Opinion Needed on Geforce GTX 550 ti vs. a GTX 670.

[RobotHiveExodus]

Hey guys!

I've been a lurker on this forum for the longest time, and joined just because of this question.

I know enough to get by with computers, even built my own rig. The only thing is, my Nvidia GTX 550ti lags sometimes. Especially on my modded Skyrim, for example.

I don't like lag. I am the most impatient person you'll meet.

Therefore, I have been looking at upgrading to THIS card:
EVGA GEFORCE GTX 670 << Click on that.

Will this card make a significant difference in all of today's most demanding games? I mean Battlefield 3, Crysis 3, Skyrim modded to heck, I DONT WANT NO LAG. hahah.

If it makes enough of a difference, I'd be willing to buy a 680. But that link looks amazing.

....What do you guys think?

ALSO, will it fit in place of the gtx 550ti?? (noob question...) They're both pcie x16, and I run an MSI P67A-C43 ATX board. I also have a 550W power supply, I'm hoping that will tame this potential beast... Just wanna be safe.

Thank you guys so much for any comments in advance, and thanks to this forum for helping me with EVERYTHING computer related.

 

[djangoringo]

It will make a huge difference, the 670 gtx will give a huge boost in performance, also the 670 gtx offers more performance per $ vs the 680 gtx, so the value is on the 670 gtx side.
Your motherboard is compatible with the card, a 550W psu will do for the 670 gtx, just make sure it's a decent one from a good brand/model.

 

[blazorthon]

Don't bother with a 680. The 670 and the 680 have pretty much the same performance, but the 670 is cheaper and a little more power efficient.

 

[Chairman Ray]

It will make a huge difference, but it still won't be able to fully handle Skyrim with mods. It will be smooth most the time but in areas with a lot of post-processing, it can lag a bit. You will be able to play any other game at max settings. If this is okay for you, then get the 670. If you really want to play a fully modded Skyrim perfectly smoothly, I would recommend getting the Radeon HD 7970 GHz and then overclocking it.

 

[djangoringo]

The 670 gtx is fine, i would like to see how the 670 gtx fails to play skyrim even with such mods.

 

[XYMan]

670 has a better value per dollar. Adding a 100$ to a 680 won't give you more than 10FPS difference in any game
And yes, it's a HUGE difference between a 550ti and a 670: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/541?vs=598
Check out that link, and by the way, what CPU are you running? If you got a dual core CPU it won't matter if you buy a 690, if the CPU is causing the lag the GPU wouldn't matter.

 

[RobotHiveExodus]

WOW, so many amazing replies! Thanks guys!

XYman - I am running an INTEL i7-3770. Got a great deal on it. I don't think that's the problem. hehe. Thank you so much though. I figured the only problem could be the gpu, even though it's still an amazing card. Thank you for that link and bit of information, greatly appreciated.

Djangoringo, thank you for your opinion. I was worried the 680 wouldn't be much of a difference at all.

Also, thank you Chairman Ray and blazorthon. I've read about that Radeon, I just prefer to stick with Nvidia, because I always have for some reason. Thank you though! Much appreciated.

 

[XYMan]

WOW, so many amazing replies! Thanks guys!

XYman - I am running an INTEL i7-3770. Got a great deal on it. I don't think that's the problem. hehe. Thank you so much though. I figured the only problem could be the gpu, even though it's still an amazing card. Thank you for that link and bit of information, greatly appreciated.

Djangoringo, thank you for your opinion. I was worried the 680 wouldn't be much of a difference at all.

Also, thank you Chairman Ray and blazorthon. I've read about that Radeon, I just prefer to stick with Nvidia, because I always have for some reason. Thank you though! Much appreciated.

Pick a best answer to close the thread

 

[blazorthon]

WOW, so many amazing replies! Thanks guys!

XYman - I am running an INTEL i7-3770. Got a great deal on it. I don't think that's the problem. hehe. Thank you so much though. I figured the only problem could be the gpu, even though it's still an amazing card. Thank you for that link and bit of information, greatly appreciated.

Djangoringo, thank you for your opinion. I was worried the 680 wouldn't be much of a difference at all.

Also, thank you Chairman Ray and blazorthon. I've read about that Radeon, I just prefer to stick with Nvidia, because I always have for some reason. Thank you though! Much appreciated.

Yeah, that CPU definitely isn't a problem

Glad to help.

 

[Pingypoker]

That's quite a lot to spend for a GTX 670, I would get this.

 

[RobotHiveExodus]

That's quite a lot to spend for a GTX 670, I would get this.

Thanks man! The one I was looking at had 4gb gddr5 of memory compared to this one's 2gb. Is that going to make a difference when I try to max this thing out? But thanks for the link, much appreciated.

Will choose a best answer after this. Thanks so much guys, it sucks I can only choose one best answer.

 

[blazorthon]

I recommend that you don't bother with a 4GB card. They have almost exactly zero advantage over the 2GB cards and they're most certainly not worth the extra cost.

 

[ScoobX]

If you're only planning on running on one monitor don't bother picking up the 4gb version of the gtx670.

I actually upgraded from two gtx 550ti's in SLI and this one card kicks the crap out of them.

I personally bought the evga gtx670 ftw edition and couldn't be happier. It can get benchmarks extremely close to a vanilla 680.

I also like that it pushes most of the air out of the back instead of into my case as i'm running an h60 cooler in push pull configuration as an exhaust and want to keep as much hot air out of my case as possible.


Card I purchased is listed below.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787

 

[ScoobX]

I recommend that you don't bother with a 4GB card. They have almost exactly zero advantage over the 2GB cards and they're most certainly not worth the extra cost.

Yeah he's exactly right. You won't use the extra memory unless you're running something crazy like a 5760x1080 resolution (3 monitors).

 

[XYMan]

Don't get a 4GB card unless you're running a multi monitor gaming setup. The GPU RAM helps if you're running a game @ 5000x2000 resolution on like 3 monitors at the same time or something, but if you're just running the games off of a single 1920x1080 or something similar then just stick to a 2GB card, it absolutely USELESS to get a 4GB if you're not gaming on more than 2 monitors at the same time.

 

[djangoringo]

Yes, a 2GB card is what you need, you can see here that it was proved that 670 gtx doesn't take advantage of the 4GB : http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/01/08/asus_geforce_gtx_670_directcu_ii_4gb_gpu_review/10

As for a 2GB card, my preference goes for the gigabyte windforce 3x, it has a good cooling system and the 680 gtx pcb(it's also at a good price with the rebate) : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423

 

[RobotHiveExodus]

Man, this forum has exceeded my needs x100. Thank you all so much, all your information is so useful. I have learned so much, hahaha.

ScoobX I may end up buying that one now. Everyone else proved that the 4gb is just too much for me, and I'm loving the FTW edition. Thank you.

As to everyone else, thank you SO much. Definitely going to be hanging around this forum now. Very helpful. ) Hope everyone has a good night.

 

[RobotHiveExodus]

Best answer selected by RobotHiveExodus.