7970 vs 670 Which one for me?

[jonathanyu96]

So I was going for the 7950 at the 300$ budget but decided to increase to around 400$. I am not going to get my parts next week or next month. I will be getting it around November for the deals and hoping either the 7970 or 670 gets a little cheaper.

Brief overview on my build:

i5 3570k
Asus P8Z77-V Pro
Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 RAM
Corsair HX Series HX750W
1TB
128GB SSD
HAF 932

I might, might not overclock my GPU. If I do overclock, I will do it a little. So which one of 7970 or 670 is better for me? I will be getting the card that has high reviews and ratings.

For the 670, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787, this EVGA card is the more popular one.

For the 7970, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102961, this one looks good and has good reviews.

Which one will perform the best, without overclocking, can still overclock a little, stay low temps and voltage when overclocking a little?

Thanks, hope you guys take the time to help me.

 

[selayan]

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/sanjaysaini365/8cf7cc7e.png
http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/sanjaysaini365/97d5c3af.jpg
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http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/sanjaysaini365/1e42a4a9.png

your graphs are out of date, bear in mind the 7970 is stock and the 670 is autoboost overclocked

I got that crazy nice deal on the HIS IceQ lol. Have not received my case yet so its still in the package. But either way OP should go with whatever deal he can get. I was waiting around for a deal on a specific 670 and that didn't come through so I picked up that 7970, cant really go wrong.

 

[redeemer]

So because my graphs take ~17 games into account and show that they're the same, and then you post 5 graphs where 1 game (AvP) is known to favor AMD considerably and the others show 3 mild wins for AMD and 1 for Nvidia, my graphs must therefore somehow be out of date?

Put the drink down man.

Incorrect you provided a graph with relative performance that is a joke my graphs are to the point actual gameplay, relative can mean no AA, FXAA, no AF. Your the only one in here that thinks the 670 and 7970 are evenly matched hope your not selling the stuff your drinking. Here is more of "relative'' performance for ya. Funny how you pick on the AVP graph, no comments on the other huh?

 

[redeemer]

relative means they sum up all their tests and average it out relative to whatever card is currently being reviewed so that you can compare all cards across the spectrum... the TPU graph sums about 10 times more information than what you posted

Seriously... if you're not going to read, don't attempt to argue...

And seriously, Tomshardware has one of the more limited game benchmark suites out there... summaries from this site have to be corroborated with sites that use broader test suites unless you're only interested in a few games

Thanks for telling me the meaning of relative I really did not know.... too many review sites out there that for sure. The only one arguing here is you, if it makes you feel better than I agree the 670 and 7970 are so close performance wise that the 7970 seems overpriced lol. As you said your graph showed the 670's performance accross 17 games, how many of those games were optimized for Nvidia based hardware??? Yeah that right so dont feel offended when someone post an AVP bench.

 

[bigcyco1]

I would say gtx 670 and R7950 are best bang for buck right now the R7970ghz and gtx 680 need to come down in price more before i'd buy either

 

[Kamen_BG]

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=75186&vpn=GV-R797TO-3GD&manufacture=Gigabyte

This is the card i'd personally go with.It's 10% faster than a HD 7970 GHZ Edition, making it a LOT faster than a GTX 670 and a GTX 680.It also runs cool and overclocks well.

 

[bigcyco1]

Get either one both are top notch if your into pushing cards and mods elect if you get a 670 hit me up in private for full details i have some modded bios that a buddy of mine did use at your own risk but they work and are dope

 

[bigcyco1]

I would never buy a Gigabyte card because i have had bad luck with them so it's a personal thing doesn't mean they make bad cards just the ones i have bought in past were garbage and they didn't make things right so that's why i never recommend them except for their mobos i ain't trying to help them make no sales though not that they need me to anyway lol

 

[jonathanyu96]

Well the reference versions of the cards will not stay as cool as an aftermarket cooler on either card. The 7970 is a little more power hungry. If you don't plan to go for overclocking then the 670 is fine for you. The FTW is one of the best.

Since you are not going to overclock much, that 670 will auto clock on its own and maintain lower voltage/power usage. But if you do want to overclock then you can also push that card well.

The 7970 is a good choice too but I recommend getting one with an aftermarket cooler so it is quieter and stays cooler. The 7970's have really good overclocking potential too. Only reason I got a 7970 over the 670 FTW was because I was able to get a hell of a deal a few days ago on it so I snatched it.

Oh so that 7970 I posted is a reference card? What about the 670 FTW?

 

[bigcyco1]

The only 670's i would choose would be the Asus TOP or MSI 670 PE

 

[jonathanyu96]

The two score differently depending on test suite chosen. On a "bang for the buck" basis, at Guru3D, the 670 takes the win.....at techpowerup, the recent price reductions have AMD and nVidia in a tie.

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite: Hard Reset, COD-MW2, Far Cry 2, ANNO 1404, Metro 2033, ANNO 2070, BFBC2, BF3, Crysis 2, AvP, Lost Planet 2.

The GTX 670 costs $400 and scores 917 fps which results in a "bang for the buck" of $0.44 per frame
The GTX 670D CII costs $420 and scores 999 fps which results in a "bang for the buck" of $0.42 per frame
The 7970 costs $420 and scores 872 fps which results in a "bang for the buck" of $0.48 per frame
The 7970 DCII costs $430 and scores 924 fps which results in a "bang for the buck" of $0.47 per frame
The 7970 Ghz Ed costs $470 and scores 952 fps which results in a "bang for the buck" of $0.49 per frame

TechPowerUp used the following common games (games which weren't used on all cards listed were eliminated from totals) in their test suite: Alan Wake, AvP, Batman Arkham City, BF3, BattleForge, COD4, Civilization 5, Crysis. Crysis 2, Dirt 3, Dragon Age II, Hard Reset, Metro 2033, Stalker CoP, Starcraft 2, Shogun 2, Skyrim, WoW

The GTX 670 costs $400 and scores 1157.3 fps which results in a "bang for the buck" of $0.35 per frame
The GTX 670D CII costs $420 and scores 1265.3 fps which results in a "bang for the buck" of $0.33 per frame
The 7970 costs $420 and scores 1191.8 fps which results in a "bang for the buck" of $0.35 per frame
The 7970 DCII costs $430 and scores 1303.0 fps which results in a "bang for the buck" of $0.33 per frame

As far as the 7970 having an OC'ing edge, i'm not seeing it

Max Stable OC on Asus 670 TOP gets 9839 on 3DMark 11 .... that's a 5% advantage over the Ghz Edition and 4 % over the 7970 Lightning
http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-geforce-gtx-670-directcu-ii-top-review/23

Max Stable OC on 7970 GH Edition gets 9403 on 3DMark 11
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review/24

Max Stable OC on MSI 7970 Lighning gets 9449 on 3DMark 11
http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-hd-7970-lightning-review/26

When all is said and done, I'm in agreement with this review.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_670_Direct_Cu_II/33.html

With the power, heat ,noise and feature advantages, I have an easy time picking the 670 over the 7970 at 1920 x 1200 ...... At 2560 x 1600, ya have to weight the 7970's performance advantage over the 670's power, heat ,noise and feature advantages . The power and heat issues can be handled easy enough so it comes down to the extra performance of the 7970 at this resolution versus the loss of PhysX ..... and as much as I enjoyed the PhysX and 3D on Batman AC, I'd go with the 670 ...... if ya not that impressed by PhysX and 3D, ya'd have to go with the 7970 at 2560 x 1600.

I found a new site I am gonna start using for tabulating figures .... very detailed info on each test and lots of criteria including 5760 x 1080:

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/2725/9/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-review-plus-sli-and-3-way-sli-batman-arkham-city

Damn, after reading this comment, you made my mind go close to the 670. Thanks for taking the time to researching and sharing it on my post. Appreciated man.

 

[jonathanyu96]

Damn, I did not expect to get this many replies :'). This is probably my first time. Thanks guys. Hope to one day be like you guys and have a good gaming computer based argument.

 

[jonathanyu96]

Yeah I was originally going with the 7950. Like some you guys said, the 7950 overclocked can be as good as the 7970. But then I decided to invest more on the GPU and I think the 670 FTW is right for me. I'm just hoping that the 670 will, maybe, get 30$ cheaper or more. Lol you guys sound like reference cards are not good. I did some research on reference cards. I guess I don't like them also. And you guys are telling me to get a non-reference card if I choose the 7970, and most of them seem out of my MAX budget for the GPU (which is 400$ right now).

 

[bigcyco1]

Yeah I was originally going with the 7950. Like some you guys said, the 7950 overclocked can be as good as the 7970. But then I decided to invest more on the GPU and I think the 670 FTW is right for me. I'm just hoping that the 670 will, maybe, get 30$ cheaper or more. Lol you guys sound like reference cards are not good. I did some research on reference cards. I guess I don't like them also. And you guys are telling me to get a non-reference card if I choose the 7970, and most of them seem out of my MAX budget for the GPU (which is 400$ right now).

lol sorry i didn't mean to come off as the EVGA FTW 670 was not good it is just my friend has it and i find it runs hotter and is a little loud other then that i think it's a great card

 

[bigcyco1]

Save some money get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202003

 

[bigcyco1]

or this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685#top those are what i would recommend anyway good luck!

 

[blazorthon]

Since you're the one with the issue regarding sources .... link please.

And we talking "bang for the buck" so factor in the $100 cost of the 450 and the argument falls apart.

I don't need to give you a link showing that the 7950 with a GTS 450 (more than enough for even a greater card) beats a 670 without a discrete card backing it up too. That's a given because the 7950/7970 already outperform the 670 most of the time when overclocked and letting the GTS 450 handle PhysX so tyhat the 7950 and CPU don't have too means that it doesn't lose performance from PhysX whereas the 670 does.

The 7950 is already able to meet or beat the 670 with PhysX disabled. The GTS 450 is more than enough to handle PhysX as a dedicated PhysX card for the 7900 and top GTX 600 cards. The 7950 can then run PhysX without a significant performance hit whereas the 670 takes a significant performance hit do to not having a second card to run the PhysX for it. The 7950 solution would also be similar in price if you get a well-priced 7950 and a well-priced GTS 450.

Regardless, I'll look for links that show a 7950 with a GTS 450 or a similar Nvidia graphics card running PhysX, but I haven't found any yet. Such benchmarks that I've found are mostly with the Radeon 4000, 5000, and 6000 series. It's not a surprise given how few modern DX11 games use PhysX, let alone use it well.

You're also wrong about the new drivers not making a difference. Pick any review site and they actually show that the new drivers do make a pretty significant difference. I don't know how you could have gotten anything saying otherwise and where you got it from. The same is true for what I've said about overclocking and such.

You're seriously in agreement with a review from May?! It's old and outdated. As far as I can tell, you're just sticking with old reviews just because you don't want to accept the new ones.

How many people buy what card doesn't change what the cards can do. Most people are ignorant about any of this and that includes even most gamers. There's also the fact that Nvidia is simply a more popular company and that unlike AMD, during the time that Nvidia was around, they were competing with AMD's GCN cards whereas for months, AMD was competing with Nvidia's Fermi cards. That head start was almost useless given that Nvidia came in with the 680 at a lower price point (nothing wrong with that) and AD's head start meant many people waited to see wat Nvidia had in store. AMD's then poor drivers didn't do them any good either and AMD is still hurting from that backlash (with good reason, but still). Sure, AMD should have had better drivers either at release or at least within a month or two, but they are better now and have been for a while. That's what's important right now, not how bad the drivers were before Catalyst 12.6 and up.

That so many reviews made out the difference between the 7970 and the 680 to be huge back then and when the 670 launches at similar performance to both cards, just slightly under the 680, the difference is no longer considered huge (this is still before AMD fixed their drivers) sure didn't help AMD's sales either. It was a load of crap that it happened.

Heat and power consumption between the 7970 and the 670 are a decent argument. Noise, however, with good coolers, not so much. Even then, power consumption is not so much worse (things even out a lot more with overclocking) and the heat generation is not so much worse either.

 

[sarinaide]

Drivers are everything.

Anyways there is no need to really get bigger than a HD 7850 which can overclock to 1250mhz and at the high clocks will play all current titles maxed out and with maxed eye candy to boot. If you want more gusto then the HD 7870 I would regard as the normative standard for highest end gaming now anything more is overkill/user preference.

 

[selayan]

The 670 FTW is a reference style card. The PCB is based on the 680. Nothing wrong with it but it does run a little hotter than non reference. As for them going $30 cheaper, especially the FTW, good luck on that lol. I waited weeks just to see if the FTW would drop at least 10 bucks and it did not..so I found my 7970 which I was able to get for cheaper due to the deal it was having.

 

[spentshells]

Drivers are everything.

Anyways there is no need to really get bigger than a HD 7850 which can overclock to 1250mhz and at the high clocks will play all current titles maxed out and with maxed eye candy to boot. If you want more gusto then the HD 7870 I would regard as the normative standard for highest end gaming now anything more is overkill/user preference.

THIS

 

[blazorthon]

Drivers are everything.

Anyways there is no need to really get bigger than a HD 7850 which can overclock to 1250mhz and at the high clocks will play all current titles maxed out and with maxed eye candy to boot. If you want more gusto then the HD 7870 I would regard as the normative standard for highest end gaming now anything more is overkill/user preference.

To be fair, not all 7850s can clock quite that high. I find that you have to watch out for some models. Many can't go past 1200MHz on the GPU rather than 1250MHz without possibly unsafe voltages (if even then). Also, some higher end cards can be made use of if you play games that can have their settings go high enough. The 7950 is kinda worth the price premium over the 7850 because it can go similarly far over stock too. If you play games that can take advantage of that much performance, then it can be worth it, although I see good argument in considering if current games can make use of that much performance well enough to justify it. Maybe with some more optimized games like we're supposedly going to get within the next few years and good displays, more performance can matter.

Also, I've used 120Hz displays and that can use higher end performance. It most certainly can improve the gaming experience if you get a decent display.

 

[selayan]

Well it can be overkill if you don't expect max/highest available frames in all game titles, at ridiculous resolutions. But at the same time, a 670 or a 7950/7970 would last an average/casual gamer a while.

 

[mohit9206]

why are you so concerned about 670 getting $30 cheaper ? if you find it not value for money then you still have the 7950 to go with.. its not like you are really losing any significant performance with it. its the best bang for the buck

 

[selayan]

Maybe he just really wants a 670 but does not want to pay current prices. I'm sure you can wait, but like others have said there are alternatives that will do equal justice. The 7950 OC editions are nice too. Amd really played with the price game this time around. If they had not changed prices I believe most people would not have the alternative and just end up with either a 660ti or a 670.

 

[jonathanyu96]

Yeah I was originally going for the 7950, because that would be a nice budget for me. But since I don't want to overclock a lot, I want to get a stronger video card and overclock A LITTLE. Do you think the 7950 has to overclock a lot to be better than the 670? And would the 670 FTW, being that it is a reference card, stay cool and low voltage if I overclock it a little? I don't know about the 7970, if it gets under 400$ (probably not), I will definitely take that deal.

And about the drivers...I am not that knowledgeable in that area. Drivers are like software for the GPU's right? I heard that there are drivers issues and stuff. If I went with the 7950, will the drivers cooperate? And what about GHZ edition bios thing? I heard that the "Bios'ing" the GPU to the GHZ edition is a good thing, but isn't that only for GPU's that is not a GHZ edition? Lol I won't be back since I have to go work. But thanks for your opinions!

 

[blazorthon]

Yeah I was originally going for the 7950, because that would be a nice budget for me. But since I don't want to overclock a lot, I want to get a stronger video card and overclock A LITTLE. Do you think the 7950 has to overclock a lot to be better than the 670? And would the 670 FTW, being that it is a reference card, stay cool and low voltage if I overclock it a little? I don't know about the 7970, if it gets under 400$ (probably not), I will definitely take that deal.

And about the drivers...I am not that knowledgeable in that area. Drivers are like software for the GPU's right? I heard that there are drivers issues and stuff. If I went with the 7950, will the drivers cooperate? And what about GHZ edition bios thing? I heard that the "Bios'ing" the GPU to the GHZ edition is a good thing, but isn't that only for GPU's that is not a GHZ edition? Lol I won't be back since I have to go work. But thanks for your opinions!

The 7950 would need a significant overclock to beat a somewhat overclocked 670 by much in most games at common settings, but it is much cheaper. Don't worry about power consumption and such. The 7900 cards don't increase that too much when they're overclocked unless you push the voltages. The 7900 cards have a lot of headroom even at stock voltage, so that's not necessary. Still, with significant overclocks, a well-cooled 7950 will have no trouble staying cool. The 7970 uses a little more power than the 7950 does.

AMD's and Nvidia's current drivers are great. Don't worry about them.

You can use the 7970 GHz Edition BIOS on the 7970, but it doesn't turn the 7970 into a 7970 GHz Edition, it simply gives the 7970 the 7970 GHz Edition's stock performance. The real 7979 GHz Editions still have a little more overclocking headroom than the 7950 and 7970 even if you use the BIOS trick because they have slightly better-binned components.