ATI 7970 or MSI GTX 680 Twin Frozr Graphics Card?

[15outland]

Hi,

I'm sure you've seen quite a few of these posts, so have I, I've checked them all, yet still cannot decide, I've always favored NVIDIA when dealing with such hardware, and not once owned anything from AMD/ATI.

But now I'm going a bit crazy, I wanted the GTX 680, but that's $535, though has an awesome cooling design, can't really justify the price, given how nearly the majority say the 7970 can outperform it, which is great, given that's like $480, thing is though, I can't really settle on an ATI card, don't particularly care for any reference card, as I always want something with decent cooling, but yeah, I thought about the 'Asus HD7970-DC2T'

I am currently using an MSI GTX 560-Ti Twin Frozr, which performs quite well, but I want to be able to play BF3 on max, as well as other recent games on max too.

I am using 1080 x 1920 resolution, which is the max I can have, I have a feeling to go with the 7970, but my love for Nvidia is the only thing holding onto that 680, and how pretty it is

(From what I've seen, how the ATI cards are horrid looking lol)


If someone could help me out here, and If recommending the 7970, perhaps also recommend a particular one (needs decent cooling though)


Thanks

 

[chromic]

get the 7970

 

[15outland]

Thanks, I suppose, but that doesn't truly help, as there is so many versions of that card, I can't decide which to get

Plus, I just found out about the GHZ version of the 7970, which is a bit more pricey

 

[chromic]

Thanks, I suppose, but that doesn't truly help, as there is so many versions of that card, I can't decide which to get

Plus, I just found out about the GHZ version of the 7970, which is a bit more pricey

ghz version is just a slighlt factory overclocked version of the regular 7970, i suggest you get an MSI/Asus 7970 non ghz-version and overclock it yourself

 

[15outland]

When you say ASUS, which one are you referring to?

http://www.asus.com.au/Graphics_Cards/AMD_Series/HD79703GD5/

http://www.asus.com.au/Graphics_Cards/AMD_Series/HD7970DC2T3GD5/

http://www.asus.com.au/Graphics_Cards/AMD_Series/HD7970DC23GD5/

I just found this from MSI,

http://www.msi.com/product/vga/R7970-TF-3GD5-BE.html

I haven't seen these before (for 7970 anyway) - are they released yet, I very much like that (Love Twin Frozrs )

 

[chromic]

i suggest that you go with the middle asus one, looks like the best of 3. ( high overclocking capabilities and good cooling )

 

[15outland]

Yeah, that was the one I had in mind, little worried about it, haven't read many good things about it, starting from It gets extremely hot, being DOA, plus isn't it now discontinued, states that on NewEgg =/

 

[chromic]

Yeah, that was the one I had in mind, little worried about it, haven't read many good things about it, starting from It gets extremely hot, being DOA, plus isn't it now discontinued, states that on NewEgg =/

Well, you could also go with the MSI one. great cooling and has some overclocking potential too.

 

[15outland]

Which MSI one, you mean the reference one?

(unfortunately that Twin Frozr hasn't been released)

 

[chromic]

this is getting too hard damnit, everything is discontinued or not released =/

 

[15outland]

Yeah, quite the pickle is it

That was another factor I wanted the 680, besides the fact it has the Twin Frozr cooler, its relevant still and not discontinued.

I am quite surprised that MSI one isn't released yet, given it should have came when the series was born -.-

 

[15outland]

Plus, Is it to late in the market to purchase this model, how long until the next generation come out, and how long would the 7970 stand against the future generations for?

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b1813/MSI_HD_7970_TwinFrozr_III_BE.html

States the MSI 7970 was released on the 10th on April, I'm in AU, so its probably going to take awhile to hit stores here

(Can't even find any US stores who have it)

 

[chromic]

There has been rumors and speculations that the 8xxx series is coming Q3-Q4 this year.

I would think that the 7970 would last 2-3 GPU generations, since the improvement is slowly descending.

 

[15outland]

Thanks Chromic, was surprised nobody else commented on this

 

[Airm3n-1292454]

I have the 7950 asus directcu and can say it runs very quiet at max loads. I've seen it reach about 50-55 Celcius at max load with the fans not even running at 40%. The card runs good and takes any game I throw at it. Though I prefer running my titan it definitely takes anything and the 3d is good.

 

[15outland]

Yeah, thanks for that information If I can find the ASUS version of the 7970, I will get that, If the MSI Twin Frozr isn't around by then.

 

[17seconds]

Do you play any PhysX games?

 

[15outland]

I hardly play any games, but when I do its usually, BF3 (and will be BF4). MoHWF (which actually lags anything over Medium ) and just along those lines, so no, not really any Phys X games

 

[Airm3n-1292454]

Be aware though that as far as i've seen the 79xx series of asus cards with the directcu cooler take 3 slots in your motherboard. The 680 version is 3 slot as well. The 670's i've seen are 2 slot version which perform really well as well. So if you have limited space either via too small of a case or other hardware installed in your pci-e lanes its just something to consider. If you are going to be gaming at 1920x1080 the 7950, 7970,670,680 should all perform so close together I doubt the different in fps would be noticeable. Going higher than that is where you'd start to see differences with maybe the 7950 and 7970 with larger memory bus might perform a tad better.

 

[15outland]

Hmm, Interesting, I was thinking of purchasing a Storm Stryker case, currently using CM 690 II, but it's quite small, but If it takes up three slots, not sure It will fit, as I have a Noctua D14, and the first slot is very close to it =/

Don't think I'm going to go with an ASUS card anyway, just sure what to go with regarding the 7970 though..

I thought about going with the 7950 and OC it, but given that the new gen is getting fairly close, I would prefer something currently newish, future proofing it a bit more..

 

[notea]

im gonna stray a abit from your listed manufacturers viz. MSI/ASUS, because SAPPHIRE is one of the leading partners of AMD/ATI and their Vapor-x series is awesome -
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1157&lid=1&pid=1679&leg=0
the cooler looks awesome and performs awesome too, and i believe its a tad cheaper than the ASUS/MSI counterparts, but one thing to note is that this specific version is based on a blue PCB, which may not be everyone's liking. And these cards come with the AMD Never Settle package with Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinite game codes

The choice is up to you.. 7970 is a damn good GPU and better than a 680 IMO..and if you really favor nvidia cards, id suggest the MSI GTX 680 PE,
http://us.msi.com/product/vga/N680-PE-2GD5-OC.html
or the GTX 680 Lightning
http://www.msi.com/product/vga/N680GTX-Lightning.html
they are the best GTX 680s IMO

P.S:- i bought an ASUS GTX 670 DCII last month and im already regretting that i didnt get a 7970 (Non Ghz) - it may consume more power but is more powerful and as gamers we really dont give a thought about power usage when buying high end graphics card do we

 

[DECR7PT]

Hi,

I'm sure you've seen quite a few of these posts, so have I, I've checked them all, yet still cannot decide, I've always favored NVIDIA when dealing with such hardware, and not once owned anything from AMD/ATI.

But now I'm going a bit crazy, I wanted the GTX 680, but that's $535, though has an awesome cooling design, can't really justify the price, given how nearly the majority say the 7970 can outperform it, which is great, given that's like $480, thing is though, I can't really settle on an ATI card, don't particularly care for any reference card, as I always want something with decent cooling, but yeah, I thought about the 'Asus HD7970-DC2T'

I am currently using an MSI GTX 560-Ti Twin Frozr, which performs quite well, but I want to be able to play BF3 on max, as well as other recent games on max too.

I am using 1080 x 1920 resolution, which is the max I can have, I have a feeling to go with the 7970, but my love for Nvidia is the only thing holding onto that 680, and how pretty it is

(From what I've seen, how the ATI cards are horrid looking lol)


If someone could help me out here, and If recommending the 7970, perhaps also recommend a particular one (needs decent cooling though)


Thanks

Get the 7970 Ghz I have it, runs flawlessly.

Also another reason to get it, is BF4 is partnered with AMD so you will get better optmized drivers hopefully

 

[15outland]

Well, I've decided on the 7970, its the logical choice, given the price and performance from each, I thought about the Sapphire card, but it costs more than the GTX 680 here, for the GHZ edition anyway.. (~$600)

 

[notea]

Well, I've decided on the 7970, its the logical choice, given the price and performance from each, I thought about the Sapphire card, but it costs more than the GTX 680 here, for the GHZ edition anyway.. (~$600)

Good choice, keep in mind that the 7970 and the 7970 Ghz are the same chips whilst the latter has a bios level upgrade increasing the GPU and memory clocks and also added a gpu boost similar to nvidia boost, i think its called Powertune with boost, not entirely sure tho..
I've heard that it is possible to flash a Ghz edition bios on to a normal 7970 bios..effectively making it a Ghz edition, but this is risky IMO, but the plus thing is that you can easily oc the non Ghz 7970 well past a Ghz reference clock speed.. and a normal 7970 is still the better bang for buck compared to both the GTX 680 and the 7970 GHZ edition - just my opinion

i think these will be cheaper than the Ghz editions:
1. Sapphire: http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1157&pid=1634&psn=&lid=1&leg=0
2. Asus : https://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/HD7970DC23GD5/#overview
3. MSI: http://www.msi.com/product/vga/R7970-2PMD3GD5-OC.html
4. XFX: http://products.xfxforce.com/en-us/Graphics_Cards/AMD_Radeon%E2%84%A2_HD_7970/FX-797A-TDFC

these are all non Ghz 7970s from the most reputed partners of AMD .. there are also a number other partners which manufacture AMD cards, such as powercolor, gigabyte, HIS Just to name a few.. there's a vast choice out there for you, just don't go for a reference board/cooler as they tend to be loud and run quite hot under heavy gaming and overclocking.. cheers

 

[15outland]

thanks for the links, you missed Asus though and used Sapphire again (which is a 7950, that intentional?)

Yeah, I always tend to steer from reference boards, that MSI doesn't look very efficient, cooling wise tho