HEXUS: GTX 680 vs. HD 7970 @ same clocks

[Gikaseixas]

With a lot of debates going on about who has more speed at a given clock rate i think this review will help settle things a bit. Enjoy

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/37209-geforce-gtx-680-vs-radeon-hd-7970-clocks/

Hexus Conlusion:
We deliberately use very high-quality settings in our games that are expressly designed to exact the greatest toll on the GPUs. GeForce GTX 680 and Radeon HD 7970 are both consummate performers at the full-HD, 1,920x1,080 resolution common on many monitors.

Playing through the games shows us that it's actually very difficult to categorically say that one GPU is significantly faster than the other; a Radeon HD 7970's performance feels like a GTX 680's.

And this feeling is reinforced in the crazy-resolution (2,560x1,600) numbers. Such is the load at this setting that even these high-end monsters begin to buckle; we notice the occasional slowdown and lack of silky-smooth rendering.

The GeForce GTX 680 is the fastest single-GPU card around and nothing we've witnessed in this editorial changes our view of that fact. It's also faster, on average, than a same-clocked HD 7970, though it's almost close enough to call it a draw.

GeForce GTX 680 has been lavished with bombastic praise since its arrival last week. Most of this is deserved, because it is a mighty fine high-end GPU. Our numbers and real-world playing also tell us that it would be foolish to dismiss the Radeon HD 7970, for it's also a very good enthusiast-orientated card.

The corollary of this evaluation is startlingly simple: one cannot buy a bad high-end card right now. Yet spending £400 on a single graphics card entails making a hard choice. Knowing what we do and having played game after game and seen more benchmark results than are advisable, our advice would be to opt for the GeForce GTX 680, unless your particular game du jour happens to run better on Radeon hardware.

 

[Hallowed_Dragon]

So the cards are practically equal @ the same speeds. It all comes down to whichever is cheaper were you can buy it.

 

[Gikaseixas]

To me it will come down to whoever can improve the most via drivers optimization. The extra performance from updates will be critical for each manufacturer. AMD has more work to do if they're hoping to get closer to GTX 680 performance-wise.

The end user needs to decide what to buy based on features, games they own/play and price. This remindes me of 7900 GTX vs 1900 XTX times...

 

[Hallowed_Dragon]

To me it comes down to overclocking to 1.1GHz when I get home to exceed the 680

 

[Keysplayr]

So the cards are practically equal @ the same speeds. It all comes down to whichever is cheaper were you can buy it.

To me it comes down to overclocking to 1.1GHz when I get home to exceed the 680

"The GeForce GTX 680 is the fastest single-GPU card around and nothing we've witnessed in this editorial changes our view of that fact. It's also faster, on average, than a same-clocked HD 7970, though it's almost close enough to call it a draw."

I think you'll need to go a bit further than 1.1GHz.

 

[lavaheadache]

If my 7970 wasn't a set it and forget it ccc panel 1125/1575 card I could see myself being interested in a GTX 680.

 

[Silverforce11]

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/37209-geforce-gtx-680-vs-radeon-hd-7970-clocks/?page=10

6% deficit at 1080p, 3.2% deficit at 1600p for a 7970 @ 1.06 ghz. In a benchmark that has 4 out of 5 games that are NV favored. Only shogun 2 on that list is AMD favored. If your 7970 does 1.1ghz, on that benchmark, its even to a "stock" gtx680.

Obviously casting the net to wider games, a 7970 at 1.1ghz would probably beat a gtx680. It's still using more power so I wouldn't go for it, but it just shows what a lot of reviews have already shown, OC 7970s are pretty damn fast.

 

[Don Karnage]

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/37209-geforce-gtx-680-vs-radeon-hd-7970-clocks/?page=10

6% deficit at 1080p, 3.2% deficit at 1600p for a 7970 @ 1.06 ghz. In a benchmark that has 4 out of 5 games that are NV favored. Only shogun 2 on that list is AMD favored. If your 7970 does 1.1ghz, on that benchmark, its even to a "stock" gtx680.

Obviously casting the net to wider games, a 7970 at 1.1ghz would probably beat a gtx680. It's still using more power so I wouldn't go for it, but it just shows what a lot of reviews have already shown, OC 7970s are pretty damn fast.

Doesn't matter. 7970 is still 85 dollars overpriced. If they were the same price it would be a different story. Point is that its slower and more expensive

 

[Silverforce11]

Doesn't matter. 7970 is still 85 dollars overpriced. If they were the same price it would be a different story. Point is that its slower and more expensive

Only in the continental US.

I had a quick look around in Asia, Oceania and Europe and 7970s are the same price or cheaper. Crazy markup on gtx680s.

I'm looking to get a gtx680 because its amazing perf/w and small physical card size, it's ~$50 USD above a 7970 and mostly sold out..

I'm about to move to Switzerland for a few years to work, stuff there is cheaper than a lot of Europe but check it out:

http://www.pcp.ch/Asus-GTX680-2GD5-2GB-1a16325064.htm
http://www.pcp.ch/Asus-HD7970-DC2-3GD5-1a16260482.htm <- custom cooler version as well

S.E Asia market is very similar to this:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=193_1377 gtx680 @ $699
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=193_1309 7970 ~$600

 

[Hallowed_Dragon]

"The GeForce GTX 680 is the fastest single-GPU card around and nothing we've witnessed in this editorial changes our view of that fact. It's also faster, on average, than a same-clocked HD 7970, though it's almost close enough to call it a draw."

I think you'll need to go a bit further than 1.1GHz.

Ok, ok, I'll make it 1125 .
Now in all seriousness when 680 first got reviewed I got a little upset at the 50$ price difference. But after some days when it first appeared here I saw that the 680 is @ the same price as the 7970 depending on the model (sometimes is more expensive). Regarding electricity I seriously doubt that I will notice any difference. My bills are not that high anyway.

 

[Keysplayr]

Ok, ok, I'll make it 1125 .
Now in all seriousness when 680 first got reviewed I got a little upset at the 50$ price difference. But after some days when it first appeared here I saw that the 680 is @ the same price as the 7970 depending on the model (sometimes is more expensive). Regarding electricity I seriously doubt that I will notice any difference. My bills are not that high anyway.

You bought yourself a nice video card. No need to reassure yourself.

 

[Hallowed_Dragon]

You bought yourself a nice video card. No need to reassure yourself.

Yeah, I know, this is the problem with early adopters. I actually bought the card the first day it appeared online in Romania. I was a bit upset that 2 weeks later it dropped in price with the equivalent of 75$. I bought mine with almost 800$.
You guys in the US got it easy

 

[Termie]

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/37209-geforce-gtx-680-vs-radeon-hd-7970-clocks/?page=10

6% deficit at 1080p, 3.2% deficit at 1600p for a 7970 @ 1.06 ghz. In a benchmark that has 4 out of 5 games that are NV favored. Only shogun 2 on that list is AMD favored. If your 7970 does 1.1ghz, on that benchmark, its even to a "stock" gtx680.

Obviously casting the net to wider games, a 7970 at 1.1ghz would probably beat a gtx680. It's still using more power so I wouldn't go for it, but it just shows what a lot of reviews have already shown, OC 7970s are pretty damn fast.

Honestly, talk of "nvidia-favored games" has got to stop. I'm tired of making excuses for AMD (and you can see what cards I have).

AMD loses badly in BF3. Not making excuses that it's an nvidia game - in fact, it was originally released as a Gaming Evolved game, or least it was being advertised with AMD branding.

AMD loses in highly-regarded/popular games like Batman and Crysis 2. Well, if these are games people are playing, the performance matters, regardless of where nvidia threw its money.

And then it goes and loses in Shogun, the one game that is supposedly an AMD game.

Lame. It's over, Nvidia won this round. With a list of "AMD games" that I can count on one hand, the argument that certain games are nvidia-biased and shouldn't be benchmarked is getting old.

 

[Axon]

Well, this just confirms what I had already suspected given the stock clocks of the cards. Additionally, I agree that the drivers are what will truly distinguish the two. Nonetheless, a slight edge still to the 680.

 

[Hallowed_Dragon]

Honestly, talk of "nvidia-favored games" has got to stop. I'm tired of making excuses for AMD (and you can see what cards I have).

AMD loses badly in BF3. Not making excuses that it's an nvidia game - in fact, it was originally released as a Gaming Evolved game, or least it was being advertised with AMD branding.

AMD loses in highly-regarded/popular games like Batman and Crysis 2. Well, if these are games people are playing, the performance matters, regardless of where nvidia threw its money.

And then it goes and loses in Shogun, the one game that is supposedly an AMD game.

Lame. It's over, Nvidia won this round. With a list of "AMD games" that I can count on one hand, the argument that certain games are nvidia-biased and shouldn't be benchmarked is getting old.

I agree, it should't matter to the end user which company supported the creation of a game if no foul play is made because of this. If it loses in a game, it loses and that is that.

 

[Chiropteran]

Unless you do any non-gaming with your GPU. Then the 680 loses badly.

 

[Silverforce11]

Honestly, talk of "nvidia-favored games" has got to stop. I'm tired of making excuses for AMD (and you can see what cards I have).

AMD loses badly in BF3. Not making excuses that it's an nvidia game - in fact, it was originally released as a Gaming Evolved game, or least it was being advertised with AMD branding.

AMD loses in highly-regarded/popular games like Batman and Crysis 2. Well, if these are games people are playing, the performance matters, regardless of where nvidia threw its money.

And then it goes and loses in Shogun, the one game that is supposedly an AMD game.

Lame. It's over, Nvidia won this round. With a list of "AMD games" that I can count on one hand, the argument that certain games are nvidia-biased and shouldn't be benchmarked is getting old.

What exactly is untrue about my remarks? Did you not see other reviews that include more than 4-6 games? TPU, computerbase.de, gap at "stock turbo gtx680" vs stock 7970, tiny performance gap thats 3% at 1600p, 8% at 1080p... you notice 3% difference? That's at stock. Oc vs Oc, 7970s wins in raw performance, loses in power use. Whats not correct about that?

As to losing badly in BF3, it does not. 2-3 fps difference when averages are >60 and mins are >45 is not losing badly. Thats a 7970 @ 1,058mhz. You forgot JC2, another TWIMTBP game. It's about as unbiased as tweaktowns reviews, 6/8 benches are TWIMTBP titles. lol

Obviously your smaller your list of games, the more easier it is to bias for one product over another. Bigger sample size, better data, statistics 101.

 

[Termie]

What exactly is untrue about my remarks? Did you not see other reviews that include more than 4-6 games? TPU, computerbase.de, gap at "stock turbo gtx680" vs stock 7970, tiny performance gap thats 3% at 1600p, 8% at 1080p... you notice 3% difference? That's at stock. Oc vs Oc, 7970s wins in raw performance, loses in power use. Whats not correct about that?

As to losing badly in BF3, it does not. 2-3 fps difference when averages are >60 and mins are >45 is not losing badly. Thats a 7970 @ 1,058mhz. You forgot JC2, another TWIMTBP game. It's about as unbiased as tweaktowns reviews, 6/8 benches are TWIMTBP titles. lol

Obviously your smaller your list of games, the more easier it is to bias for one product over another. Bigger sample size, better data, statistics 101.

At 1080p, the 680 absolutely kills the 7970, regardless of clocks.

But I don't want to pick a fight with you...you're a fellow 5850 owner who is clearly impressed by the 680.

 

[SirPauly]

Even with similar clocks at 1600p --- the GTX 680 did well.

 

[Olikan]

AMD loses badly in BF3. Not making excuses that it's an nvidia game - in fact, it was originally released as a Gaming Evolved game, or least it was being advertised with AMD branding.

BF3 is supported by both, amd and nvidia...
that's why we have FXAA, and the HD6970 beats the GTX570

 

[BrightCandle]

I think its fairly clear the 680 GTX is the better card. Its cheaper, cooler, performs better and may even run smoother. I have had the benefit of my 7970's for 3 months at this point however so the 680 is a little late to the party. Its not faster enough to force an upgrade if you already have a 7970 but if you are choosing between the two I think the 7970 is not the choice to make as it currently stands, dependent of course on when the 680 becomes available.

This round goes to NVidia, but its quite close. I am really hoping NVidia's cards later this year show a compelling advantage that I want to have.

 

[Axon]

I think its fairly clear the 680 GTX is the better card. Its cheaper, cooler, performs better and may even run smoother. I have had the benefit of my 7970's for 3 months at this point however so the 680 is a little late to the party. Its not faster enough to force an upgrade if you already have a 7970 but if you are choosing between the two I think the 7970 is not the choice to make as it currently stands, dependent of course on when the 680 becomes available.

This round goes to NVidia, but its quite close. I am really hoping NVidia's cards later this year show a compelling advantage that I want to have.

Let's not forget, the 680 is the 104 architecture, not the 110...

 

[RussianSensation]

Honestly, talk of "nvidia-favored games" has got to stop. I'm tired of making excuses for AMD (and you can see what cards I have).

Excellent post! :thumbsup: Gamers buy cards for the games they play. If the majority of the games play better on 1 brand, then it's logical to buy that brand assuming similar price.

Right now the cheapest HD7970 in US is a $530 version with a loud blower fan that's not really suitable for high overclocks. In HEXUS's review a stock HD7970 only got 86.6% performance of GTX680 at 1080P. That means AMD is effectively asking us to pay $612 in adjusted dollars for GTX680 level of performance at stock ($530 / 0.866). That means HD7970 has roughly 23% worse performance per dollar at stock speeds than a 680 ($612 / $499 for same performance).

Once you start overclocking the 7970, it's reasonable to get a quieter aftermarket version. The cheapest ones runs at $550+.

In US the 7970 needs to drop to $450 for reference and $500 for aftermarket versions since it still consumes more power for a similar level of performance when overclocked to the max on air. Most vendor 7970s also have shorter warranties.

Hardware Heaven was able to overclock their Palit GTX680 JetStream to 1354mhz on air. These 1250-1300+ overclocks on 680s are dime a dozen now while seeing 1200-1250mhz HD7970 on air is more rare.

Once after-market 680s come out, unlocked BIOSes are released, TDP max is raised from 132% in Precision X to 150%+, HD7970 will even lose its overclocking advantage. However, HD7970 owners would be wasting $ side-grading. They should just save up for HD8790/GK110, etc. for a more tangible upgrade.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Game selection is biased in favor of NVIDIA in this review, so you need to add games that are GPU-neutral or biased in favor of AMD to counter it out.

With that in mind, where's Metro 2033, Stalker: Call of Pripyat, Starcraft II, and Skyrim?

If you don't look at just NVIDIA-biased titles, both at the same clock speed would be in a dead heat.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Excellent post! :thumbsup:

Right now the cheapest HD7970 in US is a $530 version with a loud blower fan. In HEXUS's review a stock HD7970 only got 86.6% performance of GTX680.

That means you are effectively paying $612 for GTX680 level of performance at stock ($530 / 0.866). That means HD7970 has roughly 23% worse performance per dollar at stock speeds ($612 / $499 for same performance).

Once you start overclocking the 7970, you are getting into quieter aftermarket versions. The cheapest ones runs at $550+.

In US the 7970 needs to drop to $450 for reference and $500 for aftermarket since it still consumes more power for a similar level of performance when overclocked to the max on air.

Hardware Heaven was able to overclock their Palit GTX680 JetStream to 1354mhz on air.

Once after-market 680s come out, unlocked BIOSes are released, power tune is raised from 132% in Precision X to 150%+, HD7970 will even lose its overclocking advantage.

Pretty easy to say when the game selection is limited to five titles, most of which favor NVIDIA.

And GK104 has worse frequency scaling than Tahiti, so you'll get more performance out of overclocking an HD 7970 than a GTX 680. But, at the same time, it'll also consume significantly more power.