Which GPU?

[ms228]

Hi all,

I have been tossing up the idea of the 7950, 7970, 7970 Ghz and GTX 670, but can't decide which to go for. The monitor i plan to use is a TV (37in Panasonic TX-L37G15B max resolution 1,920x1,080) and the rest of the build is:

CPU Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core £158.99
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing £25.45
Motherboard ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 £101.98
Memory Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 £34.51
Storage Seagate Constellation ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM £43.99
Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" SSD £79.98
Video Card ??? ~£300
Case Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower £86.63
Power Supply Corsair 650W ATX12V / EPS12V £67.10
Optical Drive Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer £12.98

From what i have heard there will be new GPUs coming out in the next quater, will these lower the cost of the ones mentioned above by a significant amount?

I am also tempted to try my hand at OCing, but it is something i have never done before!

Also the games i mostly play are the total war games (I want to play Rome 2 on highest settings when this comes out at the end of the year) and i would like to be able to play hitman absolution, skyrim, batman and assasins creed on full too if possible.

If the GPU could last a year that would be brillilant then maybe SLI/CF at this point.

Thanks in advance!

 

[bigshootr8]

Well, this is where my personal opinion goes. I feel because you play the Batman games you would be happier with a Nvidia solution which utilizes Physx. However if the visuals are not something you are about then a AMD solution would also be a valid solution as it would provide you great performance as well. And since you play at 1080p you would be fine with a 670 card. Just my personal opinion all this mind you.


[flash=560,315]http://www.youtube.com/v/thCWFXVCH3A?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash]

And the card I would recommend for you. Fast, Silent, and a very cool card (temperatures)
http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/part/asus-video-card-gtx670dc22gd5

[flash=560,315]http://www.youtube.com/v/Pmv8sigAd-w?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash]

 

[ms228]

Well, this is where my personal opinion goes. I feel because you play the Batman games you would be happier with a Nvidia solution which utilizes Physx. However if the visuals are not something you are about then a AMD solution would also be a valid solution as it would provide you great performance as well. And since you play at 1080p you would be fine with a 670 card. Just my personal opinion all this mind you.


[flash=560,315]http://www.youtube.com/v/thCWFXVCH3A?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash]

And the card I would recommend for you. Fast, Silent, and a very cool card (temperatures)
http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/part/asus-video-card-gtx670dc22gd5

[flash=560,315]http://www.youtube.com/v/Pmv8sigAd-w?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash]

Thanks for the quick reply, i do like the look of the Physx (makes the game look so much more real!!), do you know if the ASUS card would overclock well (and easily). I think i remeber seeing that the MSI:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-gtx-670-power-edition-oc-28nm-pcie-30-%28x16%29-6008mhz-gddr5-gpu-1019mhz-boost-1079mhz-plusfree

is pretty decent and OCs well - plus just looking at the core speed, it seems a little higher, for a similar price - but I'm not really too sure what i would be looking for in this department.

Just been reading another thread you have been commenting on and i think it will be out of the above and:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-sapphire-radeon-hd-7970-vapor-x-ghz-edition-6000mhz-gddr5-28nm-gpu-1000mhz-2048-cores-dp-2x-dvi-

 

[bigshootr8]

I would think that the card would overclock quite well. If you wanted a overclock without doing any work that would surpass the 680 by a percent I would get the TOP version of the card I've shown you. However all graphic card chips are not created equal and you will be subject to the silicon lottery which means that different chips have different thermal/power limits. The TOP cards are picked from the people at ASUS because they were the stronger chips in overclocking and they already do a sizable overclock for you. The MSI cards are good as well a little louder I'm sure they can be overclocked nicely as well. The triple voltage that they were once pushing to my knowledge you can't do anymore afterburner will not allow you. I believe the bios won't allow you anymore.

 

[bigshootr8]

And I agree with Physx there are not many games that do use it but if you really like Batman Arkham Asylum/City then you will definitely be pleased with the added effects in the game.

In regards to the 7970 Ghz card I like the Vapor-X card. Since you can't do Physx with a AMD card (it gets pushed to the CPU in some games and in others it is completely greyed out) It left me with Nvidia as the only true option for me. But if you are looking for raw performance the 7970 ghz cards will be the best. If you go that route the vapor-x is a amazing card ASUS also makes a card. However the Matrix card hasn't received great reviews from TTL which leads me to believe it isn't very good value wise in comparison.
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/asus_7970_matrix_platinum/1