• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Undecided 680/7970

there's gonna be a price war for sure... because the 680 cant stay at that high price, but what we want is the ``custom 4GB 680s`` to drop the most..

but i prefer the 7950 x 2 because that's even cheaper and perfect for 1080p
 
I also have a Dell U2711 running at 1440 res.

I have a single 680 which run games pretty well, but at such a high resolution it does strain when you start trying to involve aa or in particularly taxing games, but having more money than sense and a weak spot for computer hardware I just bought another 680 to put in sli.

My brain tells me that more ram would be better for such a high res, thus the Radeon should be the better choice, but benchmarks show the opposite, altho obviously the Radeon is cheaper.
 
Davepen said:
My brain tells me that more ram would be better for such a high res, thus the Radeon should be the better choice, but benchmarks show the opposite, altho obviously the Radeon is cheaper.
Click to expand...

Only if you are running out of vram which at 2GB and 1440p is very unlikely, and even more unlikely that it would noticeably degrade performance, check out some of the hardocp reviews at high res.

Testing at 5760x1200, no sign of 2GB impacting performance at all:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/28/nvidia_kepler_geforce_gtx_680_sli_video_card_review

The biggest question in regards to performance and gameplay experience about GeForce GTX 680 SLI was if the 2GB of VRAM per GPU and lesser memory bandwidth compared to Radeon HD 7970 would be a hindrance. Our testing has clearly answered that question. In fact, in every game we tested, GTX 680 SLI offered a better gameplay experience compared to Radeon HD 7970 CrossFireX. We specifically tested at NV Surround and Eyefinity at the maximum resolution of our configuration at 5760x1200 to see if there would be any bottlenecks. We found that the new GeForce GTX 680 SLI has the performance where it counts.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
straxusii said:
Only if you are running out of vram which at 2GB and 1440p is very unlikely, and even more unlikely that it would noticeably degrade performance, check out some of the hardocp reviews at high res.

Testing at 5760x1200, no sign of 2GB impacting performance at all:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/28/nvidia_kepler_geforce_gtx_680_sli_video_card_review
Click to expand...

Above 5760x1200 680 SLI hits a brick wall, but that's a moot point, not very many users here are gaming at that kind of res.

If you don't need whatever features each camp supports, then it's got to be the cheapest.

Here's a thread discussing both of them on max oc, there is videos at the end that shows the brick wall being hit:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18390154

One of the shortest 680v7970 threads@OcUK(I wonder why:p)
:rolleyes:
 
well i was on the fence with my cash waiting for better EVGA non reference for sli but now im stumpped and not sure....:confused:

the current offer looks mind blowing if you get 2 and 10% discount :eek: and 3 free games for £650 ...

VTX3D HD 7970 X-Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - AMD 3 for FREE Promotion [VX7970 3GBD5-2DHX]

the 680 cant compete on price currently or ever the way its going as 2 non refernce would cost over £1000 :eek:

i have also read good things about this ati card too ...

MSI HD 7970 Lightning 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** [V278-003R]

**does this have the 3 free games too ?? ***



i really dont know now :confused: ....i game at 2560x1600 and need 2 card to last at least 2/3 years...
ati seems to be the way now cost wise but also performance seeing as they are not your standard reference ati cards and are faster than gtx680's

any advice?
 
Not to confuse you more but CF/SLI with these cards might be bottlenecked by your CPU. Could pick up a new 2500k, mobo and heatsink with the money saved by going 7970 :p
 
At release the 680 offered better value and performance. However, with the price drop the 7970 offers the best value and really isn't far behind at the resolution you're talking about. There's always the option of picking up a second card later.

It's hard to recommend the 680 when it's so much more expensive.
 
i have asked this several times and have been told at 2560x on a i7 4.0ghz is workable on sli 680 and crossfire.... ill be upgrading the board and cpu next year :) wanted to get my moneys worth first


im sure i have seen a lot of people on this forum with simular gear not everyone changes there hardware every 6 months :D
 
I've got 2 x 7970s on a i7 930 at 4.0Ghz (2560 x 1440) and I'm yet to see it choke on CPU bandwidth. Even BF3 runs beutifully at anywhere between 70 and 120fps on ultra with pretty much everything on (except movement blur thing, just because it annoys me).

2 x 680 or 7970s will see you fine for a 2 to three years as things stand unless there's a massive leap in gaming requirements. Even a single should keep you OK for 18-24 months for all but the most demanding titles if you were gaming at 1080p.

By the time your CPU can no longer keep up with more than the occasional game you'll probably be at a point where it makes sense for a whole system replacement including the GPUs. That's my current plan anyway.

Short version - just do it :)
 
Grrr everyone's given brill advice but i'm still not any closer to making a decision.

The custom cooled VTX would have been perfect if it had 3 year warranty. I've spent £350 in last 5 years on graphics, but will spend more than that in one go this time round, i want this to last at least 3 years.

Non reference 7970s are still at the £400 mark and i'd prefer a non ref card. And an nvidia equivalent will cost £100 more.

I will wait till May to see what that brings, hopefully as someone said 4GB nvidia card will be down to 2GB prices and hopefully the 7970 will go down further.
 
masscrazy said:
Grrr everyone's given brill advice but i'm still not any closer to making a decision.

The custom cooled VTX would have been perfect if it had 3 year warranty. I've spent £350 in last 5 years on graphics, but will spend more than that in one go this time round, i want this to last at least 3 years.

Non reference 7970s are still at the £400 mark and i'd prefer a non ref card. And an nvidia equivalent will cost £100 more.

I will wait till May to see what that brings, hopefully as someone said 4GB nvidia card will be down to 2GB prices and hopefully the 7970 will go down further.
Click to expand...

My two cents.

No GPU will last 3 years. Why? This market moves too quick.

Dx11.1, Shader model 5 etc etc etc... will get out date when the software companies release new technologies such as DX12 etc.

The wisest choice, is go to more mid range and upgrade more often, rather than go for the full whack now and have to live with it for longer.

Well that's what my brain says, my heart wants a GTX 680!
 
opethdisciple said:
My two cents.

No GPU will last 3 years. Why? This market moves too quick.

Dx11.1, Shader model 5 etc etc etc... will get out date when the software companies release new technologies such as DX12 etc.

The wisest choice, is go to more mid range and upgrade more often, rather than go for the full whack now and have to live with it for longer.

Well that's what my brain says, my heart wants a GTX 680!
Click to expand...

Yeah i realise new stuff will be out by tomorrow but i meant in terms of survivability i'd like it to run for 3 years and thats why i want 3 years warrnty and EVGA and Zotac would be perfect in that sense.

Also i think that buying mid range every so often is a false economy, if i buy mid range and do this often then I will end up spending more. If i buy top of the range now i buy every 3 years instead of every year or 2.
 
Also had this problem as i am in the process of doing a complete system upgrade and after reading that many reviews my vision has gone blurry and with the recent price drops on the 7970's i have decided to get a 7970. Be a couple of months before i am able to get it as i have cpu, mobo and ram to get first so might even see more price drops but i doubt the 680 will drop that much to make it competitive for price.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom