7970 Price Drop vs 770 Price/Performance Value?

[Elfear]

ooh not bad. Voltage unlocked right?

I bought that card a couple months ago and it is unlocked. Great cooler too.

 

[Attic]

7970ghz for 360...

Wow. That almost gets me in the game.

 

[Nietzsche-san]

Probably not, it's a Sapphire.

Still the Vapor-X for $285 after rebate is a better deal than that 7970.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202003

I'm so tempted to just buy it, considering I've been told you only lose 5% performance compared to the 7970 when OCing; I want to wait for Sea Islands..but so juicy, my glob.


First thing I need to do is get a modulated PSU, though. 750w probably.

 

[lilrayray69]

So was there a price drop on the 7970, the 770, or both?

I'd think the 7970ghz would be a better choice - 3GB of VRAM and 384 bit vs 2GB of VRAM and 256 bit

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
but then according to benchmarks the 770 beats it out pretty handily, I'm guessing due to higher frequency clocks...I only wish the 770 had 3GB of VRAM, as I think 2GB won't be enough for coming games

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I don't think either will have enough performance for upcoming games, does any gpu ever fit that bill?

 

[3DVagabond]

So was there a price drop on the 7970, the 770, or both?

I'd think the 7970ghz would be a better choice - 3GB of VRAM and 384 bit vs 2GB of VRAM and 256 bit

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
but then according to benchmarks the 770 beats it out pretty handily, I'm guessing due to higher frequency clocks...I only wish the 770 had 3GB of VRAM, as I think 2GB won't be enough for coming games

Basically the choice hasn't really changed. The 770 has the Samsung GDDR5 chips and slightly higher reference clocks than the 680. Other than that it's pretty much business as usual.

I would think anyone who thought the 7970 was a better choice than the 680 won't change their mind because of these minor updates to the 680. Likewise, anyone who thought the 680 was the better option will see these changes as icing on the cake.

It is nice to see nVidia do an upgrade to the build quality, as that was one area that they were lacking on compared to Tahiti, IMO. I'm sure others mileage will vary though.

 

[Elfear]

So was there a price drop on the 7970, the 770, or both?

I'd think the 7970ghz would be a better choice - 3GB of VRAM and 384 bit vs 2GB of VRAM and 256 bit

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
but then according to benchmarks the 770 beats it out pretty handily, I'm guessing due to higher frequency clocks...I only wish the 770 had 3GB of VRAM, as I think 2GB won't be enough for coming games

Sorry but that's about the worst benchmark out there to compare video cards besides maybe Aquamark. Most reviews show the two cards within 1-3% of each other.

 

[24601]

Probably not, it's a Sapphire.

Still the Vapor-X for $285 after rebate is a better deal than that 7970.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202003

The
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008

Is the exact one I have. It's a 2.3 slot card that's voltage unlocked.

If you don't do MIRs (as I don't) though I would get this one instead
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161412

It's got the best cooler on the market at the moment for 7970s.

Only reason I purchased the Sapphire 7970 was because the HIS one was out of stock at the time.

 

[Vaux]

Ah man now I am having second thoughts. I paid $460 for the 7970ghz which is too much now that i see how much they are selling for online. It was kind of an impulse buy at Micro Center because of the free games. But, I could return the card, keep the games, (dude even said I could) and pick up a 770 gigabyte for $409 that they have, (wasn't in stock when I was there) or just get a 770 online. Tempting. It's like an hour drive to get there though.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I'd just keep what you have, but unless you got a Lightning 7970 you got ripped off.

 

[Stuka87]

Probably not, it's a Sapphire.

Still the Vapor-X for $285 after rebate is a better deal than that 7970.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202003

I have personally not seen any Sapphires that are voltage locked.

 

[rgallant]

Ah man now I am having second thoughts. I paid $460 for the 7970ghz which is too much now that i see how much they are selling for online. It was kind of an impulse buy at Micro Center because of the free games. But, I could return the card, keep the games, (dude even said I could) and pick up a 770 gigabyte for $409 that they have, (wasn't in stock when I was there) or just get a 770 online. Tempting. It's like an hour drive to get there though.

just saying
-4 gb gtx 770 won't be $409.00 so not apple to apple

 

[yacoub]

If you don't do MIRs (as I don't) though I would get this one instead
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161412

It's got the best cooler on the market at the moment for 7970s.

Is there an easy way to tell whether that is a 7970 or a 7970 GHz Edition?

Thanks.

 

[Rvenger]

I have personally not seen any Sapphires that are voltage locked.

Flex models seem to be.

 

[Stuka87]

Flex models seem to be.

Ah ok. And the only reason to get a Flex model is if you want to run 4-5 displays off one card.

 

[24601]

Is there an easy way to tell whether that is a 7970 or a 7970 GHz Edition?

Thanks.

It's not a GHz Edition, but its got identical PCB and cooler, so it doesn't really matter. I seriously don't even think it's got different binned chips to be honest, since they don't even have different stickers on the heatsink.

One has Ghz bios, one doesn't.

 

[Nietzsche-san]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202001

And boom. Vapor-x at 389.

 

[RussianSensation]

url]http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html[/url]
but then according to benchmarks the 770 beats it out pretty handily, I'm guessing due to higher frequency clocks...

Passmark? Biggest waste of time in the history of all benchmarks for GPUs.

I would rely on real world reviews.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...1369-nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-2gb-review-5.html

The GTX 770 Phantom was 7% faster than the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
http://www.techspot.com/review/678-gainward-geforce-gtx-770/page9.html

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2013/nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-im-test/4/

If value is the biggest goal, I'd wait for GTX760 to drop on June 25th to see what happens to prices. Right now HD7950 V2 cards for $280-285 offer some of the best value once overclocked.

$280 HD7950 V2 @ 1100mhz and pocket $120 towards a 20nm GPU upgrade is what I would do unless GTX760Ti is even better in 10 days.

Also with a stock Lynnfield, I wouldn't spend $ on a $370-400 GPU. The performance advantage HD7970GE/770 have over HD7950 OC will get wiped out almost completely by that stock 2.8ghz CPU. I'd rather pick up a $40 solid CPU cooler and overclock that processor before dropping $400 on a 770.

 

[Nietzsche-san]

Passmark? Biggest waste of time in the history of all benchmarks for GPUs.

I would rely on real world reviews.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...1369-nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-2gb-review-5.html

The GTX 770 Phantom was 7% faster than the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
http://www.techspot.com/review/678-gainward-geforce-gtx-770/page9.html

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2013/nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-im-test/4/

If value is the biggest goal, I'd wait for GTX760 to drop on June 25th to see what happens to prices. Right now HD7950 V2 cards for $280-285 offer some of the best value once overclocked.

$280 HD7950 V2 @ 1100mhz and pocket $120 towards a 20nm GPU upgrade is what I would do unless GTX760Ti is even better in 10 days.

Also with a stock Lynnfield, I wouldn't spend $ on a $370-400 GPU. The performance advantage HD7970GE/770 have over HD7950 OC will get wiped out almost completely by that stock 2.8ghz CPU. I'd rather pick up a $40 solid CPU cooler and overclock that processor before dropping $400 on a 770.

I have this guy. I'll probably end up waiting for Volcanic Islands, as I'm still spending so much time with games that my 470 can handle. I just love knowing the market. When I finish FFXIII and start playing Arkham City again, I'll be OCing my GPU and CPU and test what clock speeds are most efficient.

 

[MrK6]

I have this guy. I'll probably end up waiting for Volcanic Islands, as I'm still spending so much time with games that my 470 can handle. I just love knowing the market. When I finish FFXIII and start playing Arkham City again, I'll be OCing my GPU and CPU and test what clock speeds are most efficient.

That's a solid CPU cooler and should take your Lynnfield to 3.6GHz+ easily. I've built several symptoms with that or it's older iterations and have had fantastic results. They can't be beaten for the price.

All that said, I never see a problem with waiting if your current card is doing what you like, especially if it isn't even overclocked yet.

 

[crashtech]

oops, wrong thread.