IceQ 7950 or GTX660 superclocked

[Xenus]

Just looking for some advice really, in the middle of putting together a build and trying to decide on a graphics card. Went for a NZXT Hale Power 90+ 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply and the GTx660 Superclocked caught my eye for its performance and low power output but have also been look at the IceQ 7950 after someone recommending it but wondering if that is a bit overkill for the psu and what I will be using it for. (generally low end graphic games like, wow, swtor with exception of SC2 and possibly skyrim)

Any info would be great on either products, reviews for the IceQ tend to be positive. Tried to find stock speed specs for IceQ but only info I found was that it was recommended to have a psu of 500w or greater. The rest of my proposed build can be found here


Cheers guys! I am new to this so be kind xD

 

[spoffle]

7950 IceQ every time considering the price of that GTX660. It might be overkill but it'll last you a lot longer than the GTX660 in terms of new games coming out.

 

[Xenus]

cheers, yeah it does help future proof the machine, also the game deal with it is great. what about the power output with my proposed build? I am hoping 650 will be okay. from what I have read the power consumption is quite low

 

[tommybhoy]

IceQ, no brainer tbph, 650w will be fine, I'm running 7970/7950 CrossFireX on a 750W Seasonic.

 

[weehamish]

IceQ, no brainer tbph, 650w will be fine, I'm running 7970/7950 CrossFireX on a 750W Seasonic.

What happens why you CF a lesser card with a good card? they both run at 7950 speeds?

Seems the 7970 is going to waste a bit? thats like £100+?

 

[tommybhoy]

What happens why you CF a lesser card with a good card? they both run at 7950 speeds?

Yes they do sort of, the 7970 won't utilise as much of the gpu as the 50 will, usually 99%/94%, but you oc the 7950 faster than the 7970 and they both utilise the same.

Seems the 7970 is going to waste a bit? thats like £100+?

Sort of, but the 7970 was cheap(ish) to begin with and the DD cost £209 with the free games, two of them I was definitely going to get anyway, so it wasn't a huge cost for going CrossFireX and wanted to know more about CrossFiring two different levels of same series gpu's.

Cost £500 and I got Dirt Showdown, 2XSleeping Dogs, Nexuiz, FarCry 3 and Hitman, when you take into account in comparison to a single 7970/680 Lightning that cost £440+ most of the time.

 

[weehamish]

Yes they do sort of, the 7970 won't utilise as much of the gpu as the 50 will, usually 99%/94%, but you oc the 7950 faster than the 7970 and they both utilise the same.



Sort of, but the 7970 was cheap(ish) to begin with and the DD cost £209 with the free games, two of them I was definitely going to get anyway, so it wasn't a huge cost for going CrossFireX and wanted to know more about CrossFiring two different levels of same series gpu's.

Cost £500 and I got Dirt Showdown, 2XSleeping Dogs, Nexuiz, FarCry 3 and Hitman, when you take into account in comparison to a single 7970/680 Lightning that cost £440+ most of the time.

When did you buy them? 7970s are around £320 now for a decent one.

But howcome if the 7970 has more cores?

Its still kinda holding it back, i dunno how much mind, like you say maybe 5%?

If you OC the 7950 to match the speeds would the extra cores on the 7970 do something? Or would they be disabled and go off 7950 cores?