Another GTX 660 vs HD 7870 thread

[shadily]

I'm looking at upgrading my terrible graphics card, the rest of the system from what I can tell with my limited knowledge is actually rather good.

I'm looking at either:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1434&products_id=21453

or

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1372&products_id=19740

Yes, I am Australian. No, I don't ride kangaroos to work, us cool people ride emu's

Rest of system:

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Mostly gaming but the usual stuff as well, youtube, email, pr0n

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: NVIDIA GT 530 (Says 4gb on the card itself but CPUID says it has 2gb), 400W PSU

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Intel Core i7 3770 @3.4GhZ , MSI H61M-P31, 8GB in 2x4GB sticks.

PARTS PREFERENCES: Not hugely concerned I have a slight bias towards Nvidia (explained below)

OVERCLOCKING: Probably not, SLI/Xfire is not possible with my mobo

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I've been playing WoW since beta and even though I'm not playing atm I know I'll go back to it cause I always do and from what I can tell WoW has always held a slight bias toward Nvidia gear.
I'm currently playing Skyrim and Assassins Creed III.

I'm looking to avoid any major bottlenecks in my system so I want a card that will be suited to the speed of the rest of the system. Those 2 cards are about perfect for the budget but if they're way over or under powered I'll look at others.

 

[johnsonjohnson]

Hi. Either of those card will do fine but I think you'll have to replace your PSU.

 

[shadily]

Thought that may be the case, my wife is going to kill me haha

 

[shadily]

Also are nvidia cards significantly better in games that support physx or is the difference pretty minor?

 

[determinologyz]

Thought that may be the case, my wife is going to kill me haha

If you getting a new psu you could roll with something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

But both cards will work

 

[shadily]

Sorry, both cards will work with that PSU or without? I'd prefer not to upgrade my PSU due to
A: $70 spent on a PSU is $70 less to spend on a video card and
B: $70 is 2 cartons of beer, so thats a major purchase

 

[determinologyz]

Sorry, both cards will work with that PSU or without? I'd prefer not to upgrade my PSU due to
A: $70 spent on a PSU is $70 less to spend on a video card and
B: $70 is 2 cartons of beer, so thats a major purchase

Your really cutting it close with that psu..The requirements is 450w psu 24 amps on a +12 volt rail

 

[blazorthon]

Nvidia has PhysX, but AMD has advantages of their own too. I prefer the Radeon 7870 over the GTX 660, but the GTX 660 is still a very good card and if you have a slight Nvidia bias, then it's easily the card to get. It's not like the GT 640 versus the Radeon 7750 where there can be a serious problem with the Nvidia card in the comparison.

 

[shadily]

So the PSU issue is a matter of 'install it and see if the machine boots' or is it more of a 'the machine will boot, then burn out your card and the rest the components'.

Also are these good choices for my cpu range or are they too high or low? I'm looking for a balanced system so I won't need to upgrade anything else till I upgrade EVERYTHING else.

Thanks for the replys

 

[goldsauce]

I would choose the 7870 over the 660 since the 7870 performs better and you should be able to run either one on a 500w PSU.

 

[shadily]

Yeah I looked at the AMD and Nvidia webites they recommend a 500w for the 7870 and a 450w for the 660 so either way I'm up for another PSU.

 

[haswell5271]

This NVIDIA card will outperform the Radeon. It will also stay cool while doing it.

 

[spentshells]

This NVIDIA card will outperform the Radeon. It will also stay cool while doing it.

No it will not. I'm not going to bother posting proof as it appears you have internet access and can look for yourself.

 

[goldsauce]

This NVIDIA card will outperform the Radeon. It will also stay cool while doing it.

Incorrect the 7870 is far superior.

 

[ikes9711]

Get the Radeon but the Sapphire edition is better and slightly cheaper

 

[wanderer11]

Physx looks great in the few games that use it. If you really like Batman or borderlands then get Nvidia. Otherwise AMD.

 

[Derza10]

Here you can look threw this..
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_660_hawk_review,1.html
It has about 5 different 660's listed and compares them with a lot of other cards... the 7870 being one of them.

 

[spentshells]

Here you can look threw this..
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_660_hawk_review,1.html
It has about 5 different 660's listed and compares them with a lot of other cards... the 7870 being one of them.

Drivers changes since then have improved amd cards considerably.

 

[Derza10]

Drivers changes since then have improved amd cards considerably.

Could you post a more recent one then? I couldn't find anything. But based off of most of your comments I'm sure you already have seen some and could share?

 

[Derza10]

I thought the 12.11 was the big performance drivers for AMD have they had other BIG ones? (Keep in mind the nvidia drivers have improved performance as well)
here is another review with 12.11, What am I missing that you see so clearly?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/1.html

They are within 1-4% in performance depending on resolution, The 660 has less frame latency(slightly smoother gameplay), adaptive sync, Physx and other features the 7870 does not have.

 

[determinologyz]

So the PSU issue is a matter of 'install it and see if the machine boots' or is it more of a 'the machine will boot, then burn out your card and the rest the components'.

Also are these good choices for my cpu range or are they too high or low? I'm looking for a balanced system so I won't need to upgrade anything else till I upgrade EVERYTHING else.

Thanks for the replys

You can blow out your psu by keeping a card in there.. Honestly i would look into a psu something like the one i showed you and dont get a cheap branded psu to get by..People has made so many mistakes on that

 

[blazorthon]

I thought the 12.11 was the big performance drivers for AMD have they had other BIG ones? (Keep in mind the nvidia drivers have improved performance as well)
here is another review with 12.11, What am I missing that you see so clearly?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/1.html

They are within 1-4% in performance depending on resolution, The 660 has less frame latency(slightly smoother gameplay), adaptive sync, Physx and other features the 7870 does not have.

Adaptive V-Sync has nothing on Lucid virtual V-Sync, something that all graphics cards support with Z68/Z77 boards and I've heard that some AMD boards are getting support for it too.

The frame latency tests were done on only a few games, so they are inconclusive on gaming as a whole. For example, I've read a similar review from TechReport about CPUs and in two games tested, Pentium G2120 did horribly, yet in another two, it did decently. Different games can have wildly different preferences.

Furthermore, the 7870 has things that Nvidia lacks or at least does much more poorly in such as proper AA (MSAA is far superior to FXAA in quality and works far better on AMD cards than on Nvidia Kepler based models). Nvidia's TXAA is still poorly supported and wouldn't do anything more than even the scores in this.

AMD also has far superior performance in compute-oriented features such as some advanced lighting features that can be said to compete with PhysX (which can be supported by simply throwing in a cheap Nvidia card as a PhysX processor if the CPU isn't good enough to handle it). The list goes on for both AMD and Nvidia.

There have been ten releases since Catalyst 12.11 Beta. A few of them were more impacting than the orignial 12.11 versus 12.8. That's what you're missing.

Besides, IDK why people here are saying that either one is far superior to the other. The 7870 has a slight lead on average and a more significant lead in overclocking, on average. That is all. The 660 is a very viable alternative and has its fair share of wins anyway (they're close enough to trade blows at or near stock reference performance for each). There isn't a significant difference either way at stock and even overclocking doesn't make too huge of a difference.

 

[Derza10]

Exactly, I'm just trying to provide facts and not opinions, and am wanting these people that are randomly spouting out opinions to back them with some facts... They are very close in performance and after looking them up on newegg, it seems the 7870 is on avg about $20 more than the 660.

 

[wanderer11]

I tried Lucid mvp with my 3570k and 7870. It made most of my games feel laggy even though I was playing at over 60 fps before installing lucid. It only seemed to help Skyrim and Metro.

 

[blazorthon]

Virtual V-Sync should only be used in conjunction with HyperFormance. Are you sure that you were using both of them?