660 Ti vs. 7950

[mansfield]

First is the specs:
AMD FX-8120

EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750G

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB DDR3 1600

SanDisk Extreme 120GB SATA III

ASUS M5A99x EVO AM3+

ROSEWILL THOR V2 WHITE

SAMSUNG 1 TB 7200


alrighty then, I wanted to get the 660 Ti but recently I've heard the 7950 is better and I don't know but wouldn't having an AMD CPU make 7950 run better?
only downside I see is not having CUDA cores or PhysX (I don't play BL2)

what I do is video rendering with Sony Vegas and After Effects CS5, But I would like to play games like CS, Skyrim, and maybe some others later on.

So which one is the better choice?

 

[sam_p_lay]

Do you know about this?

http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited

I don't think there's anything wrong with the 7950 inconsistency though - that's been observed in both nVidia and AMD hardware since TR started measuring this in 2011.

So 7950 won't look any less smooth than we're used to (since performance fluctuations have been standard until recently). The GTX660 Ti infact was just as inconsistent in the past, which makes me think what we're seeing there is a driver-based solution, because now it's flawlessly consistent.

I think what it boils down to is that at 30fps, a 7950 will look like 30fps. But with a GTX660 Ti, it will look smoother (since we're used to 30fps with a lot of fluctuation, not pure consistent 30fps).

Most people respond to the performance consistency thing by focusing on the inconsistency of the Radeon (which is understandable when that's exactly what the author does). Author should know better though - there's nothing unusual about fluctuations. What's really significant is the lack of fluctuation with the GTX660 Ti, which is a major improvement.

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

I would suggest a GTX 660 Ti.
It maybe a little slower than 7950 in terms of fps.

But offer features like Physx, Adaptive V-sync and TXAA.
Which are worth getting that.

 

[sam_p_lay]

And as for Phys, you've already seen the discussion in the other thread ;-)

 

[mansfield]

So would you suggest the 7950? it's only $10 more than the 660 Ti 3GB GDDR5. what is the benefit of CUDA as opposed to stream processors?

 

[RussK1]

Some people need to read the through the forums. This topic is far too prevalent and has been discussed many times.

 

[mansfield]

also I know my CPU isn't the best but it was only $170, will it bottleneck any of these cards? will it bottleneck if i decide to sli or crossfire them later on? I really don't want to make any mistakes here.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

nVidia has CUDA for video editing, AMD doesn't

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/gpuacceleration

For gaming, they split wins in the gaming tests look here:

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/3026/8/nvidia-geforce-gtx-660-ti-review---3-way-sli-included-aliens-versus-predator

660 Ti
AvP High 4AA 44.9
Batman AC Very High 4AA 68.0
BF3 Ultra High 4AA 52.0
Crysis 2 Ultra High Edge AA 60.8
Dirt 3 Ultra 4AA 97.2
Hard Reset Ultra 4AA 81.3
Metro 2033 Very High 24.0
Skyrim High 4AA 87.3
Shogun 2 Ultra 4AA 50.5
Total FPS 566.0
Cost Per Frame $0.49

7950
AvP High 4AA 56.1
Batman AC Very High 4AA 66.0
BF3 Ultra High 4AA 48.0
Crysis 2 Ultra High Edge AA 50.3
Dirt 3 Ultra 4AA 73.9
Hard Reset Ultra 4AA 69.1
Metro 2033 Very High 32.0
Skyrim High 4AA 94.0
Shogun 2 Ultra 4AA 41.0
Total FPS 530.4
Cost Per Frame $0.57

 

[mansfield]

Some people need to read the through the forums. This topic is far too prevalent and has been discussed many times.

I was just in a thread were it was being discussed but it was kind of off topic, so I just made my own. I really want to be thorough on this purchase.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Well CPU-wise, mistake is already made so not much you can do there. There may be some bottlenecking in some CPU-intensive titles, but that can't really be helped.

 

[maxinexus]

For what you do CUDA cores are the best...but you should go for GTX670 at least.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133452

$300 great price

 

[mansfield]

The cards look about the same to me, making it hard to choose.

 

[mansfield]

For what you do CUDA cores are the best...but you should go for GTX670 at least.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133452

$300 great price

the 660 Ti and 7950 cards I was looking at cost around $310 but had 3GB GDDR5, will the 1GB make a noticeable difference?

 

[sam_p_lay]

It won't for gaming. It's maybe worth checking why you feel the FX8120 was a mistake? And why did you make the mistake?

 

[RussK1]

I was just in a thread were it was being discussed but it was kind of off topic, so I just made my own. I really want to be thorough on this purchase.

http://www.tomshardware.com/s/7950%20vs%20660ti/

 

[mansfield]

http://www.tomshardware.com/s/7950%20vs%20660ti/

got me there, but I like the personal feedback I'm getting and I don't think it's adding too much clutter.

 

[mansfield]

It won't for gaming. It's maybe worth checking why you feel the FX8120 was a mistake? And why did you make the mistake?

It's a bulldozer and the already came out with piledriver (about to release steamroller) and I bought it as a last minute change to lower price (never a good idea)

 

[sam_p_lay]

Ah OK. Yeah that wasn't a good idea. You were fully aware of the performance gains of Piledriver when you bought it? And I do get that you want some actual Q&A/interaction with users rather than looking at old threads.

 

[sam_p_lay]

By the way, Steamroller has been pushed back to 2014 now so they'll have to complete with Broadwell or whatever it is Intel has following Haswell now!

 

[mansfield]

Hopefully They use AM3+ so I don't need to buy a new motherboard. and this CPU should last me at least 3-4 years for what i'll use it for.

 

[mansfield]

Best answer selected by mansfield.