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Reference HD 7970 $450 keep it or return it?

wand3r3r

wand3r3r

Diamond Member
I managed to pick up a new card (Reference HD 7970) for a price of $450 and I had it backordered for a while and now I just got shipping confirmation as I forgot to cancel it. I've kind of lost my appetite for the high end and was going to wait for a nice price drop before upgrading (gtx 690 introduction etc.). The gtx 680 has shaken up the 7970's position, would you keep it for this price?

My primary interest at the moment is BF3 but not even the 7970's going to get close to 120FPS at least as a minimum with MSAA, plus the 680 does considerably better as BF3 is one of the better games for nvidia. I'm leaning towards just returning it. Oh yeah, and it's only reference so would probably be loud anyways especially with an overclock.
 
wand3r3r said:
My primary interest at the moment is BF3 but not even the 7970's going to get close to 120FPS at least as a minimum with MSAA, plus the 680 does considerably better as BF3 is one of the better games for nvidia.
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Not worth keeping if you play this game 95% of the time. GTX680 is anywhere from 10-20% faster at stock in BF3. That means it will take a 20% overclock just to match a stock 680 in BF3, especially if you are playing at 1080P. Not to mention the reference 7970 isn't particularly quiet either. If you can find a $500 680 in stock, I'd grab that and overclock it.
 
Is it worth losing the money over? IMHO, no. $450 for a 7970 is a killer price. But its unlikely you would be able to sell it for what you bought it. So if the extra few FPS is worth it to you, then go for the 680. Otherwise, I would just keep the 7970.
 
At $450, it is a better value than a 680, unless you are definitely going to be overclocking (edit) AND you can get a 680 at $500.

Side note, a 680 is not going to get close to 120FPS minimum with MSAA, either. Not even remotely in the parking lot of the same ball park close. You'll need 3 cards to even stand a chance lol. FXAA is another story, but still not getting 120 minimums on one card.

My 680 does scream in BF3 though, 60ish minimums with FXAA and averaging 110-120FPS, in 64 player maps at 1080p.
 
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I would keep it. Overclocked 7970 will perform roughly on par with overclocked GTX680 in BF3 so you don't lose any performance after OC and save 50$. Unfortunately 7970 will be louder but buying GTX680 for 500$ might be very hard.
 
That's a great price for that card. The reference cooler isn't that loud IMO unless you really start to crank up the overclock. On my reference card I could hit around 1175-1200 before I really needed to ramp up the fan.

The 680 does perform better in BF3 but it's more expensive and very hard to find in stock.
 
At that price, keep, unless you game at 2560x1600 or higher.

And still probably keep it, but consider SLI or crossfire.
 
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At 25x14 without any aa, at ultra, 16x af. I rarely get below 60 fps, including fights. Average is 60-80 at least. 120 not even at 19x10 but 60+ even at 1440p
 
Once both are overclocked, it is like comparing a stock to stock gtx 570 to 6970, each game wins some, there is no winner at 25x14 with 4x aa However at stock it is like comparing a 6970 oc at 950 to 580 stock, each game has some wins but the gtx 580 has a bit more, but almost always the gap in performance is at most 5-10% tops.
 
Its an awesome buy at $450. Everybody knows 680 is king but 7970 is still a beast and if you can OC the core past 1200 it starts to catch up with the overclocked 680's
 
As others mentioned, if you overclock the 7970 (say to CCC limits) it'll catch up to an overclocked GTX 680, even in BF3. I'd pocket the $50+ you saved and call it a day.
 
Definitely keep it! No price cut will ever render the 7970 being $450 anyways.
 
IMO you should keep it if you're going to OC it. You should sell it and get the GTX 680 if you're going to run it at stock.

I would personally keep it and OC as much as possible, but I know that not everyone feels the same way about overclocking.
 
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