Help me put the final block [GTX 670 vs HD 7970]

[Commandermadi]

Hello people, I have been roaming around Toms for like 3 straight hours, reading and viewing discussions, opinions, benchmarks, etc.. My head is really stuffed now with enough information about both the 3GB HD 7970 and The 2GB GTX 670 but I am still confused which one to pick up.

Well, I know there been dozens of topics debating these cards, but I need simple clear opinions about which one to buy? I will use it only for pure GAMING, nothing more nothing less.

Here is the information about parts I bought already:

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77x-UD3H
Processor: Intel i7 3770 3.40 GHZ
RAM: 16 GB
Monitor: 22 Inch Samsung LED SyncMaster 300 [Max Res 1920 X 1080]
Windows: 7 Ultimate 64-Bit
Graphics Card = ?

I will be using only 1 monitor with the above stated resolution of 1920 X 1080. I need a card that will make me play games like Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Guild Wars 2, at ultra settings without getting any annoying FPS drop. Please note that any rate below 60 for me is a bit annoying [Dunno why but I like 60+ fps always]

The manufacturers and prices listed for both cards:
Gigabyte 7970 3GB AMD Radeon Graphics Card for 308 Pound Sterling [Including shipping price to my country]

EVGA GF GTX 670 2GB FTW Graphics Card for 293 Pound Sterling [Including shipping price to my country]

Please advise and Thanks in advance

 

[bigcyco1]

Both cards will do that i would go with the 670 if your not going to overclock plus EVGA has best customer service want proof a 670 can do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnLUJxCBZUg&feature=plcp Crysis 2 Campaign MSI GTX 670 OC Test http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiE_4cz0aDo&feature=plcp Battlefield 3 PC Operation Swordfish Campaign Combat GTX 670

 

[Commandermadi]

Both cards will do that i would go with the 670 if your not going to overclock plus EVGA has best customer service want proof a 670 can do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnLUJxCBZUg&feature=plcp Crysis 2 Campaign MSI GTX 670 OC Test http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiE_4cz0aDo&feature=plcp Battlefield 3 PC Operation Swordfish Campaign Combat GTX 670

Well thank you, I dunno why but I'm leaning more towards the 7970 atm. Never experienced them though but heard that if OCed it will own GTX 670 and even 680!

 

[bigcyco1]

Maybe the answer lies it agreeing how much weight to assign to each factor of the video card? How much to value raw performance in what games/benchmarks, vs. power consumption, vs. quality of the cooler and its noise, etc.

If you don't care about noise and are fine with a cheaply made cooler, your "best" card will be different than someone who cares about those factors and is not so impressed with max benchmarks.

Also need to agree on what set of benchmarks to use, whether you include PhysX or Bitcoin mining, etc.

In other words, this is futile and may as well ask to settle once and for all what is the best ice cream flavor, color, car, and supermodel. As far as overclocking that just fanboy bs no card is the same you cannot guarantee higher overclocking it's possible NOT Guaranteed so that non sense is dead.

 

[sam_p_lay]

+1 to the GTX670. Infact that EVGA one is the GTX670 I'd get myself! You're looking at the scan.co.uk price right? I think that's the best price at the mo, but I think they had it at around £280 recently... still a good price though. As for overclocking, the GTX680 is only ~6% faster - you could easily overclock a GTX670 beyond GTX680 levels. People often say 'oh but you can overclock card A beyond even card B levels!' but it's not saying much if there's only 6% between the two cards anyway

 

[sam_p_lay]

...may as well ask to settle once and for all what is the best ice cream flavor, color, car, and supermodel.

I'm up for a best supermodel discussion... :-D

EDIT: And on a more serious note, I'd completely agree there - things like PhysX and other features muddy the waters a bit. I think with some common sense and no bias, it could be agreed that PhysX is just a nice extra but doesn't need to be benchmarked. Maybe just something to keep in mind as a tie-breaker. For power consumption, you'd need to do the math and factor energy savings in to the long-term cost of the card. As for cooling/noise, I'm not sure there's any way that could be objectively quantified against rendering performance, so would just have to come down to how important noise/overclocking is to you, especially considering the way different instances of the same hardware vary in overclockability, as you mentioned above.

 

[bigcyco1]

I'm up for a best supermodel discussion... :-D

:lol:

 

[Commandermadi]

Thank you guys for your opinions, but I heard alot that ATI Radeon HD 7970 is better than GTX 670 in BF3 now with this catalyst 12.11. Is that true?

And a more important point, which of them is more future-proof? Which one do you think will be able to run upcoming games at a better performance?

 

[sam_p_lay]

Yeah Catalyst 12.11 added a big performance boost (well not big, but big compared to what drivers usually do). But then nVidia responded with 310.70 drivers. Catalyst 12.11 was a big deal because while nVidia has a released a number of massive performance boost drivers in their history, it's not something AMD has a history of. Honestly though, it's swings and roundabouts. AMD will further improve performance in the next version and then nVidia will do the same. I wouldn't worry too much about that.

With regards to future-proofing, the Radeon has more memory, though the GeForce has a more consistent, smooth delivery of framerates (meaning that as games become more demanding and framerates drop, framerate consistency will make the GTX670 appear smoother and more responsive in games). The memory thing is highly debated - in today's games installing special third party high-res texture packs can consume over 2GB. However no game would approach as much usage as those by standard, so it depends whether you'd install that stuff.

 

[Commandermadi]

Cheers guys, I guess I will go with the GTX 670 then. Because I only use "and probably will always use" one monitor for gaming at the resolution 1920 X 1080. So I guess the 7970 is kind of useless in my case, right?

 

[sam_p_lay]

You're certainly not gonna see any benefit over the GTX670. You should be gaming well for a good while on it

 

[Commandermadi]

A good while for like how many years?

 

[bigcyco1]

Nobody can tell you that we cannot see into the future however i say two to three years is a safe guess

 

[sam_p_lay]

Nobody can tell you that we cannot see into the future however i say two to three years is a safe guess

Took the words right out of my mouth Besides, look at it this way - if a GTX670 won't play it, there's no way a 7970 (or GTX680) will. As far as single GPU setups go, GTX670 is pretty much as good as it gets (and it's pretty awesome, honestly!).

 

[Commandermadi]

Ok final thing guys, can you give me the latest up-to-date benchmark for different games for both cards. The GTX 670 2GB edition and The AMD HD 7970 3GB [Catalyst 12.11] ? Because I read some opinions that the new AMD driver 12.11 almost beats GTX 680 in some games already.

 

[bigcyco1]

Both cards are great choices pick which ever you prefer and stop worrying about it enjoy it!There is no current benchmarks with both sides up to date drivers that i am aware of sorry.

 

[Commandermadi]

I am worried because this is my first pick up and I am afraid it gets disappointing ^_^ But I will stop worrying you know when? When I click Place my order

Thanks very much peeps for your help.

 

[bigcyco1]

Your very welcome!

 

[sam_p_lay]

Have fun with it

 

[Commandermadi]

Okay. I ordered Gigabyte Windforce 3x GTX 670 OC ) Thank you guys very much for your help.

 

[iceclock]

excellent thats gonna give u some serious juice bro, enjoy that card.

im happy with a 7870 but thats all i could afford tho,

 

[Commandermadi]

Best answer selected by CommanderMadi.

 

[Commandermadi]

Thanks mate and I hope you can upgrade to whatever you like soon. I will give you an instant feedback about it when I get it delivered )