660 TI or 7950 or 670

saw the format for gpu questions so here are the answers.

purchase date: febuary 20-march

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: far cry, borderlands, dragon age( mostly single player some fps), multi player, music, and low level video editing( youtube, go pro)

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: above.

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: above. running 7 fans at 70 cfm and 1500 rpms.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.

PARTS PREFERENCES: nvidia.

OVERCLOCKING: probably not. maybe the cpu but most likely not the gpu

MONITOR RESOLUTION:1920x1080 H:67khz V:60hz

ADDITIONAL COMMENT: none

I am not sure if CSAA will cause these questions to be moot.

Well if you like the physX that nvidia offers then try to get the gtx 670, its more worth it and if you can get another one around 2-3months and put it and a two way sli then its going to max out any latest game at 1080p, No point in buying a cheap one if you can get the better price/performance

rather not but if it is going to be a big issue with anti aliasing then I would like to invest in a better on. Also is my cooling and power able to handle a 670?

My advice is: Always buy the best you can right now.

The GTX 670 is the best GPU and will suit you the best, no discussion there. Buy a great aftermarket GTX 670 like the Gigagabyte Windforce 3x, The Twin Frozr III or my favorite the Direct Cu II, which is the most silent GTX 670 there is. The GTX 670 can overclock itself and better coolers will allow better overclocking. You won't have to do anything.

Now, if your main target if gaming, you're a bit off by buying the AMD FX 8350. Overclocked to 4.8 GHz it doesn't even touch the i5-2500k at stock.

- http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/11/06/amd-fx-8350... Gaming performance

Multi-tasking and general performance is also pretty bad for the FX 8350 even though it has 8 cores.

- http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/11/06/amd-fx-8350... - Multitasking and general peformance

Even editing and video encoding

- http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/11/06/amd-fx-8350... - Editing and encoding

It's quite a sad road for AMD, I would really like them to succed, but they just don't. If you really want to get the AMD FX 8350, then just go with it. You will be happy with that one too. I wouldn't buy it myself, but some people just want to support AMD, and if you do, then there is no bad thing about that. I would just like to show you that it doesn't live up to its' reputation.

Happy gaming.  

I bought the 8350 for the performance to price ratio. I set out to build a some what budget build. so amd was the direction I went. I know intel is better but it is a lot more expensive. In the future I will probably go with intel if I ever get rid of this build.

but Amd over intel aside you think the 670 is better than the 7950

i5-3550 has almost the exact same price as the FX 8350 and beat it by a margin. i5-3570k is about 20$ more, that is minor. You won't be getting better performance for your money.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-processor-frame-ra...

I don't think, I know it is. It's slightly below Radeon 7970 performance. Tomshardware also says so, if you've followed the "Best Graphics card for your money xxxx".

Also when you won't be overclocking the 7950 is completely out of the picture, the only reason for buying it, would be the overclocking part if you were comparing the two GPUs.

Yes GTX 670 is better than the 7950, but it also costs $50+ more. Personally I would get the GTX 670 if you have the money to do so, It's a great card and nvidia offers some good extra features over AMD (adaptive vsync, physx, 3d vision, and so on).

And a lower power consumption to match  

Here's a 660 Ti versus 7950 comparison. Personally, I'd take the 670.

http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-ge...

No reason to put him down for his purchase (Maybe he can return the mobo + CPU? then what you are telling him will be useful)... Sure the i5 3570k is better for gaming but only by a few % not enough to actually SEE(In gameplay) the difference in most cases. But anyway you might want to get an aftermarket CPU cooler and OC the CPU will boost the performance a good amount.

Get a 670

Take a look at the earlier post I made. I said he would be happy with it, no matter what. I also showed benchmarks of the AMD FX 8350 overclocked to 4.8 GHz getting beaten by a I5-2500k at stock. You can just scroll up and have a look. Multitasking, editing, encoding EVEN multitasking FX 8350 loses. There is no reason for the OP living in a world, where he will being kept told that it's "good enough", because when you can get something at the same price that is better, then I don't see where the logic went. AMD FX 8350 is a fine CPU, it will be about sufficient, but it isn't the best choice by far. That is what I want to show, nothing else. I would swift my i5 to an AMD CPU in a heartbeat, if they just could produce some better CPUs that actually could compete with Intel, but as far as goes AMD's lineup for now, it's just not up to discussion.

More cores and higher frequencies doesn't matter if the architecture sucks. People get fooled by the bright specifications and I think it's sad.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/08/23/galaxy_gtx_66...

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/nvidia_gtx_660t...

Overclocked the 7950 beats the GTX660Ti by a lot and can even equal the GTX670.

Techreport hates AMD, many games that favor AMD like DiRT showdown were omitted, the addition of games that favor Nvidia (AC3/Borderlands and Skyrim(seriously who still considers Skyrim a "new game") while totally omitting AMD Gaming evolved games), and one has to remember the spat between AMD and Techreport.

Also 13.2 drivers just widen the gap more, and the obvious things about memory and bus, etc.

I'd reccomend them highest to lowest:

GTX670(slightly better than 7950)
Radeon 7950
GTX660Ti

OP won't be overclocking, read carefully.  

Why ever not.

As long as you don't overvolt you don't void the warranty, and GPU overclocking is many times simpler than CPU overclocking(it's literally just incrementally moving sliders in your favorite OC program).

I didnt take it as putting me down. I know that intel is better now but when I bought the mother board it was november so I am stuck with it. the other part of it is the mother boards were a bit more pricey as well for intel processors. I have read all of the reviews of the cpu on here so I know that intel is better but I was at that point looking at the difference between the 8350 and 4170. for what I need it will do. I learned a lot making this one and next time I will be able to be better informed. But I think I am leaning toward the 670 to avoid the bottle neck at the memory.

actually the games you listed for nvidia are the games I am most looking to play.

ok well once I get it I will look into it.

I understand that.. But he already has the CPU - so unless he can return it and get a full refund for both CPU and Mobo it wouldn't be ideal for him to switch at this point. Was not trying to cause an argument, I agree with you, but if the OP can't do anything about it (without spending extra money) - All you are doing is making him feel bad about a decision he can't change.

What about Radeon hd 7970? That beats all three cards and is often in the same price range as 670 and comes with 2 free games.

Yeah this is the best, a 7970 beats a GTX670 but is the same price.

I like nvidia better but which 7970 would you get. I forget which one the review says to get.

Sapphire or MSi(Lightning). The MSi is expensive but it has a custom PCB for even better overclocking and factory overclocks, both have great cooling solutions.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-over...

both the 7970 msi(lightning)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
and the sapphire
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
are more expensive than the 670
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
and I am more a fan of nvidia I think they make better quality.
so my question to every one is which is the best and why? also price is a big point.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

7970 is faster overall and for 3D applications such as rendering or designing it will perform better due to better directcompute and OpenCL(Nvidia opencl SUCKS). The build quality is also better because AMD stock design has more stock VRMs and higher quality stock capacitors(although depending on who you buy from the quality may vary), also the 7970 consumes less power and produces less heat at idle(at load it's the other way around).

670 is slower and build quality depends on the specific model you get, if you get one with a custom PCB/Chips then the build quality may vary(Asus/EVGA FTW among others)

Again I'd reccomend a 7970

ok well with that in mind I was looking at the sappire you suggested it looks really nice I wish I could get the msi but it is too much. Would you go for the sappire or the power color. I like what I read on the sappire. plus like you said it is easy to over clock.

The 670 I was looking at was a gigabyte windforce 3x which got toms hardware award recommend buy of 2012. but it still has a smaller memory bandwidth which is a lot of the reasons the 670 and especially the 660ti are slower than there competitors under heavy load.

The AMD fx 8350 is a good CPU. Some games just aren't optimized to work well with AMD's new arcitecture like Skyrim. I bet in the future game developers will be making games that work better with AMD, especially if the next generation consoles have AMD cpu's like they are suppose to.

They are both mostly stock cards however the Sapphire cools better but on the flip side it is a 3 slot so it is less compatible with future CF, it depends on whether you want performance now or expandability later.

I think I am going to go with the sapphire.

do you know if I need to get a video card bracket for the sapphire.

Try $80 more the new 7950 boost's that are coming out are every bit as good as the gtx 670's.MSI 7950 twin frozr is clocked at 960 mhz and runs neck and neck with a gtx 670 for $80 less.I miht be in the minoroty here but no question for me it would be the 7950 and not even close.

so was doing research and learned about the ghz editions of the 7970 is it worth getting? the one that I found was a giga byte version.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
I am probably going to just get the sapphire 7970 today.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Has anyone seen a better price?

HD 7970 ghz is HD 7970 operating at a core speed of 1 ghz. They are the exact same card

You can either overclock your HD 7970 to 1 ghz or some people had luck flashing the bios to a ghz edition

You can't beat 7950's for value, overclocked they are incredible.

Only reason to get a GHZ edition is if you do not overclock otherwize any 7970 at 1 ghz will have the exact same performance.

ok thanks every one I am going to be buying the sapphire 7970