7870 XT vs nvidia 960?

[Xellos2099]

I have been using 7870 XT for the p[ast 2 years and i am tempted with 960 sicne it use less power but there is some question i got with perfrmance. I would think a new card would have superior to a 3 years card but the spec say other wise. Can anyone offer their insight?

 

[Headfoot]

Realistically, what would lower power consumption actually do for you? Reduce your bills by a couple bucks per year, at most? As long as you have the PSU capacity the power consumption is pretty irrelevant between a 960 and a 7870 XT.

Better to evaluate it from a pure performance and price perspective. A 960 would be a little faster than the 7870 XT (i.e. 7930) but if you're going to upgrade, I wouldn't get such a small "upgrade." I'd shoot for something in the R9 290 /GTX 970 range of performance so the upgrade feels like a big upgrade. Besides, for $70 than a 960 more you can jump to a R9 290 which is significantly faster. 960 is really bad perf/$. New cards coming out soon, so it's probably best to wait until the end of Spring and see how the market looks then. Both the 960 and R9 285 are pretty poor products at their price points -- the midrange is suffering right now. Hopefully it will get better when the new lineups hit

I bet we'll see a solid 370/370x chip that will be a good upgrade as well as a GTX 965 or 960 Ti or something like that, that isn't 128-bit and 2GB of RAM...

 

[Essence_of_War]

I would think a new card would have superior to a 3 years card but the spec say other wise. Can anyone offer their insight?

A 960 is a side-grade from a 7870 XT.

The minimum GPU I'd consider for an upgrade from that right now would be a 980, or a 780 Ti. MAYBE a 970 or a 290X if the price was excellent.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Xellos2009 aim a bit higher, GTX 970 is a much better investment. If that's too expensive then just get a R9 290

 

[rc3ilynt]

Realistically, what would lower power consumption actually do for you? Reduce your bills by a couple bucks per year, at most? As long as you have the PSU capacity the power consumption is pretty irrelevant between a 960 and a 7870 XT.

Better to evaluate it from a pure performance and price perspective. A 960 would be a little faster than the 7870 XT (i.e. 7930) but if you're going to upgrade, I wouldn't get such a small "upgrade." I'd shoot for something in the R9 290 /GTX 970 range of performance so the upgrade feels like a big upgrade. Besides, for $70 than a 960 more you can jump to a R9 290 which is significantly faster. 960 is really bad perf/$. New cards coming out soon, so it's probably best to wait until the end of Spring and see how the market looks then. Both the 960 and R9 285 are pretty poor products at their price points -- the midrange is suffering right now. Hopefully it will get better when the new lineups hit

I bet we'll see a solid 370/370x chip that will be a good upgrade as well as a GTX 965 or 960 Ti or something like that, that isn't 128-bit and 2GB of RAM...

I'd have to agree here. The 960 is really a marginal upgrade and may perform on par or worse with your 7870 at higher resolutions thanks to the limited 128bit memory bus width. At around the same price point and maybe less you can get a 280x which significantly outperforms the 960. The 290 line is also compelling at it's price point.

 

[ShintaiDK]

A GTX960 is ~25% faster than a 7870.

 

[wand3r3r]

^ Wrong comparison.

7870 XT.

There's no way it's worth side grading to the overpriced 960.

 

[Headfoot]

A GTX960 is ~25% faster than a 7870.

It's the poorly named 7870 XT, which is actually basically a 7930. It's a 7950/Tahiti with 256bit bus instead of the 384.

 

[ShintaiDK]

It's the poorly named 7870 XT, which is actually basically a 7930. It's a 7950/Tahiti with 256bit bus instead of the 384.

My fault, I had forgotten about that one. So 10-15% faster I guess for the GTX960 and using 2/3rds the power.

280X isnt much of an upgrade either then. 290/GTX970 then. The GTX970 for 40W less than the 7870 XT and some 100W less than the 290.

 

[StinkyPinky]

A 960 is a side-grade from a 7870 XT.

The minimum GPU I'd consider for an upgrade from that right now would be a 980, or a 780 Ti. MAYBE a 970 or a 290X if the price was excellent.

Wow, really? A 980 upgrade from a 7870 XT?

Seems a massive jump and somewhat excessive, especially if he's gaming at 1080p.

 

[RussianSensation]

I have been using 7870 XT for the p[ast 2 years and i am tempted with 960 sicne it use less power but there is some question i got with perfrmance. I would think a new card would have superior to a 3 years card but the spec say other wise. Can anyone offer their insight?

Wait until R9 300 series drop, NV drops prices on 970/980, 960Ti launches and evaluate your options. If you must buy now, get at least an after-market 290/290X/970. Everything else is not a worthy upgrade considering you keep your GPUs at least 2 years. 960 is a waste of money for you as it's not really a good enough performance upgrade after waiting 2 years, not to mention it's already obsolete for future games due to 2GB of VRAM. If you are going to upgrade go at least 290 4GB/970 3.5GB.

960 is a horrible value because for $50-60 more, R9 290 is 45-50% faster with double the VRAM.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...norebbr=1&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-150-697-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...norebbr=1&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-202-143-_-Product

2GB of VRAM is a major issue already. Skip the 960/285.

 

[Xellos2099]

Well I didn't plan to upgrade initially but i entertain the idea of free witcher 3 and the dx12 thing. I am actually surprise that I got my powercooler 7870 Tahiti for around 200 2 years ago and the 960 is also 200 nowsday and only 10-15% improvement?

 

[RussianSensation]

Well I didn't plan to upgrade initially but i entertain the idea of free witcher 3 and the dx12 thing. I am actually surprise that I got my powercooler 7870 Tahiti for around 200 2 years ago and the 960 is also 200 nowsday and only 10-15% improvement?

In that case wait until May 19th and upgrade then. If TW3 is your primary game, it pays to see what the performance is of NV vs. AMD in that title. In addition, we may see R9 300 series launch by then and/or it's possible there will be even bigger discounts on R9 290/290X cards OR if R9 300 series launches GTX970/980 might drop in price. Either way, given how Rockstar delayed GTA V at the last minute, I wouldn't upgrade primarily for any game that's not out yet, especially since in this case the NV+TW3 promotion runs until May 31st, well after the game launches as of today's release date.

 

[StinkyPinky]

In that case wait until May 19th and upgrade then. If TW3 is your primary game, it pays to see what the performance is of NV vs. AMD in that title. In addition, we may see R9 300 series launch by then and/or it's possible there will be even bigger discounts on R9 290/290X cards OR if R9 300 series launches GTX970/980 might drop in price. Either way, given how Rockstar delayed GTA V at the last minute, I wouldn't upgrade primarily for any game that's not out yet, especially since in this case the NV+TW3 promotion runs until May 31st, well after the game launches as of today's release date.

Witcher 3 will almost certainly perform better with a nvidia card. It's a gameworks game

 

[Headfoot]

Well I didn't plan to upgrade initially but i entertain the idea of free witcher 3 and the dx12 thing. I am actually surprise that I got my powercooler 7870 Tahiti for around 200 2 years ago and the 960 is also 200 nowsday and only 10-15% improvement?

960 is gonna be a really bad buy from your position, just totally not worth it. 290, or wait until the new cards drop. Or pay $200 to get the Witcher 3 and 15% more FPS, not my money

 

[Silverforce11]

Witcher 3 will almost certainly perform better with a nvidia card. It's a gameworks game

What about 2? I recall seeing an NV logo on startup, been awhile though. I thought that ran quite well on AMD GPUs.

Not all GameWorks run like crap on AMD, which is rather a surprise, the odd one out so far: Watch Dogs. SLI is a stutery mess even now while R290s is a smooth experience.

OP: R290/X/970 is the next logical step up if you want something NOW. I agree with others here, wait a few months for the dust of the big boys (Titan X & 390X) to settle. You should be able to get 980 cheaper or go for one of the big boys.

Contrary to those who say its overkill for 1080p, there's plenty of games nowadays that crush 980 class GPUs at that more modest resolution.

 

[Stuka87]

What about 2? I recall seeing an NV logo on startup, been awhile though. I thought that ran quite well on AMD GPUs.

Not all GameWorks run like crap on AMD, which is rather a surprise, the odd one out so far: Watch Dogs. SLI is a stutery mess even now while R290s is a smooth experience.

OP: R290/X/970 is the next logical step up if you want something NOW. I agree with others here, wait a few months for the dust of the big boys (Titan X & 390X) to settle. You should be able to get 980 cheaper or go for one of the big boys.

Contrary to those who say its overkill for 1080p, there's plenty of games nowadays that crush 980 class GPUs at that more modest resolution.

nVidia cards are a bit faster on The Witcher 2. But I have not seen any tests using recent AMD drivers which are certainly faster than drivers from 1.5 years ago.

 

[escrow4]

Wow, really? A 980 upgrade from a 7870 XT?

Seems a massive jump and somewhat excessive, especially if he's gaming at 1080p.

Nope. Unity with settings turned up at 1080p at a solid 60FPS would be a good fit for a 980, same for any upcoming game. What is "excessive" just means you can flip on more graphic switches.

 

[Xellos2099]

I see, so is it that 7870 XT is that good of a card or 960 just plain suck?

 

[Attic]

The 960 is not a good card for the money. Not fast enough and overall too limited for it's asking price.


970 GTX with free TW3 looks good here to me for 1080P as an upgrade from the 7870XT. A 290 and buying TW3 is going to cost nearly the same.

 

[Headfoot]

I see, so is it that 7870 XT is that good of a card or 960 just plain suck?

960 sucks at its price point. It needs to be faster, or $50 less, and it would be very competitive.

Also, 7870 XT is a pretty solid card. Faster than the one in the PS4 by a good bit.