7970 or 580 ? What do you reccommand for this rig (see rig spec)

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Vesqwi

Limp Gawd
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Sep 9, 2011
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What GPU should I buy to use with the rig below ? (I hesitate between the Nvidia's 580 and ATI's 7970)
I'm not especially looking into a future-proof GPU, just the best bang/buck current card for current games.

N.B: will play single screen only (no multi for me), and won't use 3D neither.


CPU: i7 2700K
Memory: 16 GB DDR3 1600 MHz (2x8GB)
HD: 150Gb SDD
PSU: some good branded 1000 or 1200W
OS: Win7 64bit
Mobo: P8Z68-V/GEN3
GPU: ? ? ? ? ? ?


I was just about to get the 7970 until I come here and see tons of ppl complaining of screen tears, flickering and bugs....
Is the 7970 to be avoid ?
 
hardforummarc said:
N.B: will play single screen only (no multi for me), and won't use 3D neither.
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well stating your monitor/resolution would help, but regardless get whichever you can afford and whichever will suffice for the games you play. you'll pay a bit more for the 7970 over the 1.5GB 580 and get more performance. both are great cards. also 1000 or 1200 watt PSU? i hope you intend to go 3x cards with that. otherwise step it back and grab a quality 750 or 850 watt PSU.
 
Go for the 7970, unless you can get the 580 for quite a bit less. The asus 580 on newegg has a lower price atm + rebate..
 
Porter_ said:
well stating your monitor/resolution would help, but regardless get whichever you can afford and whichever will suffice for the games you play. you'll pay a bit more for the 7970 over the 1.5GB 580 and get more performance. both are great cards. also 1000 or 1200 watt PSU? i hope you intend to go 3x cards with that. otherwise step it back and grab a quality 750 or 850 watt PSU.
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Heard that 2x7970 Crossfire was a big up. not sure about the 3x thought... but maybe I could stay on a 850W PSU. which one you suggest ?

aeroportspwn said:
Go for the 7970, unless you can get the 580 for quite a bit less. The asus 580 on newegg has a lower price atm + rebate..
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Thanks.. Think I'll go for the 7970.. i guess they will get better driver soon
 
hardforummarc said:
Heard that 2x7970 Crossfire was a big up. not sure about the 3x thought... but maybe I could stay on a 850W PSU. which one you suggest ?
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take a look at some of the [H] PSU reviews and also jonnyguru. i'm partial to Corsair and Seasonic myself, i've also owned an Antec unit that was rock solid. just be aware that every PSU manufacturer has their crap (low end) and their good stuff (high end).
 
hardforummarc said:
Heard that 2x7970 Crossfire was a big up. not sure about the 3x thought... but maybe I could stay on a 850W PSU. which one you suggest ?



Thanks.. Think I'll go for the 7970.. i guess they will get better driver soon
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Yes, they still have early drivers it can only get better from here on.
 
aeroportspwn said:
Yes, they still have early drivers it can only get better from here on.
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Still honestly think its unacceptable for this.. But then again I am not sure if anyone else is having the same frustration I am having. :mad:
 
AthlonXP said:
Still honestly think its unacceptable for this.. But then again I am not sure if anyone else is having the same frustration I am having. :mad:
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Are you having the Crossfire problem or performance issues in general? both lol? Yeah this has happened before in the past, but they do fix the issues when new drivers eventually come.
 
Honestly, I'd get the HD 7970 since its roughly 18% more expensive than the GTX 580 but outperforms it by 20-30% and has 3GB VRam which will provide more useful (even at 1080p in such games as Battlefield 3).
 
exlink said:
Honestly, I'd get the HD 7970 since its roughly 18% more expensive than the GTX 580 but outperforms it by 20-30% and has 3GB VRam which will provide more useful (even at 1080p in such games as Battlefield 3).
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in bf3 the 7970 is only 3-5fps faster than gtx580.

3gb of vram is overkill for 1080p.

im not saying what he should get, im only stating the facts.

but dont forget that bf3 is still stuttering with AMD cards, including the 7970.
 
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DualOwn said:
in bf3 the 7970 is only 3-5fps faster than gtx580.

3gb of vram is overkill for 1080p.

im not saying what he should get, im only stating the facts.

but dont forget that bf3 is still stuttering with AMD cards, including the 7970.
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Yeah its really overkill dude seriously. Crysis 2 with maldo and quality mod + ultra gives 2338 vram usage. Please if you dont know much dont post :p
 
DualOwn said:
in bf3 the 7970 is only 3-5fps faster than gtx580.

3gb of vram is overkill for 1080p.

im not saying what he should get, im only stating the facts.

but dont forget that bf3 is still stuttering with AMD cards, including the 7970.
Click to expand...

I upgraded from 580 sli to 7970 xfire, there is no stuttering (i'm using frame 60 fps vsync in msi afterburner 2.2 beta 10) and it is much faster than 3-5 fps, trust me.

It might be about 20-30% faster at stock clocks. Once you OC the 7970, however, the gap widens by a TON. The 7970 screams once you oc it, and my performance across the board is signifigantly faster. I haven't found a way to sync my overclocks very well but both of my 7970s
get around 1200 gpu clock at 1193 voltage in MSI afterburner. At that speed they are ridiculously fast, much moreso than 580s. I'm playing at 2560 resolution and all of these games have a 30-50 fps advantage with the oc'ed 7970s: batman AC, crysis 2, metro 2033 and bf3.

I threw my 580 sli's in my 2nd PC and still like them, but 7970 is definitely -noticeably- faster.
 
rivaltr said:
Yeah its really overkill dude seriously. Crysis 2 with maldo and quality mod + ultra gives 2338 vram usage. Please if you dont know much dont post :p
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you threw in maldo, quality mod, and all the mumbo jumbo just to try to make me look wrong? its not going to happen.

we are talking about games, not some hobby that people are having with crysis mods.


and here is the latest 7970 review from X-bit:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/radeon-hd-7970_6.html#sect6

look at those benchies and please tell me if few fps is what we call next-gen, in metro2033 a gtx580 at 900mhz beat the stock 7970 in 1080p.
 
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DualOwn said:
you threw in maldo, quality mod, and all the mumbo jumbo just to try to make me look wrong? its not going to happen.

we are talking about games, not some hobby that people are having with crysis mods.


and here is the latest 7970 review from X-bit:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/radeon-hd-7970_6.html#sect6

look at those benchies and please tell me if few fps is what we call next-gen, in metro2033 a gtx580 at 900mhz beat the stock 7970 in 1080p.
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Battlefield 3 pulls around 1800/1900 vram on ultra
 
If you buy a new gpu with less than 3gb today, then that is your fault.

1.5 is being surpassed now and certainly will be in the coming new year. Get a 3gb gpu.

7970 has driver issues. ATI always has that.

Nvidia is the safer bet but the 580 is a bit old to buy new.

Me? I would look for a gently used 580 3GB from a good seller here.
 
spaceman said:
If you buy a new gpu with less than 3gb today, then that is your fault.

1.5 is being surpassed now and certainly will be in the coming new year. Get a 3gb gpu.

7970 has driver issues. ATI always has that.

Nvidia is the safer bet but the 580 is a bit old to buy new.

Me? I would look for a gently used 580 3GB from a good seller here.
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a gtx 560 with 1gb of vram handles everything perfectly smooth in 1920x1080
 
People continually blow the AMD driver issues way out of proportion. ATI had sucky drivers back in the day and people can't get over it. Overall, Drivers are pretty much on par with eachother now (AMD has been a little slower getting updates out for specific games, but they are supposedly trying to work WITH developers much more now). Read the [H] reviews! Most of the "driver" issues people are having are not actually driver issues, but driver INSTALLATION issues.
Anyone who actually considers buying a 3gb 580 over a 7970 right now and paying the same price for less performance (not even taking overclocking into consideration) is either a 3D nut, a PhysX junkie, needs Cuda, or is just a straight up Nvidia fanboy in denial that AMD actually has the best card available currently.
 
I'm perfectly happy with my 7970. Does 1169|1661 without touching voltage.

There is nothing wrong with a GTX 580 3Gb and if they're around the same price I'd definitely get the 7970 and hope your card will do 1125 on the core or better without touching voltage.

You may want to wait to see what the price and performance of the 7950 looks like.
 
Can always count on nvidiots to come out in droves, I never have understood people that have religious like zeal for their GPUs. I go with whatevers fastest, and i'm liking my 7970 xfires better than 580 sli. I still have both in 2 PC's. It is a good deal faster (7970s). Crossfire scaling and overclocking seal the deal for me, it is a lot faster so far in all games tested.
 
xoleras said:
Can always count on nvidiots to come out in droves, I never have understood people that have religious like zeal for their GPUs. I go with whatevers fastest, and i'm liking my 7970 xfires better than 580 sli. I still have both in 2 PC's. It is a good deal faster (7970s). Crossfire scaling and overclocking seal the deal for me, it is a lot faster so far in all games tested.
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You can ignore them with the button on right corner...
Which is what I did for certain people here..

Ps: I went from a heavily overclocked GTX 480 @ 880Mhz and a 6970 @ 1020, I can guarantee you even at stock of 7970 you going to see a noticeable gain from GTX 580...

And yes BF3 wasn't that smooth with 1.5GB VRAM even on 1680*1050 when maxed out, it uses nearly 2GB when I play... And 6979 is smoother than my 480 on max setting...
Then you can see clearly games use 2GB or above easily...
BF 3 isn't the only game does that too, Crysis and other does it easily, especially hi-reso texture mod on games..
 
Okay frankly everyone is probably overkill here, unless you REALLY want an overkill video card for your needs go get a HD6950 and save some money.

I agree save some $$ on the PSU and take that savings (prob around $100) and throw in a 1TB WD Black drive or a raptor or something for more storage.

Also, I cant imagine you REALLY needing 16gb of RAM, if you say you need it for encoding then why do you only have a SSD? - Maybe consider getting better quality & lower latency RAM and get 8gb - for gaming & everyday use you may see more of a difference with lower latency memory.

Back to the vid card, you didnt say what monitor, so if you are planning on using a 30" DELL Ultrasharp or the likes then okay 7970. if you are using a regular 1080p or 1920x1200 monitor dont waste your cash. Use it on paying off your credit cards or taking your wife/girlfriend out on a nice date or something useful.:D

*remember this a [H] forum most of us are overkill because we love hardware that is the best bleeding edge & overkill :) Call me an early adopter.
 
Only reason I'd get a 580 is for physx my 7970 is in the mail :p When you overclock these cards they tear the 580 a new one. With the possibilities of bios flashing to even higher mmmm tasty good
 
virtualleader said:
Okay frankly everyone is probably overkill here, unless you REALLY want an overkill video card for your needs go get a HD6950 and save some money.

I agree save some $$ on the PSU and take that savings (prob around $100) and throw in a 1TB WD Black drive or a raptor or something for more storage.

Also, I cant imagine you REALLY needing 16gb of RAM, if you say you need it for encoding then why do you only have a SSD? - Maybe consider getting better quality & lower latency RAM and get 8gb - for gaming & everyday use you may see more of a difference with lower latency memory.

Back to the vid card, you didnt say what monitor, so if you are planning on using a 30" DELL Ultrasharp or the likes then okay 7970. if you are using a regular 1080p or 1920x1200 monitor dont waste your cash. Use it on paying off your credit cards or taking your wife/girlfriend out on a nice date or something useful.:D

*remember this a [H] forum most of us are overkill because we love hardware that is the best bleeding edge & overkill :) Call me an early adopter.
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Love your post Vleader,
I know 16gb ram is overkill (I don't need storage at all and no I don't encode), I would like to go 8Gb but I've heard that If I'm going 8gb, I should get 2x4gb since a single memory bar is not good for "whatever technical word here"
Is that true ? If not, I'll go 1x8Gb only for sure. What you suggest ? 2x4gb or 1x8gb ? (I like the fact that I wont have to resell my two 4gb bar if I ever want to max out my ram capacity in the future..)

As for Vid card, no I do not plan on using a 30" for sure.. way too big :p
I have yet to shop for a screen but do not plan on going over 22"-24". I focus on screen performance more than size.. a lot.

risqu3 said:
Okay seriously, how much are you getting paid by nvidia?
Nobody can be this fucking retarded without getting paid right...? right?
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LOL
 
Well all that GPU talking leads me to the next stage.... The PhysX dedicated gpu... Does it worth it ? Can it be any type of card ? AMD/Intel , what card you would reccommend to go with my single or crossfire 7970 ?
 
I don't think it's worth it considering very few games use it. That said, if you really want it then nVidia is your only bet and IIRC the 9800GT is considered the best bang/buck card for it.
 
oh really. I thought it was something implemented on all recent and future games. Thanks !
 
Yeah physX is used on so few games, Batman is the only one I can recall atm, that it isn't worth using a slot for it.
 
hardforummarc said:
Love your post Vleader,
I know 16gb ram is overkill (I don't need storage at all and no I don't encode), I would like to go 8Gb but I've heard that If I'm going 8gb, I should get 2x4gb since a single memory bar is not good for "whatever technical word here"
Is that true ? If not, I'll go 1x8Gb only for sure. What you suggest ? 2x4gb or 1x8gb ? (I like the fact that I wont have to resell my two 4gb bar if I ever want to max out my ram capacity in the future..)

As for Vid card, no I do not plan on using a 30" for sure.. way too big :p
I have yet to shop for a screen but do not plan on going over 22"-24". I focus on screen performance more than size.. a lot.
LOL
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So the way the the memory channels are setup on most modern boards, they perform best with 2 or even 3 sticks (depending on which chipset you are using) of memory b/c that is how many memory channels they have. Your board will perform best with 2 sticks of memory. If you were to go to one stick I cannot say how much performance you would lose but I feel confident that dual sticks will be best.

Also, maxing out all slots can be difficult as from what I recall this board only "officially" supports 8gb sticks at 1333 speed. Go above that and risk weird issues or even no post like I did when I first built my current system.

Below is the "official" list of compatible memory configurations for this board & at what speeds. I did mine outside the manufacturer specs @ 1600 w/ 4x 4gb sticks. It wasnt until hte most recent bios I was able to run that stable.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z68VGEN3/#MSL

Your best bet is 2x4gb sticks.
 
StaticSurge said:
Only reason I'd get a 580 is for physx my 7970 is in the mail :p When you overclock these cards they tear the 580 a new one. With the possibilities of bios flashing to even higher mmmm tasty good
Click to expand...

My Gtx 580 has just over a 20% over clock so from the benchmarks I've seen, it puts it.on par with a stock 7970. Now I know you can over clock the 7970 another 20% but I can't see myself spending $150-200 more to upgrade for another 20%. If you compare a super overclocked 7970 to a stock gtx 580, then yeah its going to be a lot different but who here doesn't over clock. Comparing apples to apples, a maxed out 7970 vs a maxed out gtx 580 there is only about 20% difference . I don't know why everyone keeps saying it blows it out of the water.
 
Nirad9er said:
My Gtx 580 has just over a 20% over clock so from the benchmarks I've seen, it puts it.on par with a stock 7970. Now I know you can over clock the 7970 another 20% but I can't see myself spending $150-200 more to upgrade for another 20%. If you compare a super overclocked 7970 to a stock gtx 580, then yeah its going to be a lot different but who here doesn't over clock. Comparing apples to apples, a maxed out 7970 vs a maxed out gtx 580 there is only about 20% difference . I don't know why everyone keeps saying it blows it out of the water.
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Cheapest 580 3GB on Newegg is $550, and cheapest 7970 3GB is $550. So you're getting your 20% more for the same price. Just saying, though the card you're referring to may be a 1.5gb
 
manofthem said:
Cheapest 580 3GB on Newegg is $550, and cheapest 7970 3GB is $550. So you're getting your 20% more for the same price. Just saying, though the card you're referring to may be a 1.5gb
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I don't think too many would buy the 580 at the same price as a 7970, though it looks like the 580 hasn't gotten much cheaper since the 7970 came out, though there are still very few 7970s to by right now. I don't think the yields on these cards was great. Looking at the driver issues that the 7970 is having coupled with the low availability, I think AMD rushed the 7970s out a little too fast.
 
virtualleader said:
So the way the the memory channels are setup on most modern boards, they perform best with 2 or even 3 sticks (depending on which chipset you are using) of memory b/c that is how many memory channels they have. Your board will perform best with 2 sticks of memory. If you were to go to one stick I cannot say how much performance you would lose but I feel confident that dual sticks will be best.
Click to expand...

Would 2x8 be that much more expensive ?

virtualleader said:
Also, maxing out all slots can be difficult as from what I recall this board only "officially" supports 8gb sticks at 1333 speed. Go above that and risk weird issues or even no post like I did when I first built my current system.
Click to expand...

That board seems to support 1600Mhz.. "4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 2200(O.C.)/2133(O.C.)/1866(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel Memory Architecture" source: your link: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z68VGEN3/#MSL

But I still don't see anywhere we talked about that board before on that thread. .. I'm still in process of choosing my board however.
 
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