What a load of rubbish. No it's not, not even close. Especially on popular titles like BF3. Even the factory OC 7950's can't get close to a reference 670 and the 60 quid is worth every pennty when you're still more than 10 fps ahead of the AMD card and only 2fps behind the fastest single GPU card on the market.
Right im loling at you for just like you did someone else and accused them for selective cherry picking of 1 game, just liek you have bf3. My unbiased results are from guru3d benchs, using a 670/7950 stock, and msi oc edition for 1300mhz turbo. its well known that nvidia favours bf3. If thats the only gane the matters then yes nvidia based makes sense. Fact Depending on game the reality is you are are going to see a win for red or green.
However lets look at crysis 2.
7950
800mhz 56 fps vs 670 (stock) = 59
900mhz 60 fps vs 670 msi oc edition (1080) = 63
1125mhz 71 fps vs 670 msi oc edition (1300) = 69
Wonder how much more the 7950 could scale with a 12-1300 clock? Remember its a cheaper card but 1200 is usually easily achievable on the better made 7950cards.
look at anno 2070
7950
800mhz 67 fps vs 670 (stock) = 75fps
900mhz 75 fps vs 670 msi oc edition (1080) = 87
1125mhz unknown vs 670 msi oc edition (1300) = unkown
Now we see the nvidia ahead by quite a lot, what I don't have is higher clocks from both cards to see how the 7950 would be able to close the gap or if the gap would still remain. Remember this isn't a 7970.
Alien vs predator because its the only other game which is on there to compare higher overclocks for both cards.
7950
800mhz 50 fps vs 670 (stock) = 51 fps
900mhz 54 fps vs 670 msi oc edition (1080) = 52
1125mhz 64 fps vs 670 msi oc edition (1300) = 61
Pretty much a tie remember this isn't a 7970 its a 250-280 card which should be able to hit 1200mhz or more.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/his-radeon-hd-7950-iceq-turbo-review/20
If you want to save yourself 60 quid then fine, buy the cheap card. But don't kid yourself by trying to compare a factory oc version to even the basic reference 670.
Take a look at the 3D Mark 11 figures - the reference 670 is 1001 points clear of the factory oc 7950 :-
http://www.guru3d.com/article/his-radeon-hd-7950-iceq-turbo-review/20
What rock have you been hiding under? Please, give us a real reason to waste 240 quid.
3dmark 11
7950
800mhz 6800 vs 670 (stock) = 8455
900mhz 7454 vs 670 msi oc edition (1080) = 9258
1125mhz 9008 vs 670 msi oc edition (1300) = 9875
3d mark 11 does show higher values on the nvidia side, but honestly its irrelevant you telling me you bought a £300+ card to not game on?
And throw away your warranty and suddenly that 100 pound saving, which is actually only a 60 quid saving, turns out costing you 240 quid when it goes pop. Guru3d didn't even push their own card that far and everyone elses experience will vary.
Agreed everyones experiences will vary some will clock higher some with safe voltages. Every chip is different i imagine the cheaper 7950s wont have an unlocked vrm controller, But Sapphire 7950/oc or a windforce 7950 should have and come with better cooling.
The reality is that a GTX670 really doesn't need to be overclocked. They are plenty fast enough already at HD resolutions. You're only overclocking to boost your epeen, it adds no other value or benefit.
