7870 or 660Ti for 1920x1024

[skelv]

I know it's been asked a lot of times but I have a slight different query, I m in India where the available options are
1. SAPPHIRE HD 7870 GHz Edition OC 2GB GDDR5: US$ 327
2. MSI NVIDIA N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC 2 GB GDDR5 : US$ 390

I am looking for a upgrade for my PC and would prefer to enjoy gaming at 1920 res atleast for a couple of yrs. I have gone thru hundreds of posts which suggest either of cards. Then lots more talk of 660Ti being equivalent to 7950..
I had almost zeroed in onto the 7870 but then a couple of friends using 660Ti are suggesting i leap onto the 660, one's offering a 4 month old 660Ti for US$355 as he's shifting to a 680.

I'll be using single monitor setup for gaming and existing rig is as under:
CPU: Phenom II X4 955 BE
Mem: Corsair XMS 8GB
Mobo: Gigabyte 880GM-USB3
HDD: OZSAgility 3 : 128GB + WD 2x2TB
PSU: Corsair VX550W
Current GPU: XFX 8800GT 512MB


I couple have waited for a couple of months for next gen GPUs but then Indian distributors too take their sweet time getting new hardware in country and delay more

Oh, and btw, 7950 is US$420 here.

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

From India? Me too.
Flipkart provides the new Cards within 2 weeks or so.

In India you'll find 7870 costly 19,000 INR
But GTX 660 Ti costs 21,000 INR
7950 costs 23,000 INR

Thus, GTX 660 Ti is the Best in its Price : http://www.flipkart.com/msi-nvidia-n660ti-pe-2gd5-oc-2-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdeh4wz2jyfsu3?pid=GRCDEH4WFPT56SZR&otracker=from-search&srno=t_8&query=660&ref=c2eb966a-818d-4c88-8822-4d81ada7df21
Its out of Stock right now, But will Restock soon.

*EDIT*
OC your CPU to 4Ghz and it will perform good for your GPU.
But Highly recommend to get a i5 for gaming. You'll see a huge boost.

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

If you think that GTX 660 Ti is costly then get the Gigabyte one.
I saw a MSI PE Edition at 20,000 INR in Ebay, It was a used one. Waste of Money.

Gigabyte one is also good but when you get Twin Frozr IV technology and a Awesome GPU just at a little price more, then it is worth it.

Worth getting a GTX 660 Ti over a 7870. Totally 😉
You'll be Tension free from stuttering and any other Lag.

 

[skelv]

Flipkart.com prices are higher, Mumbai market rate is currently about Rs 1000(US$20) lower than Flipkart.

I did see a lot of reviews recommending 660Ti but then they also mention that the 192bit mem bus will create a bottleneck in future & 7870 overclocks better, there lies my troubles.

If you think that GTX 660 Ti is costly then get the Gigabyte one.
I saw a MSI PE Edition at 20,000 INR in Ebay, It was a used one. Waste of Money.

Gigabyte one is also good but when you get Twin Frozr IV technology and a Awesome GPU just at a little price more, then it is worth it.

Worth getting a GTX 660 Ti over a 7870. Totally 😉
You'll be Tension free from stuttering and any other Lag.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/Z/B/364151/original/High-1920.png

this makes me think of avoiding the MSI 660Ti
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/MSI-GTX-660-670-overvolting-PowerEdition,18013.html

 

[cooldudesubho]

You should worry more about your cpu bottlenecking your card.If BF3 MP is what you aim at playing then i can tell you will be severely cpu limited and your card won't be used.You should upgrade to an intel system otherwise you will really get half of the card performance.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Don't worry about the voltage thing - it was blown way out of proportion. The forums are now 50% people posting that story and 50% constantly explaining how it's not a big deal 🙂 As for bus width, it's pretty much a myth based on lack of understanding of how the technology works. I've explained it here in the 2nd post:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/378279-15-gtx660-7850-7870

EDIT: tl;dr? The 7800s have only ~5% lead in bandwidth, giving them no significant advantage at all.

 

[skelv]

You should worry more about your cpu bottlenecking your card.If BF3 MP is what you aim at playing then i can tell you will be severely cpu limited and your card won't be used.You should upgrade to an intel system otherwise you will really get half of the card performance.

That entrails a lot of additional funds for board and CPU which I am not planning to invest rt now. Most places I check, the current CPU is supposed to be able to handle games with both these cards. Have a V8 cooler and planning to overclock when the giong gets tough for the poor ol soul of 955

Don't worry about the voltage thing - it was blown way out of proportion. The forums are now 50% people posting that story and 50% constantly explaining how it's not a big deal 🙂 As for bus width, it's pretty much a myth based on lack of understanding of how the technology works. I've explained it here in the 2nd post:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/378279-15-gtx660-7850-7870

EDIT: tl;dr? The 7800s have only ~5% lead in bandwidth, giving them no significant advantage at all.

Read your review, there you mentioning not to pick the 660Ti due to higher price, How does it apply in may case, local price: 7870 US$330, 660Ti US$ 390

 

[sam_p_lay]

I'd take your friend's one for $355! Even at $390 though, I'd still definitely take the GTX660 Ti. How much would a non-Ti GTX660 cost you though? That would be well worth considering - I'd take a GTX660 over a 7870 and it should cost less too. The Ti version only adds ~10% performance.

 

[skelv]

non Ti GTX660 from MSI is $300, Gigabyte @ $285

RMA in India isn't easy so I was skipping on MSI which my friend has. will check again and think it over.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Well if you don't get your friend's, the Gigabyte one looks like an excellent deal. The Ti model is a lot more money just for another 10% speed.

 

[dheeraj9933]

http://www.flipkart.com/gigabyte-nvidia-geforce-gtx-660-ti-2-gb-gddr5-gv-n66twf2-2gd-graphics-card/p/itmdfbptyzqcyanq?pid=GRCDFBPSCT5ZH4SC&icmpid=reco_pp_same_graphics_card_oos_graphics_card_2
this will do nicely and for 20,000 i think it is worth the price
the 7870 is weaker than the 660ti
660ti is competing with 7950, and beats it some times too!
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/23.html
the resolution closest to yours is the 1680*1050 so look in that one, it not only beats the 7870 but also the 7950!
and given that is is only 3000 more i think it is a really good deal!

dont get me wrong the 7870 is enough for your resolution, but 660ti is better than the 7870 so it will give better framerates, and therefore last longer...
plus a few nvidia features like GPU boost, TXAA, FXAA Phsyx etc. not that awesome features but still nice to hav 😛
if u think it is not worth 3000 more, u can go with the 7870, but if u CAN then i say 660 ti is definately a better choice

EDIT: i cant find a 7870 for 17000! can u giv me a link?

 

[cooldudesubho]

That entrails a lot of additional funds for board and CPU which I am not planning to invest rt now. Most places I check, the current CPU is supposed to be able to handle games with both these cards. Have a V8 cooler and planning to overclock when the giong gets tough for the poor ol soul of 955



Read your review, there you mentioning not to pick the 660Ti due to higher price, How does it apply in may case, local price: 7870 US$330, 660Ti US$ 390

As you wish.But then don't come back crying here asking why your FPS is so low compared to online benchmarks.xD

 

[sam_p_lay]

+1 to dheeraj, though he forgot the best feature - adaptive v-sync 🙂

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

Dude, Just get GTX 660 Ti or Non Ti. Doesn't matters.
I would get any GTX 660 or Ti card over that 7870. Even if the card gives a little less FPS.

And in Mumbai, you'll get cheaper rates. Same is for Delhi.
But in other places, the condition isn't same.

 

[dheeraj9933]

Dude, Just get GTX 660 Ti or Non Ti. Doesn't matters.
I would get any GTX 660 or Ti card over that 7870. Even if the card gives a little less FPS.

And in Mumbai, you'll get cheaper rates. Same is for Delhi.
But in other places, the condition isn't same.

u are a nvidia fanboy and also very unknowledgeable.
i know wat u r referring to by saying the framerate thing and your signature
i read that article too, but like u i didn't behave like a dummy and agree, i researched some more and thought about it too, and amd's lowest FPS are better than nvidia's in most cases, which is more important.
and u know what? the ONLY thing that accounts as smoother gameplay is the FPS system.
i know the article when someguy said the 660ti and 7950, the 660ti gave slower FPS but smoother gameplay in 120FPS
when he looked in SLOWMOTION :lol: do u realise how stupid that is?
if the FPS is same they will be equally smooth in ALL conditions.
the article was useless and may even be fake
do u even know wat FPS means???
it means : Frames Per Second rendered by the GPU.
the more frames the faster the rate of change of frames and smoother the gameplay, and if the FPS given by a 7950 is not smooth to u just buy a GTX690
and be happy.
Stop giving useless advices
the only way i will believe that crap is when THIS website says so.
and please change your signature, it is very misleading to new people.
and also a 7870 is better than the 660ti

 

[skelv]

+1 to dheeraj, though he forgot the best feature - adaptive v-sync 🙂

didn't forget, didn't know , and btw, MSI overvolt is no big deal rt?

As you wish.But then don't come back crying here asking why your FPS is so low compared to online benchmarks.xD

I know the limitations on CPU but only looking at change of GPU for now and best possible option. CPU upgrade will come perhaps a yr down the line. Expect the 955 to hold fort till then under OC.

http://www.flipkart.com/gigabyte-nvidia-geforce-gtx-660-ti-2-gb-gddr5-gv-n66twf2-2gd-graphics-card/p/itmdfbptyzqcyanq?pid=GRCDFBPSCT5ZH4SC&icmpid=reco_pp_same_graphics_card_oos_graphics_card_2
this will do nicely and for 20,000 i think it is worth the price
the 7870 is weaker than the 660ti
660ti is competing with 7950, and beats it some times too!
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/23.html
the resolution closest to yours is the 1680*1050 so look in that one, it not only beats the 7870 but also the 7950!
and given that is is only 3000 more i think it is a really good deal!

dont get me wrong the 7870 is enough for your resolution, but 660ti is better than the 7870 so it will give better framerates, and therefore last longer...
plus a few nvidia features like GPU boost, TXAA, FXAA Phsyx etc. not that awesome features but still nice to hav 😛
if u think it is not worth 3000 more, u can go with the 7870, but if u CAN then i say 660 ti is definately a better choice

EDIT: i cant find a 7870 for 17000! can u giv me a link?

Flipkart prices are higher for almost all computer parts. 7870 is for 17.5-18k on lamington road, mumbai.
it's not just for 3000 hike. When I started looking for a card last week, i was thinking of a 7770 for my current monitor cupporting a 1440x900 max res, now planning for a monitor change to 24" 1080p & for cards, i am moving up for best bank for buck option which doesn't disappoint me over he next 2 yrs. I was already about to spend about Rs17000($330) , another 3000 is 18% and if it makes better option in performance boost, it makes the cut for me.

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

Go check the Forum, There are Many Complains regarding 7950.
I've seen 50% of the people here that when they get a 7950, the next day they say that The Quality isn't nice and its a little laggy.

Edit: And now I removed that Signature. Just for you

 

[sam_p_lay]

Dheeraj, that post was unnecessary. Many people disagree with you about frames/second, and if you took the time to investigate it, you'd understand why. I didn't know either, so I opened a thread to gather information:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/380802-15-frames-measure-performance

If you don't understand the flaws in the methodology, this is very simple and easy to understand:

http://techreport.com/review/24022/does-the-radeon-hd-7950-stumble-in-windows-8

Don't disregard articles because they're not written by your favourite site. I saw somebody recently refusing to believe anything that wasn't written by Tom's. He just totally refused to even look it at. Made him look very narrow-minded, and he ended up just looking like a complete idiot. People wouldn't take him seriously. Tom's is a great site, but they're not the only people doing this. And frame latency benchmarking actually is coming to Tom's anyway, so you'll be seeing it soon enough.

 

[cooldudesubho]

u are a nvidia fanboy and also very unknowledgeable.
i know wat u r referring to by saying the framerate thing and your signature
i read that article too, but like u i didn't behave like a dummy and agree, i researched some more and thought about it too, and amd's lowest FPS are better than nvidia's in most cases, which is more important.
and u know what? the ONLY thing that accounts as smoother gameplay is the FPS system.
i know the article when someguy said the 660ti and 7950, the 660ti gave slower FPS but smoother gameplay in 120FPS
when he looked in SLOWMOTION :lol: do u realise how stupid that is?
if the FPS is same they will be equally smooth in ALL conditions.
the article was useless and may even be fake
do u even know wat FPS means???
it means : Frames Per Second rendered by the GPU.
the more frames the faster the rate of change of frames and smoother the gameplay, and if the FPS given by a 7950 is not smooth to u just buy a GTX690
and be happy.
Stop giving useless advices
the only way i will believe that crap is when THIS website says so.
and please change your signature, it is very misleading to new people.
and also a 7870 is better than the 660ti

Oh you are not very bright.Framerate latency is more improtant than actual framerate in case you never knew.Only 2 sites measure this.One is hardop and other techreport.And Hardop always said SLI gives smooth experience than crossfire even if crossfire is providing more framerate AMD gaming evolved game.

Actually many tech sites benchmarking methology is complete BS.Some tech sites don't even tell you which part of the game is benchmaked.Latency test is as important as framerate test.Higher framerates doesn't means smoother gameplay.If your analogy was true then i guess multi gpu solution would have been more smoother than single gpu solution.Now that is not the case.

 

[freakyguy88]

Definitely the 660 Ti

 

[dheeraj9933]

Oh you are not very bright.Framerate latency is more improtant than actual framerate in case you never knew.Only 2 sites measure this.One is hardop and other techreport.And Hardop always said SLI gives smooth experience than crossfire even if crossfire is providing more framerate AMD gaming evolved game.

Actually many tech sites benchmarking methology is complete BS.Some tech sites don't even tell you which part of the game is benchmaked.Latency test is as important as framerate test.Higher framerates doesn't means smoother gameplay.If your analogy was true then i guess multi gpu solution would have been more smoother than single gpu solution.Now that is not the case.

a link would be really appreciated
and also the website is "hardOCP" not hardop
and the reason multigpu solution is not good is not the GPU's fault it's be bad drivers and ignorance.

 

[burntpizza]

Oh you are not very bright.Framerate latency is more improtant than actual framerate in case you never knew.Only 2 sites measure this.One is hardop and other techreport.And Hardop always said SLI gives smooth experience than crossfire even if crossfire is providing more framerate AMD gaming evolved game.

Actually many tech sites benchmarking methology is complete BS.Some tech sites don't even tell you which part of the game is benchmaked.Latency test is as important as framerate test.Higher framerates doesn't means smoother gameplay.If your analogy was true then i guess multi gpu solution would have been more smoother than single gpu solution.Now that is not the case.

They only tested one card, one card. One card is not enough for a conclusion considering that their old results contradict their new one and the fps measurements contradicts every other tech site on the web. There are proofs that this is nothing more than a driver error. When it gets fixed, R7950 will thrash GTX 660 ti.

Since AMD is getting all next gen console, you can bet games will be AMD optimized.

 

[sam_p_lay]

It's not a driver error on AMD's side - look at the older articles and you'll see Radeons were always inconsistent. But you'll also see that GeForces were inconsistent too, in some games they were less consistent than Radeons (GRID for example). So what's significant about these results is not that the Radeon does poorly. What's significant is how smooth the GeForce now is. And that probably is down to drivers, but a major driver improvement on nVidia's side.

Tech Report contacted both AMD and nVidia in 2011 to talk to them about framerate consistency. Both companies said they're aware their GPUs aren't putting out consistent performance, and both companies said they're working it. nVidia actually said they have a project specifically aimed at this problem. Maybe the exceptional consistency we're seeing is the result of that project?

 

[cooldudesubho]

Since AMD is getting all next gen console, you can bet games will be AMD optimized.

lol

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

Tech Report contacted both AMD and nVidia in 2011 to talk to them about framerate consistency. Both companies said they're aware their GPUs aren't putting out consistent performance, and both companies said they're working it. nVidia actually said they have a project specifically aimed at this problem. Maybe the exceptional consistency we're seeing is the result of that project?

Nvidia was smart to aim for the Project.
Thats why we have Adaptive V-sync for lovely Experience