1. #1

    Need help with picking a graphics card

    So my brother (as well as me eventually as I will likely buy one of these two later on, but I'm in no need of buying a new GPU right now) is in need of a new GPU, as his faithful 5770 has served its course.

    What he's looking to achieve with this upgrade is a smooth gaming experience at maximum settings on most games at 1920x1080/1200p, particulary for the release of Crysis 3 among other demanding game titles.

    Now, the current contestants are the Gigabyte 660 OC and Gigabyte 660 ti OC, both due to their pricing and performance compared to the rest of the 660s/ti's. I've considered suggesting him to get a 7950 because of their fantastic overclocking headroom. However, as he's planning on going SLI/Crossfire-mode later on, a GPU from AMD might not be the best pick when taking their driver support history for Crossfire into consideration, not to mention the microstuttering with AMD GPUs in Crossfire in particular. Glad to see that they're fixing their frame latency with single GPUs though.

    Nvidia on the other hand seem to have completely eliminated micro suttering with their 660 series from what I've read and seen. There's a chance that AMD might shape up and start patching things up, but he'd rather have a new GPU within the very near future rather than later it seems.

    The burning question I've been unable to answer though is if a single overclocked 660 (in addition to the factory overclock I might add) can max out Crysis 3 @ 1920x1080/1200 with a steady 35-40ish fps, and that seems to be the deciding factor between the two. The difference in price between a non-ti and a ti in Sweden is approximately 35-40% while "only" offering up to 10-15% more performance in most games.

    Would a fair assumption be that the ti runs at 40ish fps on average with all settings cranked up to ultra at x1080, given that Crysis 2 runs at about 50 fps on a 660 ti with DX11/Highres pack and x1080? If so, that would mean the the non-ti runs at about 35 fps. Would the difference even be smaller perhaps? (Of course I'm just pulling numbers out of my rear end, but eh, speculation doesn't hurt)

    Then again, would that really justify gap in price between the two?
    Last edited by smiff; 2013-01-20 at 10:40 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Creeper View Post
    It's not right, but it's not really frowned upon so much either. A man hits a woman and he's a terrible excuse for a human being and should be put in jail. A woman hits a man and the man is a wimp for feeling pain.

    Either way, if you have a penis, you lose.

  2. #2
    Suspecting Crysis will need a GTX680 or 7970GhZ to run on optimal settings. I'd recommend getting a 7970

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by smiff View Post
    So my brother (as well as me eventually as I will likely buy one of these two later on, but I'm in no need of buying a new GPU right now) is in need of a new GPU, as his faithful 5770 has served its course.

    What he's looking to achieve with this upgrade is a smooth gaming experience at maximum settings on most games at 1920x1080/1200p, particulary for the release of Crysis 3 among other demanding game titles.

    Now, the current contestants are the Gigabyte 660 OC and Gigabyte 660 ti OC, both due to their pricing and performance compared to the rest of the 660s/ti's. I've considered suggesting him to get a 7950 because of their fantastic overclocking headroom. However, as he's planning on going SLI/Crossfire-mode later on, a GPU from AMD might not be the best pick when taking their driver support history for Crossfire into consideration, not to mention the microstuttering with AMD GPUs for Crossfire in particular. Glad to see that they're fixing their frame latency with single GPUs though.

    Nvidia on the other hand seem to have completely eliminated micro suttering with their 660 series from what I've read and seen. There's a chance that AMD might shape up and start patching things up, but he'd rather have a new GPU within the very near future rather than later it seems.

    The burning question I've been unable to answer though is if a single overclocked 660 (in addition to the factory overclock I might add) can max out Crysis 3 @ 1920x1080/1200 with a steady 35-40ish fps, and that seems to be the deciding factor between the two. The difference in price between a non-ti and a ti in Sweden is approximately 35-40% while "only" offering up to 10-15% more performance in most games.

    Would a fair assumption be that the ti runs at 40ish fps on average with all settings cranked up to ultra at x1080, given that Crysis 2 runs at about 50 fps on a 660 ti with DX11/Highres pack and x1080? If so, that would mean the the non-ti runs at about 35 fps. Would the difference even be smaller perhaps? (Of course I'm just pulling numbers out of my rear end, but eh, speculation doesn't hurt)

    Then again, would that really justify gap in price between the two?
    The High recommendation for Crysis 3 is a 7970/680 So I highly doubt a 660 will be enough for what you want.

    HI-PERFORMANCE PC SPECIFICATIONS:
    • Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
    • Latest DirectX 11 graphics card
    • Latest quad core CPU
    • 8GB Memory
    • Example 1 (Nvidia/Intel):
    – NVidia GTX 680
    – Intel Core i7-2600k
    • Example 2 (AMD):
    – AMD Radeon HD7970
    – AMD Bulldozer FX4150



    Also it currently makes AMD CPUs cry.

    Last edited by n0cturnal; 2013-01-20 at 10:50 PM.
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  4. #4
    The Lightbringer Toffie's Avatar
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    When is that graph from? Seems like a 680 is getting 40-50 fps?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQDM716707Q
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  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Toffie View Post
    When is that graph from? Seems like a 680 is getting 40-50 fps?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQDM716707Q
    The graphs are from November.
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  6. #6
    The Lightbringer Toffie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by n0cturnal View Post
    The graphs are from November.
    I really hope that graph is misleading, I'd be pissed if my 700 $ card only ran it with silly 24 fps :/
    8700K (5GHz) - Z370 M5 - Mugen 5 - 16GB Tridentz 3200MHz - GTX 1070Ti Strix - NZXT S340E - Dell 24' 1440p (165Hz)

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Toffie View Post
    I really hope that graph is misleading, I'd be pissed if my 700 $ card only ran it with silly 24 fps :/
    "Crysis 3 will push PC gamers' rigs in much the same way as the first game in the series, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has revealed."

    “There are brutal expectations around the PC version of Crysis 3. So this time we promise to melt down PCs.”


    The framerate looks much better on High settings though.

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  8. #8
    Oh, well that sucks for my bro, lol. He'll have to cough up $540/3500kr for two 660s or $650/4200kr for a 7970/680.

    I'll be content with the 660 ti myself once I actually have time to start gaming again. I wonder though, how limiting, if at all, is that 192-bit memory bus at 1080/1200?
    Quote Originally Posted by Creeper View Post
    It's not right, but it's not really frowned upon so much either. A man hits a woman and he's a terrible excuse for a human being and should be put in jail. A woman hits a man and the man is a wimp for feeling pain.

    Either way, if you have a penis, you lose.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by smiff View Post
    Oh, well that sucks for my bro, lol. He'll have to cough up $540/3500kr for two 660s or $650/4200kr for a 7970/680.

    I'll be content with the 660 ti myself once I actually have time to start gaming again. I wonder though, how limiting, if at all, is that 192-bit memory bus at 1080/1200?
    You can get a good 7970 for 3300SEK.
    Intel i5-3570K @ 4.7GHz | MSI Z77 Mpower | Noctua NH-D14 | Corsair Vengeance LP White 1.35V 8GB 1600MHz
    Gigabyte GTX 670 OC Windforce 3X @ 1372/7604MHz | Corsair Force GT 120GB | Silverstone Fortress FT02 | Corsair VX450

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