HEXUS: GTX 680 vs. HD 7970 @ same clocks

[Makaveli]

It was already a tough sell when AMD offered less performance for much less money - considering nVidia has some differentiation and flexibility -- try convincing the gamers that AMD is worth paying more for less performance --- good luck with that.

All comes down to the games you play. If more of the games you play run better on NV then you will certainly be looking that way. If they don't then you would consider amd.

For me personally the price different doesn't mean anything cause $50 difference to me on video's cards is nothing but to each is own. And same goes for power the difference is small enough for me not to care.

But as someone mentioned also how the drivers mature on both sides will be key.

 

[SirPauly]

Many different reasons to buy -- mine are tools and features --- how flexible they are and the quality with-in a moving environment. It's what my eyes see on the screen and this is why immersion and gaming experience potential is important.

Raw performance is only as good as the features and the flexible tools; to utilize the raw performance to me.

 

[Grooveriding]

Many different reasons to buy -- mine are tools and features --- how flexible they are and the quality with-in a moving environment. It's what my eyes see on the screen and this is why immersion and gaming experience potential is important.

Raw performance is only a good as the features and the flexible tools; to utilize the raw performance to me.

Forget all that, lets talk premiums, substantial/significant node changes and price/perf.

 

[Makaveli]

When was the last time guys we had a highend with both cards being this close?

I seem to remember bigger gaps in the previous generations at the highend in the price/performance metric?

 

[Termie]

When was the last time guys we had a highend with both cards being close?

I seem to remember bigger gaps in the previous generations at the highend in the price/performance metric?

7900GTX/x1950xtx in 2006:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2069/6

Interestingly, over time the x1950xtx pulled away, eventually leaving the 7900gtx in the dust, even in the same games: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2116/25

 

[notty22]

Both high end cards are now very good with DX11 / Tessellation
No one is frying eggs on cards or taping fan noise with decibel meters
No fear mongering on power use and overloading the electrical grid.
Both companies released full functional gpu's.

Most of the negatives above were considered Nvidia's problems. Though they had better dx11 performance for the most part. And more expensive.

Now Nvidia also has single card surround.

We just need to see how Nvidia fills in the rest of the lineup to counter the other new AMD 28nm cards !

 

[SirPauly]

Forget all that, lets talk premiums, substantial/significant node changes and price/perf.

Hehe, ok!

I really feel that the move to 28nm is substantial and significant yet the price/performance of both the HD 7970 and GTX 680 are more-so evolutionary and incremental. And because of this consumers are forced to pay more of a premium for performance based or compared with historical price/performance.

If one looks at the comparison with the GK-104 and the GF-114, really is a substantial and significant difference but by placing smaller chips in monolithic price/points -- price/performance sadly suffers.

It is what it is.

 

[Makaveli]

7900GTX/x1950xtx in 2006:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2069/6

Interestingly, over time the x1950xtx pulled away, eventually leaving the 7900gtx in the dust, even in the same games: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2116/25

Nice I was trying to remember which series of cards.

Is it weird it took 6 years for us to get back to another close one?

Isn't it remarkable how often AMD and NV get in performance with different arch, different goals for each design, very much reminds me of cat and mouse game.

I sometimes wonder if they have a conference call with each other and say our next gpu is going to be designed to hit this many Tflops lets see who can do it better lol.

 

[Termie]

Nice I was trying to remember which series of cards.

Is it weird it took 6 years for us to get back to another close one?

Isn't it remarkable how often AMD and NV get in performance with different arch, different goals for each design, very much reminds me of cat and mouse game.

I sometimes wonder if they have a conference call with each other and say our next gpu is going to be designed to hit this many Tflops lets see who can do it better lol.

Something tells me that ultimately the deciding factor is the node available to both AMD and Nvidia. That's the one thing they have in common at most points in history. Yes, AMD is usually ahead a few months in adopting a new node, and yes, when Nvidia drops in, it usually goes "bigger" (like GTX280 and GTX480), but the overall performance envelope is probably being dictated by the node. Nvidia has traditionally been willing to bump up against the limits of the technology, and may again do so with big Kepler.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Impressed with the 680 overall. The 7970 isn't a bad card, it just needs to be priced at $449-469 now.

 

[dust]

Impressed with the 680 overall. The 7970 isn't a bad card, it just needs to be priced at $449-469 now.

Yup! That sounds about right!

Too bad we have it here for 600$ and the 680 for 750$. Efff them both at that price!:thumbsdown:

 

[Makaveli]

Yup! That sounds about right!

Too bad we have it here for 600$ and the 680 for 750$. Efff them both at that price!:thumbsdown:

wow where is that?

 

[dust]

wow where is that?

Dubai

 

[-Slacker-]

They're not at the same clocks. The fairest comparison would be with the 2 cards at a 30% overclock - the 680 at 1300mhz, and the 7970 at 1200mhz.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

They're not at the same clocks. The fairest comparison would be with the 2 cards at a 30% overclock - the 680 at 1300mhz, and the 7970 at 1200mhz.

How does that make sense when they both seem to overclock very similar?
If you want to compare overclocks they should both be at an effective 1.2GHz.

 

[Keysplayr]

How does that make sense when they both seem to overclock very similar?
If you want to compare overclocks they should both be at an effective 1.2GHz.

Well then how does this make any more sense than the guy before you? They should both be 1.2GHz for what reason? They aren't the same architecture.
By your logic, you'd be either giving the 7970 a 75MHz advantage or stealing it from the 680. Take your pick.

 

[Elfear]

Well then how does this make any more sense than the guy before you? They should both be 1.2GHz for what reason? They aren't the same architecture.
By your logic, you'd be either giving the 7970 a 75MHz advantage or stealing it from the 680. Take your pick.

Agreed. Benching at the same clock speed makes for an interesting discussion of the two different architectures but it doesn't mean a whole lot otherwise. I say max them both out and bench.

 

[Keysplayr]

Agreed. Benching at the same clock speed makes for an interesting discussion of the two different architectures but it doesn't mean a whole lot otherwise. I say max them both out and bench.

Agreed. All out best you can o/c with stability whatever the quality of binned core you might have, and let em rip that way.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Agreed. All out best you can o/c with stability whatever the quality of binned core you might have, and let em rip that way.

Funny because that just makes it worse for the GTX 680 since its frequency/performance scaling is worse than the HD 7970, and from what I'm reading you get about the same overclocks from each. Therefore, testing both at 1.2GHz is completely valid.

They may have different architectures, but that means little when they both overclock very similar. There's no "advantage" for the HD 7970. It simply starts at a lower frequency and therefore has a higher overclocking percentage with the bonus of gaining more performance than the GTX 680 from the overclock at the cost of much higher power consumption.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

GTX 680 from the overclock at the cost of much higher power consumption.

Wut?

 

[Silverforce11]

Gtx680 OC hardly uses more power, thats why its the better card. Oc 7970 at 1.3ghz uses ~350W.

 

[lavaheadache]

From LOL WUT,

"There's no "advantage" for the HD 7970. It simply starts at a lower frequency and therefore has a higher overclocking percentage with the bonus of gaining more performance than the GTX 680 from the overclock at the cost of much higher power consumption."



ummm, you guys misread the sentence. He clearly states that the 7970 has the higher overclocking percentage at the cost of higher power consumption. Too many swords drawn in these topics lately that I really can't stand it around here anymore. I'm an avid reader/poster but this Kepler/Tahiti non sense has run it's course and I can't wait till it goes away so I can start enjoying Video again.

 

[-Slacker-]

Gtx680 OC hardly uses more power, thats why its the better card. Oc 7970 at 1.3ghz uses ~350W.

A statement like that would need a lot of charts as backing.


Also, at lolwut and keys: It makes more sense and is fairer to overclock both cards by the same percentage than boost them at the same clocks, usually because the one that is clocked higher can reach a certain ceiling more easily than the card with the lower stock clocks and can, thus, overclock to even higher ceilings than it's competitor with roughly the same amount of effort (again, usually).

The same can be said about overclocking both cards by the same fixed amount, for pretty much the same reasons. Same % overclock is the only relevant metric here.

 

[MrK6]

ummm, you guys misread the sentence. He clearly states that the 7970 has the higher overclocking percentage at the cost of higher power consumption. Too many swords drawn in these topics lately that I really can't stand it around here anymore. I'm an avid reader/poster but this Kepler/Tahiti non sense has run it's course and I can't wait till it goes away so I can start enjoying Video again.

Amen, too much fanboy mud slinging. Here's to a totalitarian crackdown where unless you own either the GTX 680 or the HD 7970 (with proof, of course), you can't post about them. It's stop a lot of this nonsense.

Regarding the article, there's nothing surprising. Games that perform better on one manufacturer over the other still will perform better over the other after these minor overclocks (8%). It's when you get to maximizing the cards that you see the strengths in the architectures.

 

[MisterMac]

Prices are getting worse in Scandinavia -_-

GTX 680 all sold out... oh wait... one shop has some Zotac Cards.

Let's check the price - certainly they wouldn't up the price just cause they're the only ones... would they ? :O

...which one of you will convert from Danish Crowns (DKK) to usd first ?