7970 CFX OC vs GTX 680 SLI OC @ 3600x1920

D

Digital Viper-X-

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Dec 9, 2000
Messages
15,118
Running some tests!

Test system:
2600k @ 4.8ghz
Asus P8P67 pro Rev3.1
16GB DDR3 1600mhz @ 1600mhz
OCZ Vertex 3
3xu2412 @ 3600x1920 resolution.
2 * Sapphire 7970 Reference cards using 12.3 Beta Drivers 8.95 march 19th
Stock clocks, and 1100 core / 1575 Memory (highest stable on one of the cards so both are set to that )
2 * Galaxy GTX 680 Reference cards using 301.10 WHQL
Stock clocks, and +100 on the core my cards boost to 1100, so 1200 core and + 250 on the memory so 3250 (6500mhz)memory (except on the Crysis and Skyrim tests the mem was at 3400/6800)



Games to be tested... all at 3600x1920

BF3 (latest update, empty multiplayer map run through with some explosions)
Skyrim with high res texture pack ( latest update )
The Witcher 2 ( latest update )
I can install Crysis & or Crysis warhead if anyone actually cares about how that performs, and I also have SC2 hidden somewhere...
I'll run unigine Heaven for the hell of it :p


7970 Results....
WH_7970_only.png


TW2_7970_only.png


BF3_7970_only.png


SKYRIM_7970_only.png
 
Last edited:
Bf3 Results
7970 CFX wins in performance, loses in noise , the 680s were considerably quieter

680oc680stock.png


6807970stock.png


7970oc680oc.png


Skyrim Results
GTX 680 SLI wins by a land slide
Skyrim_OC.png


Crysis WH Results
7970 CFX wins by a bit
Crysis_wh.png


Witcher 2 Results
BOTH FAILLLLZZZ
 
Last edited:
Yeah, I actually wouldn't mind seeing Crysis or Crysis Warhead, if you've got time for those.
 
Interesting so far... Skyrim @ 3600x1920 with HRTP, I get 4200mb VRAM usage reported by MSI afterburner . so 2.1GB / Card on the ATI setup using 4XAA, I wonder how it will run on the 680s :|
 
DeadSkull said:
What can your better 7970 do overclocking wise?
Click to expand...

I've pushed it to 1175 / 1575

the one that wont go much over 1100 is the 1.05v card.

Looks like the NV surround benches have to wait till tomorrow, too tired to go onnnnn :p

I'll say one thing though, the price of the 7970 is starting to make more sense, while the 680s seem to be better performers, the amount of extra crap that I get with the 7970 compared to the DVI->VGA adapter I get with with the 680 makes up for it.



the 7970 comes with...

mini-dp - > dp
mini-dp -> DVI (active SL)
HDMI->DVI
DVI->VGA
Power adapters
Crossfire bridge

680 comes with...
power adapters
DVI -> VGA......

so add $10 to for an HDMI -> DVI cable at least.

Anyway tests coming tomorrow :) no surround now :<
 
Last edited:
Id be real surprised if either combo is strong in the witcher 2 at that res, the overclocked 6990 I had didnt even do that well in combat at 2560x1600
 
lol at the picture, looks like its detecting it as a landscape instead of portrait setup :D

as far as the task bar goes it should automatically span across all 3 monitors when setup in surround, in extended obviously it won't span across all 3.
 
From what I hear, landscape 3 monitor is broken with ATI cards and portrait 3 monitor is broken with NV cards in Witcher 2.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
lol at the picture, looks like its detecting it as a landscape instead of portrait setup :D

as far as the task bar goes it should automatically span across all 3 monitors when setup in surround, in extended obviously it won't span across all 3.
Click to expand...

That is not the case, as is noted in the 301.1 drivers. From the latest driver notes:
New Surround features:

Add in a fourth accessory display to get access to your email, web, or other applications while you game.
Maximize an application to a single physical display when in Surround mode (enabled by default).
Confine the Windows Taskbar to the center display (enabled by default).
Enable bezel peeking &#8211; a feature which enables users to temporarily &#8216;peak&#8217; behind the monitor bezels using a hotkey (Ctrl + Alt + B). This feature is designed to be used in conjunction with bezel corrected resolutions.
Enables users to add or remove resolutions from the list of Surround resolutions (only those selected will be available to applications).
Enables full center display acceleration for single wide display modes (center display must be connected to the master GPU).

That being said, I don't know how you change it, just wanted to point out that it was normal.
 
Looking foward to results, and lol @ bezels XD I'm glad you like it but I couldnt play like that.
 
Figured out that 1.175v is the max EVGA precision will allow me to set, and that gave me about 100mhz on the core.. not too impressed but OC is never a given.

Also make a note, You can unconfine the task bar from the "desktop -> surround monitors" drop down in NV control panel, and also when using SLI, you HAVE to use the second card to surround, you cannot use SLI + Surround with all the monitors connected to 1 card, however the Surround setup is pretty damn easy and it tells you please move one monitor to an empty port on card #2, and then it even told me, please connect this monitor a different available port on card #2. so a + there :D

Another note, witcher 2 is Broken on the 680 in portrait mode, it constantly does landscape mode, and on the 7970 it crashes my system in CFX randomly it took me about 12 restarts to get those #s so both camps fail =( at least on a single card I can play TW2 on the 7970 though.

Skyrim up next after a short break
 
Last edited:
Digital Viper-X, Thanks for your testing. Your results are making their way around the interwebs.

680 OC getting beat up by a weak 7970 OC in Battlefield 3.
 
i suspect nvidia will release a driver to allow more enthusiast control over how gpu boost works
 
Digital, thanks for taking the time to test. People tend to take for granted how much work it is to post stuff like this, hehe.
 
What settings are you using for Battlefield? Your results are different than pretty much all the online reviews, which show the 680 beating out the 7970 (at least at stock), even at Eyefinity resolutions.
 
The Witcher 2 uses a very poor static resolution configuration, as a result it does not support Portrait surround and also has problems with eyefinity in general.

I was pretty furious when I posted this on their forums some months back and their response was something along the lines of 'meh, deal with it."

Here is a thread on the problem on their forums.
http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/inde...broken-in-tw2/page__gopid__714166#entry714166

Looking forward to more results as well as your subjective feel on the 'smoothness' of either setup. I had some 6970 crossfire and games felt extremely jittery despite high fps, I don't have that problem with my 480's.
 
CrazyRob said:
That is not the case, as is noted in the 301.1 drivers. From the latest driver notes:
New Surround features:

Add in a fourth accessory display to get access to your email, web, or other applications while you game.
Maximize an application to a single physical display when in Surround mode (enabled by default).
Confine the Windows Taskbar to the center display (enabled by default).
Enable bezel peeking &#8211; a feature which enables users to temporarily &#8216;peak&#8217; behind the monitor bezels using a hotkey (Ctrl + Alt + B). This feature is designed to be used in conjunction with bezel corrected resolutions.
Enables users to add or remove resolutions from the list of Surround resolutions (only those selected will be available to applications).
Enables full center display acceleration for single wide display modes (center display must be connected to the master GPU).

That being said, I don't know how you change it, just wanted to point out that it was normal.
Click to expand...

well thats stupid.. since i own 8 series cards i don't bother reading all the useless junk except for what SLI profiles they add.



Forceman said:
What settings are you using for Battlefield? Your results are different than pretty much all the online reviews, which show the 680 beating out the 7970 (at least at stock), even at Eyefinity resolutions.
Click to expand...


thats the difference between running multiplayer and single player(which most reviews did).. single player doesn't use that much ram, it also isn't that hard on the GPU's either. but once you get into a 64 player servers and specifically the map digital viper used you start to see the difference between cards.
 
xoleras said:
Digital, thanks for taking the time to test. People tend to take for granted how much work it is to post stuff like this, hehe.
Click to expand...

yea I never really knew how time consuming it was till i looked at the clock yesterday and saw 4am =p and I barely just finished the AMD tests by then.

Forceman said:
What settings are you using for Battlefield? Your results are different than pretty much all the online reviews, which show the 680 beating out the 7970 (at least at stock), even at Eyefinity resolutions.
Click to expand...
3600x1920
FXAA high / MSAA OFF
Everything on Ultra
SSAO
no motion blur
no vsync
I came up with these settings to keep my fps above 60 or else Microstutter becomes noticeable(originally for the 7970 Xfire that I was running)

Though I ran through an empty server blowing shit up and shooting windows out etc, results might be a bit different with a full server which I will try, I have a feeling most of the interwebs tested single player.




R-Type said:
The Witcher 2 uses a very poor static resolution configuration, as a result it does not support Portrait surround and also has problems with eyefinity in general.

I was pretty furious when I posted this on their forums some months back and their response was something along the lines of 'meh, deal with it."

Here is a thread on the problem on their forums.
http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/inde...broken-in-tw2/page__gopid__714166#entry714166

Looking forward to more results as well as your subjective feel on the 'smoothness' of either setup. I had some 6970 crossfire and games felt extremely jittery despite high fps, I don't have that problem with my 480's.
Click to expand...

I have no issues at all with Eyefinity on the 7970 setup, 3600x1920 and 3150x1680 work without issues, however crossfire will send me to desktop / hardlock if I have to reload a save game or sometimes just randomly. I did play throgh 1/5 of the game with a single 7970 @ 3150x1680. This is def an issue with NV setup. sucks that they broke it =( My only REAL option is to get a pirated version that is v 1.2 or below..... Since I've already purchased the game, is that bad still :p?
 
Last edited:
OK posted the Skyrim results, only thing left is the Crysis WH one, I will do that next, I'll have to get TW2 back to 1.2 and bench Both again.

one thing about Skyrim is that the AMD setup felt unplayable for some reason it was constantly hitching, where as the 680 setup was buttery smooth... I didn't bother with stock vs stock as the 680 blows the 7970 away in skyrim 3 screen.

edit: Got crysis up, managed to get a bit more OC out of the cards, now 1200 / 6800

I'm done for now, if anyone has any requests feel free to ask, u might get lucky!!
Now for the hard part, which 2 cards are going to stay?
The 7970 / 680s feel the same in BF3 even though the 7970 has the edge
TW2 7970 gives me an option to at least play the game with a single card
Skyrim the 7970 takes a nose dive, most likely driver issues that will eventually sort themselves out
Crysis WH I don't care as i beat it a while ago
680s are quieter and smaller and I haven't been on team green since the 285/295s.

tough call.

I can get more for the 680s too
 
Last edited:
killer job man, thanks for your time and effort. safe to say if you have some solid clocking 7970's the change to green team isn't worth it.
 
Looks like i will keep my 1150/1700 Crossfire for now and wait for something better, 780GTX or 8970.
Looks like 7970's definitely have and edge in X-fire compared to 680 SLi and with decent OC on 7970's its no contest. maybe some odd games ( Skyrim which is locked to 60FPS regardless)
680 still nice single card though.

Well as i hear everyone say how 680 is quieter then 7970 no one mention that 680 is running the fans at 30-35% at 80-85c at load at that speed even 7970 is super quiet, while 7970 ramps up the speed to 45-55% but i never saw temps over 70c at full load.

Thanks for the tests.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top