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670 or 7950?

nitram100

nitram100

nitram100

Soldato
Joined
7 Aug 2009
Posts
4,972
Location
London
Hi guys,

Time to put my 5850 to rest and upgrade.

As the prices stand right now, is the 670 a better deal than the 7950?

I can get a 670 for about £285 whereas the cheapest 7950 is £254.

Looking at benchmarks it appears as though the 670 has a bit more grunt than the 7950.

Is there any reason for me to go with the 7950? Is there a price drop expected soon?

As for stock coolers, is the 670 one decent enough?

Thanks for any help,
 
Price drops/rises depends what price point the 660Ti comes out at tbh.

If it was my money, I'd be buying a 670, as if anything, 670 prices are likely to rise.
 
I'd go for the 670 atm, though if budget is the priority, I would suggest the 7950. If it's a good clocker, you can look forward to beyond stock 7970 speeds.
 
Thanks guys, I have read that a 7950 is a good deal if you OC it, but what happens if I overclock a 670? Does that then beat a 7970?
 
And what happens if you overclock the 7970 and so on and so on.

Just get the best card you can afford, personally i dont like single fan editions as they can become very noisy.
 
nitram100 said:
Thanks guys, I have read that a 7950 is a good deal if you OC it, but what happens if I overclock a 670? Does that then beat a 7970?
Click to expand...

670's are a pain in the back side to overclock as the voltage on stock cards only goes up to 1.175 which is really poor for a top end card. I know I have one on water it's very unstable when overclocked but the stock performance negates the poor overcloclability.

I could be just unlucky but own experience shows relying on overclocking to improve value for money isn't a good idea. Just get the faster card and if it overclocks well its a bonus.

edit:
Don't post on a smart phone.
 
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I'd too go with the 670. but with OC's in mind, I'd go with whatever is within your budget. There will always be if's and but's - but this is always expected! :)
 
Freddie1980 said:
670's are a pain in the back side to overclock as the viltage on stock cards only goes up to 1.175 which is really poor for a top end card.
Click to expand...

That's because it wasn't meant to be a top end card, but seeing as it competed as well as it does, it was released as one. The downlocking when you hit 70c isn't super awesome either.


Wait for the prices to come down or see what is released in the lead up to holiday period.
 
Cutshaw said:
That's because it wasn't meant to be a top end card, but seeing as it competed as well as it does, it was released as one. The downlocking when you hit 70c isn't super awesome either.
Click to expand...

That would make sense if nvidia were happy to allow board partners to create designs that exceed that voltage limit beyond reference, where that reference is their original mid range design.

In fact they are being very strict about it. Forcing evga to use their gameboy rubbish (and even then telling them afterwards that 1.175 is max and that's final) and making all the other partners except msi put their tail between their legs.
 
The difference is, the 670s auto clock up to an undetermined speed, which boosts their performance. Max clocked versus max clocks, the 7950s will beat a 670. Looks like AMD has realised this, and have released a new BIOS for existing 7950s, and will be releasing new 7950s that auto overclock too, which makes sense, since it seems that 670s and 7950s are quite underclocked compared to what the average chip will clock up to. Seems all 7950s will go past 1000 on the core, which is a 25% overclock. Most 7950s should definitely manage a 30% overlock on the core.

I'm upgrading soon, and I'm going for 7950s based on the above, as they'll be over all a better experience, for less money and have more VRAM, so will have a bit more longevity in them.
 
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I've owned both, my 7950 was fantastic, scored higher in Heaven than my new 670 but I had issues with the card in SWTOR. I like both cards, there really isn't that much in it from a gaming perspective, both manage BF3 nicely at Ultra at 1200p, I would be lying if I said I noticed a difference in performance between the two. Benchmarks though seem to suggest that the 670 is better in BF3 so if that is your main game then go for it.
 
I have been running my 7950 at 950MHz core since the day they came out, rocks solid and never gone above 70C in games. It probably could go higher but I have no need when I can max everything I want to play. BF3 included.
 
spoffle said:
The difference is, the 670s auto clock up to an undetermined speed, which boosts their performance. Max clocked versus max clocks, the 7950s will beat a 670. Looks like AMD has realised this, and have released a new BIOS for existing 7950s, and will be releasing new 7950s that auto overclock too, which makes sense, since it seems that 670s and 7950s are quite underclocked compared to what the average chip will clock up to. Seems all 7950s will go past 1000 on the core, which is a 25% overclock. Most 7950s should definitely manage a 30% overlock on the core.

I'm upgrading soon, and I'm going for 7950s based on the above, as they'll be over all a better experience, for less money and have more VRAM, so will have a bit more longevity in them.
Click to expand...

They don't beat a 670 max clocked. You can see this in the Heaven and 3D Mark 11 threads.

Oh and the extra VRAM won't do anything for its longevity unless you play with badly optimised mods on Skyrim.
 
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it comes down to which 670's are on special offer
all of the aftermarket 670's are very quiet even when heavily overclocked - the reference 670 can get noisy when OC'd

the quietest and best OC 670 is the windforce which has been down to £320 on OCUK which is a pretty decent price for a good card

7950's are hotter and noisier than their 670 equivalent, but also cheaper - so to a certain extent it depends what price point you are trying to hit, if you want a card that is cheaper than a 670 then the 7950 isn't an awful choice

noise and heat were not so important to me as I'm watercooling them so I got EVGA 670's which OC very well on air and even better on water
 
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