Nvidia GTX 670 or AMD HD7970? [Archive]

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jollytraveller

2012-06-12, 09:44 AM

Ailos

2012-06-12, 09:53 AM

It's a no-brainer, get the 670.

On it's best day, the 7970 can only keep up with the 670, but at a higher price.

Also, PS2 will be using GPU-assisted PhysX, so if you have an NVidia card, it'll look extra pretty.

Ieyasu

2012-06-12, 11:01 AM

I agree with Ailos. It really is almost a no brainer. The 670 is an amazing card and for roughly 100$ less than the 680 you get within 3-5% of its performance. That coupled with what Ailos already mentioned about the use of phsyx and being developed on Nvidia cards pretty much seals the deal.

Rbstr

2012-06-12, 11:32 AM

Another for the 670, it's at least as good and cheaper.

Vancha

2012-06-12, 12:02 PM

670, for sure. I also recommend getting an ASUS version (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_670_Direct_Cu_II/), although avoid the "TOP" variant.

Cheapest ASUS one you'll find.* (http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/54392/Asus-GTX-670-2GB-GDDR5-PCI-E-3-0-DirectCU-II)

Cheapest stock version you'll find.* (http://www.ebuyer.com/367979-palit-geforce-gtx-670-2gb-gddr5-displayport-hdmi-dual-dvi-pci-e-graphics-ne5x67001042-1042f)

*Probably.

jollytraveller

2012-06-12, 01:28 PM

670 it is then. Thanks guys!

Bags

2012-06-12, 03:06 PM

Yeah, my 670 is great. It only becomes audible over my case fans at 60% fan speed (though not with headphones on), and that's enough to keep the card at 60C under load in BF3. Runs that game on ultra at like 83FPS when I don't have Vsync on.

bjorntju1

2012-06-13, 03:19 PM

Nvidia >>> AMD imo. I fucking hate AMD's drivers. I had dual HD4870 before, and I had lots of problems with cross fire not working. Or the catalyst control center not even opening. No more AMD for me unless they get really good performance for the price.

Ieyasu

2012-06-13, 04:09 PM

Im rocking a Gigabyte gtx 680 atm, but Ive had alot of success with AMD/ATI cards in the past. The 6950 is a great card for the price and the 5870 was a beast when it hit the market and for some time afterward.

Noivad

2012-06-13, 04:55 PM

I'm getting a new PC for PS2 and the only sticking point so far is which GPU to go for.

I'm getting an Asus P8Z77-V motherboard, 8GB of gaming RAM and a super-clocked i5 3570K all of which I have researched and am happy with, but I can work out which graphics card to get, so any help would be appreciated.

They are both priced fairly similarly where I'm from (the 7970 is about £50 more expensive but I'm happy to pay for it if it's worth it) and they both seem to have similar results. The 7970 is better at some games such as Crysis, whereas the 670 is better at games such as BF3.

At the moment, I'm leaning towards the 670 because PS2 looks and feels similar to BF3 but that could be wildly inaccurate. The 670 also seems to be better at gaming "across the board" whereas the 7970 is a bit hit and miss...... playing some games exceptionally well and others not good at all.

Thoughts please?

Since your happy to pay for it I would recommend.

FX8150 CPU
Crosshair V Formula MB
16 gig Vengence Ram
Cooler Master Haf 932 ot 932x Case
ocz Vertex 3 2.5 solid State Drive min 120 gb for win 7 oem and ps2 only
a 7200 1 tTB drive for data- if u really got the money go for the new 10000 rpm model
Liteon24x dvd
coolmaster 1000w Silent Pro M powersupply or larger if 2 vid cards
Corsair H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU cooler

And the EVGA 670 comes in 3 versions - 1 you overclock if you know what your doing, and oveclocked version 02g-P4-2678KA - best bang for the buck, or a super over clocked version.

You can oveclock the 670 to give you 680 performance.

I like EVGA because of their customer service. buy from Amazon.com for good customer service as well

best of luck with what ever you go with.

Bags

2012-06-13, 05:05 PM

Why on earth would you need a 1000w psu for 2 670s?

Goku

2012-06-13, 05:16 PM

Why on earth would you need a 1000w psu for 2 670s?

That and a 8150 will be a massive bottleneck for those two cards.

Rbstr

2012-06-13, 05:38 PM

Yeah recommending an AMD CPU in a high$$$ build is a "wat" kind of choice.

I also treat any motherboard that starts to get branding other than a model number with extreme suspicion. (You catch me spending over $150 inflation-adjusted on a motherboard, please yell at me)

Ieyasu

2012-06-13, 05:57 PM

I dont recommend amd cpus in any kind of build since Intel launched the core2duo on.

I also dont recommend OCZ SSDs to anyone since they got busted using toy grade memory in their drives...

Bags

2012-06-14, 02:23 AM

My entire system load with 2 monitors is ~350w. You don't need 1k for 2 670s.

Mutant

2012-06-14, 04:28 AM

Back to the original question of 670 vs 7970;

I think the choice depends on the resolution you will be running for 1080p and lower the 670 seems better, but once you get into 2560x1600 and multi-monitor the 7970 with 3GB starts to edge forward.

Also if you are into overclocking in general a max oc 7970 will outdo a max oc 670. But from what i gather the 7970 is a bit harder to get the max juice out of and will use more power.

AMD have a new better binned part coming out very soon; to be know as 7970 Ghz edition.
It looks like it should be trading blows with the 680.

This might well cause a price shuffle around the high end cards so worth keeping an eye on.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/First-AMD-Radeon-HD7970-GHZ-Edition-Benchmark-Results-274736.shtml
http://filebeam.com/c75b7f21fa18c5591058ef8d8bf68ca8.jpg

Goku

2012-06-14, 08:41 AM

Mutant

2012-06-14, 09:10 AM

7970 GHz edition is just a excuse IMO for AMD not to drop the prices anymore. There is already overclocked models from AIBs that is enough to handle this. Sad as I thought we would finally start seeing a price war come on.

It is not just an overclocked card it is a new binning for the chip. (at least that's what they are telling people)

It should use less power/voltage that the old binned part at the same clocks. The new binning should also give better overclocks.

Hopefully this new binned part will lead to 7990 showing its head soon too.

I have a feeling that prices might not shift much, we can just hope they do though.

Goku

2012-06-14, 09:13 AM

If I see all these hitting 1300 MHz+ plus I will be impressed. If its roughly the same average as the previous I won't be however.

Rbstr

2012-06-14, 09:37 AM

EDIT: my bad I read those charts as 670, not 680. Forget this part, except I'd still save the bucks and go 670 as the "ghz edition" will surely cost as much as a current 7970.

Binning is pretty much exactly overclocking. It's not a different chip, it's just a chip that tested well so they leave the factory with a better rating. It's exactly what it sounds like, you take a bunch of the same chip and throw them in bins depending on testing. Like sorting recycling.
If it's a different stepping of the chip that's a process or architecture improvement - something has been done differently to the silicon.
Steps might lead to new bins, or you can just make up a new bin.

Zehtuka

2012-06-14, 10:06 AM

The GTX 670 is the better choice, I currently have a 7970 and it is great but you need to push it beyond 1 Ghz to make it shine.

Mutant

2012-06-14, 10:21 AM

EDIT: my bad I read those charts as 670, not 680. Forget this part, except I'd still save the bucks and go 670 as the "ghz edition" will surely cost as much as a current 7960.

Binning is pretty much exactly overclocking. It's not a different chip, it's just a chip that tested well so they leave the factory with a better rating. It's exactly what it sounds like, you take a bunch of the same chip and throw them in bins depending on testing. Like sorting recycling.
If it's a different stepping of the chip that's a process or architecture improvement - something has been done differently to the silicon.
Steps might lead to new bins, or you can just make up a new bin.

Binning is only exactly like overclocking if you only bin by clock speed.

But AMD don't just bin by clock speed, and defective parts (ie 7950 will come from a bin that has defective shaders)
They will also bin by leakage hence the claim of higher freq for the same power.

If they have had this new bin running since the start of production we should see some tangible improvement in performance. If it is newer then they will only match the top % of the older bin and all you get from the new bin is a better % chance of a good chip.

Mutant

2012-06-14, 10:33 AM

The GTX 670 is the better choice

This is a poor statement.

If you into overclocking and play a lot of crysis 2 with multi monitors the 7970 is the better choice.

Until PS2 is out for us to benchmark cards against it is not possible to know what card is/will be the best. The game engine is built from scratch with no other game out using it.

But what we do know is SOE are using PhysX and the test rigs we have seen are all using Nvidia cards. (presumable a nice gift that would absolutely not influence SOE to lean towards refining code paths for one hardware architecture)

So it would be reasonable to presume PS2 will run better on Nvidia but at this point its just a guess. Anyone wanting to buy a GPU for PS2 would be very wise to wait until we know for sure.

Rbstr

2012-06-14, 10:59 AM

It's not a poor statement in general, it saves some substantial money and works at least as well or better in many situations.
Unless you have very specific usage requirements, or don't value...value, it's a better choice.

Obviously, anyone buying a computer specifically for PS2 should wait for PS2 (but no one seems to like listening to that advice). Someone that's buying a general gaming computer which will play PS2 is better served by the 670 in this budget range.

Goku

2012-06-14, 11:17 AM

If someone has the budget to be buying a Ivy Bridge processor and a GTX 670 that person has nothing to be worried about. This game is being developed with Nvidia hardware, I would say its a pretty slim chance a 7970 will have better support. In terms of actual performance I doubt you will notice a difference between the two unless we are talking maxed out clocks. Even then the game probably will be runnning 60+ FPS anyway.

Mutant

2012-06-22, 04:08 AM

Looks like the Ghz edition has helped push prices down a tad, MSRP for the 7970 is down $50 lets hope that translates to Nvidia and the shops.

Spring 2012 Radeon HD 7000 Series Price Cuts (http://www.anandtech.com/show/5754/radeon-hd-7000-series-price-cuts-promos-inbound)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6025/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-catching-up-to-gtx-680
Summer 2012 GPU Pricing Comparison
AMD Price NVIDIA
Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition $499 GeForce GTX 680
Radeon HD 7970 $429
$399 GeForce GTX 670
Radeon HD 7950 $359
Radeon HD 7870 $319
$279 GeForce GTX 570
Radeon HD 7850 $239

Goku

2012-06-22, 08:32 AM

I don't see anything special. Good for consumers that don't overclock. However these aren't breaking the previous overclocking limits we saw by the regular 7970. To little to late from AMD imo. Shoud of launched with 1GHz+ clocks in the first place.

Vancha

2012-06-22, 09:21 AM

It's the same price as a 680, it has roughly the same performance of a 680, yet it uses significantly more power than a 680 and it's hotter than a 680.

The sheer amount of desperation radiating off that card...It's a failed abortion. I wonder how long it'll be until we start seeing the results of the recent shake-up?

Exmortius

2012-06-22, 09:27 AM

i'm running a mid range ati card but since they announced they are mostly testing and optimizing for nvidia it would probably be wiser to go with that. you will probably have less issues just cause that is what they are optimizing for. ati is still ok though i'm going to roll with my ati card during beta and see how that does. if it blows chunks i'll probably upgrade to the higher end nvidia myself for this. right now though til beta launches and we see how it works for both brand cards it's all speculation.