Radeon HD 6970 vs. GTX 660

[Audox]

About 1 1/2 year ago I bought a Powercolor Radeon HD 6970 for about 2300 NOK (that's 400 USD). It's a fantastic GFX card, but I am considering replacing it with a GTX 660. Main reason is because the 660 is very affordable and I'm trying to stick to a reasonable budget, but still get most bang for the buck. . A lot of my games tend to be choppy and the frame rate often drops.
I picked out some games where I'll checked average FPS and minimal FPS.


Battlefield 3:
1920x1080
High settings
Ave. FPS: 52
Min. FPS: 30-35

World of Warcraft
1920x1080
Good settings
Ave. FPS: 180
Min. FPS: 35-40

Counter Strike: Global Offensive
1920x1080
Very high settings
Ave. FPS: 100
Min. FPS: 55-60

Team Fortress 2
1920x1080
Very high settings
Ave. FPS: 120
Min. FPS: 30-35

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
1920x1080
High settings
Ave. FPS: 50
Min. FPS: 20-25

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My current specs are:
Motherboard - MSI 870A Fuzion
GPU - Radeon HD 6970
RAM - 8 GB DDR3
CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 running at 3.41 GHz
PSU - 525W

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If you think I should keep the graphics card and replace my CPU or something else instead, then please do tell!
I'm open for suggestions.

[Lamoot]

I have the GTX 660. Runs wow on ultra fine, with 150+ FPS, which is very much overkill.

[Audox]

I have the GTX 660. Runs wow on ultra fine, with 150+ FPS, which is very much overkill.

Yeah, I would expect it to run WoW fine, but in this case it's the more heavy games that is an issue.

[inux94]

A 660 will increase the minimum FPS, but I'd upgrade the CPU first.

[Audox]

A 660 will increase the minimum FPS, but I'd upgrade the CPU first.

Any suggestions? I've been looking at the i5 3570k, but I need a new motherboard with a 1155 socket as well.

[BicycleMafioso]

The GTX 660 would be a 12% improvement, for quite a lot of money.

I also have a HD6970 and have no FPS issues anywhere at the time at high or higher, although my CPU is a fair bit better.

[Audox]

The GTX 660 would be a 12% improvement, for quite a lot of money.

I also have a HD6970 and have no FPS issues anywhere at the time at high or higher, although my CPU is a fair bit better.

Hm, I'll probably go for a new CPU then.

[Flaim]

just out of interest:
what would be a reasonable upgrade from a 6970 from nvidia?

[Milkshake86]

just out of interest:
what would be a reasonable upgrade from a 6970 from nvidia?

Nothing, the 660 is the cheapest "upgrade" but even so with a limited memory bandwidth and not its full potential you will sustain less of a performance hit @ higher resolutions than the 660. If you are not happy w/ your FPS id would upgrade your CPU first. You have what 3 gen~ old CPU to a 1 gen old GPU, ontop of that im not seeing your hardware being to bad in any game, average fps 52 on BF3 high settings, your going to experience frame drops and WoW on a new CPU and GPU will still not feel good.

A 660 will increase the minimum FPS, but I'd upgrade the CPU first.

No it would not...the CPU handles lowest frame and GPU handles highest, by increasing your highest FPS you can only directly impact the average and max fps.

[Flaim]

Nothing, the 660 is the cheapest "upgrade" but even so with a limited memory bandwidth and not its full potential you will sustain less of a performance hit @ higher resolutions than the 660. If you are not happy w/ your FPS id would upgrade your CPU first. You have what 3 gen~ old CPU to a 1 gen old GPU, ontop of that im not seeing your hardware being to bad in any game, average fps 52 on BF3 high settings, your going to experience frame drops and WoW on a new CPU and GPU will still not feel good.

i'm not the op and i'd know if my cpu was "3 gens old" :P

[Deleted]

if 660 is what you are looking for get a ti version (almost on par with a 670)

[Kevyne-Shandris]

My current specs are:
Motherboard - MSI 870A Fuzion
GPU - Radeon HD 6970
RAM - 8 GB DDR3
CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 running at 3.41 GHz
PSU - 525W

-------------------------


If you think I should keep the graphics card and replace my CPU or something else instead, then please do tell!
I'm open for suggestions.

Definitely the processor at least.

I just replaced my HD 6970 with a 7970, but even with the 6970 I was getting very good framerates in WoW (I operated 3 clients at once on ultra settings with 50-60 fps). In BF3 zero problems even on High settings on the most grindest maps (Metro especially).

[Milkshake86]

Tbh tho the CPU should be fine w/ everything except WoW lol, 50's average is good for bf3.