Buying a GTX 670 vs 7950

[Sarasvati]

With the current prices/bundles, I've been looking at the Gigabyte 670, the Sapphire OC 7950, and the new Vapor-X 7950. All of these cards seem to be great cards for gaming at 1080p or 1200p and should provide me with several years of good gaming performance, but I still have questions about things people generally don't ask.

The main concern to me is the rigidity of these cards; I can tell they all have bands running along the portion that's unsupported, but is that really enough over time? Second, I'd like low fan noise while gaming while keeping the temperatures down (would rather not have a card be a mini space heater). I know the Tahiti's consume a bit more power which generally means higher temps whereas the Keplers are a bit better in that regard.

Build quality of the Gigabyte as well as the great quiet cooling it has are definite pluses for me, but I still have a few itching questions that sway me. I like the Gigabyte a lot, but I'm not sure if the 2GB of vram should concern me down the line with 1080p/1200p compared to the 3GB and better memory bandwidth on the 7950's. Also the price is about $63 dollars more than the two 7950's considering the shipping costs of those. I'd probably play Borderlands 2 or Sleeping Dogs so those are both great to me.

Between the two Sapphire 7950's I couldn't really see the big differences other than the Boost feature which doesn't appear to be very useful or efficient. From what I've read it overvolts the card for a short period and the card boosts for a few seconds then it undervolts and underclocks itself causing unnecessary power consumption for very little fps.

I couldn't find any real information on the 950Mhz model as far as max temps/acoustics/power consumption just from reading user reviews. I'd definitely pull the trigger on one of these two cards if they were about as well-cooled and quiet as the Gigabyte 670.

I'm not against either brands, I'm just looking for a quiet, well-cooled and decent power efficiency. I'd prefer objective advice about these three cards and those concerns rather than what brand is better since I'm merely looking for the best performance:dollar. If there's anybody with these cards, it'd be cool to hear the pros and cons of them. Thanks for reading this and advice is greatly appreciated in advance.

 

[3DVagabond]

Keep in mind that in order to get the best performance out of the 7950 you have to O/C. With O/C'ing it has the potential to be faster than the 670, even in today's games. Moving ahead, more memory, more bandwidth, and superior DirectCompute and OpenCL will only become more important. We're already seeing games take advantage of it now (Alan Wake, Dirt Showdown, Sniper Elite V2). Between the 2 Sapphires the Vapor X has a better cooler (Vapor Chamber), but it is slightly over 2 slots.

 

[Borealis7]

after the recent price cuts, the 7950 is very attractive. get the vapor-X for better cooling.

 

[Durvelle27]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2265905

 

[Sarasvati]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2265905

That comparison benchmark doesn't tell me things such as temps, noise, or power consumption. I really would rather have a more efficient card and I'm not sure about how much power a 7950 would use at a 50% oc, but it seems like it'd be a lot. That's why I was asking these questions.

I've seen that hardocp link in probably every thread about any of these cards and it's quite obvious these three cards oc well, so that's not the issue at all here.

BTW, is there any way to disable the boost feature on the vapor-x, since I'd rather not have random voltage spikes up to 1.25v.

 

[Danik]

I would just do a google search for these questions. I was able to pull quite a few anecdotal threads regarding noise and power when hitting 1200 mhz on a 7950. Most people found the noise unbearable beyond 50% max fan speed. I went with the Gigabyte 670 prior to AMD driver improvements and the Ghz edition. I am quite pleased with the performance, power draw, and fan speed. I can play games with max settings at 1920x1080 without feeling like I'm in a wind turbine.

 

[l2ez4m]

.... how much power a 7950 would use at a 50% oc

That is if you'll be able to reach 400mhz OC on top of 800m. By doing that u'll probably need a serious volts - up to 1.275v or more. And in this range we are talking substantial increase in wattage ~250w on load, and this is surely becomes proper enthusiast territory.

Though on it's top/max OC gtx670 is pretty much close (or even) ~310-63=250ish W. So...

 

[IlllI]

from what i've read, sapphire has woeful customer support.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Vaporx is the boost model. I would avoid that one.

 

[Sarasvati]

Vaporx is the boost model. I would avoid that one.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/media/?psn=0004&articleID=4717

"[FONT=&quot]On its standard settings, the SAPPHIRE HD 7950 Vapor-X Edition engine clock runs at 850 MHz with 3GB of the latest DDR5 memory clocked at 5000 MHz effective. When the Dual BIOS button is operated, the base clocks are the same but the PowerTune Dynamic Boost is enabled allowing the clocks to rise to 950 MHz or more on the engine."

Looking over the Vapor-X it has a button that enables one or the other bios based on http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ACC_6193_DxO-300x199.jpg

Again I'm not sure if this information is right or wrong, but it seems like you can run the one bios setup without the boost on. I wish someone with the card knew. :/
[/FONT]

 

[Sarasvati]

from what i've read, sapphire has woeful customer support.

Is it really that bad? I can't stand companies that give don't like to replace an item within the warranty period.

 

[l2ez4m]

From hexus.net Sapphire 7950 VaporX review:
Press the Sapphire 'Lethal Boost' button found on the side of the card and PTWB (PowerTune with Boost) kicks in, offering a core speed up to 950MHz, which is 25MHz above AMD's own recommendation. This extra frequency is a one-step jump - the card either runs at 850MHz or 950MHz, and not anywhere in-between. Memory speed remains a default 5,000MHz, however.
And manual OC to 1160/6000 ''overrides the PTWB feature, meaning the card runs at an in-game 1,160/6,000MHz and doesn't boost still further''.
No biggie

 

[Zxian]

I have the Sapphire OC 7950. The stock cooler is definitely quiet enough for most people's needs.

 

[tviceman]

If you get a gtx670 that gets 7000mhz+ on the vram overclock, then it should be faster nearly all of the time vs. an overclocked hd7950 and the hd7950 is going to consume way, way more power than the gtx670 when both cards are maxed out on their overclocks. So if the little bit of extra speed, occasional physx, and lower power consumption is worth the extra $70 to you, then get the gtx670. If not, get the hd7950.

 

[TheInternal]

I've been really happy with the acoustics of my Gigabyte 670 OC cards. When I purchased them, it was due to the benchies suggesting the 670 regularly outperformed the 7950s... though I appreciate your concern on the VRAM. I don't think it's been an issue for me yet, personally. But I've thus far been running things at a lowly 1920x1200 max everything on my SLI 670 setup. The configuration has laughed at everything I've thrown it's way thus far.

 

[Sarasvati]

I've been really happy with the acoustics of my Gigabyte 670 OC cards. When I purchased them, it was due to the benchies suggesting the 670 regularly outperformed the 7950s... though I appreciate your concern on the VRAM. I don't think it's been an issue for me yet, personally. But I've thus far been running things at a lowly 1920x1200 max everything on my SLI 670 setup. The configuration has laughed at everything I've thrown it's way thus far.

1600p and 1400p are out of my range of cost and I'm not sure if I could fit one of those huge monitors alongside another. I can't imagine using much of my VRAM with a 1200p/1080p monitor unless I go nuts with high res texture packs (which I've never cared about).

The 7950 does a lot of things right, but I'm really not sure if I'd like it. If i kept them around 1000Mhz, would it still be a hot and loud card. I'd rather not have my room feel like a wind tunnel and feel as though a space heater is on.

 

[tviceman]

1600p and 1400p are out of my range of cost and I'm not sure if I could fit one of those huge monitors alongside another. I can't imagine using much of my VRAM with a 1200p/1080p monitor unless I go nuts with high res texture packs (which I've never cared about).

The 7950 does a lot of things right, but I'm really not sure if I'd like it. If i kept them around 1000Mhz, would it still be a hot and loud card. I'd rather not have my room feel like a wind tunnel and feel as though a space heater is on.

It sounds like you want the gtx670 then. You'd be happy with either card's performance, so IMO you can't go wrong either way. I have been very happy with my gtx670.

 

[Sarasvati]

I know this is a weird question, but does anybody know the actual length of the Gigabyte Windforce x3 7950. Their site lists it as 285mm, but I find it hard to believe it's over 11 inches vs the 670 being 275mm and the two sapphires being 275mm as well.

I did look over that one, but at that size it's cutting it really close for my case (Cool Master 690).

 

[hjalti8]

If you get a gtx670 that gets 7000mhz+ on the vram overclock, then it should be faster nearly all of the time vs. an overclocked hd7950

if a gtx670 at 1300/7000 isn´t faster than a 7950 at a meagre 1125/5816 in crysis2 then it definitely won't be faster most of the time vs a properly oc´d 7950

 

[Sarasvati]

if a gtx670 at 1300/7000 isn´t faster than a 7950 at a meagre 1125/5816 in crysis2 then it definitely won't be faster most of the time vs a properly oc´d 7950

Yeah I realize they're close in certain games, but I couldn't care less about CryTek games. Also, I can't imagine the temps/noise are great on a 24/7 stable clock such as that.

I don't mind overclocking, but when it's so extreme that I have to think about water cooling and keeping a window open all winter long I think it's beyond the scope of my uses. I'm just looking for a basic overclock that's comfortable to be around that gives 60fps @1080p, not an award for the highest benchmark.

 

[Rvenger]

Vaporx is the boost model. I would avoid that one.

It will have a modified bios and probably will not run at the higher voltage of the reference cards.

 

[ocre]

out of the box the 670 wins and uses less power. It will run very cool and quit. I like the design of the gigabyte and its triple fans.

If i was picking a card today with around 300 dollars to spend i would go after the 7950 over the 660ti for a couple reasons, one being overclocking. But i dont feel the same comparing the 7950 to the 670. If money wasnt stuck at 300$ i would 100% pick a 670. I would pick it over the 7950 for sure. Heck i would pick the 670 over the 680.

With just a slight push on a slider the 670 can best a 680. I bet any 670 would but this isnt all. The 670 would be that fast without using significant amounts of power. The 670 is nice.

 

[tviceman]

if a gtx670 at 1300/7000 isn´t faster than a 7950 at a meagre 1125/5816 in crysis2 then it definitely won't be faster most of the time vs a properly oc´d 7950

I said in most games. http://www.anandtech.com/show/5818/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-review-feat-evga/19

Crysis games and Metro will be faster on hd7950. OC'd gtx670 vs. stock hd7950 is 43% faster @1600p & 48% faster @1200p in Batman AC, 76% faster @1600p in Portal 2, 65% faster in BF3 @ 1600p... so even at 40% performance scaling with an overclock (which is probably a very best case scenario) hd7950 still slower at those games, while consuming massive more amounts of power. And a stock gtx670 is over 20% faster than a stock hd7950 in Skyrim @ 1600p, so that will end up faster there as well.

Back to what I was saying, both cards have their pluses and minuses. Either way the buyer should be happy with his purchase.

 

[Silverforce11]

You guys are talking as if its such an extreme to get 1.2ghz OC, its not. 1.3ghz? Sure, thats pretty top notch. Depending on your card, its also not noisy or hot. Personally I own a Powercolor PCS+, its the one with the lowest default vcore and comes preOC already. I run it at 1.2ghz and less than "stock" 7970volts, well below 1.2v, and the fan is the quietest out of the bunch. The next best would be Gigabyte's windforce, great cooling/noise, then Sapphire/MSI TF (they do get noisy above 50% fan).

7950s really suck a lot of power above 1.2vcore, and AMD is being so lame for setting their boost bios to 1.25vcore. It's nuts when PCS+ 7950s are running above stock speed at 0.987vcore, and other models have vcore around 1 - 1.087v, which for reference, pretty much every single review ive read managed to OC on stock volts to the CCC max 1050mhz. So if you worry about power use, just push it on stock vcore or <1.187v and you're golden.

For the price in many places, the 670 is ~25% more expensive, i would go for the 7950 with above brands. If you can get a 670 for < $50 difference, go for it, as you don't have to cbother with manual OC and still get great performance.

 

[hjalti8]

I said in most games. http://www.anandtech.com/show/5818/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-review-feat-evga/19

Crysis games and Metro will be faster on hd7950. OC'd gtx670 vs. stock hd7950 is 43% faster @1600p & 48% faster @1200p in Batman AC, 76% faster @1600p in Portal 2, 65% faster in BF3 @ 1600p... so even at 40% performance scaling with an overclock (which is probably a very best case scenario) hd7950 still slower at those games, while consuming massive more amounts of power. And a stock gtx670 is over 20% faster than a stock hd7950 in Skyrim @ 1600p, so that will end up faster there as well.

with new drivers the 7950 looks much better in those games :

but yeah the 670 will still beat the 7950 in BF3 and dominate it in portal3: