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7970 or 680?

B

bernaby

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 9, 2012
Messages
175
I will be upgrading my GPU in the near future and run a single monitor which is 1920 x 1080. I'm wondering whether to get a 680 or a 7970. Now I've never run into any driver issues with any of the AMD cards I've had and I'm not considering a crossfire or SLI setup, just a single card, so lets leave driver issues off the table.

Here is the meat of my question. The 7970's seem to have a slight advantage when you look at simply framerates in most games, although is seems like a wash in some. So it comes down to PhysX effects and adaptive Vsync. I've never had the chance to see what PhysX brings to the table but I am curious because I do like the eye candy. However, not all games use this. So is it worth it? I have seen reviews that say the adaptive Vsync does make gameplay smoother even though the card might not have been quite as fast.

So do these two things make it worth the extra money for the 680 over the 7970. I am looking for feedback from those that have seen both cards in action with the same games.
 
Single card 7970, hands down. Better game bundle, faster, cheaper. You'll get very mixed opinions on CF/SLI, though.
 
I'd rather have the GTX680 just because I'm kinda tired of driver headaches with AMD but Nvidia is awful proud of their stuff and so I don't think the $70 or so price premium over the 7970 is worth it.

Same or similar price or money no object, I'd rather have the 680. Current pricing and value shopping, probably say the 7970.
 
If you do not plan of going the multi card route just get the 7970, it's faster and there are very few driver issues with a single card.
 
Just to be clear, I have no intention to go multi card. I also have no intention of going multi screen either. There might be a 2560 x 1600/1440 monitor in the far distant future but I'm happy with what I have. By the time I might think about the monitor (2 or 3 years) I'd be thinking about a new GPU anyway. So as AMD's driver issues are mostly crossfire related in this case drivers do seem to be an issue for me.
 
7970 gets my vote. I;m running an overclocked 7950 and it plays all my games maxed out @ 1080p. I would spend a little extra on a card with a non-reference cooler
 
Yes you've my vote too, I've a 7950 and now wish I had gotten a 7970 instead, not that my 7950 cannot play my games its just for the ego..lol!

If you do not plan on watercooling it or putting in an aftermarket cooler get one that cools better, I would recommend the Sapphire 7970 (not the Vapor X or the GHz editions, they're good too) and maybe the HIS 7970s too. I'm sure others can give you better advice on which 7970 in particular, but I would say 7970 hands down but please bear in mind that you should be comfortable OC-ing it to see it really shine.
 
What operating system are you running? AMD drivers and software integration on Windows 8 / Server 2012 are a joke. This is from an AMD owner for four of the last five gfx card purchases. Driver 13.1 crashed my server system at random on a single 7870 and the drivers from 12.8 up to 13.2 on some PC's still require a registry hack for full functionality of the Catalyst Control Panel - that is, when it's not crashing - that is, if you can get it to load at startup. 13.2 is stable but the GPU Scaling over hdmi/digital connections for lower-resolution games is mind bogglingly irritating. This function shouldn't even exist.

If you're running Windows 7, I suppose it's not so much of an issue, but if you're running Windows 8 or Server 2012, get the nVidia.

My last few gfx cards: HD7870, HD6870, HD4870, 8800GTS, Radeon 9800 Pro... It's a sad day when I recommend nVidia.
 
Good point, I've no idea about Windows 8.
OP - My opinion was based on Windows 7.
 
I am running Windows 7 ultimate, and yes I will be going with a card that has a non-reference cooler. I have an MSI 6970 and it has been good to me. This is what I am thinking in no order of preference.

Gigabyte
MSI
Asus

Whether it is a 680 or a 7970 the cooling solutions on these seem to be pretty good. I am really digging the [H] review of the Windforce cooler on the Gigabyte. It seems to be one of the coolest and quietest units they have tested. It has decent overclocking potential as well.

Bottom line is what kind of deals are around when I have the money to pull the trigger. I am of modest means so I have to make my buck go as far as it can. I just upgraded to a 3570k and a Gigagyte GA-Z77X-UD5 from a 965 and an Asus M4A89GTD Pro/usb3. I added a Samsung 840 500gb and turned my WD black 2tb into storage. I figure that a 680 or a 7970 and I should be good to go for a couple of years. Any thoughts? I know this is not a bleeding edge system but I think it will be pretty capable.
 
If you're taking value into consideration an overclocked 7950 with a quality cooler will be a better purchase than a 7970, especially gaming at 1080p. This Gigabyte and this Sapphire are both good cards. The 7970 versions are also good but cost $100 more for not much performance increase. Your goal at 1080p is to exceed 60fps, which a 7950 will do just fine (unless you're using a 120Hz monitor, in which case you really need to be looking at two card solutions).

Those cards come with Crisis 3 and Bioshock, which you should be able to unload for 60 bux or more, which would make the Sapphire $230 AR. Or you could play the games.
 
At higher resolutions the 7970 even shines more and with the game bundle its a no brainer unless your a Nvidia fanboy. Which it seems like you are not. You just want the best value for your dollar and its clearly the 7970 of course if your on Win7 idk about the problems on win8 some ppl are having. I haven't upgraded to win8 on my gaming machine. I have it on my HTPC and don't like it very much. I haven't had any problems at all from AMD in a long time in terms of driver stability and I have been running them since my 3870.
 
Well I'm not any kind of fanboy, like I said I just went Intel and previously everything I had was Amd. I went from a 940 to a 965 to the 3570k. If I did'nt have to get a new board I would have seriously considered an 8350. I've gone from a 4850 to a 5870 to a 6970. This has been over the past 5-6 years. I ran the 4850 with the 940. The 5870 on the 965. The 6970 was on the 965 and now on the 3570k.

I guess the thing that interests me the most about the Nvidia cards is the PhysX, but apparently this is only used in a few games, and I've read that there is a performance hit when it is enabled. It would really be a drag to spend the extra money they are asking for the 680's only to find out that most games don't use it or to find out that I needed to disable it to get a good smooth framerate.

Does anyone know just which games use PhysX?
 
I may have just answered my last question. Went to the Nvidia site and looked up which games use PhysX.....not many.....and only maybe 3 or 4 I am playing or am interested in playing. This makes me lean a bit to the 7970 side.
 
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You won't be disappointed with either. I myself pefer the nvidia flavor and simply overclocking. The 7970 ghz is more on the price friendly side, best value goes to 7970 for sure
 
Edit: Forgot to mention, the 7970 comes with a couple GOOD games, while the 680 comes with "never heard of them games".

I posted the same question in this thread here. Check it out. Lost of good info from the great posters.

I decided to get the 7970GE ... but I went nuts and bought an EVGA Superclocked Signature Titan instead as cost was not much of a concern.

I would recommend the 7970 over the 680 if SLi was not a concern. If a person had plenty of cash and was thinking of SLi I'd go 680. At least that is the impression I got from more than a few people.

Good luck to you.
 
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While I am an nvidia fanboy, it's kind of a toss up. You do TEND to have better driver support and updates/optimizations on nvidia, but amd's cards raw performance wise do have a slight edge. At 1080p currently the VRAM difference doesn't add up to much, though in the future you may see newer games using more VRAM, so that's a plus for AMD. That said, the difference in performance between the two cards isn't MASSIVE, so you don't really lose out either way. In the end I'd probably say a 7970 as well if you aren't planning to multicard.
 
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