion you cannot go wrong either way!

 

[bdizzle11]

If it is truly a coin flip, keep in mind some other perks that each company brings. I think it is generally agreed upon that Nvidia has better and more up to date drivers. Nvidia also has 3d vision and now that they have nvidia surround eyefinity is not necessarily a plus on AMD's side.
From what I've read it seems like the 7970 has slightly better performance though so in the end its up to you. Id honestly probably go for the one that is cheaper/gives better bonus games in its package.

 

[bigcyco1]

uptil I looked at the receipt ov $5862, I accept that my friend woz really earning money part time on there computar.. there moms best frend has done this 4 only about 16 months and just now cleard the morgage on their condo and bourt a great Ford. we looked here..WWW.GoogleJob1.MEL7.COM

Dam spammer get lost or else!

 

[iSpecialTime]

Concerning performance, a HD7970 wins hands down. Specially with the latest beta drivers, the HD7970 has become quite fast. Plus it has shitloads of compute performance, which can come in handy.

Cons : Uses fair amount of more power, hence more heat and potentially more noise of the cooling system.

I've heard the new drivers really closed the gap. I'll look into this. Thanks for the reply

 

[iSpecialTime]

If it is truly a coin flip, keep in mind some other perks that each company brings. I think it is generally agreed upon that Nvidia has better and more up to date drivers. Nvidia also has 3d vision and now that they have nvidia surround eyefinity is not necessarily a plus on AMD's side.
From what I've read it seems like the 7970 has slightly better performance though so in the end its up to you. Id honestly probably go for the one that is cheaper/gives better bonus games in its package.

If it gives better performance ill go with that most likely. I don't plan on doing much in 3d anyway.

Concerning the VRAM though, does the 3gig and vs 4gb gtx make a difference in 1080 ultra gaming?

 

[iSpecialTime]

These sorts of threads are a flame war itching to happen!Do the flip the coin suggestion you cannot go wrong either way!

I'd have to say in pleasantly surprised with the lack of flaming. I want honest answers as i am the one who wants his money to be well spent. If anyone can successfully convince me to go one way of the other it would be a blessing.

 

[Pyree]

Ok, iSpecialTime, pick a letter.

 

[bigcyco1]

I'd have to say in pleasantly surprised with the lack of flaming. I want honest answers as i am the one who wants his money to be well spent. If anyone can successfully convince me to go one way of the other it would be a blessing.

I have to say i am shocked so far so good.I understand where your coming from though.I am not going to try and convince you either way good luck.

 

[iSpecialTime]

Ok, iSpecialTime, pick a letter.

G!

 

[Pyree]

Go for GTX 670.

Pretty obvious you already swing towards GTX 670 from the letter you choose.

GeForce, GTX, G is much closer to N for Nvidia than A for AMD on the keyboard...

 

[mclovits]

If you want a definitive answer from someone, personally, I'd go with a non-reference 670. I have the Asus DirectCUII TOP version and I love it. It runs quiet, the drivers are always improving (especially this new 310.XX series of BETA drivers). Mainly though, there is room for plenty more overclocking as well as a cheaper SLI option vs purchasing another 7970 in the future for crossfire. It's up to you though, and I'd go with whichever card you can find a good deal on...just no reference cards...so noisy.

Good Luck

 

[iSpecialTime]

Go for GTX 670.

Was this a lottery thing or do you honestly believe it it the better video card? I'm also still confused about the use of 3gb vs 4gb of VRAM.

 

[mclovits]

I'd like to add, maybe it is best to wait for the new upcoming series of GPU's (700/8000) from both companies, as they are fast approaching.

 

[bigcyco1]

If you want a definitive answer from someone, personally, I'd go with a non-reference 670. I have the Asus DirectCUII TOP version and I love it. It runs quiet, the drivers are always improving (especially this new 310.XX series of BETA drivers). Mainly though, there is room for plenty more overclocking as well as a cheaper SLI option vs purchasing another 7970 in the future for crossfire. It's up to you though, and I'd go with whichever card you can find a good deal on...just no reference cards...so noisy.

Good Luck

I could not of said it better myself.

 

[iSpecialTime]

If you want a definitive answer from someone, personally, I'd go with a non-reference 670. I have the Asus DirectCUII TOP version and I love it. It runs quiet, the drivers are always improving (especially this new 310.XX series of BETA drivers). Mainly though, there is room for plenty more overclocking as well as a cheaper SLI option vs purchasing another 7970 in the future for crossfire. It's up to you though, and I'd go with whichever card you can find a good deal on...just no reference cards...so noisy.

Good Luck

How would I know if its a reference card? And why would that entail if I got one? I assume there's a reason for the noise level

 

[iSpecialTime]

Best answer selected by iSpecialTime.

 

[babernet_1]

Was this a lottery thing or do you honestly believe it it the better video card? I'm also still confused about the use of 3gb vs 4gb of VRAM.

The ram issue is that with multi-monitor games you can run out of ram if you only have 2GB. So, unless you are using triple monitors, 2GB will be enough, assuming you have a 1920X1080.

 

[mclovits]

I could not of said it better myself.

Why thank you, sorry to add one more thing iSpecialTime but unless you are gaming at some much higher resolutions (Higher than 1920x1080 or 1920x1200) you won't use more than 2GB of VRAM in today's games, 3GB is plenty and 4GB is for those with eyefinity/surround setups.

 

[iSpecialTime]

Why thank you, sorry to add one more thing iSpecialTime but unless you are gaming at some much higher resolutions (Higher than 1920x1080 or 1920x1200) you won't use more than 2GB of VRAM in today's games, 3GB is plenty and 4GB is for those with eyefinity/surround setups.

I don't plan on exceeding 1080, but I think I might get a 23" to compliment the 27" Asus I have now. I'm not sure if this has any impact on VRAM choice.

 

[bigcyco1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnLUJxCBZUg it's a beast!Any non reference 670 should do pretty much the same.i have sli now and 120hz monitor so it would not apply to a typical setup i have no way to prove this now without going out of my way which i am not willing to go through the hassle.I believe i saved some notes i will look for them and get back to you. EDIT- Found when i had just one 670 i ran BF3 on Graphics preset: Ultra (using all defaults included in that preset) my fps drops to about 40~50 from time to time. Average 60~70 Core: 1325Mhz / Mem: 3557MHz (stable in heaven)
If I increase the core offset, I can reach about 1350MHz on core in 3dmark 11 but heaven crashes some times. (I didn't do it for those tests)


In AB:
Core Voltage: +0mV
Power Limit: 114% (Max)
Core Clock: +97Mhz (I'll tweak that higher later if I can)
Memory Clock: +550Mhz


All my tests passed under 62°c (~59 average)