7950 or 670 for gaming at 1080p?

[freddy1765]

I bought a 7850 in May of last year, but it hasn't lived up to my expectations so I'm very close to investing in a new, and better, card. The problem is, I'm not entirely sure in which direction I want to go. I'm considering either a 7950 or a 670 as 7970/680 both seem overkill for 1080.
Of course it would be prudent to await this year's generation of new cards, but given how little information has been released, it might be a while before they're available for purchase, and I don't really want to wait longer than March/April anyway.

I do have some concerns that respondents to this post will hopefully help lay to rest:
1) Power consumption - I've got a 550W PSU with two 12v rails, each with 17A - is this enough to run either of the cards I've proposed? (Specifically, I've got an Arctic Cooling 550)
2) While price isn't much of an object, there is a vast difference between the cheapest 7950 and the most expensive 670, so I would like some assistance in choosing the best of each card (from a performance/noise/temp standpoint).
3) I've never used nVidia before, do they overclock as well as AMD cards? I will be OCing the card, although not beyond whatever can be accomplished on stock voltage.
4) Which card is more 'future proof'? As far as I can tell, 670s come with 2GB of VRAM while the 7950 carries 3GB, so it would appear to be the best option in terms of high AA in future games?

I've got a 2500k CPU at 4.0GHz and use my desktop for gaming WoW, BF3, Crysis and other modern titles, always at 1080p.

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice!

 

[spat55]

I would say to keep the 7850? Just keep it till the next gen come about, otherwise you will feel the same again come July.

 

[Crowcore]

The new generation cards (both from Nvidia & AMD) will come out in late 2013, so I don't recommend waiting.

A new HD 7950, called 7950 Boost, came out in August 2012 and that one has *exactly* the same performance as the GTX 670. +/- 0.5 fps. Both are perfect for 1080p gaming and even quite future proof, as they currently archive displaying on average with MSAA x4 at ultra settings 71-72 fps.

As to go for the Radeon or the Geforce counterpart, it comes down to this: Radeon cards overclock better, but Geforce video cards have a better driver support (more frequent updates). Regarding the on-board memory (VRAM): at 1080p there isn't any performance difference in today's titles. If in the coming years games will require more than 2GB VRAM for 1080p gaming is impossible to predict. What's for sure is that if you plan on acquiring a 2650x1440 or 2650x1600 monitor soon, you should choose the 7950 Boost, because at that resolution the extra VRAM is leveraged and makes a difference.

Your PSU is fine for any of those GPUs.

 

[freddy1765]

Well I just picked up the Gigabyte 7950 from the post office and ran Heaven 3.0.
I'd enabled the 2nd BIOS using the small switch on the card, so the stock settings (on the OC'd BIOS) are 1000 core, 1250 mem and 1125 mv.
It scored 1714 at the following settings:
Render: direct3d11
Mode: 1920x1080 4xAA fullscreen
Shaders: high
Textures: high
Filter: trilinear
Anisotropy: 4x
Occlusion: enabled
Refraction: enabled
Volumetric: enabled
Tessellation: normal
FPS: 68.0
Min FPS: 28.7
Max FPS: 143.8
I left the fan on 35% throughout the benchmark, temps topped at 70c. Fan was silent, so if I decide to OC further it should be able to run faster without annoying me.

ASIC quality is quite low at 67.4%

Coming from a 7850 that scored 1289 on 1175 core 1350 mem, I feel pretty satisfied with this card. Any feedback on scores is highly appreciated, as I'm not sure how they compare.

 

[usmansajid]

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Geforce GTX 670 170 Watts
Radeon HD 7950 200 Watts
Difference: 30 Watts (18%)
Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the Radeon HD 7950 is 25% faster than the Geforce GTX 670 in general, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

Radeon HD 7950 240000 MB/sec
Geforce GTX 670 192000 MB/sec
Difference: 48000 (25%)
Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 670 is a bit (approximately 14%) more effective at AF than the Radeon HD 7950. (explain)
Geforce GTX 670 102480 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 7950 89600 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 12880 (14%)
Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the Geforce GTX 670 is superior to the Radeon HD 7950, though only just barely. (explain)
Geforce GTX 670 29280 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 7950 25600 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 3680 (14%)
Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

 

[Mahisse]

Just by curiousity.. Where did you find the HD 7850 lacking because I have the same card and I'm quite happy with it. I can certainly with until next generation.

 

[pulpfiction110]

Two conflicting statements:

What's for sure is that if you plan on acquiring a 2650x1440 or 2650x1600 monitor soon, you should choose the 7950 Boost, because at that resolution the extra VRAM is leveraged and makes a difference.

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the Geforce GTX 670 is superior to the Radeon HD 7950, though only just barely. (explain)
Geforce GTX 670 29280 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 7950 25600 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 3680 (14%)

So which one is it, guys?

 

[dredwulf]

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Geforce GTX 670 170 Watts
Radeon HD 7950 200 Watts
Difference: 30 Watts (18%)
Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the Radeon HD 7950 is 25% faster than the Geforce GTX 670 in general, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

Radeon HD 7950 240000 MB/sec
Geforce GTX 670 192000 MB/sec
Difference: 48000 (25%)
Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 670 is a bit (approximately 14%) more effective at AF than the Radeon HD 7950. (explain)
Geforce GTX 670 102480 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 7950 89600 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 12880 (14%)
Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the Geforce GTX 670 is superior to the Radeon HD 7950, though only just barely. (explain)
Geforce GTX 670 29280 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 7950 25600 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 3680 (14%)
Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Dude, you totally just copy and pasted that from hwcompare.com which according to their theoretical bnechmarks still has my GTX295 stomping all over both those cards. Please don't post hwcompare stats.

To answer the OP's question. The 670 and 7950 trade blows. The 7950 is the better price/performance winner.

 

[freddy1765]

Just by curiousity.. Where did you find the HD 7850 lacking because I have the same card and I'm quite happy with it. I can certainly with until next generation.

My 7850 was underperforming from the very begining. If you benchmark your card I'm sure you'll get a higher score than the one I listed before (1289 in Heaven 3.0 at 1175 core/1350 mem).

 

[timil]

The 7950
Had a larger memory bandwidth too