Honestly, I'm an Nvidia fanboy, I've always owned Nvidia cards. Recently my MSI 560-Ti Hawk stopped working. So as I was doing research I see how great the new Kepler cards are and I'm reading benchmarks, reviews, etc. etc. and I just can't help notice how *Biased* everything is towards the Kepler cards, I mean yes, they are the most powerful card to date, but it's not like they reinvented video cards or anything groundbreaking. This is just more examples of that, I mean people are honestly saying that the budget Kepler card is FASTER than the top of the line AMD 7000 series... come on now, that's just ridiculous.
I needed a new card and did my research and here is what I found:
Nvidia has pros: Physx support- this is awesome for games that utilize it like Battlefield 3.
Kepler has delivered the most powerful single card to date in the GTX 690
Native FXAA support, which has it's advantages.
All Kepler card come factory overclocked (pro for people who don't overclock, but a con for people who do)
Nvidia also has cons: Coming factory overclocked, it's not fair to bench them against AMD cards at stock, because AMD cards have much higher overclocking headroom. The top AMD models 7950 and 7970 have around 45% overclocking headroom.. Whereas Kepler only has about 25% more from stock speeds when overclocking, even at max "safe" voltage- because it's already factory overclocked! Just doesn't make sense comparing these cards unless you are running max overclocks on both.
Price: Kepler series cards are for enthusiasts, they are not cheap.. a Budget card at $300, that is expensive.
RAM: Only 2GB? That's fine for now, but in the near future that might not be enough for some games, I'm talking games like Skyrim where you mod the visuals heavily with high res textures and especially enhanced shaders (ENB Series anyone?). I see the 660-Ti is rumored to be at 2gb and 1.5gb, hopefully it's 2.
Whereas I decided that instead of waiting for the 660-Ti (I saw this exact graphic of the specs over a week ago) I bought a MSI R7950 Twin Frozr for $309 after $20 Rebate. I'm happy with the purchase even though I've always loved my Nvidia cards, basically because of the performance for the price. I have no doubt that I will be overclocking this card and that it will easily compete head to head with an overclocked 670 (7950 at 1150 670 at 1250) with the new 12.7 drivers it's actually faster in Skyrim. The MSI card actually comes with a 7970 PCB so that's why it's such an excellent performer. Combine that with 3GB RAM and there was absolutely no competition. Not to mention how superior the Twin Frozr cooler is when compared to a reference Kepler (I know there will be non-references, but they will cost more and probably wont be available right away, so you will be waiting longer).
I will be gaming Skyrim heavily modded visually and content-wise, with an ENB at 1440p, I am not even sure if I would be able to do that on a 660-Ti, whereas I know I will have no problem with the MSI R7950. Right now that card is MSRP $350, but you can catch a deal like I did for $309 and the trio of AMD games- just do it and don't look back. Eventually when this generation matures I hope I will be able to find a better deal on an Nvidia card, but I will only choose the card that offers the best performance for the price.
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