GTX 670 with PhysX or Radeon HD 7970?

[tobyrs]

<"Hello everyone!"

So I am looking into upgrading my videocard from a GTX 550ti to either the GTX 670 or Radeon HD 7970.

At first I was going to get the GTX 670, but then I decided to go with the Radeon HD 7970 because, from what I had researched, it out performs the GTX 670 a little and also it comes with Crysis 3 and Bioshock: Infinite. HOWEVER... I just remembered that Nvidea has the physX that looks pretty cool! I have been watching videos on examples of it. So now I am not sure what to get... I need some help!

Here are the two cards I am torn between:

GTX 670

Radeon HD 7970

(If there is something better let me know )

I have been making youtube game commentaries and so I want to have the best card for gaming (also video editing, but I am sure both cards suffice in that area).

I am willing to spend around $410.00, I am worried that not having PhysX will hurt me later in the future, and I want to keep this card for at least 2 years before upgrading again...

I LOVE Skyrim, and want to use the high res texture packs and other graphics mods and record with good FPS. Battlefield 3 is one of my favorite shooters to play as well as Planetside 2.

If the 670 will put out just a little less FPS than the 7970 then I will just go with that because of the PhysX and other features like CUDA. Also if the 670 can play every game on the max settings for the next 1-2 years with good FPS then I will just get it. Unless you have a better suggestion. What do you think?

Can anyone help me with my decision?

Specs:
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core i7-3820 CPU @ 3.60 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
Memory: 8GB (DDR3 2133)
Power Supply: 550W

 

[renz496]

what is your monitor res? if you play at 1080 and still care about physx then GTX670 is for you. i say 1080 res because i think at 1080 both card should have great performance and you might not feel the advantage of 7970 unless the game is demanding (which is very few thanks to console) and you intend to use extreme setting on it. if you care more about the game bundle and not much for physx then 7970.

one thing you have to remember is physx is cool to look at but it has zero impact on your gameplay. for example enabling AA will smooth the jagging but it will not change the way you're going to play the game.

 

[tobyrs]

what is your monitor res? if you play at 1080 and still care about physx then GTX670 is for you. i say 1080 res because i think at 1080 both card should have great performance and you might not feel the advantage of 7970 unless the game is demanding (which is very few thanks to console) and you intend to use extreme setting on it. if you care more about the game bundle and not much for physx then 7970.

one thing you have to remember is physx is cool to look at but it has zero impact on your gameplay. for example enabling AA will smooth the jagging but it will not change the way you're going to play the game.

I haven't seen anything played on a resolution higher than 1080. That's all I play on and am fine with that. Is the performance between the two cards that much of a big difference?

And thank you for taking the time to reply to my post

 

[renz496]

maybe you can check this review:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/11/12/fall_2012_gpu_driver_comparison_roundup/

this one pit nvidia and amd cards with much recent driver

 

[tlg]

Here is the Wikipedia list of games supporting physx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_hardware-accelerated_PhysX_support

as you will see, only 2-3 major titles every few years support physx, also ALL those games support CPU physx which gives THE SAME result but just taxes your CPU 10x for that.

In terms of 7970 vs 670... the 7970 is equivalent to the GTX680 but it has 3GB vRAM while also costing less. So you get the idea... Maybe in your country though the 670 costs less than the 7970 is it might be worth to buy.

 

[tlg]

Forgot to write that if you plan to mod Skyrim with HD addons, its gonna go WAY over 2GB vRAM so you may need a 4GB version of the 670... which costs alot lol...

 

[tlg]

Sorry for the triple post, I didnt see that there was a link for the 2 cards in the OP, for $10 less while having 4GB vRAM, the gtx670 is actually really worth the buy.

 

[tobyrs]

Sorry for the triple post, I didnt see that there was a link for the 2 cards in the OP, for $10 less while having 4GB vRAM, the gtx670 is actually really worth the buy.

Thany you for replying. So you think the 4gb gtx 670 is the best choice? Will it be able to play anything on max settings for the next 2 years you think?

 

[ehyde1029]

2 years is a bit of a stretch for max settings. Look at crysis 3 for example. I currently have a Gigabyte 7950 with 3gb DDR5 and was having no trouble playing most current games maxed out at a stable 60FPS untill Crysis 3. If I put everything on Max settings I get about 10FPS With the progression of technology and games there may be no card out today that can max out games in 2 years but then again maybe we have gone as far as we can with graphics and things will level off, Who knows?

 

[17seconds]

Planetside 2 is a PhysX game, so that's +1 for the 670. You might also be looking forward to Hawken and Metro 2034 for upcoming PhysX titles.
http://techreport.com/news/24291/particle-effects-swirl-in-hawken-physx-demo

With Skyrim, only Nvidia cards allow you to enable Ambient Occlusion, a setting that affects nearly everything in the game (Skyrim on AMD cards looks like the "AO: Off" screen):

http://www.geforce.com/optimize/guides/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweak-guide#19


In terms of performance, the 670 is pretty much exactly the same as a 7970:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/ARES_II/27.html

 

[bigshootr8]

They are very similar performers I have a GTX670 myself only the Gigabyte Windforce3 card. I mean if you are in love with physx and what it offers go for it. I currently have 4 games that use it not every game uses it and it is more or of a niche thing. On the other hand CUDA will help you in some areas when it comes to editing/rendering. So that may suade you more towards NVIDIA which is more re-known for having a larger feature set then AMD . But in the end they are both good cards with great value on both ends.

 

[bigcyco1]

They are very similar performers I have a GTX670 myself only the Gigabyte Windforce3 card. I mean if you are in love with physx and what it offers go for it. I currently have 4 games that use it not every game uses it and it is or of a niche thing. On the other hand CUDA will help you in some areas when it comes to editing/rendering. So that may suade you more towards NVIDIA which is more re-known for having a larger feature set then AMD . But in the end they are both good cards with great value on both ends.

+1 i agree.

 

[Guest]

Can anyone help me with my decision?

Specs:
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core i7-3820 CPU @ 3.60 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
Memory: 8GB (DDR3 2133)
Power Supply: 550W

get the 670 which uses ~40 less watts than the 7970.