XFX 7970 GHz or MSI GTX 680?

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BigBAWZ

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Im looking to upgrade my GPU. Im not sure what to buy. Im stuck between the XFX 7970 GHz edition or the MSI GTX 680 Lightning edition. The 7970 is a little cheaper and seems to be the better buy. I just want to know others opinions.
 
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I also recommend the 7970 GHZ. It is the fastest card and will overclock even further. Although it is overkill for today's games at 1080p, it will be fast enough to play tomorrow's games well too.

BigBAWZ

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Ahhh. It seems my sig wasnt showing. I game at 1920x1080 my specs should be in my sig.
 
It's all about preferences,cards you had in the past, if you prefer nvidia or amd, independent of the performance of the cards in question.
Also if caring about value $/performance the 670 like Derza10 said, might be your best choice like a 670 msi pe(since you had a 680 lightning in the choice).
The 670 gtx will deliver a good gaming experience at 1080p.
In not caring about that, the 7970 ghz beats in most games in the benchmarks, the 680 lightning overclocks really well, you can't go wrong with any of those.
 
The reason I would recommend the GTX 670 over the 7970 at that resolutions is because recently it has been shown that the AMD cards have a higher frame latency that can produce slightly less smooth game play, even though it will produce higher FPS (5-10% more than the gtx 670 on average). They are however working on a fix to that issue. The GTX 670 also has features like adaptive vsync, physx, 3d vision and so on.
 
Also, here's why we say the 670 over the 680:

1) The 680 is about 5% faster than the 670. That edge decreases to about 2-3% after both cards are overclocked.

2) The 680 is 25-30% more expensive than the 670, which is ridiculous for a 5% gain.

3) When you then consider that BOTH cards max out games equally well, spending $100-$150 more for the 680 is a poor choice, even if you CAN spend the money. (I don't understand people who spend money just because they can when it's not getting them any benefit.)
 

redeemer

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Both the 670 and 680 are lower spec cards compared to the 7970GHz, so if you got the cash, care about benchmarks and want the best go for the 7970GHz.

As far as the latency issues thats a bunch of bull, I can tell you that I get stuttering in some of my games occasionally with my SLI GTX 680 setup so smooth gameplay is just a gimmick that Nvidia is running with

Most seem to forget than once you overclock the Tahiti chips they scale hugely when compared to Kepler. There is no reason to go with Nvidia this round unless you want 3D or need cuda especially with prices today
 


So you are comparing a single AMD 7970 vs SLI GTX 680's? Well you are correct and many reviewers have stated just that... That SLI cards are about as smooth as single AMD cards... and Crossfire is a good amount worse than SLI... So yes if you are ok with stuttering equal to a SLI setup then 7970 will get you that...
 

redeemer

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You can get stuttering even with one card so that means a single GTX 680 as well, SLI is smoother than Crossfire last time I checked but this will be resolved with drivers.

You say that 7970's are a good amount worst than SLI, what do you mean exactly I have not noticed really any difference. In BF3 both setups play the game indentically as far as I can tell.


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Yes I have no doubt that the frame latency issue will be fixed... The question is how long? They have "fixed" it for 3 games and that took them a month... I vote for getting what works now, if it takes them a year to fix it... It will be close to time to get a new card anyway so who cares... It is a gamble just like everything else, each individual has to weigh the cons and pros for their situation all I am doing is pointing out the trade offs. Basing my recommendation on the fact that he is playing at 1080p so one GTX 670 will max anything he wants to do, while providing slightly smoother game play for less than the 7970. Not trying to to say the GTX 670 is a better card than the 7970, just saying it is the best solution for his situation...
 

redeemer

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Well look at the Vsync bug it took Nvidia 2 months fo fix and its issues with DP and Bios, the 600 series drivers at launch were the worst in history. In no way is the 670 better than the 7970, the 7970 has more vram more bandwidth more compute, and much higher scaling in overclocking. Eyefinity is also superior to Surround, and at this stage I would say that both camps drivers are excellent though AMD's control panel in better.

You say the 670 is better for his situation puzzles me, the 7970 cheaper and has more performance. The 7970Ghz is cheaper than the MSI 680 and offers more performance as well!
 

BigBAWZ

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I do plan on getting more monitors eventually, As of now, i have one ASUS VH242H 23.6'' monitor and hope to be getting two more soon. As for that, i think ill go with the 7970 GHz so i can have the power to run all 3 at good framerates. Also I have the money to spend so why not feature proof my computer as much as i can while i can. Thank all of you for helping me out i really appreciate all the suggestions.
 
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