Nvidia 670 or Ati 7970

aeyz · 11 Dec 2012 at 18:16

I can't choose these two can you guy help me. I buy for gaming and rendering

Tonester0011 · 11 Dec 2012 at 18:18

7950.

dave_beast · 11 Dec 2012 at 18:38

+1 7950

ozzymundo · 11 Dec 2012 at 19:01

I would say price performance wise a good 7950 takes the biscuit, especially with the extra games...

I'm using a 670 atm, I got it for £300 on offer when 7950s and 7970s were a bit higher or something like that. Tbh, unless you're using Physx or similar I would go Ati as the price performance is definitely better, and you get the games as well.

Saying that, £320 would get you this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-097-GI&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938 which is possibly one of the fastest single cards out there

Although 7950s are very cheap for the performance...

CEUOTC · 11 Dec 2012 at 19:02

As much as l am a fan of AMD you have set yourself a difficult task. the 670 is slightly slower than a 680 so hits the price performance sweet spot imo, however the 7970 is just as fast as a 680 and can be faster at higher res.

So in the end go for what is cheaper

Regards.

C.

PS free games with AMD

and the cheapest 7970 is 60 quid less than the cheapest 680

whyscotty · 11 Dec 2012 at 19:04

+2 7950

Rusty0611 · 11 Dec 2012 at 19:14

7950 as it's only 5% slower than a 7970 and £80 cheaper.

670 is your best nVidia choice if you would prefer a nVidia card but at best is matching a 7950.

dave_beast · 11 Dec 2012 at 19:38

CEUOTC said:
As much as l am a fan of AMD you have set yourself a difficult task. the 670 is slightly slower than a 680 so hits the price performance sweet spot imo, however the 7970 is just as fast as a 680 and can be faster at higher res.

Since AMD 12.11 drivers, the 7970 has edged in front of the 680 at all resolutions. Nvidia can't justify their inflated prices imo.

Quixote · 11 Dec 2012 at 20:45

Rendering what ? Do you mean like Octane render, Metal Ray I-Ray, V-Ray RT ? If you really mean a GPU accelerated renderer, then the NVidia will be a better choice. If, on the other hand you are using a CPU based renderer or a hybrid, then it won't make much difference.

LOAM · 11 Dec 2012 at 21:34

Rendering you say? What software are you using?. I've got a GB670WF and its absolutely dire in an open GL environment, sketchup is insanely bad and runs worse than the 5870 I used before. It's so bad I'm considering getting rid it as its not great in Autocad either.

Before I'm bombarded with "zomg, buy quadro if you need open GL", let me just preemptively answer, No

aeyz · 11 Dec 2012 at 23:09

Thank you for all comment I going to buy 7970 one. I have to use nvidia 2 times in my life my old pc and laptop. Ati just one time. I think I like ATI

spoffle · 11 Dec 2012 at 23:20

aeyz said:
Thank you for all comment I going to buy 7970 one. I have to use nvidia 2 times in my life my old pc and laptop. Ati just one time. I think I like ATI

Save yourself some money and get a 7950, you'll never notice a difference between them with a mild overclock (unless you get one that's already overclocked).

Proto · 11 Dec 2012 at 23:42

Rusty0611 said:
7950 as it's only 5% slower than a 7970 and £80 cheaper.

It is only 5% slower if you downclock a 7970.

spoffle · 11 Dec 2012 at 23:45

Proto said:
It is only 5% slower if you downclock a 7970.

All 7950s will do reference 7970 clocks.

It takes about 10 seconds to load up CCC, go to the performance section, enable overdrive and set the sliders to the right.

My 2 7950s run at 950 by default (they're overclocked/boost editions).

Proto · 11 Dec 2012 at 23:51

spoffle said:
All 7950s will do reference 7970 clocks.

It takes about 10 seconds to load up CCC, go to the performance section, enable overdrive and set the sliders to the right.

My 2 7950s run at 950 by default (they're overclocked/boost editions).

The 7970's can be overclocked too, likely higher than a 7950. So this 5% argument is simply misleading.

spoffle · 11 Dec 2012 at 23:53

No it's not, 7950s have in general a higher overclocking headroom.

Lower end 7970s will likely clock to similar clocks as most 7950s, the top end 7970s (like lightenings) are the ones you get the bigger clocks on.

Tonester0011 · 11 Dec 2012 at 23:54

Proto said:
The 7970's can be overclocked too, likely higher than a 7950. So this 5% argument is simply misleading.

From the clocks people get on this forum....
The averages between the 7950 and 7970 are around 1150-1250 core...
I think Rusty had one of the bad 7950s and that still managed a 1150core...

The highest clocking 7950 on these forums are 1340 core.
They can both clock, to near similar "max" clocks, its all about the luck of the draw as always with the silicon lottery.

Proto · 12 Dec 2012 at 00:01

Tonester0011 said:
From the clocks people get on this forum....
The averages between the 7950 and 7970 are around 1150-1250 core...
I think Rusty had one of the bad 7950s and that still managed a 1150core...

The highest clocking 7950 on these forums are 1340 core.
They can both clock, to near similar "max" clocks, its all about the luck of the draw as always with the silicon lottery.

Exactly, it's always going to be luck of the draw with the 7970 having a 125MHz head start before we even reach the 5% differential. The 7950 has a better price to performance ratio, I completely agree, but to unequivocally say there is only a 5% difference is simply not true.

spoffle · 12 Dec 2012 at 00:09

Proto said:
Exactly, it's always going to be luck of the draw with the 7970 having a 125MHz head start before we even reach the 5% differential. The 7950 has a better price to performance ratio, I completely agree, but to unequivocally say there is only a 5% difference is simply not true.

The 7970 doesn't really have a 125Mhz head start, 7950s and 7970s in general overclock to similar clockspeed, so there's generally less overclocking room for a 7970 compared to a 7950.

7950s are quite underclocked.

Tonester0011 · 12 Dec 2012 at 00:09

Proto said:
Exactly, it's always going to be luck of the draw with the 7970 having a 125MHz head start before we even reach the 5% differential. The 7950 has a better price to performance ratio, I completely agree, but to unequivocally say there is only a 5% difference is simply not true.

Clock for clock there is <5% difference in performance.
Proven by many many benchmarks, both on and off this forum.

Overclocking headroom is higher on the 7950 due to lower clock at stock.
Both cards clock on average around the same, meaning if the OP is happy to overclock then he would save £80 and get <5% same performance.