Best Gaming and Compute GPU?

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JukeBox360

JukeBox360

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May 25, 2012
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Hello Toms Community!

I'm currenty in the market for a new GPU for my rig. I'd like the best possible gaming perfomane and compute performance. I know 7970 has pretty good compute and gaming performance. But is there anything better? Does the new TiTan have better compute perfomance then the AMD?I'd like to stay away from SLI or Crossfire set ups. The compute performance is needed for video editing in Sony Vegas 12.

Any advice will be of great help.

So. Which GPU offers both great compute and gaming performance?
Click to expand...

As of now my main debate is a 7970 or a Titan.
 
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vmem

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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these benchmarks Toms did should answer your questions:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-titan-performance-review,3442-10.html

the Titan is better for gaming hands down, for compute, it'll depend on the task. of course, architecture wise the Titan SHOULD be better at compute and Tom's believe (and I agree) that it's a driver issue from Nvidia that's keeping the Titan down at the moment.

IMHO, for the money, you can't beat the 7970 for caming plus compute. the extra cost for a pair of Titans aren't worth it.

also, make sure what you're doing on Vegas 12 supports OpenCL, otherwise your CPU's doing all the work, not your GPU
 
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JukeBox360

JukeBox360

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I was leaning more towards a 7970 purely for price but I was also concerned about gaming performance when going that route. I do feel the Titan is a bit over priced and would be a much better card for the money had it been cheaper then a 690. I feel 799 would make these things sell like hotcakes.

That being said. Price isn't to much of a concern for me. Whatever I get all gets paid overtime. IMO GPU cost are hardly ever worth their money to due the nature of constant change. It's impossible to keep up with the improvements every year. I had a 680SLI set up and loved it. But I did hate it's performance in Vegas. I remember using the 7970 in Vegas and thought it was awesome. The only real reason I'm even considering the Titan is due to better single GPU performance. Less demand on power. And quiet. I'm a bit of a silence freak.

Would the compute performance be a noticeable difference against the 7970? I might even consider going back to SLI/Xfire. But That would require a stronger power supply which would put the AMD cards at a higher cost. ( only when getting two of em )

Plus I'm a huge fan of NVIDIA drivers. That would be the main reason I stuck with 680s vs 7970.

:pt1cable: Sorry for the random useless information. I just feel this is a pretty hard choice and I only have about a week to decide.
 
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vmem

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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well, setting costs aside, and given that you already know what you're looking for

7970 will kick a 680 to kingdom come in terms of graphics compute, a single 7970 can beat a pair of 680s in that department.

as for Nvidia drivers, they have been good in the past, but I feel like Nvidia has been doing some cost cutting in the driver development department, just look at Tom's benchmarks, as of now, the 7970 is kicking the Titan's butt in half of the compute benchmarks... there's no guarantee this will be fixed upon the release of the Titan.

Thus, I would recommend sticking with a 7970 or a pair of 7970s for now. there is no guarantee that the Titan will get better compute support on the drivers side on release in two days, and it sounds like you have some project deadlines coming up
 
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fkr

fkr

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I would go the titan route if price is not a matter. I read allot of user opinions and its computing seems to hit a nice sweet spot without going into the more expensive pro cards. I have read a few reviews stating this card is a nice over-clocker at 1150 so far being the best over-clock I have scene without even going into over-voltage. This will also not break the warranty.
 
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vmem

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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may I ask where these Users are getting their opinions from? if they're hardware reviewers, fine I believe you. but as for the general market, the Titan hits the market on the 28th, or two days from now. any "user experience" today is technically impossible and not trustworthy
 
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bryjoered

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THe GTX titan has better computing power than the GTX 690 for the same price (At least the Asus version) it's an absolute monster. every game will fall at your feet. Crysis 3? psssh, with full AA too, Metro 2033? Not even a sweat. Far Cry 3? Ultra full AA. IF you want the best get the titan it's that simple.
 
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bryjoered

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Jul 26, 2012
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Um there is no way in all that is holy that a single 7970 beats 680 SLI (fanboy alert). The 7970 is about equivalent to the 690 and the 690 edges out the 7970. 680 SLI beats a 690 I think it's pretty simple to see that we have a DIEHARD AMD fan over here. And you're wrong about the benchmarks as well, the 7970 is 3rd in virtually every one of them, including the most important (Graphical Horsepower). What about in-game performance? Far Cry 3 -Titan wins, Bf3-Titan Wins, Borderlands 2-Titan wins, I don't know why you are misleading the guy. The only reason to get the 7970 would be because it's cheaper the titan is better in every way possible. As 680's in SLI are.
 
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bryjoered

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Ah, I stand corrected, so this guy is using some type of architect program or mathematics computation software? Yeah, I dunno then lol. I just saw 7970 beats 680 sli I was like what? Nothing beats 680 Sli except 690 sli, or Titan sli now I guess.
 
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vmem

vmem

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Yeah, I know I have an AMD card and I love my 7970 but I have had Nvidia cards in the past and do love them too! it's just unfortunate that Nvidia seriously killed the compute performance of their current generation of cards to target game performance, and the Titan is really the only card that stands a chance against AMD when you only want the card for compute.

I'll try to clarify my previous points to make them sound less biased: as it stands, the Titan is based on a compute intensive workstation model (the Nvidia Tesla cards in the Titan super computer), and it should be AMAZING at compute. of course, Nvidia had to reduce percision a bit to balance things out and give it amazing gaming performance. somewhere in this step, it seems Nvidia has only been testing the Titan's gaming performance when they wrote the drivers, and the drivers are having trouble properly getting the Titan to compute (at least with Toms' benchmarks and a few others, anandtech and others didn't seem to have this problem so I don't want to say anything definitive).

Thus, right now, the Titian is the RAW compute winner. However, if you want stable drivers and performance, the AMD 7970 is the better bet right now. if Nvidia does make fixing the Titan's compute performance drivers-side a priority, I would get the titan hands down. but judging by their priorities this past year, I think it's a bit iffy and only time will tell (and it seems like you can't wait)
 
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vmem

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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that page is what worries me, while the Titan does win in some tests, it loses horribly in a few others. I would not pay $600 extra for a card that only performs better "sometimes".

if Nvidia keeps their word and fixes this by launch tomorrow (i'm sure we'll soon see some newer benchmarks), I would go with the Titan. as it is now, 7970 gets my vote
 
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JukeBox360

JukeBox360

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I imagine that's more of a driver issue then the actual card. Remember. It's still new. Just as the GTX680 was. I remember when 680SLI got you about 90FPS average. Now it gets you 150FPS.

Same thing with AMD. The 7970 is a much better card today then it was a year ago.

I'm starting to lean more towards the Titan due to it's potential. As it's only going to get better. But what I'm really wonder is how big of a gap is there going to be between the 690 and Titan.

Does anyone think the 690 will be closer to the 690 overtime? Or just "slightly" better then a 7970?
 
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vmem

vmem

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You mean the Titan? given how drivers have improved this last year, yes, I do think the Titan should get lose to a 690 over time.

and most of my above thinking have been based on the idea that you have a project that you'll need this performance coming up soon. if you're ok with the drivers lagging behind for now, then yes, the Titan is a good choice.

my main worry, or intrigue, about the Titan is the fact that it's released as a stand-alone card, not in a series. This means that if it actually out-performs the 700 series Nvidia will be releasing later this year, Nvidia can just say "hey, that was a special case". of course, Nvidia can do the same thing if the GTX780 turns out to out-perform the Titan. it'll be an interesting thing for the rest of us to wait and see
 
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JukeBox360

JukeBox360

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Maybe in compute power. But I was running 680 SLI before.
 
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JukeBox360

JukeBox360

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May 25, 2012
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Quick question. I went ahead and ordered a GTX Titan. I could have gotten the SC signature. But I see no point in doing so. Was going to get the ASUS but ended up with EVGA. I think ASUS has a better warranty though right? IDK.

Anyway. My question now is. Will an i5 Sandy OC @ 4.5 be a bottle neck?
 
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