Radeon HD 7950 vs. GeForce GTX 780

[Face2Face]

I recently replaced my Radeon 7950 with a reference GTX 780. With the recent price drop I was able to grab one used for a very fair price. I call the card the GTX 780 Rvenger & Lavaheadache Edition. Its only fair since the card has passed through their hands in the past couple of months and I can tell they have taken very good care of it Upon receiving the card the first thing that came to mind was obviously benching it against my 7950. Keep in mind my benchmarks are all run in 1080p and Im sure the outcome would favor the GTX 780 more so as the resolution increases. My GTX 780 is not a stellar overclocker, but I was able to hit 1150Mhz on the core game stable. My 7950 is game stable at 1150Mhz on the core with great temps. I was able to bench my 7950 at 1300Mhz for comparisons sake, but without water cooling Its not feasible for gaming in long sessions because the vrm gets too hot. See below for the test system and card configuration.

Test System:

Core i5 3570K @ 4.8Ghz
Gigabyte Z77X-UD4H
16GB Samsung 32nm Memory @ 1866Mhz
Thermaltake Smart 750w PSU
Corsair Force 3 240GB SSD


The cards:

MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III with Arctic 7970 Accelero cooler installed
Catalyst drivers 13.11 9.2Beta
MSI GTX 780 Reference version
Geforce 331.82 WHQL drivers




I benchmarked seven games in total. You will notice I included the stock boost clocks for the 7950 and 780. The 7950 at 1150/1600 is pretty close to HWBots average overclock as is the 1150/1652 on the GTX 780. All of the clock speeds that are used in these benchmarks do not fluctuate or throttle, they all hold true all through the entire benchmark. This is due to custom fan profiles to keep the gpu's from throttling.




Stock vs. Stock = GTX 780 is 48 % faster
Avg OC vs. Avg OC = GTX 780 is 35 % faster
Max OC vs. Max OC = GTX 780 is 20 % faster



Stock vs. Stock = GTX 780 is 61 % faster
Avg OC vs. Avg OC = GTX 780 is 43 % faster
Max OC vs. Max OC = GTX 780 is 29 % faster



Stock vs. Stock = GTX 780 is 41 % faster
Avg OC vs. Avg OC = GTX 780 is 30 % faster
Max OC vs. Max OC = GTX 780 is 17 % faster



Stock vs. Stock = GTX 780 is 40 % faster
Avg OC vs. Avg OC = GTX 780 is 28 % faster
Max OC vs. Max OC = GTX 780 is 16 % faster



Stock vs. Stock = GTX 780 is 60 % faster
Avg OC vs. Avg OC = GTX 780 is 44 % faster
Max OC vs. Max OC = GTX 780 is 29 % faster



Stock vs. Stock = GTX 780 is 28 % faster
Avg OC vs. Avg OC = GTX 780 is 12 % faster
Max OC vs. Max OC = GTX 780 is .6 % faster

The 7950 holds its own in this title. Even though this title is extremely CPU dependent, its still impressive.



Stock vs. Stock = GTX 780 is 31 % faster
Avg OC vs. Avg OC = GTX 780 is 22 % faster
Max OC vs. Max OC = GTX 780 is 9 % faster



The overall increase in performance with the games tested.

Stock vs. Stock = GTX 780 is 43 % faster
Avg OC vs. Avg OC = GTX 780 is 31 % faster
Max OC vs. Max OC = GTX 780 is 17 % faster


There is no denying for the price the 7950 is an amazing performer at 1080p. Months ago you could find them new for $180-$200. You can now find them used for as little as $150-160 USD which is still pretty good in my opinion. The GTX 780 is my first Kepler card to date, and I must say I am very impressed overall. The build quality of the reference cooler is outstanding and its not very loud at all. My 7950 with the Accelero at 100% fan speed is just as loud as the GTX 780 at 70% fan speed. And for anyone who has owned or owns an accelero they know they are not very loud even at 100%. I hope these benchmarks provided some insight to the performance difference between these two card stock and overclocked .

 

[Termie]

Great work, Face2Face! One question and one comment for you:

(1) Are those 780 clocks the standard clocks, the boost clocks, or the in-game Kepler Boost clocks? 902MHz would be very low for an operating in-game boost clock. For example, take a look at Anandtech's results in that regard: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6973/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-review/19

(2) Is that the maximum memory clock your 780 will hit? It seems a bit low, but also, you didn't use it in your "mid-level OC" for the 780, which might have made that a bit more representative of an average OC.

Again, great job here - I know (from personal experience!) that this takes a ton of time!!!

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I hope you got a really good price on that 780

I can't believe you went from one of the best 7950s to a pretty "meh" 780 but my guess is you were bored and CF wasn't to your liking so wut do?

I found myself comparing my 7950 (the 8+6 1100/1800 or 1200/1800 to make me feel even better) to the 290x using Apoppins numbers and came to a similar conclusion, the jump from 7950 OC performance to stock 290x performance isn't worth much. Of course you can overclock the 290x but the lottery might not play out so favorbly on the next episode especially coming off a card like your old 7950.

 

[Face2Face]

Great work, Face2Face! One question and one comment for you:

(1) Are those 780 clocks the standard clocks, the boost clocks, or the in-game Kepler Boost clocks? 902MHz would be very low for an operating in-game boost clock. For example, take a look at Anandtech's results in that regard: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6973/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-review/19

(2) Is that the maximum memory clock your 780 will hit? It seems a bit low, but also, you didn't use it in your "mid-level OC" for the 780, which might have made that a bit more representative of an average OC.

Again, great job here - I know (from personal experience!) that this takes a ton of time!!!

Fixed - I deleted the lower boost bench and added the 1007 as a stock boost, which seems like a good average boost clock. I also tried getting my memory up while maintaining 1150 on the core, but no luck. What this card really needs is more voltage. The +38mv ain't cutting it Thanks for your input.

 

[Face2Face]

I hope you got a really good price on that 780

I can't believe you went from one of the best 7950s to a pretty "meh" 780 but my guess is you were bored and CF wasn't to your liking so wut do?

I found myself comparing my 7950 (the 8+6 1100/1800 or 1200/1800 to make me feel even better) to the 290x using Apoppins numbers and came to a similar conclusion, the jump from 7950 OC performance to stock 290x performance isn't worth much. Of course you can overclock the 290x but the lottery might not play out so favorbly on the next episode especially coming off a card like your old 7950.

Yeah... what can I say.... I like trying new things out I like the fact that I am not sweating bullets while gaming anymore. My 7950's in CFX put out some heat son D:

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Yeah... what can I say.... I like trying new things out I like the fact that I am not sweating bullets while gaming anymore. My 7950's in CFX put out some heat son D:

Haha, Agreed!

Why do you think I like 800/1250 so much? Dat 140-180w system draw is hard to complain about! :thumbsup:

 

[Termie]

I spent some time researching what the majority of reference cards can and will boost to. I was seeing numbers all over the place between 900-1000Mhz. I included the Nvidia rated boost speeds as a stock measurement and the 1006Mhz as a slight oc. In game performance would likely fluctuate in-between the two like Ryan shows in his article. I wanted to have finite number in my benchmarks, so this why I chose to do it this way. I have a custom bios on my card so it makes things a little more difficult. If you think I should use the "mid level" OC for the stock boost, then I can certainly change it

My card will hit slightly over 7Ghz on the memory, but it doesn't make a huge difference in frames per second in games. Crysis 3 may be the exception along with some synthetic benchmarks.

Ah, I see. That fluctuation has to do with hitting the temp/power limit. I think it's at 77C. You could try a run with the fan maxed out just to see if it would stabilize, or increase the temp/power limiter. This is the drawback to Kepler cards - they really perform differently depending on the temp they're at. Strangely, it looks like AMD decided to follow Nvidia's example here and take it to the next level with the 290x!

I do think that your mid-level OC is much more representative of many GTX780 cards, particularly ones with open-air cooling. If I downclock my SC ACX to 1006MHz, it will never budge from that number. Its factory overclock boosts to 1110MHz, but will drop down to 1071 with temps above 77C.

 

[Silverforce11]

Great job F2F! This just really show how awesome the 7950 is, it was and still is the best bang for buck card on 28nm.

 

[Jhatfie]

Thanks for the comparison Face2Face.

I loved my old Sapphire 7950, it did 1200/7000 24/7 and was likely the most satisfying card I have ever owned. But having owned it since near launch time I wanted to try something new and the 290's are still lacking a good cooler. Thus I also picked up a 780 a while back when the prices dropped. I did not have much time to do any meaningful benches and my recent OS move from 7 to 8.1 lost my few saved benchmark results.

Aside of all my 7950 praise, I Absolutely am enjoying the 780. I wish the memory clocked a bit better, but at 1306 core stable, it really performs very well @ 1600p and seems to deliver a noticeable chunk of extra performance over my OC'd 7950.

3dmark11 example (Note: 780 test had 2600k at 4.8Ghz versus 4.9Ghz for the 7950):
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7455575 <---- 780 @ 1358/6700 (15058 graphics score)
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6013823 <---- 7950 @ 1260/7100 (11309 graphics score)

For giggles, my old and long since gone unlocked 6950's in crossfire with a 2500k @ 4.7Ghz:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/1710100 <---- (do not remember clocks) (10222 graphics score)

 

[wand3r3r]

It's always interesting to see thorough testing.

I guess that 7950 is quite a golden overclocker (1139 core avg).
The 780 is about average according to HWBOT (1127 core avg).

http://hwbot.org/hardware/videocard/radeon_hd_7950/
http://hwbot.org/hardware/videocard/geforce_gtx_780/

Your middle 7950 test, and top 780 test are pretty close to the average OC on both cards.

 

[Face2Face]

Ah, I see. That fluctuation has to do with hitting the temp/power limit. I think it's at 77C. You could try a run with the fan maxed out just to see if it would stabilize, or increase the temp/power limiter. This is the drawback to Kepler cards - they really perform differently depending on the temp they're at. Strangely, it looks like AMD decided to follow Nvidia's example here and take it to the next level with the 290x!

I do think that your mid-level OC is much more representative of many GTX780 cards, particularly ones with open-air cooling. If I downclock my SC ACX to 1006MHz, it will never budge from that number. Its factory overclock boosts to 1110MHz, but will drop down to 1071 with temps above 77C.

Thanks Termie - graphs fixed.

 

[Fastx]

Yes nice work F2F as was your GTX 570 thread which I had just before going with a 7950. I really like when some of you guys who put up these bm testing comparisons and put these charts up (in particular) pretty cool You and BTF always come to mind when it comes to these cards for me and/or when ever I look at BM threads see where you two are on the lists. I just shake my head and mumble a few words to myself. Just curious are you going to sell this 7950?

 

[schmuckley]

Nice! It looks like the 780 is clearly more horsepower.

 

[Termie]

It's always interesting to see thorough testing.

I guess that 7950 is quite a golden overclocker (1139 core avg).
The 780 is about average according to HWBOT (1127 core avg).

http://hwbot.org/hardware/videocard/radeon_hd_7950/
http://hwbot.org/hardware/videocard/geforce_gtx_780/

Your middle 7950 test, and top 780 test are pretty close to the average OC on both cards.

Are those 780 clocks the clock it's set at or the actual boost? The site give 863MHz as the default clock, but this is not what the card operates at. What is 1127MHz? The set boost or the actual boost?

At least in regards to the HD7950, the clocks are clear, and the overclocks are amazing.

 

[Teizo]

So, this was a Face off?

:awe:

 

[wand3r3r]

Are those 780 clocks the clock it's set at or the actual boost? The site give 863MHz as the default clock, but this is not what the card operates at. What is 1127MHz? The set boost or the actual boost?

At least in regards to the HD7950, the clocks are clear, and the overclocks are amazing.

That's a good question, I'm not sure where the 1127 MHz is coming from. I had assumed it's the boost clock but now I'm not sure.
The default clock is almost certainly just hard coded to the specs from AMD/NV.

Who has submitted a ranking to HWBOT? Can someone with Boost 2 try it out?

 

[Termie]

That's a good question, I'm not sure where the 1127 MHz is coming from. I had assumed it's the boost clock but now I'm not sure.
The default clock is almost certainly just hard coded to the specs from AMD/NV.

Who has submitted a ranking to HWBOT? Can someone with Boost 2 try it out?

Well, the operating boost is typically about 100MHz higher than the set boost. So if a stock 780's clockspeed is "863MHz", it actually boosts to around 1006. There's also a "Boost Clock" figure advertised that I think is almost entirely irrelevant. It's 900MHz for a reference 780, and I assume it's a worst-case scenario.

My 780's stock clockspeed is 967MHz, and it boosts to 1110MHz, and it will take a +120 overclock, I believe, to 1087/1230.

Thus, HWBot's 1127MHz figure is either really low or really high.

 

[Attic]

Great work here. Shows how impressive the 7950 is for anyone on a budge under 200.

 

[Smartazz]

Awesome, I was thinking of going with a 780 Classified from a 7950.

 

[spinejam]

Thanks for the comparison F2F --- much appreciated!

 

[raghu78]

very nice comparison. the HD 7950 cards were the best bang for buck cards right from the time they hit the $300 price point. A few months back the HD 7950 cards went as low as $180 and were freaking awesome deals. Now prices have crept back up. but even now once in a while retailers sell the cards at $180. but they go out of stock very soon.

 

[Face2Face]

Thanks guys! The chart has been updated to reflect a more realistic stock boost clock. Unfortunately this card doesn't like any more memory overclock when the core is at 1150Mhz.... :|

Just curious are you going to sell this 7950?

Thanks FastX :thumbsup: Yep the 7950 is gone now...sold it on EBay. I would have kept it, but it's sale is helping to pay for the GTX 780. All in all I didn't lose too much money selling both of my 7950's and coolers, of course I didn't keep some of it for that long either.

So, this was a Face off?
:awe:

Hey yo!

 

[lavaheadache]

out of the 3 different 780 reference to come through my hands, none were capable of 1200 MHz stable in all situations. Crysis 3 can break a seemingly bullet proof OC. With that said, how much different do you think a 1200 MHz 780 is over an 1150?

 

[Face2Face]

out of the 3 different 780 reference to come through my hands, none were capable of 1200 MHz stable in all situations. Crysis 3 can break a seemingly bullet proof OC. With that said, how much different do you think a 1200 MHz 780 is over an 1150?

Not enough for me to worry about. Like I said I am happy with it Thanks for letting her go.

 

[lavaheadache]

no problem, Tahiti is still an excellent chip. I much prefer it over gk104