7970 or gtx670?

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Jaydip

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2010
3,691
21
81
Keep the 7970 if you dont have one with a bad coil whine. The 680 feels better in BF3 for what its worth. Even at similar FPS (Had my Sapphire oced to almost match frames).
If I had bought a 7970 earlier i would not trade it for even a 680.I play games with my card,I just don't run benches with them through out the day to measure fps differences.680 has some advantages in some games(and vice versa)but is it worth the upgrade? absolutely not.I won't be surprised if its some XFX crap.
 
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giskarded

Junior Member
May 10, 2012
10
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If I had bought a 7970 earlier i would not trade it for even a 680.I play games with my card,I just don't run benches with them through the day to measure fps differences.680 has some advantages in some games(and vice versa)but is it worth the upgrade? absolutely not.I won't be surprised if its some XFX crap.

I completely agree. Except for the GTX 680 which sold for about 5 less than what I paid for it... Changing for similar performing cards almost always causes you more headache and loss.

Issue for me was with 1 game alone. I play Eve Online. Eve Online ship spinning is where I spend most of my time.. The card would practically go mad.. sounded like a hamster being crushed alive (no have not crushed hamsters). While ship spinning the whine was constant and unforgiving. Most folks play Eve with sound turned off (mumble aside). It was a showstopper for me.
 

Jaydip

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2010
3,691
21
81
I completely agree. Except for the GTX 680 which sold for about 5 less than what I paid for it... Changing for similar performing cards almost always causes you more headache and loss.

Issue for me was with 1 game alone. I play Eve Online. Eve Online ship spinning is where I spend most of my time.. The card would practically go mad.. sounded like a hamster being crushed alive (no have not crushed hamsters). While ship spinning the whine was constant and unforgiving. Most folks play Eve with sound turned off (mumble aside). It was a showstopper for me.
I get ur point.was it from XFX?They make very crap stuffs from time to time.
 

amenx

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
3,847
2,013
136
Look at the games you're interested in, first and foremost - If you dont care about Crysis and metro2033 but care about BF3, Skyrim for example, its a no brainer, 670 all the way, even at 2560x1600 or above.
 

giskarded

Junior Member
May 10, 2012
10
0
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I get ur point.was it from XFX?They make very crap stuffs from time to time.

Interestingly enough it was Sapphire OC edition
and Diamond reference card.

Ordered these since both came with a wide range of HDMI to DVI, DP to DVI converters. Both after rebate were 449.
 

aaksheytalwar

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2012
3,389
0
76
Look at the games you're interested in, first and foremost - If you dont care about Crysis and metro2033 but care about BF3, Skyrim for example, its a no brainer, 670 all the way, even at 2560x1600 or above.

If you play stock at 1440p for those games. Then No.

If you overclock at 1440p for those games. Then NO

Either way 7970 is a better card.

670 may be more VFM, but 7970 is a better performer if you forget the value points. If I go by your logic then 680 should be made obsolete already.
 

RallosZek

Member
Oct 28, 2003
59
0
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Thanks all i will keep the 7970, It doesnt have a stock cooler (forget who mentioned that) it has the tri-fan windforce.

And someone mentioned OCing it to 1250, It will do that easy, i think max benchable was 1320 or so. But i find 1125 or so is what i keep it on, it smashes everything and keeps cool (under 60c at load) I originally wanted to get Nvidia (a 680) but stocks and time prevented me. plus i got a good deal on this card!

no one is trading a 680 for 7970 (it happens sometimes people want to downgrade to get some extra cash) but no one is biting yet as 680 stocks are still lowish.

Cheers all
 

aaksheytalwar

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2012
3,389
0
76
Thanks all i will keep the 7970, It doesnt have a stock cooler (forget who mentioned that) it has the tri-fan windforce.

And someone mentioned OCing it to 1250, It will do that easy, i think max benchable was 1320 or so. But i find 1125 or so is what i keep it on, it smashes everything and keeps cool (under 60c at load) I originally wanted to get Nvidia (a 680) but stocks and time prevented me. plus i got a good deal on this card!

no one is trading a 680 for 7970 (it happens sometimes people want to downgrade to get some extra cash) but no one is biting yet as 680 stocks are still lowish.

Cheers all

If your card does 1320 on the core, then no 680 oc can beat it, except some really lucky pieces of silicon, but the average 680 oc won't even come close, which means like the 680 oc will be like 10% slower in most games.
 

Rvenger

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator <br> Video Cards
Apr 6, 2004
6,283
5
81
The reason why I got rid of my 7970 was because all the games I play seems to favor the nvidia hardware. I just don't get how an explosion in BF3 sends my FPS below 30 on 1080p. It literally performed no better than my GTX480 in the games I play and the GTX480 actually felt smoother most of the time. BF3 feels jittery on AMD hardware. I was able to easily sell my 7970 to a local bitcoiner and actually broke even, so I am happy.

Plus I was thinking for future SLI with my HX650. I can't wait till these cards start going on special at the end of the year, I hope I can snab one up cheap.
 
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d3fu5i0n

Senior member
Feb 15, 2011
305
0
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The reason why I got rid of my 7970 was because all the games I play seems to favor the nvidia hardware. I just don't get how an explosion in BF3 sends my FPS below 30 on 1080p. It literally performed no better than my GTX480 in the games I play and the GTX480 actually felt smoother most of the time. BF3 feels jittery on AMD hardware. I was able to easily sell my 7970 to a local bitcoiner and actually broke even, so I am happy.

Plus I was thinking for future SLI with my HX650. I can't wait till these cards start going on special at the end of the year, I hope I can snab one up cheap.

A good move there with the sale and purchase for what you wanted - considering breaking even with the cost. :)
 

d3fu5i0n

Senior member
Feb 15, 2011
305
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I suppose it depends what games you play and what compute-heavy applications you use - if any.
I would, like nearly everyone else has said here, keep the 7970. :)
 

aaksheytalwar

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2012
3,389
0
76
The reason why I got rid of my 7970 was because all the games I play seems to favor the nvidia hardware. I just don't get how an explosion in BF3 sends my FPS below 30 on 1080p. It literally performed no better than my GTX480 in the games I play and the GTX480 actually felt smoother most of the time. BF3 feels jittery on AMD hardware. I was able to easily sell my 7970 to a local bitcoiner and actually broke even, so I am happy.

Plus I was thinking for future SLI with my HX650. I can't wait till these cards start going on special at the end of the year, I hope I can snab one up cheap.

At 1080p with 4x MSAA Ultra I never faced such issues with my 7970 OC with a 2600k at 4.2/4.3. What CPU did you have?

It definitely wasn't the card because I don't face any such problems. Either some setting or your rig.
 

Grooveriding

Diamond Member
Dec 25, 2008
9,107
1,260
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The reason why I got rid of my 7970 was because all the games I play seems to favor the nvidia hardware. I just don't get how an explosion in BF3 sends my FPS below 30 on 1080p. It literally performed no better than my GTX480 in the games I play and the GTX480 actually felt smoother most of the time. BF3 feels jittery on AMD hardware. I was able to easily sell my 7970 to a local bitcoiner and actually broke even, so I am happy.

Plus I was thinking for future SLI with my HX650. I can't wait till these cards start going on special at the end of the year, I hope I can snab one up cheap.

FWIW the only time I see dips below 65FPS on my setup in BF3 are also during explosions :p Although I see about 50-55FPS during explosions, not 30.

My understanding is that there is a lot of rendering/tessellating that takes place on each fragment of destruction, along with smoke effects.
 

aaksheytalwar

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2012
3,389
0
76
FWIW the only time I see dips below 65FPS on my setup in BF3 are also during explosions :p Although I see about 50-55FPS during explosions, not 30.

My understanding is that there is a lot of rendering/tessellating that takes place on each fragment of destruction, along with smoke effects.

That is still possible, but even 40s is highly improbable at 1080p with just 4x MSAA, maybe with SSAA or at 1440p with AA.
 

Rvenger

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator <br> Video Cards
Apr 6, 2004
6,283
5
81
At 1080p with 4x MSAA Ultra I never faced such issues with my 7970 OC with a 2600k at 4.2/4.3. What CPU did you have?

It definitely wasn't the card because I don't face any such problems. Either some setting or your rig.


3770k and everytime I use a 7970 no matter which one it is, I get some real loud coil whine too. The noise is so bad that I can hear through my headphones... it sounds like a machine gun. Those machine gun noises should be coming out of my speakers and not my videocard. lol

Coil whine was practically nonexistent on my 680.
 

aaksheytalwar

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2012
3,389
0
76
3770k and everytime I use a 7970 no matter which one it is, I get some real loud coil whine too. Coil whine was practically nonexistent on my 680.

The 3770k is just out, which CPU did you use that time?

Is the CPU at stock?

Was the card at stock?

The difference btw 3770k stock 7970 stock to 3770k@4.5 + 7970 1150 1600 would be a good 30-40% in terms of minimum FPS, at least.

So if we get 50-60 FPS, you will probably get around 35-40 FPS or so with everything stock.

Alternately, 8x MSAA might bring it sub 30 even with a mild OC perhaps. But not 4x MSAA.

And I don't have any coil whine either, just the stock cooler was very loud, but no whine as such.
 

Rvenger

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator <br> Video Cards
Apr 6, 2004
6,283
5
81
The 3770k is just out, which CPU did you use that time?

Is the CPU at stock?

Was the card at stock?

The difference btw 3770k stock 7970 stock to 3770k@4.5 + 7970 1150 1600 would be a good 30-40% in terms of minimum FPS, at least.

So if we get 50-60 FPS, you will probably get around 35-40 FPS or so with everything stock.

Alternately, 8x MSAA might bring it sub 30 even with a mild OC perhaps. But not 4x MSAA.

And I don't have any coil whine either, just the stock cooler was very loud, but no whine as such.


The 7970 only seen my rig for about 2 weeks, so yes, a 3770k. I immediately was unimpressed coming from a 680. I was trying to save a couple $$ by selling my 680 but it didn't seem worth it until now since I have the 670.

Its really a win-win for me because I intend to SLI later on. I can't xfire 7970s with a 650w PSU. I guess I will find out later if there are performance issues going on when I install this card.
 

guskline

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2006
5,338
476
126
The 7970 only seen my rig for about 2 weeks, so yes, a 3770k. I immediately was unimpressed coming from a 680. I was trying to save a couple $$ by selling my 680 but it didn't seem worth it until now since I have the 670.

Its really a win-win for me because I intend to SLI later on. I can't xfire 7970s with a 650w PSU. I guess I will find out later if there are performance issues going on when I install this card.

Revenger, since you have the 670 GTX have you had a chance to run multiple monitors ? Not alot of reviews for either the 680 or 670 GTX with 3 monitors. The 7970, on paper, appeared to have an edge with 3g Vram vs the 2g of the Nvidia. However, I upgraded rig 2 below from an AMD 6970 that had 2 g Vram to a 680 GTX that also had 2g Vram and noticed a significant difference in game play (I love flight sims but also tried COD MW3 and BF3). Your thoughts/
 
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Rvenger

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator <br> Video Cards
Apr 6, 2004
6,283
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81
I only run a single 27" right now actually. I think multiple monitors will be ok with 2g. That has been proven over at OCN but for the future its kinda iffy right now.