Which Gaphics card.

[Vxshifter]

Hello,

I've been looking around, researching and seen over 50 forums post ect.. Well I've given up and just made a post for my exact situation. Well here it is, I've got a limited budget $400 give or take (Maybe $500) if you call that limited and I'm confused which Graphics card to get?

Here is my choices:

GTX 670 - ASUS (DirectCU II) and Gigabyte OC - $438 and $425
7970 - ASUS (DirectCU II) and Gigabyte TO (Is that the Ghz edition?) - Both $459
GTX 680 - MSI Twin-Frozr - $519 (Not sure if I got the cash tho)
7950 - MSI (Twin-Frozr) and ASUS (DirectCU II) - $315 and $339

Well there is my choices, my currently build is:

Phenom ii x4 965 Black Edition (Upgrading to i5 3570k or i7 3770k coming April) with a Hyper 212 Evo also overclocked to 3.8ghz.
Seasonic S12 II Bronze 620w (Is that enough to power the new GPU?)
GA-870A-UD3 (Upgrading to support my new Intel CPU)
Gigabyte 5870
Thermaltake v6 BlacX

Anyway help would be a god send because I've been driving myself mad trying to decide which one to get.

Thanks, John

 

[lostgamer_03]

If gaming is your main concern then stay with the i5-3570k, the money spend on i7-3770k won't give you much better performance in games.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6396/the-vishera-review-amd-fx8350-fx8320-fx6300-and-fx4300-tested/5

As you can see the performance won't be much different.


The radeon 7970 will be named GHz edition if it is - if not - then it isn't.

There is no doubt that the Radeon 7970 GHz edition is the best single GPU on the market as we're speaking right now. The normal Radeon 7970 is slower than the GTX 680 and that is why they released the GHz version, so don't let anyone fool you about that.

If you're playing on 1080p, then will GTX 670 or Radeon 7950 be the best choice, anything above will be overkill. If you go above that resolution, then you might consider GTX 680 or Radeon 7970.

If you want GTX 680 or Radeon 7970 then a new PSU might be handy. It's always good having some headroom, so you're sure that your PSU is providing enough power. Not saying your PSU is bad, it's actually pretty good and will be enough for the new GPU. My only concern is that your heavy overclocking might be pushing your PSU too far.

And at last, if you made your decision if either you're going Radeon 7970 or GTX 680 - or you will go GTX 670 or Radeon 7950. Then remember the technologies that the 2 manufactors provide.

AMD has the best support for multiscreen configuration, while Nvidia has the best 3D experience.

Nvidia also provides adaptive v-ssync, FXAA, TXAA, physx.
Adaptive v-sync will give a smoother gaming experience, while TXAA, FXAA and physX gives better visuals in various games.

Hope this helped, good luck.

 

[envy14tpe]

Depends on what games you play and what resolution you want to play at.

 

[Vxshifter]

Thank you so so so very much! The reason for the i7 3770k is because I'm going into Year 11 and soon 12 (Senior year) and I'll be doing heavy digital editing with Photoshop, Aftereffects, Maya ect... So I think I need to spent the little extra for the hyper threading, which I pretty sure i5 don't have.

Btw the resolution I'll be playing on is 1920x1080 and I'll be getting all the new releases in the coming year Watch Dogs, GTA 5 ect...

Anyway Thanks again!

 

[sam_p_lay]

I'll just add a +1 to Lostgamer_03's excellent post and emphasise that there's really very little point in buying more than a GTX670 - there's no performance benefit to a GTX680 that you'd be able to perceive. The Radeon options are actually likely to deliver worse performance in that there's much less consistent performance (plus adaptive v-sync as Lostgamer_03 points out).

This is well-worth reading - it's comparing a couple of slightly lower end cards but the results should apply across the ranges.

http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited/3

For more info about adaptive v-sync and how it makes gaming smoother by not restricting sub-60 framerates:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/201 [...] y_review/3

 

[Vxshifter]

Thanks guys, I'll go for the Gtx 670 but now I gotta decide the brand. Thanks for the info Sam =D

 

[sam_p_lay]

Glad to help For manufacturer, warranty duration is definitely worth considering. Here, EVGA are best for that, but I don't know about the States and Canada. I did find this in another thread though:

ASUS - 3 yr parts/labor from purchase date, no registration required, transferrable.

Gigabyte - 3 years parts/labor from manufacture date, no registration required, transferrable.

MSI - 3 years parts, 2 years labor, unlcear on start date. no registration required. don't know if it's transferrable.

Sapphire - 2 years parts/labor from purchase date, no registration required. NON-transferrable.

Zotac - 2 years parts labor without registration, 3 year (lower end cards) with registration, lifetime (higher end cards) with registration. NON-transferrable.

HIS - 2 year parts/labor, no registration required.

EDIT: You probably already know but Sapphire and HIS don't do GeForces so disregard those For other companies not mentioned, I'd recommend just getting in touch with them if you want warranty details. A lot of these companies are pretty bad at making the information available on their sites!

 

[lostgamer_03]

Thanks guys, I'll go for the Gtx 670 but now I gotta decide the brand. Thanks for the info Sam =D

First things first, do you got a midi-tower or bigger with good air flow?

If you don't, like myself, then you might look at some of EVGA's GPUs. Such as

http://eu.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=02G-P4-2678-KR&family=GeForce 600 Series Family&uc=EUR

As you might have spotted, then the GPU is completely hidden away by a case. This case will lead the hot air out of your PC so it won't affect other components. That is a big plus, if you got that smaller case. BUT if you got that bigger case with decent air flow then

http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/NVIDIA_Series/GTX670DC22GD5/

Would be great.

The reason of this is that the GPU by EVGA gets hotter because of the case, while the GPU by ASUS isn't cased then the hot air will flow right away into your case.

 

[bigcyco1]

From best to worst from techpowerup

Asus 670 TOP - 10.0 rating (only card ever to get a 10.0)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_670_Direct_Cu_II/33.html

Gigabyte Windforce SC 670 - 9.8 rating
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GeForce_GTX_670_Windforce/33.html

MSI Twin Frozr IV 670 - 9.7 rating
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_670_Power_Edition/33.html

Palit Jetsteram 670 - 9.7 rating
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Palit/GeForce_GTX_670_Jet_Stream/33.html

Zotac AMP 670 - 9.6 rating
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_670_Amp_Edition/33.html

They didn't do the EVGA so.....

http://www.guru3d.com/article/evga-geforce-gtx-670-sc-review/23
EVGA SC Boost Clock is 1046 outta the box....stable at 1200 Mhz
EVGA SC gets 3DMark Score of 8691 outta the box and 9443 OC'd
Idle temp is 29C / load temp is 78C
Noise is 37 dBA Idle / 43 dBA under load

http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-geforce-gtx-670-directcu-ii-top-review/23
Asus TOP Boost Clock is 1137 outta the box .... stable at 1280 Mhz
Asus gets 3DMark Score of 9340 outta the box and 9839 OC'd
Idle temp is 30C / load temp is 72C
Noise is 37 dBA Idle / 38 dBA under load

That makes the Asus 7% faster outta the box than the EVGA SC, 6C cooler and almost 1/4 as loud under load (every 3 dBA is a doubling of sound level). The FTW is slightly faster than the SC, leaving the Asus model w/ just a 5% performance advantage

 

[Vxshifter]

Wow, thanks everyone for the wondeful information!

Edit: I've been looking around my local shops and I can only find the standard DirectCU II, not the TOP version. Anyway I think I'll go with the standard edition still powerful non the less.

Thanks, John

 

[sam_p_lay]

I think you've made an excellent choice there! Have fun with it

 

[bigcyco1]

No problem.Your welcome.Enjoy!

 

[Vxshifter]

Sorry for reopening thsi thread one last time, but I've found a GTX 670 Galaxy GC for $400 so how do you guys think it compares the the DirectCU II (Non-top) or Gigabyte OC? Thanks again XD

 

[bigcyco1]

It's a pretty good card i am not to sure how it compares to those two. Compared to the reference GeForce GTX 670 model that NVIDIA released, the GALAXY GeForce GTX 670 GC video card is different in so many ways. The GPU itself has all of the same specifications, and there are 2GB of memory. The GALAXY GeForce GTX 670 GC is printed on GALAXY's custom PCB. The custom PCB is full length, not following the shortened PCB that NVIDIA had paired the GPU with.

The GALAXY GeForce GTX 670 GC is equipped with a stout factory overclock, and that makes us extremely happy. NVIDIA's reference design has a GTX 670 running at 915MHz with a Boost clock of 980MHz, and the memory running 6GHz. The GALAXY GeForce GTX 670 GC has a base frequency of 1006MHz (same as a GeForce GTX 680), with a boost clock of 1085MHz, and the memory unchanged at 6GHz (also, the same as a GeForce GTX 680). The GPU Boost for our video card was 27MHz higher than a GeForce GTX 680 cards. So the GALAXY GeForce GTX 670 GC is very similar to the GeForce GTX 680 in terms of frequencies, but 192 less shaders.

The GALAXY GeForce GTX 670 also has a custom cooling solution, which includes four nickel plated heat pipes that directly contact the GPU, and spread across the length of the video card. These heat pipes directly contact the finned heat sink, which has a high surface area to help effectively spread heat. The video card also has dual fans to help more efficiently remove the heat on the video card. The fans are extremely light weight, and have smooth blades with sharp edges to help cut through air and reduce wind resistance. This means moving more air, while still remaining quiet.

GALAXY has its own overclocking program, Xtreme Tuner Plus, to be used when overclocking this video card or looking at diagnostics. The GALAXY GeForce GTX 670 GC also comes with a 3 year extended warranty. Source: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/06/04/galaxy_geforce_gtx_670_gc_video_card_review/1

 

[Vxshifter]

Once more thank you so very much =D I think I be going out next week to purchase the new GPU.

 

[bigcyco1]

Your welcome. Have fun.