Confused! Can somebody explain feature difference GTX670-HD7970?

[burbee]

I posted a poll earlier mainly between EVGA FTW/MSI PE 670 and Sapphirr 7970. Most people voted for 7970 but that did not clear the question marks.

So my question is: Why? What is the exact feature difference? Which one is better at 1920 x 1080? Stock and overclocked? Is the power usage a big problem (for heat)?

If somebody can give me a nice list of pros and cons I would be so grateful! I was going for the EVGA 670 ftw first but I am leaning towards the 7970 now.. Also because I want to give AMD cards a try.. I have a gtx 660 Asus top ed now.. Intel i5 3570k and Corsair TX650M psu.. I also heard AMDs drivers are really good atm..

So which one for what? Please help me out!

The Sapphire 7970 is 350 Euros and the EVGA ftw 670 352. The MSI PE is 367.

 

[burbee]

Guess I post at bad times

 

[plasmaj12345]

With current drivers, the 670 is more comparable to the 7950 (the 7950 being 2% slower) and the 7970 being comparable to the 680 (7970 about on par). The 7970 is a better card at the moment with current drivers and since it costs less than the 670 for you, its a better buy.

 

[spawnkiller]

670 = 7950 but with Physx... So unless you play a lot of games with physx, go with the 7970, it's faster and the only bad point is really Physx lacks...

PS: You can do physx by an added NVIDIA card like a GT640 even if your GPU is a AMD 7970...

 

[Pinhedd]

I posted a poll earlier mainly between EVGA FTW/MSI PE 670 and Sapphirr 7970. Most people voted for 7970 but that did not clear the question marks.

So my question is: Why? What is the exact feature difference? Which one is better at 1920 x 1080? Stock and overclocked? Is the power usage a big problem (for heat)?

If somebody can give me a nice list of pros and cons I would be so grateful! I was going for the EVGA 670 ftw first but I am leaning towards the 7970 now.. Also because I want to give AMD cards a try.. I have a gtx 660 Asus top ed now.. Intel i5 3570k and Corsair TX650M psu.. I also heard AMDs drivers are really good atm..

So which one for what? Please help me out!

The Sapphire 7970 is 350 Euros and the EVGA ftw 670 352. The MSI PE is 367.

If you have a GTX 660 right now I would either abstain from upgrading or go with the GTX 670.

If you choose to upgrade, you can continue using the GTX660 as a dedicated PhysX card for games that support hardware accelerated Physics while using the 670 to do the rendering work. There are a few driver hacks which allow NVidia GPUs to be used as dedicated PhysX cards while paired with and AMD GPU but these are very unreliable.

If you're planning on repurposing the GTX 660 or are planning on selling it to finance the upgrade then I would go with the 7970 as it is the more powerful card at the moment.

Here's a few other things to consider:

If heat or air circulation is an issue, go with the 670. The 7970s are extremely powerful but they put out a lot of heat and will warm up a large sized office or bedroom room quite quickly. I have two of them and I must run a window air conditioning unit in addition to central air.

If you game on multiple monitors or are planning on doing this in the future, the 7970 is the way to go.

 

[bigcyco1]

The 670 and 7970 perform basically the same at stock up to 1080p resolution, trading blows depending on the game. The 7970 most likely will OC better and it will murder the 670 at high resolution (and has way more compute power), the 670 gives you CUDA , PhysX, TXAA, FXAA, ADap. Vsync etc and lower power draw. Both are solid buys.If you still can't decide which card to take try looking at the games that you play or specific features that you want.If cost really matter to you then you might want to go with whatever is cheaper to you. EDIT -The 7970 is a whopping, massive, ENORMOUS 4.2% faster than the 670 Lol just checked.

 

[burbee]

The 670 and 7970 perform basically the same at stock up to 1080p resolution, trading blows depending on the game. The 7970 most likely will OC better and it will murder the 670 at high resolution (and has way more compute power), the 670 gives you CUDA , PhysX, TXAA, FXAA, ADap. Vsync etc and lower power draw. Both are solid buys.If you still can't decide which card to take try looking at the games that you play or specific features that you want.If cost really matter to you then you might want to go with whatever is cheaper to you. EDIT -The 7970 is a whopping, massive, ENORMOUS 4.2% faster than the 670 Lol just checked.

Ok so I have a corsair carbide 300R. It has probably one of the largest spacing for a graphics card. I will be selling the 660 because I am definitely not rich lol. 1x 140 intake, 120 exhaust, 2fan push pull CM hyper 212 evo to keep the heat out even more. Pretty spacy case. TX650M psu.

Another thing that concerns me is the future of AMD.. And is adaptive vsync really worh it brcause I keep that stuff off I think

 

[bigcyco1]

Ok so I have a corsair carbide 300R. It has probably one of the largest spacing for a graphics card. I will be selling the 660 because I am definitely not rich lol. 1x 140 intake, 120 exhaust, 2fan push pull CM hyper 212 evo to keep the heat out even more. Pretty spacy case. TX650M psu.

Another thing that concerns me is the future of AMD.. And is adaptive vsync really worh it brcause I keep that stuff off I think

I don't think AMD is going any where and if you keep adaptive vsync off i doubt you will miss it :lol:

 

[burbee]

I don't think AMD is going any where and if you keep adaptive vsync off i doubt you will miss it :lol:

I also found the XFX 7970 Double Dissipation, looks good and costs around €330! What do you guys say? It's a stock clock but I read it can overclock well if needed and isn't noisy & stays cool..

And what the hell is bitcoin mining xD

*Do I need a Dual Bios card? If so, which ones do you recommend? I want to overclock eventually

 

[bigcyco1]

I also found the XFX 7970 Double Dissipation, looks good and costs around €330! What do you guys say? It's a stock clock but I read it can overclock well if needed and isn't noisy & stays cool..

And what the hell is bitcoin mining xD

Sounds good i have never used a xfx card so i cannot say but it seems according to the professional reviews i have read XFX built a great video card with the XFX Double D HD 7970 GHz Edition. It stays cool and provides excellent performance in all video games. I go for the Sapphire Vapor X myself though lol.

 

[burbee]

Sounds good i have never used a xfx card so i cannot say but it seems according to the professional reviews i have read XFX built a great video card with the XFX Double D HD 7970 GHz Edition. It stays cool and provides excellent performance in all video games. I go for the Sapphire Vapor X myself though lol.

The vapor-x is a bit expensive tho, what about the normal dual-x?

Why dont u actually have 2x7970 instead of 2x 670? lol

 

[bigcyco1]

The vapor-x is a bit expensive tho, what about the normal dual-x?

Why dont u actually have 2x7970 instead of 2x 670? lol

Yeah that sounds good if you cannot afford the vapor x go for it.I have two 670's because i prefer NV the 7970's use to cost 450 when i bought my 670's for alot cheaper

 

[burbee]

Yeah that sounds good if you cannot afford the vapor x go for it.I have two 670's because i prefer NV

I also prefer nV, the first time going for AMD if it will happen. Although I am FULL of doubts lol.. It's just the way I like nvidia's technical support and stuff. Feels more reliable than AMD. It's like AMD gathers all they can and bam put it on the card while nVidia really looks far more into the horizon if you know what I am saying

Btw: I found an XFX Double Dissipation overclocked for €333, 1000Mhz clock speed

 

[bigcyco1]

I also prefer nV, the first time going for AMD if it will happen. Although I am FULL of doubts lol.. It's just the way I like nvidia's technical support and stuff. Feels more reliable than AMD. It's like AMD gathers all they can and bam put it on the card while nVidia really looks far more into the horizon if you know what I am saying

Btw: I found an XFX Double Dissipation overclocked for €333, 1000Mhz clock speed

Yeah i like amd to they just were not as cheap when i bought my cards the 7970's were selling for 450 the 670 was cheaper :lol: also the xfx sounds good

 

[burbee]

Yeah i like amd to they just were not as cheap when i bought my cards the 7970's were selling for 450 the 670 was cheaper :lol: also the xfx sounds good

Oh there is an EVGA Sig2 GTX670 for €360.. 1006 core, 1084 boost clock.. The nVidia features look tempting dayum... For these prices it's so hard to make a decision

 

[bigcyco1]

Oh there is an EVGA Sig2 GTX670 for €360.. 1006 core, 1084 boost clock.. The nVidia features look tempting dayum... For these prices it's so hard to make a decision

Flip a coin :lol: honestly either one is fine.

 

[burbee]

Flip a coin :lol: honestly either one is fine.

Yeah, Guess I will just go around some videos and randomly pick one.. Theyre all so good! Especially the 384-bit bus of the 7970 which will make it last longer and the computing power of it is amazing.. I will see what I will get lol. I assume there won't be any heat problems with the 7970 in my setup. Maybe I should keep this american saying in the back of my mind:

"There is a first time for everything", thanks!

 

[burbee]

Best answer selected by burbee.

 

[burbee]

Forgot to ask, does the 7970 come with game vouchers?

 

[bigcyco1]

No problem your welcome enjoy!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The drivers business is a red herring. For some reason when peeps see a driver release that says the new drivers improve performance 10%, the assumption is the other teams new drivers did nothing. Published comparisons with new drivers on one card and 2 generation old drivers on another I don't consider valid. And both sides practice what is called "driver optimization" whereby the drivers are tweaked to run benchmarks, but choose a different spot in the game and the optimizations disappear.

As for fps, I'd search the web for recent comparisons and make sure that whatever site you are looking at is using same generation drivers. I'd also try and find sites that address the issue of latency. Thinking of your gaming experience, what's the greater concern ...... whether one card gets 45 fps versus 42 fps or how often card drops below 30 fps ?

Here's a comparison between the 660 Ti and the 7950 focusing on this issue.

http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited/3

As for feature differences......

nVidia has CUDA .... big deal if video editing or using other CUDA apps
AMD is superior at higher resolutions (5760 x 1080)
nVidia is superior on single screen 3D
nVidia a bit quicker on the draw than AMD with new game and multi card profiles but gap shrinking
nVidia has PhysX
AMD in recent weeks has had more game bundles but check the vendors on day you buying
nVidia doesn't have the lag / latency issue
AMD prices have come down since launch way more then nVidia
nVidia has lower power draw / heat on most brackets

If your MoBo is capable, best "bang for the buck" improvement you can make would be a 2nd card in SLI.

In the table below, the fps is Game - twin 660's / 670 / 7970 Ghz

AvP High 4AA - 83.8 / 56.9 / 76.3
Batman AC Very High 4AA - 90 / 84 / 89
BF3 Ultra High 4AA - 87.6 / 61 / 60.6
Crysis 2 Ultra High Edge AA - 94.2 / 73.2 / 72.2
Dirt 3 Ultra 4AA - 134.3 / 105.5 / 114.7
Hard Reset Ultra 4AA - 102.3 / 84.4 / 97.5
Metro 2033 Very High - 42 / 39 / 30
Skyrim High 4AA - 142.9 / 127.5 / 108
Shogun 2 Ultra 4AA - 76.1 / 60.1 / 52.1

Not only does the twin 660s top all benchies, it also is the cheapest solution .... again if ya MoBo has a 2nd capable PCI-E slot. Your 650 watt PSU is more than enough to handle two 660's (590 watts).

 

[burbee]

The drivers business is a red herring. For some reason when peeps see a driver release that says the new drivers improve performance 10%, the assumption is the other teams new drivers did nothing. Published comparisons with new drivers on one card and 2 generation old drivers on another I don't consider valid. And both sides practice what is called "driver optimization" whereby the drivers are tweaked to run benchmarks, but choose a different spot in the game and the optimizations disappear.

As for fps, I'd search the web for recent comparisons and make sure that whatever site you are looking at is using same generation drivers. I'd also try and find sites that address the issue of latency. Thinking of your gaming experience, what's the greater concern ...... whether one card gets 45 fps versus 42 fps or how often card drops below 30 fps ?

Here's a comparison between the 660 Ti and the 7950 focusing on this issue.

http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited/3

As for feature differences......

nVidia has CUDA .... big deal if video editing or using other CUDA apps
AMD is superior at higher resolutions (5760 x 1080)
nVidia is superior on single screen 3D
nVidia a bit quicker on the draw than AMD with new game and multi card profiles but gap shrinking
nVidia has PhysX
AMD in recent weeks has had more game bundles but check the vendors on day you buying
nVidia doesn't have the lag / latency issue
AMD prices have come down since launch way more then nVidia
nVidia has lower power draw / heat on most brackets

If your MoBo is capable, best "bang for the buck" improvement you can make would be a 2nd card in SLI.

In the table below, the fps is Game - twin 660's / 670 / 7970 Ghz

AvP High 4AA - 83.8 / 56.9 / 76.3
Batman AC Very High 4AA - 90 / 84 / 89
BF3 Ultra High 4AA - 87.6 / 61 / 60.6
Crysis 2 Ultra High Edge AA - 94.2 / 73.2 / 72.2
Dirt 3 Ultra 4AA - 134.3 / 105.5 / 114.7
Hard Reset Ultra 4AA - 102.3 / 84.4 / 97.5
Metro 2033 Very High - 42 / 39 / 30
Skyrim High 4AA - 142.9 / 127.5 / 108
Shogun 2 Ultra 4AA - 76.1 / 60.1 / 52.1

Not only does the twin 660s top all benchies, it also is the cheapest solution .... again if ya MoBo has a 2nd capable PCI-E slot. Your 650 watt PSU is more than enough to handle two 660's (590 watts).

I have sell this card before thinking of a new one so SLI is impossible right now.. I have a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H mobo though. But ivr never really been a fan of multiple card setups.. So which card would be better in the long run?

 

[bigcyco1]

Forgot to ask, does the 7970 come with game vouchers?

It does in the u.s. i am not sure if it does where you are sorry.

 

[TheLittleKitten]

670 = 7950 but with Physx... So unless you play a lot of games with physx, go with the 7970, it's faster and the only bad point is really Physx lacks...

PS: You can do physx by an added NVIDIA card like a GT640 even if your GPU is a AMD 7970...

Might sound like a bighead, but do you realize that AMD cards can do PhysX, but slower because Nvdia wanted to control it since they worked on it. PhysX is still slow on them, though