670 vs 7970

[Hellravager]

670 is 380 3970 is 410 so doesnt matter about price which is better for gaming? And no i dont know how to overclock

[Valstorm Warsong]

The 7970 is better, especially if you know how to overclock.

[Organoth]

It depends on the game and which version of each card you are looking at. In benchmarking tests stock/reference 670 will beat a stock/reference 7970 in certain games and in other games the 7970 wins. The only reason why the 7970 wins in certain games is because of it's higher memory bandwidth which helps in those specific games like Metro 2033.

For example, in BF3 the 670 beats the 7970 by 9fps, a significant difference, @1900x1200 on Ultra mode.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages...review,20.html

But in Metro 2033 The Last Refuge the 7970 beats the 670 by 9fps with the same quality settings.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages...review,17.html

In 3D Mark 11, the latest version of 3D Mark available, the 670 again beats the 7970. Performance in specific games will always vary but performance in 3D Mark 11 is a consistent way to compare different cards against each other.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages...review,21.html

For a game like WoW the 670 and 7970 will perform equal to each other as they both exceed the requirements for the game. As far as personal preference I always use EVGA and they only make Nvidia cards.

Blanket statements like "The 7970 is better" are 100% BS and should be ignored. Look at the numbers, the 670 has the edge on the 7970, except in those few games that need the higher memory bandwidth for things like AA or AF.

For comparison, when looking at an older game for which both cards exceed the requirements the 670 wins again. In MW 2 the 670 beat the 7970 by almost 30fps.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages...review,13.html

Also, OC your GPU at your own risk. Anything short of an extreme OC will result in single digit FPS gains and extreme overclocks will greatly shorten the life span of your card. GPUs do not overclock well like CPUs do. When you see different GPUs with factory overclocks it's because they tested the chips to find which ones will handle which overclocks and sell them that way. A non-overclocked GPU is one with a chip that didn't test well for overclocking with the manufacture. It didn't go well for them, it won't go well for you.

[Valstorm Warsong]

It depends on the game and which version of each card you are looking at. In benchmarking tests stock/reference 670 will beat a stock/reference 7970 in certain games and in other games the 7970 wins. The only reason why the 7970 wins in certain games is because of it's higher memory bandwidth which helps in those specific games like Metro 2033.

For example, in BF3 the 670 beats the 7970 by 9fps, a significant difference, @1900x1200 on Ultra mode.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages...review,20.html

But in Metro 2033 The Last Refuge the 7970 beats the 670 by 9fps with the same quality settings.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages...review,17.html

In 3D Mark 11, the latest version of 3D Mark available, the 670 again beats the 7970. Performance in specific games will always vary but performance in 3D Mark 11 is a consistent way to compare different cards against each other.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages...review,21.html

For a game like WoW the 670 and 7970 will perform equal to each other as they both exceed the requirements for the game. As far as personal preference I always use EVGA and they only make Nvidia cards.

Blanket statements like "The 7970 is better" are 100% BS and should be ignored. Look at the numbers, the 670 has the edge on the 7970, except in those few games that need the higher memory bandwidth for things like AA or AF.

Those benchmarks are really old, right now the 7970 is trading blows with the 680, the the 7970 ghz beats the 680 and 670 in most games.

[mercutiouk]

Probably the best way to generally look at the "what card" type issues is to check the benchies for the games YOU play at the res YOU play.

Take a look at:http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/508?vs=598

and remove benchmarks for games/resolutions you don't play.



Also if you do end up on the AMD/ATI side of the fence have a look around for a 7950 with boost. They are 7950 on a 7970 reference board so have improved power circuitry etc. Once it's the same chip (tho one that didn't test so high, the 7970 chips are the "cherry picked" best ones) on the same board you can get similar levels of performance out of them. It's obviously a much cheaper card too.

here's the 7950 w/boost vs 670: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/645?vs=598

[Idrinkwhiterussians]

Actually, found the Gigabyte GTX670 with WF3 cooler is $370 after the rebate card. That is actually a pretty good deal, but again, this does depend on the games you are playing.

[n0cturnal]

Lots of text

The benchmarks you linked are old and were done before AMD had released the 12.11 driver which increased the performance in games such as BF3 by a huge margin.
This can be seen here http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...ormance/5.html

3DMark11 is not the latest 3DMark anymore, "3DMark" was release 2 weeks ago and in that test even 7950 Boost beats the GTX 670 at stock speeds. This doesn't say much though, there will always be benchmarks where one set of cards perform better than the other.

[Organoth]

Those benchmarks are really old, right now the 7970 is trading blows with the 680, the the 7970 ghz beats the 680 and 670 in most games.

You are trying to compare a non-reference 7970 to stock 670's or 680. So more BS basically. Try providing numbers showing non-reference comparisons. As I already pointed out the 7970 will do better in SOME games, but only ones with crazy memory demands like Metro. It does not matter what date my benchmarks are from as they are showing the base comparison among reference cards. Those numbers are the same today as they were back then.

[mercutiouk]

I would add though - there's a distinct LACK of fanboy replies around here. Good work all

[BicycleMafioso]

You are trying to compare a non-reference 7970 to stock 670's or 680. So more BS basically. Try providing numbers showing non-reference comparisons. As I already pointed out the 7970 will do better in SOME games, but only ones with crazy memory demands like Metro. It does not matter what date my benchmarks are from as they are showing the base comparison among reference cards. Those numbers are the same today as they were back then.

HD7970 GHz is stock.

And no, dates matter, since drivers matter. The HD7970 is better than the GTX 670 and the HD7970 GHz is better than the GTX 680.
Both are generally able to be had for less as well.

[Hellravager]

Games are skyrim/teso/wildstar/tera at resolution 1980x1080

[Yohassakura]

7970 by far, with the 13.1 drivers.

[n0cturnal]

Games are skyrim/teso/wildstar/tera at resolution 1980x1080

Tera is horribly optimized so there's not much to say about that. TESO and Wildstart isn't even in beta yet so there is no info on how cards will perform in those games.

So what you have left is Skyrim and the performance there will vary a lot depending on what mods you use, the 2GB vRAM on a GTX 670 can become an issues if you use a lot of texture mods.

Here is a benchmark done after AMD released Catalyst 12.11 http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...rmance/19.html

[Deleted]

7970 by far, with the 13.1 drivers.

Nope, not even close to far.

They're identical in performance, but on paper the 7970 wins.

You might see a 3-4 FPS increase between 670 & 7970. Also AMD has problems with microstuttering and no PhysX. That's just an example.

I'm not a fanboy, I'm jusy saying there's really no difference in actual performance.

[dejec1989]

I would add though - there's a distinct LACK of fanboy replies around here. Good work all

Don't kick the hornets nest...

on topic what type of games are you going to be playing? would be good to know then people here can say which card will be better for you..

Edit: too slow, reading un-freashed page, seen OP new post

[Idrinkwhiterussians]

Gigabyte 7970 GHz @$430 is a pretty damn good deal too. I would get this for the (really) not that much price difference between the two (670 @$370 after rebate).

You could get a XFX DD 7970 for $400 after rebate. This is however not the GHz model. In the price range, I would really go with the 7970 GHz.


Edit: Should also make sure that you take into account the fact that you can get 2 free games with the 7970s.

[Harry Botter]

I was about to say to Organoth that he must be using incorrect or old data, because my 7950 set to 7970 speeds beats quite a few 670 benchmarks I have seen and with a beast OC it can be within a 5-12fps range of a 680. The new drivers lately helped a lot.

[RoKPaNda]

I went for the 670 and don't regret it. I got 4 free games with my 670 as opposed to the 2 that I would have gotten with the 7970 at the time. (Seriously those deals change every couple weeks. Sometimes AMD has the better deals, sometimes nVidia does.) It was about $40~ cheaper, and the difference in FPS is really really small either way. Plus being honest, after being shackled to AMD's drivers for the last 3 years I'm happy to be free of them. Not that I'm being one of those people that says AMD's drivers are horrible, at the moment they're supposedly pretty good.

You can't really go wrong either way. If you have a preference between the brands at all, go for it that one. Or whatever one gives you the better deals at the time you're ordering it. The only time to worry about 6 FPS is when everything else (Price, deals, drivers, etc) is equal IMO.

[Yohassakura]

Nope, not even close to far.

They're identical in performance, but on paper the 7970 wins.

You might see a 3-4 FPS increase between 670 & 7970. Also AMD has problems with microstuttering and no PhysX. That's just an example.

I'm not a fanboy, I'm jusy saying there's really no difference in actual performance.

-->

Here is a benchmark done after AMD released Catalyst 12.11 http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...rmance/19.html

The 7970 beats the 670 in all games at 1920x1200 except for borderlands 2, shogun 2, starcraft 2 (though it's already at 170fps+) and apparently 5fps difference in WoW.

[Asurakai]

ohhh man, this thread...

their both stupidly good cards. flip a coin and call it a day.

I win.