7970Ghz, GTX690 or Titan

OleMortenF

Member
Sep 18, 2012
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Hey guys. I have a Sapphire 7970Ghz and I am not happy with the performance.
I have tried two 7970Ghz in CrossfireX but I think there's too much noise and I experience Micro stuttering, which I am not happy with.

I would like something faster, but I don't wanna run 7970Ghz Crossfire.
So what do u suggest I do?

GTX690 or 1 Titan?

I read that GTX690 is a little slower than 7970Ghz Crossfire, but when I read some reviews it doesnt look like much too me. I also saw GTX680SLI but it doesn't look like GTX690 is that much slower.
 

Deltaechoe

Member
Feb 18, 2013
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If you don't mind playing on only one monitor and don't mind waiting for possible SLI compatibility driver updates, then going with a 690 is a good buy.

However, if you don't want to worry about SLI stuff, the titan appears to be a pretty beastly single GPU that takes well to slight overclocking which put it relatively close to a stock 690 (enthusiast flame shield up). The only problem with it is that for the performance you get, it is definitely the most expensive of the 3.
 

OleMortenF

Member
Sep 18, 2012
69
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I am only gonna play on one monitor. The Sapphire 7970Ghz is a good card, but my plan was to run two Sapphire 7970Ghz CrossfireX and I am not happy with the noise level and micro stuttering. I know I could water cool it or change fans but I don't wanna bother with it, the warranty also goes away.
 

ShintaiDK

Lifer
Apr 22, 2012
20,378
145
106
I would go Titan. Simply to avoid the dreadful AFR plus the mess. (SLI/Crossfire).
 

Fx1

Golden Member
Aug 22, 2012
1,215
5
81
without monitor details peoples comments are a total waste of time reading.

Love how all the idiots on here go "get titan"

Fact is that if you are at 1080p then Titan is a waste of time for any game today. If you want to spend £840 on a GPU then you need your head looking at.

A £279 XFX 7970 Can play every game at 1080p on max settings. Even Crysis 3 can be played on Very high with FXAA or 2xMSAA maybe higher with newer drivers.

If you run big resolutions then your either going to have to pay for an SLI setup or compromise on quality. There are good SLI setups which dont cost £840 either. 2x 660 ti apparently have very good performance at half the price of a titan.

Titans performance doesnt justify its price tag and when the new generation of GPU's arrives you might find that your £840 card performs only as good as the latest £350 GPU from AMD OR Nvidia.

Personally if i was going SLI then id get 2x 670 GTX which you can probably overclock easily to 690 GTX performance for less money

I ran a 460 GTX SLI for 2 years and had no problems at all
 
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Unoid

Senior member
Dec 20, 2012
461
0
76
I'm in the same boat but I got a 680 that OCs well.

I game at 1440p and find myself turning down some of the more taxing options like ambient occlusion and some shadow quality in FC3/NS2 and of course Crysis3.

I could buy a few Titans right now if I wanted to however I would rather play games at 1080P or with some options turned down. $1000 to see a little better lighting and shadowing still ain't worth it.

On the other hand, If you need a titan for productivity (CUDA/openCL) then a titan would be an awesome product.

I may buy a used 680 for SLI eventually (christmas is a long ways off for next gen cards)
 

moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
3,095
136
I'm in the same boat but I got a 680 that OCs well.

I game at 1440p and find myself turning down some of the more taxing options like ambient occlusion and some shadow quality in FC3/NS2 and of course Crysis3.

I could buy a few Titans right now if I wanted to however I would rather play games at 1080P or with some options turned down. $1000 to see a little better lighting and shadowing still ain't worth it.

On the other hand, If you need a titan for productivity (CUDA/openCL) then a titan would be an awesome product.

I may buy a used 680 for SLI eventually (christmas is a long ways off for next gen cards)

Good point. I think we can get by with our lowly 600 series cards for a while :D. Wouldn't it be fun though to buy a $1,000 card and then have a $450 card come within 20% of its performance in 9 months?
Also, imagine an updated version of the AMD cards...a 7970 is already so fast, imagine if they tweaked the things and got another 20% for $450-500. Personally, if that happened in 9 months to a year, i'd be puking if I bought a Titan. Thats just me though.
 
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UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
1,546
0
76
without monitor details peoples comments are a total waste of time reading.

Love how all the idiots on here go "get titan"

Fact is that if you are at 1080p then Titan is a waste of time for any game today. If you want to spend £840 on a GPU then you need your head looking at.

A £279 XFX 7970 Can play every game at 1080p on max settings. Even Crysis 3 can be played on Very high with FXAA or 2xMSAA maybe higher with newer drivers.

If you run big resolutions then your either going to have to pay for an SLI setup or compromise on quality.

:thumbsup: well said.

with the exception of crysis 3.

1920x1080p 60hz - all you reallie need is single 580.
 

OleMortenF

Member
Sep 18, 2012
69
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0
Sorry for not posting specs.

This is my setup.
Intel® Core i7-3770K Processor @ 4.6Ghz with Corsair H80 Hydro Cooling
SAPPHIRE HD 7970 3GB Vapor-X Edition Overclocked
G.SKILL [RipjawsZ] 16GB
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 240GB 2.5"
ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE, Socket-1155
Corsair AX 1200W PSU
Windows 8

I am playing with 1 monitor @ 1080p.

The thing is I am not happy with 7970Ghz in CrossfireX because its way too noisy for me, and I dont wanna start changing fans or watercool it.
So I am wondering if I should sell mine and get a GTX690 instead. I can get a GTX690 cheap from a friend.

Also from alot of reviews I have read, sometimes the 7970Ghz CrossfireX is faster than GTX690 and sometimes GTX690 is faster.

So what would u guys do if u had the money, 1 7970Ghz or 1 GTX690 ?
 

3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
11,951
204
106
Ever thought of upgrading to a higher res monitor? That would be the first thing I would do before I upgraded my video card. Of course, that makes the 690 a bit iffy with only 2gig of VRAM.
 

OleMortenF

Member
Sep 18, 2012
69
0
0
Yeah I read it only has 2gig of VRAM. I am not sure what too do, the whole plan was to run 7970Ghz CrossfireX but I am not happy with it.

Well I dont know, I actually like to play on 1080p but I dont think that 1 7970Ghz gives me enough FPS. I am very unsure what too do, I guess it will take a long time before AMD releases any new cards.
 

OleMortenF

Member
Sep 18, 2012
69
0
0
Well, Dead Space 3, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3. I cant play on maximum without getting 30-40FPS. I built a new computer recently to play with graphics on Very High. And I am a little disappointed with that, I was wondering if the GTX690 would be worth $650 and sell mine.
 

Lepton87

Platinum Member
Jul 28, 2009
2,544
9
81
If your not happy with the performance of a Radeon 7970GHz chances are you won't be happy with a Titan either. It's just 25% faster. Unfortunately Titan can't be made substantially faster by overclocking due to that ultra conservative power limit of 265W. The question is how unhappy you are with your 7970. If just a tiny little bit Titan might make you comfortable but so can OCing that Radeon. 25% is noticeable but nothing groundbreaking and certainly not worth double the price tag. If you are already considering a Titan chances are money isn't a huge issue so just get 3-4 Titans and be done with it.
 

MrK6

Diamond Member
Aug 9, 2004
4,458
4
81
Well, Dead Space 3, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3. I cant play on maximum without getting 30-40FPS. I built a new computer recently to play with graphics on Very High. And I am a little disappointed with that, I was wondering if the GTX690 would be worth $650 and sell mine.
If you're getting 30-40FPS with an overclocked 7970 GHz edition, buying a Titan still isn't going to get you to 60FPS, it's just not that much faster. Same really with the GTX 690, only you'll have microstutter to deal with as well (although from some reviews it seems like you get it with Titan too, so I'm not sure there's any escape). At 1080p, most of these higher end cards can't flex their muscles as designed because the resolution constrains them. I would look at the settings you're applying, especially AA modes, and think hard about whether dumping $100's on poorly optimized code is worth it to you.
 

Lepton87

Platinum Member
Jul 28, 2009
2,544
9
81
If you're getting 30-40FPS with an overclocked 7970 GHz edition, buying a Titan still isn't going to get you to 60FPS, it's just not that much faster. Same really with the GTX 690, only you'll have microstutter to deal with as well (although from some reviews it seems like you get it with Titan too, so I'm not sure there's any escape). At 1080p, most of these higher end cards can't flex their muscles as designed because the resolution constrains them. I would look at the settings you're applying, especially AA modes, and think hard about whether dumping $100's on poorly optimized code is worth it to you.

Overall Titan it's not that much faster then a Radeon 7970GHz but its advantage is very game dependent, 7970 at 1350MHz should match a stock Titan across a wide variety of games but in Crysis 3, a Titan is significantly faster than 7970GHz. About 60% faster.
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
0
Okay, now I think the 7970 is a great GPU - It's a great deal at 380$ or whatever it sells for, and it's a much better deal than the Titan. But i'm honestly in disbelief at some of the stuff i'm reading here about the 7970 overclocked matching a Titan. What? You can't be serious can you? The 7970 has good stuff going for it eg. price and we all know the Titan is a relatively poor value.

But 7970GE matching Titan in some games ahhhhhh what? :confused:
 

MooseParade

Member
Feb 26, 2013
30
0
0
If you're not getting 30fps with your setup I think you need to take a look at apps / programs that are killing your resources. There's no way your rig should not be getting playable framerates, especially with a Vapor-X
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
0
If you're not getting 30fps with your setup I think you need to take a look at apps / programs that are killing your resources. There's no way your rig should not be getting playable framerates, especially with a Vapor-X

I actually agree with this. A single 7970 should be killing it at 1080p. I don't know what the issue is, but make sure your CCC is set to use application preference for everything, and don't use MLAA, supersampling or EQAA. Keep in mind that those latter settings are system killers (maybe not MLAA) and should only be used in old games...you can easily hijack your performance in CCC if you're not careful.
 
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Lepton87

Platinum Member
Jul 28, 2009
2,544
9
81
Okay, now I think the 7970 is a great GPU - It's a great deal at 380$ or whatever it sells for, and it's a much better deal than the Titan. But i'm honestly in disbelief at some of the stuff i'm reading here about the 7970 overclocked matching a Titan. What? You can't be serious can you? The 7970 has good stuff going for it eg. price and we all know the Titan is a relatively poor value.

But 7970GE matching Titan in some games ahhhhhh what? :confused:

Titan is just about 25% faster then 7970GE.

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2013/test-nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan/7/

This one can pretty match a stock titan when overclocked.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012...970_platinum_video_card_review/1#.UTOEp1dI408

1350337975kpLWqATHq4_1_20_l.gif


Do you really think that at those clocks it's still no match for a STOCK titan?
 
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MrK6

Diamond Member
Aug 9, 2004
4,458
4
81
Titan is just about 25% faster then 7970GE.

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2013/test-nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan/7/

This one can pretty match a stock titan when overclocked.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012...970_platinum_video_card_review/1#.UTOEp1dI408

1350337975kpLWqATHq4_1_20_l.gif


Do you really think that at those clocks it's still no match for a STOCK titan?
Yeah, mathematically and empirically it's pretty sound. I think a 7970 @ 1.3GHz+ and vRAM at 1700MHz+ will give a stock Titan a run for its money in a lot of games. On top of that, I think people are getting on average what, ~15% more performance with an overclocked Titan compared to stock? I just don't think you're getting that much more with Titan at the moment. I think the gap will widen once the drivers for Titan are more mature, but by then Maxwell or whatever is next may be right around the corner.
 

AdamK47

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
15,168
2,829
126
You can get some crazy good deals from people selling 690s now that the Titan is released.