3 GB 660 TI FTW+ vs. 7950 HD

[hodgenutts]

OK, so I know most bench marks show the 7950 slightly ahead of the the 2 GB version of the 660 ti, but what about a 3 gb 660 TI FTW+ model? I can't find any benches there, and the overclocked 3 GB 660 TI FTW model is actually cheaper....

Playing W.o.W, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Assasins creed 3 and SWTOR at 1080P

Not trying to get into an nvidia is better than AMD or vise versa, I am looking at these 2 cards...

3GB 660 TI FTW +
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130817


3GB HD 7950
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150589

Thank you very much.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

7950 is comparable to 670/680

 

[Samus]

3GB is totally overkill and will be for awhile. Tests show even the most texture hungry games like BF3 only fill about 1.2GB of VRAM on the largest maps at maximum detail in 1920x1200.

Until games double their texture density to accommodate 2560x1600, even 2GB will go unused.

And as is always the case, the choice to go ATI/NVidia really depends on what games you play. EA games generally favor NVidia because of the heavy lobbying and support NVidia gives EA developers. Other developers often favor ATI, especially Valve.

As a general rule though the 7950 is around a GTX 670. There are some instances a GTX 660 will beat a 7950, just as there are instances a 7950 will beat a GTX 670.

 

[hodgenutts]

but wouldn't 3 GB help future proof? It was my understanding that although the 192 bit bus bottlenecked the 2 gigs of vram, that the 3 gigs would perform better because they were more evenly distributed accross the controllers.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

3gb isn't overkill. But 660ti isn't fast enough. 7950 is the obvious choice.

 

[Silverforce11]

If you don't OC your GPUs, then get the 660ti. AMD cards are good as is, but they become excellent if the user OCs them. An OC 7950 beats OC 670/680. 660ti has no hope.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Even without oc 7950 is at least as fast if not faster.

 

[3DVagabond]

Even without oc 7950 is at least as fast if not faster.

^This, and the 7950 has twice the memory bus bandwidth. Crank up the AA and the 7950 doesn't fall apart.

 

[Jacky60]

This:

Even without oc 7950 is at least as fast if not faster.

The 7950 is much the better card and with oc will destroy 670 in nearly all games and the 680 in the majority of demanding ones.

 

[AtenRa]

If the Never Settle game bundle is still active in your country the HD7950 is the better card to get.

 

[Ibra]

Cool stories, broskies.

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/zotac_gtx660_ti_amp_extreme_review,1.html

 

[Silverforce11]

Cool stories, broskies.

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/zotac_gtx660_ti_amp_extreme_review,1.html

You think linking a review that doesn't use new drivers for AMD cards helps your cause?

"***NOTE***
In an ideal world we would like to test all of the GPU's above on the same driver however, due to the logistics and timescales of release involved it is simply not possible to examine each card on the same driver. We do however only introduce a new driver when forced to do so, in this case, the ZOTAC GTX660Ti AMP! Extreme Edition had to be reviewed with updated Forceware drivers (306.97) due to compatibility issues with older drivers. These drivers have clearly been tweaked for best performance, particularly in Batman: Arkham City and may show the card to have inflated results other GPU's."

Not only that, only the 660ti gets NV's latest drivers, all other cards use older versions. It certainly inflates the results over other GPUs don't you think?

 

[-Slacker-]

I'd go with the sapphire vapor-x or, better yet, the much cheaper plain sapphire model (when it's in stock).

 

[Durvelle27]

Go with a HD 7950 as it will perform better and they still include the 3 free games

 

[Ibra]

You think linking a review that doesn't use new drivers for AMD cards helps your cause?

"***NOTE***
In an ideal world we would like to test all of the GPU's above on the same driver however, due to the logistics and timescales of release involved it is simply not possible to examine each card on the same driver. We do however only introduce a new driver when forced to do so, in this case, the ZOTAC GTX660Ti AMP! Extreme Edition had to be reviewed with updated Forceware drivers (306.97) due to compatibility issues with older drivers. These drivers have clearly been tweaked for best performance, particularly in Batman: Arkham City and may show the card to have inflated results other GPU's."

Not only that, only the 660ti gets NV's latest drivers, all other cards use older versions. It certainly inflates the results over other GPUs don't you think?

Will you stop trolling about your beloved AMD? Also did you read what you quote? According to them they don't have much time for updating drivers in every review. Seeing daily AMD's Beta/Caps updates they will stop doing reviews at all. Also they used 306.97 not 310.33 or 310.54 or 310.61.

 

[Jacky60]

Will you stop trolling about your beloved AMD? Also did you read what you quote? According to them they don't have much time for updating drivers in every review. Seeing daily AMD's Beta/Caps updates they will stop doing reviews at all. Also they used 306.97 not 310.33 or 310.54 or 310.61.

He's not trolling merely pointing out that if a review is prepared to use the latest and greatest drivers from one manufacturer they should use the latest and greatest from both. Using updated drivers is the least they can do and compared to swapping out cards/running benchmarks it takes negligible time. Is that difficult for you to understand? Also given the evident bias you're proposing accepting it would be no great loss if they did stop doing reviews.

 

[exar333]

7950 no contest

 

[UNhooked]

Though 7950 is the better card, it loses to 660ti in terms of power consumption. You can essentially run a 660ti on a decent 400Watt PSU with mild OC.

 

[Jacky60]

He has 700W PSU and didn't mention power so that's kind of irrelevant. He could also bit coin mine on the 7950 OR use physx on the 660TI. The 7950 is the better card in the same way a 7 series BMW is better than a Volkswagen Golf.

 

[Silverforce11]

Will you stop trolling about your beloved AMD? Also did you read what you quote? According to them they don't have much time for updating drivers in every review. Seeing daily AMD's Beta/Caps updates they will stop doing reviews at all. Also they used 306.97 not 310.33 or 310.54 or 310.61.

New member comes to forum, posts stupid useless review to try to deliberately mislead and bias the thread.. other member points out the obvious, old drivers for every other card.. gets called a troll. Interesting times.

 

[Rvenger]

Will you stop trolling about your beloved AMD?

It is what it is.... You can't lie about the performance being faster.


If you asked me in June, I would have said Nvidia but now AMD is the clear choice. If the OP can get a GTX 670 for ~$300 or less then it would be tempting to go Nvidia.

 

[exar333]

The only thing comparable here is the price. The 7950 is hands-down the MUCH better card. Better stock, much better OC'd, and better with MSAA/etc enabled.

The only thing that makes the 660 TI FTW+ better is power consumption. To be realistic here, we are talking between 10-15w, so not a big deal. Unless that 'makes or breaks' it for you, the 7950 is the clear choice.

 

[hodgenutts]

But I thought "FTW" stood for: "For The Win"!

 

[An00bis]

Though 7950 is the better card, it loses to 660ti in terms of power consumption. You can essentially run a 660ti on a decent 400Watt PSU with mild OC.

well when something's stronger, it's pretty logical that it's going to consume a bit more, right? and I don't know about you guys, but who gives a damn about a gpu's power consumption? if you have money for a 7950 or a 660ti, you clearly have enough money for a 600w-or so psu. And as far as I know a card like 7950 or 660ti consumes as much as an incandescent lightbulb... if you don't have enough money to pay an average electricity bill I don't think you should be spending money on 300$ gpus.

 

[hodgenutts]

The sad thing is, I just got a 7870 gigahertz edition three weeks ago for only $209 after rebate. It blue screened twice on me and got me nervous, so I'm R.M.A.ing it. Just thought about getting something a little more powerful.