7970 Lightning or 680 GTX

Best single GPU card.

  • MSI 7970 Lightning

    Votes: 56 32.4%
  • 680 GTX (reference)

    Votes: 117 67.6%

  • Total voters
    173
Alan Wake is a recent and popular game? lmao

the game is like 2 years old, it sucks and on top of that it only runs in DX9.

using Alan Wake game for benchmarking today's video cards is pointless, same with other dx9 games.

Are you kidding me dude? Alan Wake is one of, if not the best looking game to be released in the past year, obviously you haven't played it. And it is a fantastic game as well.

It did very well on the xbox 360 and the PC version is a PC game done right, it is not simply a console port. Think what you will about nvidia vS AMD, everyone has a different opinion on that -- but this comment on Alan Wake is ridiculous. It is a solid , great looking game.
 
xoleras
Nice of you to bring some rational perspective in this charged discussion. There are so many Nvidia fanbois here I was feeling there cannot be a reasonable debate.

tajoh111 / TroyX
For people telling GTX 680 is priced at USD 500.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B007KC1R3A/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Newegg which sells at USD 500 is constantly out of stock. so here we are comparing a solid product like HD 7970 with widespread availability against an equally good product like GTX 680 with very little availability and reseller price gouging .
 
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I prefer AMD cards but I'm getting a 680 the same day I order a 3770K

7970 is a better compute GPU, 680 is a better gaming GPU. I don't fold or mine, but I do play games.
 
xoleras
Nice of you to bring some rational perspective in this charged discussion. There are so many Nvidia fanbois here I was feeling there cannot be a reasonable debate.

tajoh111 / TroyX
For people telling GTX 680 is priced at USD 500.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B007KC1R3A/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Newegg which sells at USD 500 is constantly out of stock. so here we are comparing a solid product like HD 7970 with widespread availability against an equally good product like GTX 680 with very little availability and reseller price gouging .

I *JUST* purchased an eVGA GTX 680 from Newegg yesterday. It is possible. :rolleyes:
 
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Can't argue with the blatant facts, buy the best possible performance for the money. Right now, that means the 680
 
The 680 is a better value in almost any conceivable situation. The 7970 is also a great card, but the 680 is a better buy until AMD drops the prices.
 
I've owned both and voted 680(Windforce 7970/Reference 680). I originally bought the 7970 after the release of the 680 because of the 3GB of RAM and the fact the aftermarket board and cooler were supposedly much better quality than a reference 680. This was my justification for spending 600$ on the 7970.

I will admit that at max clocks(1250/1550) the 7970 was faster. It was also generated more heat, noise(bought a new case to get temps down trying to quiet the card), and sucked power. The 680 overclocked(1250/6900) is SLIGHTLY slower in my limited benchmarks. Were talking less than than 10%. It is actually faster in the games I play on a regular basis. You also had to deal with the driver bugs in the 7970. ULPS causing overclocked cards to crash constantly after installing the 12.3 driver. I also had cursor corruption issues on my third monitor.

To top it off the 7970 failed within 10 days. I know that is not typical but both my 7970 and 6950 had hardware issues with the chip itself(7970 artifacts in 2d and 3d/6950 tessellation units didn't work). Boths time I've given ATI a chance and ended up going back to Nvidia(6950->GTX580->7970->GTX680).

My two cents.
 
The real problem with 680GTX and all Nvidia cards is the lack of Display port and you have to have two freaking cards to run nVsurround or whatever their equivalent of eyefinity is.

The real problem is someone isn't checking the facts before posting FUD. A 680 has 2xDVI, 1xHDMI and 1xDP (full size DP at that for those that care), and can do Surround with one card.
 
As an owner of a 7970, if I were buying new today I would go with the 680GTX. It simply has the edge right now. But to be honest, I'm not in love with either card,really looking forward to next offering from both companies...
 
As an owner of a 7970, if I were buying new today I would go with the 680GTX. It simply has the edge right now. But to be honest, I'm not in love with either card,really looking forward to next offering from both companies...

Long time lurker here, but I just had to comment on this thread. I think Chris is right for most gamers out there. If you are gaming at 1080p, get a 680. If you are gaming in eyefinity or at 2560x1600 (like I am), I think the MSI 7970 Lightning is the better card. If you are looking strictly at price/performance, neither the 7970 or the 680 will fit the bill- they are both simply too expensive to lead in that category. If you are looking for the best price/performance in the top rank cards and you game at 1080p, get a GTX 680. It will be the best card for your needs right now. However, if you are just looking at getting the best consumer grade, single card solution, I say get the MSI. I bought one the day they were available, and wow is it a kicker of a card. My standard playing OC is 1230 on the core and 1600 on the memory, with a minimal voltage boost to each. The highest temps I have seen is 67 degrees C with the fan running (very quietly, I might add) at 60%. I'm sure I could probably OC much higher, but I haven't tried it since I bought the card for gaming, rather then OCing.

But now that I'm thinking about it...
 
However, if you are just looking at getting the best consumer grade, single card solution, I say get the MSI. I bought one the day they were available, and wow is it a kicker of a card. ...

Well said .
 
Right now I think the winning solution is to get a non-reference 680 GTX under the price of the 7970 Lightning.
 
Can't really go wrong with either, but if you can get a GTX 680, go for it (hard to find in stock, maybe buy one from a user on the forums here).
 
Don't think anyone has mentioned this yet... but what resolution are you going to be playing at?
 
In that case I think you've made the right decision getting a GTX 680, the premium for the 7970 can't really be justified unless you're at Eyefinity resolutions and going dual GPUs.
 
is it 700 USD. Where do you live. the price is exorbitant.

Europe: Romania. Most European countries just take as reference the prices from the USA and simply convert to Euros. For example you get a 500$ 680 GTX video card and we will get the same one for ~650$.
Right now, the cheapest 680GTX is the EVGA reference for ~630$
 
I would go for A GTX680 when more non reference design ones come out, such as an Asus Direct CUII model, for it's color scheme and it's cooling
 
I was told by a guy here that the 7970s go for 800,000 Korean won, which is about $725. :eek:
 
Looking for GTX 680 in stock myself. If I could get the 7970 at the same price it would be a harder decision.
 
Will have to see with the price cuts that should be coming next week. If the price is close then the decision is a lot harder, or the lightning was less then the 680 it would be an easy decision.
 
By not cutting prices the week of the 680 launch, AMD is playing right into nVidia's hands. With each passing day, more chips are qualifying off the TSMC line and more R&D costs are being recovered re: 680. If the manufacturing cost is as low as would be expected for what was originally a mid-range part, nVidia can undercut the 7970 on price all the way down to $400 and the 680 will still be a cash cow.
 
tajoh111

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/10/sapphire_hd_7970_oc_edition_video_card_review/7

At 2560 x 1600 ultra 4x MSAA the stock GTX 680 with turbo upto 1.1 Ghz is running at avg 42.9 fps min 25 fps . 950 Mhz Sapphire avg 40 fps min 27 fps. The Sapphire HD 7970 OC at 1280 Mhz is rocking with an avg 50.7 fps min 34 fps. Almost 94% scaling for an extra 330Mhz core speed. (1280 / 950 x 40 x 0.94 = 50.66 ) The GTX 680 will be hard pressed to beat this at 1.3 Ghz even with a 100% scaling (42.9 x 1.3 /1.1 = 50.7). We know a 100% scaling is not going to happen. And the chances of higher OC than 1.3 Ghz are lesser and even then scaling is a factor.

Lots of people in these forums are telling the GTX 680 runs better by comparing a 925 Mhz HD 7970 against a GTX 680 even though 1 Ghz HD 7970 versions have been selling from day one. Almost all cards reach 1.1 to 1.125 Ghz on stock voltage settings by just maxing out the sliders in CCC. Its as easy as that. Most of the benchmarks showing the GTX 680 running faster at stock clocks with the help of Turbo upto 1.1 Ghz will look different against a 1.1 Ghz HD 7970 . This is what I meant

"But if you are looking at it impartially based on facts HD 7970 is the better card".

There haven't been any GTX 680's shown to be clocked significantly faster than 1.3 Ghz on air. At max overclocks the HD 7970 is looking better than GTX 680 OC when compared across a larger number of games. And for people who say comparing a stock GTX 680 vs MSI Lightning HD 7970 is not fair. Its not AMD's fault for having released their GPU earlier which enabled custom designs to come out at the same time as the GTX 680 release.

I guess you never read this review...
http://hardocp.com/article/2011/12/22/amd_radeon_hd_7970_video_card_review/7
It was far to pit an overclocked GTX 580 to a Stock AMD 7970
 
7970 FTW. Don't know why people are making the 680 so special. Whatever if it is marginally better. Not an AMD fanboy. People are treating these GPUs like its so rare or something. Just wait it out and buy one for the cheap. Jeez.
 
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