660 ti & 7950 - same price, "wrong" decision?

[wand3r3r]

Yep, just go up in increments (core first, then memory). Of course you can test whatever but if it crashes you have to increment down. It's easier to go up slowly and back off or add voltage when it gets unstable.

 

[Isbiten]

I just have to ask.
Is this a bad time to buy a 7950?
Is the 8000 series just around the corner?

Cause if it is, it just feels better buying something when it just came out rather than when it's going towards the end of it's life span.

 

[Jaydip]

Waiting is stupid.There is always faster,cheaper card around the corner.Get the card and enjoy it.

 

[Isbiten]

So the 8000-series won't bring anything that will just blow a 7950 out the window?

 

[Jaydip]

Of course it will but when? till then you can enjoy your 7950.

 

[wand3r3r]

As of now we don't even know at all when HD 8000 is coming. It could come in early 2013 but has been rumored as far off as mid 2013. Even if it were released sooner than later it will likely not be ~$270 (like the deals now) for the 8950 but will probably be $350-$450 (guessing by the HD 7950 launch pricing). If there was any credible rumors or launch dates at some point it could be worth waiting provided you are willing to pay the premium, but as of today it's hard to say "wait". It's a tough choice towards the middle/end of the current generation(s) but with price cuts and game bundles atm it makes it easier to just take the plunge.

 

[KingFatty]

Can you stretch the wait till black friday? You might be able to get a lower price on whatever card you go with at that time, so it's not so bad and you could probably resell it for similar price so very low risk - if you get buyer's remorse, then resell it and save the money till the 8XXX AMD or 7XX NVidia cards come out.

I mean, that's the ideal way to tell if your upgrade would be justified - actually get the card and try it out. If you don't really notice the improvement, then you might think that the money was not worth it and resell the card.

Around black friday, you can get a deal where it's easy to resell without losing money.

 

[RussianSensation]

not to hijack the thread, but I might be able to buy a 670 (slightly used an still within warranty) for the same price as the 7950, which would you choose for 1440p? I mainly play borderlands 2 atm.

For BL2, get the 670.

 

[wand3r3r]

For BL2, get the 670.

That appears to be without physx. If you enable physx high you will not be maintaining 60 FPS much less the 120 fps they are showing there, at least in multiplayer. Even single player will not have 60 as the minimum. If you don't enable to physx high the 7950 is very playable at 1920x1200. (I have both)

 

[biostud]

That appears to be without physx. If you enable physx high you will not be maintaining 60 FPS much less the 120 fps they are showing there, at least in multiplayer. Even single player will not have 60 as the minimum. If you don't enable to physx high the 7950 is very playable at 1920x1200. (I have both)

I play on a 6850 atm with no fps problems, so even with physX I think the 670 will be quite a bit faster.

 

[wand3r3r]

I play on a 6850 atm with no fps problems, so even with physX I think the 670 will be quite a bit faster.

This is wrong. You would think so but the amount of physx on high especially in multiplayer is pretty intense and even brought my gtx 690 to 20 fps. Yeah without physx bl2 isn't very demanding, but there isn't a single card that can maintain 60 fps (not drop below) in multiplayer with physx high.

 

[Isbiten]

If everything works out I'm looking at getting a new monitor.
When looking at Anandtech it seems that if going ultra on games like BF3 and Crysis 2/Warhead you won't see over 60FPS with a 7950.
SO, the big question. Is it worth getting a 120Hz monitor when you have a 7950?
I have been reading numerous thread (here, and at other sites) and it seems people can't agree on IPS vs 120HZ.

Hopefully I will be able to borrow my brothers Dell IPS to make a decision.
But I would love some advice from you guys.

EDIT: For some reason when trying to add games to the benchmark results (trying to add SC2) they won't show up

 

[MrK6]

First, a 7950 will have no trouble banging out 100FPS+ in BF3 at 1080p or lower with the new 12.11 beta's and a decent overclock. In multiplayer, your CPU will probably limit that before the card will.

You'll hear good arguments from both sides for IPS and 120Hz, and I think it all comes down to preference for your experience. To me 30" matters, high resolution (2560x1600) matters, and good colors/viewing angles matter. FPS really doesn't affect me much as long as it's reasonably smooth, and I have little issue playing at 30, 60, or 100+ as long as it is smooth. Other people will prioritize differently, but really it's a personal decision.

 

[kaihonsou]

I have seen 120Hz but not in gaming. I can imagine its really, really nice and could see why its hard going back to 60Hz.

I hardly play any FPS's and spend alot of my time on games like Shogun 2, CK2, XCom, Civ 5 etc, so IPS would probably benefit me more then 120Hz and anyone else who plays tactical and stratagy games over FPS.

 

[3DVagabond]

Look at input latency. Everyone looks at response time, but often latency is far greater. Obviously, they both matter. You can't ignore latency though.

 

[Isbiten]

Yay!
Have my card.
Ran 3Dmark 11, got 6978 points.
Went into overdrive.
Pushed power +20%.
Pushed GPU clock to 1GHz
Memory to 1500.
7454 3DMARK score .

BUT, how long do I have to run FurMark Burn in test to know if my GPU is stable?
Also, what temps should I be going for?
Is <70C ok?

5 mins FurMark -> 65C

SCORE
P7699 3DMarks < 1060 MHz core + 1575 MHz memory
GRAPHICS SCORE
9486
PHYSICS SCORE
4994
COMBINED SCORE
4812

i5 750@stock
VDDC MAX 1.092

 

[MrK6]

Yay!
Have my card.
Ran 3Dmark 11, got 6978 points.
Went into overdrive.
Pushed power +20%.
Pushed GPU clock to 1GHz
Memory to 1500.
7454 3DMARK score .

BUT, how long do I have to run FurMark Burn in test to know if my GPU is stable?
Also, what temps should I be going for?
Is <70C ok?

5 mins FurMark -> 65C

SCORE
P7699 3DMarks < 1060 MHz core + 1575 MHz memory
GRAPHICS SCORE
9486
PHYSICS SCORE
4994
COMBINED SCORE
4812

i5 750@stock
VDDC MAX 1.092

Nice! I'm assuming non-12.11 beta drivers (they add about another 1000 pts. to 3DMark11), so that score is spot on. Time to overclock that i5 750 to keep up.

Your temps are excellent, you can push your card further if you want. Check out your VRM temps using HWiNFO64 - http://www.hwinfo.com/download64.html . Any core temp <90C is fine except for extreme voltages (1.25V<). VRM temps should stay under <110C.

 

[zaydq]

Time to get 1200 on the core and 1800 on the memory, lets get you an 11K+ score.

 

[Isbiten]

Nice! I'm assuming non-12.11 beta drivers (they add about another 1000 pts. to 3DMark11), so that score is spot on. Time to overclock that i5 750 to keep up.

Your temps are excellent, you can push your card further if you want. Check out your VRM temps using HWiNFO64 - http://www.hwinfo.com/download64.html . Any core temp <90C is fine except for extreme voltages (1.25V<). VRM temps should stay under <110C.

Actually it is 12.11 .
But my i5 750 is still sitting at stock so I hope to get it up another 1000 points after clocking.

 

[zaydq]

Actually it is 12.11 .
But my i5 750 is still sitting at stock so I hope to get it up another 1000 points after clocking.

Your score is right for a a 1050 core clock. When i was on 12.9 my 1050 clock scored around 8800

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Which card is it?

 

[MrK6]

Actually it is 12.11 .
But my i5 750 is still sitting at stock so I hope to get it up another 1000 points after clocking.

I'm sorry, I was thinking 7970, not 7950. zaydq is spot on.

 

[Plimogz]

I actually dislike running Furmark (or its derivatives) because its load is just plain unrealistic and because when testing an overclock (which is when I used to most rely on Furmark stress testing) it just cooks the VRMs and, presumably, all the rest of the power-delivery circuitry along with them.

Once upon a time I overclocked/overvolted a 4890 as high as I could while still maintaining reasonable temps and fan noise while playing games. Then I set out to validate the stability of this OC which didn't crash in any of my games -- once I'd dialed in the frequencies and voltage of course -- with Furmark... Long story short: a few hours later that card was emitting a high-pitched whine which had not been present earlier in the night and which persists to this day.

Damn you Furmark! Or, alternatively: Damn you VGA maker for not (over)building your cards to withstand quite unrealistic, ludicrous sustained artificial loads!

So finally, @ Isbiten: consider using OCCT's version of Furmark. Set it to shader complexity 8 w/ error-checking and you can detect pretty minor instability within a few minutes (or about as long as I'm willing to pointlessly bake my VRMs for no good reason, nowadays)

 

[Isbiten]

So finally, @ Isbiten: consider using OCCT's version of Furmark. Set it to shader complexity 8 w/ error-checking and you can detect pretty minor instability within a few minutes (or about as long as I'm willing to pointlessly bake my VRMs for no good reason, nowadays)

Would you mind sharing your settings with a screenshot?