Worth upgrading 6950 to 7970?

[EatMyPizza]

I have a HD 6950 unlocked and oced to 6970 specs. I am running it on an i7 950 oced to 3.68ghz, and I game at 1920X1080. I was wondering if buying a 7970 right now is a good idea?

I play BF3, and my rig really struggles to keep frame rates above the mid 40s in certain areas of certain maps, (CQ maps seem to be the worst) even with the settings lowered the the least I am willing to compromise to. I also plan to play Crysis 3, and FC3.

Also reviews and popular opinion seem SO CONFLICTING as to how good the 7970 actually is. I know AMDs drivers improved the performance of these cards a while back, but it's hard to know which reviews were using the new drivers. Some people say the 7970ghz > gtx 680, some people say a GTX 670 kills it. How good does a 7970 do in BF3 with the newer drivers? Is it still behind a 670 for that game?

 

[Gate9er]

Hi

The 7970 might be faster than the GTX 680 but its NOT better. The 680 outbids the 7970 at a difference of around 30% in benchmarks. As you can see from the given link, the 670 is as well better than the 7970 @1920x1080p for BF3.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-gtx-670-review,review-32443-5.html

Furthermore, the 670 can reach and even outbid the 680 when overclocked. Just to answer your question, both 670 and 7970 are a hell ahead of the 6970.

Hope this helps!

 

[EatMyPizza]

I noticed those benchmarks are from may 2012? Didn't the new AMD drivers "significantly" improve performance? That's what is confusing the crap out of me lol

 

[antonisrsx]

i think this bench is old!
hare is a new one!
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-benchmark,3232-8.html
i dont know if there is a newest one!
''The 680 outbids the 7970 at a difference of around 30% in benchmarks'' this is not true:/

 

[Gate9er]

Well drivers can play an important role on how a GPU works, but they WILL NOT increase its performance in such a way that you will notice much difference.

 

[EatMyPizza]

I think it was the AMD 12.11 beta drivers that first made the big difference. They came out when .. October 2012 I think? I didn't have a 79XX card so I wasn't really following all that much. Need a benchmark from closer to 2013, I was leaning towards GTX 670, but there seems to be many people who think the 7970 is now a superior card. It's a very confusing time to make this decision lol

 

[Gate9er]

Well even if you get the 670 or the 7970, your performance will go up significantly. If you are planning on overclocking, then the AMD is better for it.

 

[redeemer]

Hi

The 7970 might be faster than the GTX 680 but its NOT better. The 680 outbids the 7970 at a difference of around 30% in benchmarks. As you can see from the given link, the 670 is as well better than the 7970 @1920x1080p for BF3.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-gtx-670-review,review-32443-5.html

Furthermore, the 670 can reach and even outbid the 680 when overclocked. Just to answer your question, both 670 and 7970 are a hell ahead of the 6970.

Hope this helps!

On that note when both are overclocked the 7970 blows past the 680, but then again the 680 is comes overclocked for you a la "Autoboost".

 

[antonisrsx]

http://www.techspot.com/review/603-best-graphics-cards/page4.html

 

[EatMyPizza]

http://www.techspot.com/review/603-best-graphics-cards/page4.html

WOW. According those benchmarks, the 7970 GHZ beats the GTX 680, and the 7970 non GHZ, beats the GTX 670. Thanks man.

If that's the case now, I will just grab the cheapest 7970 I can find with good cooling.

 

[ikaz]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-6.html

 

[timnswede]

yes, 7970 GHz beats the 680 most of the time. Here's a youtube video that came out today that has the 7970 GHz and a 680 in it (also some other cards but oh well). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpH_P-D_nXM Skip to 9:20 for benchmarks.

 

[EatMyPizza]

yes, 7970 GHz beats the 680 most of the time. Here's a youtube video that came out today that has the 7970 GHz and a 680 in it (also some other cards but oh well). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpH_P-D_nXM Skip to 9:20 for benchmarks.

Thank you sir. Unless Nivida comes out with some drivers in the next 24 hours that greatly improves their performance it looks like I will be grabbing a 7970. I think I will get the non GHZ edition though, (which still seems to beat a GTX 670 most of the time with the new drivers), and just OC it myself.

Unless of course, there is a killer deal on GHZ edition.

 

[patrick47018]

With the AMD Catalyst 13.2 Beta 6, they run Crysis 3 like a dream.

 

[EatMyPizza]

Best answer selected by EatMyPizza.