Asus 670 vs. Asus 7970

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kim31227

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Hi guys,
I'm looking for a good graphics card for gaming so I narrowed it down to these two.

I will be gaming on one 1920x1080 resolution monitor.

Also, I will be doing little to no overclocking.

Which graphics card should I buy? The Asus 7970 or Asus 670?

Thanks
 
you need to list all of your current specs in detail when asking for gpu advice. that includes the exact psu that you have.

out of the box a 7970 is a little faster than the 670. oc both a little bit and the 7970 will just pull ahead even more.
 
I have had both, the 7970 is overall a better card. When you start overclocking (as you state you won't be, but regardless) the gap is much wider with the 7970 in the lead.

The problem with AMD has always been the drivers, now that they are taking a aggressive initiative into getting them right (see: 13.2 BETA X), the AMD top-end cards should start performing even better -- my 7970 is at stock (non ghz) and I can max any game, butter smooth.
 
A single 7970, running a single monitor is a great experience. The only issue AMD has that Nvidia doesn't when it comes to drivers it in multi GPU situations, and only in certain games (Cfx stuttering).

Grab that 7970 and enjoy!
 
At that resolution I don't see any games causing any real performance issues. I run a single 2gb Asus 670 on a 27" 2560x1440 monitor. It does have issues with games like crysis 3 when it's maxed out but it's mostly AA that kills the performance.

My vote is for whatever card is cheaper, and considering that AMD is giving away awesome game combos currently that should also be factored in.
 
Comparing with GTX670, 7970 is more noisy, generates more heat, uses more electricity, doesn't support PhysX (eye-candy supported by a few titles. Nevertheless, graphics are about eye-candies) and adaptive VSync, For an overall experience at your 1080p resolution, I would go with GTX670.
 
Depends on what you want.

7970 is faster and more future proof. It does generate more heat and use more power, and no PhysX. It can handle higher resolutions better and more monitors better.

670 is a bit slower and a bit more limited at higher resolutions. It is definitely lower power and cooler running, and PhysX is a bonus. However, not many games use PhysX.

At 1080p, I would even question your need for a 7970/670. Are you going to be playing the highest-end games or do you just want something that will play everything? A 7870/660 is $100 cheaper at least, and will handle the majority of games just as well. They perform around 75% as well as the top-end cards, and at the right time, costs half as much.

If you don't overclock, I would say get nvidia, just becuase of their better history in driver support (not that nvidia hasn't had bad drivers). AMD drivers are getting better by far but they've had some pretty bad drivers too. Especially with 12.11 being a stutterfest.
 
Both solid cards, I don't think either would dissapoint. 670 is a little slower, but for me the tradeoff was worth it to keep the heat and noise down. Physx is limited, but it's pretty when you get to use it.

Mileage may vary, but my ASUS 670 DCII X Y Z (Why are the names so long?) has been steller. Blew my 400 series out of the water performance wise, and it's still quieter and cooler than my CPU with the huge cooling tower.

If you can sell the MMO credit bundle, or AMD gaming bundle, assuming you don't need them, either one is probably an incredible deal. I got my 670 for $300, 6 months ago, after a rebate and selling the BL2 copy I didn't need.

I'm not sure how helpful that really is, I really think it comes down to what kind of machine you're building. One that's fast as can be, or one that is still pretty damn fast and yet won't keep your better half awake from an adjacent room. :D
 
Physx isn't free. If you use it, you WILL lose some overall performance. I don't see any 2GB card as being very forward-looking, at all. I would chime in with the 7950 ( mine's a vapor-x, Sapphire), but it has a few less (112 vs 128) texture units, which can subtly limit post-fx processing. If you don't intend to go past 1080p, then the 7970 would last wuite a while, is my guess.

AMD "driver issues" are done and gone. In fact, every new driver release in the 13.2 betas has brought more performance. Anyone bringing up driver issues when speaking of AMD should probably be viewed skeptically. While I am a "fan" of AMD cards, I have never lied about their performance. They are ahead and slowly gaining, in the current gen cards.

If you find a reasonable priced 670 with 3GB, then I would say it is forward-looking enough to merit consideration.
 
My 7950 is not loud at all. Power draw is quite low, except in-game. Is the OP gaming 24/7, or is that small wattage difference just your gentle nudg towards buying a lesser card?

BTW mine's at 1050 Mhz, so pretty OC'ed.

I think you're splitting hairs here. I actually believe that you are using FUD, but I am trying to be a little reserved here. Just a little.

Draxanoth said:
Both solid cards, I don't think either would dissapoint. 670 is a little slower, but for me the tradeoff was worth it to keep the heat and noise down. Physx is limited, but it's pretty when you get to use it.

Mileage may vary, but my ASUS 670 DCII X Y Z (Why are the names so long?) has been steller. Blew my 400 series out of the water performance wise, and it's still quieter and cooler than my CPU with the huge cooling tower.

If you can sell the MMO credit bundle, or AMD gaming bundle, assuming you don't need them, either one is probably an incredible deal. I got my 670 for $300, 6 months ago, after a rebate and selling the BL2 copy I didn't need.

I'm not sure how helpful that really is, I really think it comes down to what kind of machine you're building. One that's fast as can be, or one that is still pretty damn fast and yet won't keep your better half awake from an adjacent room. :D
Click to expand...
 
If you want slightly higher performance in almost every game, go with the AMD.

If you want a lower power consuming, cooler running card with Adaptive VSync and PhysX, go with the nVidia.

Neither really has any more "future-proofing" over the other...when one struggles with upcoming future games, the other will, as well. At that point, it's going to be time for an upgrade anyway regardless of which one you choose.

Bang for the buck favors the AMD. More features (if you use them) favors nVidia.
 
The heat argument is moot, I had a 680 ref and now have a 7970 ref, they run about the same temp wise. Adaptive vsync to me is useless as long as I can set fps caps, I would rather do that with either card. I found adaptive vsync to be useless. Physx... well batman was kinda nice with it, but I would not personally choose one or the other for physx lol.
 
Solomutt said:
AMD "driver issues" are done and gone. In fact, every new driver release in the 13.2 betas has brought more performance. Anyone bringing up driver issues when speaking of AMD should probably be viewed skeptically. While I am a "fan" of AMD cards, I have never lied about their performance. They are ahead and slowly gaining, in the current gen cards.
Click to expand...

People live in more than just the now. 13.1 and 13.2 have been great, and 12.11 was alright, but before then they were bad. A few good improvements now is good but it doesn't remove their history. AMD doesn't like legacy support, and they haven't produced the best drivers in the past. It's something to keep an eye out for if you're considering somethng for long term.

Not to mention, AMD drivers are horrible if you don't want to use Windows. Linux has native nvidia support.
 
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Solomutt said:
AMD "driver issues" are done and gone. In fact, every new driver release in the 13.2 betas has brought more performance. Anyone bringing up driver issues when speaking of AMD should probably be viewed skeptically.
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Then feel free to view me with skepticism.

Before I tried my first AMD card earlier last year, I thought all that driver nonsense was people exaggerating, or at least something that would never happen to me.

But this...:

"Radeon 7970 crashing my computer?" Aug. 4, 2012
"Does the Radeon 7950 still have those driver issues?" Oct. 21, 2012, my post detailing the issue
"What can cause this type of display corruption?" Nov. 1, 2012
"Grey Screen Problem on 7970." Feb. 7, 2013

The same 2D clock instability issue over 7 months across several users. AMD support still can't "isolate the issue."

But I hope you won't think me a fanboy...:

Solomutt said:
If you find a reasonable priced 670 with 3GB, then I would say it is forward-looking enough to merit consideration.
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...because this is exactly how I felt when shopping for a card this past year.

I wanted more than 2GB VRAM because of the possibility of going 3x 1080p@120hz.

I wanted the better card for higher levels of AA.

And I so badly wanted AMD to do well in the face of nVidia and Intel.

Throw in the fact that they produce the cheaper card at each performance level.

And we're still on the drivers.

...

Why am I ranting like this? Well all of the above issues disappeared when I went back to nVidia, even when it was supposed to be a flash or browser issue. It may not happen to some or even many of you. That said, I still can't, in good conscience, endorse an AMD card when I myself now would no longer touch them with a 10-foot pole. Maybe one day though...
 
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I use an Evga 670 with a slight oc and with adaptive vsync I get a good 100+fps at 1080P in bf3 with a mix of high settings w/ medium mesh and shadows. No AA, I just use SweetFx which does just fine for jaggies. The card runs cooler with adaptive vsync on btw. FPs caps might do the same thing idk.

Anyway, the point is that neither card is future proof. In Far Cry 3, H mentioned that it wasn't the vram holding things back as much as the speed of the gpu. So while it isn't vital, we are seeing the need for more speed already.

Safe bet is nvidia. There is an evga 670 vanilla and a evga 680 sc on the fs here. Evga allows warranty to transfer. I would buy one of those if I was in the market.
 
670 if you want fantastic 1080p out of the box experience with little to no tweaks needed.
7970 if you want to tweak/overclock and achieve higher frame rates and possibly more AA.

Either way, you'll be happy with either purchase.
Just as a side note, If you're not experienced in troubleshooting, go Nvidia (in your case, 670).
 
raghu78 said:
Go with a HD 7950 boost. best price perf. matches GTX 670 at stock. easily overclocks to 1100 - 1150 mhz and matches HD 7970 Ghz(1050 mhz) performance

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7950_X2_Boost/31.html

the sapphire HD 7950 boost with dual x cooler runs quiet. has unlocked voltage. 2 free games - crysis 3 and bioshock infinite

www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-11196-16-20G/dp/B0098HW1HG/
Click to expand...

Why pay $350 for a 7950 when you can have a 7970 for $30 bucks more? And that's not even counting those that have a rebate that ends up totaling $350 for a 7970 at tigerdirect.
 
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