Nvidia GTX-680 vs. AMD Radeon HD 7970?

[Gunmoku]

Since Uncle Sam was nice to me and is giving me a fat tax return this year, I'm deciding to beef up the PC a bit with a couple new parts, but I'm at an impasse on what to pick as my new GPU. I've used Radeon cards since like 2005 and I've never truly bothered with Nvidia cards, but I have been hearing about the new GTX-680 line being quite a beast. So I need some opinions. GTX-680 or Radeon HD 7970? Go.

[zera]

After the 7970 price cut happens (not sure anything official was said) that would probably be the better option but for now I tihnk the 680 is slightly better ( can't remember the stats but it's a small amount) and possibly abit cheaper depending on the stores

[hapylol]

What games are you playing Gunmoko? There is no need for a 680 or even a 7970 for most games.

Also, what does the rest of your system look like?

[Skarsguard]

Well atm you can get some 7970's for cheaper and you can actually find them unlike the GTX680.

[Onikaroshi]

If only radeon would fix their bloody driver issues...

[Deleted]

If only radeon would fix their bloody driver issues...

What issues ? I've had no issues with either my 7870 or my 4870.

@OP: Can you post your current computer specs? if it's more than 2'ish years old chances are you'll get more out of getting new core components and a solid mid range graphics card instead of blowing most of it on a new graphics card alone.

[Heltoray]

there are enough qualified reviews out there. Anything you'll get here is biased fanboy crap. Look it up for yourself, evaluate pros vs cons- nobody can really help you with that anyway as they don't even know what exactly you need.

[btf]

im no expert but when im looking for a new gfx card im usualy told there isnt really that much difference in them now, sure 1-2 things which may change ppl's mind if there using the card to the extent of what they can do but for playing games i think there isnt much between them nowadays and to go with what you trust, ive always used nvidia even though radeon is just as good and slightly cheaper

[Ishayu]

What issues ? I've had no issues with either my 7870 or my 4870.

@OP: Can you post your current computer specs? if it's more than 2'ish years old chances are you'll get more out of getting new core components and a solid mid range graphics card instead of blowing most of it on a new graphics card alone.

What driver issues? WHAT DRIVER ISSUES? Are you kidding me? You must be some lucky sod if you've never had driver issues with ATi. Either that or you're virtually blind.

My 9800 Pro broke due to overvolting done by the driver.

All ATi cards had a problem for years where in WoW they rendered a small randomly colored mess on the right side of the screen while underwater with full screen glow on.

During version 10.05 to 11.07, aka for more than a full year, the drivers spontaneously reset while watching YouTube videos, crashing any 3D app with it. Nowadays it's been fixed only to be replaced by another bug where the video occasionally renders with a blob of green instead.

Skyrim lags like hell unless you upgrade to at least 11.11 and then Skyrim was updated as well so you need to equip it with a DLL before it stops lagging. Windowed mode crashes instantly using this hack.

My friend had a 4850 which kept crashing due to a single broken piece of VRAM. Now, what any sane driver or OS would do would be to ban that piece of VRAM but no, the driver kept trying to use it and crashed his computer all day. They wouldn't cover it under warranty because the driver had activated overdrive without our consent - done that for me too. The crashes never stopped until he went NVIDIA. At least my card still works.

Apple wanted drivers for their macs and AMD were to deliver. Apple soon gave up asthe drivers were of such poor quality they made the macs unusable. Instead, Apple bought the specs and coded their own. It's been fine ever since.

Likewise, their support for Linux was unusable for 6 years and only recently has the 3D gained feature parity except blur is semi broken. 2D is still a train wreck, not a single known desktop compositor works without major defection ATi, be it compiz, kwin or mutter.

No driver bugs... Are you kidding me?

[Skarsguard]

I have had a 4850 for years and my wife has had a 5770 as well and I haven't ever had any driver issues with either one of them.

[Deleted]

No driver bugs... Are you kidding me?

Never had problems with ATI drivers. I've had the x1650pro, no problems, the 3200 integrated on the mobo, no problems, the 4670, no problems, and now i have the 7850, no problems. And no, i'm not kidding you.

[BicycleMafioso]

Hi guys, this is not the thread to spew bile over how either graphics company cover drivers.
Discuss in an orderly fashion. Thanks!

[Ishayu]

Driver issues should be an important consideration when buying a graphics card. I have AMD right now and I don't want it ever again.

[Gunmoku]

What issues ? I've had no issues with either my 7870 or my 4870.

@OP: Can you post your current computer specs? if it's more than 2'ish years old chances are you'll get more out of getting new core components and a solid mid range graphics card instead of blowing most of it on a new graphics card alone.

For the record I have an Intel i5 2500K on an ASUSP8H67-M PRO/CSM (REV 3.0) mobo with 8 gigs of RAM and a Radeon 6870 GPU.

[Deleted]

What driver issues? WHAT DRIVER ISSUES? Are you kidding me? You must be some lucky sod if you've never had driver issues with ATi. Either that or you're virtually blind.

My 9800 Pro broke due to overvolting done by the driver.

All ATi cards had a problem for years where in WoW they rendered a small randomly colored mess on the right side of the screen while underwater with full screen glow on.

During version 10.05 to 11.07, aka for more than a full year, the drivers spontaneously reset while watching YouTube videos, crashing any 3D app with it. Nowadays it's been fixed only to be replaced by another bug where the video occasionally renders with a blob of green instead.

Skyrim lags like hell unless you upgrade to at least 11.11 and then Skyrim was updated as well so you need to equip it with a DLL before it stops lagging. Windowed mode crashes instantly using this hack.

My friend had a 4850 which kept crashing due to a single broken piece of VRAM. Now, what any sane driver or OS would do would be to ban that piece of VRAM but no, the driver kept trying to use it and crashed his computer all day. They wouldn't cover it under warranty because the driver had activated overdrive without our consent - done that for me too. The crashes never stopped until he went NVIDIA. At least my card still works.

Apple wanted drivers for their macs and AMD were to deliver. Apple soon gave up asthe drivers were of such poor quality they made the macs unusable. Instead, Apple bought the specs and coded their own. It's been fine ever since.

Likewise, their support for Linux was unusable for 6 years and only recently has the 3D gained feature parity except blur is semi broken. 2D is still a train wreck, not a single known desktop compositor works without major defection ATi, be it compiz, kwin or mutter.

No driver bugs... Are you kidding me?

im using ati 5850 and ive also never had a single issue with it or drivers. Cousin is using 6850 and is happy about it aswell

[Deleted]

im using ati 5850 and ive also never had a single issue with it or drivers. Cousin is using 6850 and is happy about it aswell

Huge quote for one line comment?

Either way I would go with a 7970 because it's in stock, it's cheaper and performs similar to a 680 +- a few %.

[dercaderca]

I was in the same boat. I decided to go with the 7970 for 2 reasons.
1. recent price cuts for AMD, got my card for $479
2. 680s are damn near impossible to find

Performance wise, the 680 has a slight edge, I honestly don't think you'd be able to see the difference with your eyes, just when benchmarking.

If your in a hurry, go with the 7970. If not, wait a few weeks and decide then. Both are great cards and you really can't go wrong with either.