Nvidia 670 or Ati 7970

[Proto]

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.

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.

Good job skirting the point.

 

[spoffle]

No one is skirting the point, I don't think you quite understand the point you think you're trying to make.

Nearly all 7950s and 7970s clock to the same speed (let's say 1150), where is the 7970's 125Mhz headstart there?

Are you implying that in general the 7970s will overclock by about 125Mhz more than a 7950 as standard?

 

[Proto]

No one is skirting the point, I don't think you quite understand the point you think you're trying to make.

Nearly all 7950s and 7970s clock to the same speed (let's say 1150), where is the 7970's 125Mhz headstart there?

Are you implying that in general the 7970s will overclock by about 125Mhz more than a 7950 as standard?

Now you're just trolling or simply awful at simple maths.

Can you guarantee the card will clock even 1 MHz more than stock clocks? No you can't. The 7970 has an absolute advantage of 125MHz and you can hope you get a 7950 that can overclock to that level then you have a 5% differential. Even then, on average the best 7950s overclock to round 1200Mhz where as the same quality relative ratio of 7970s can do 1300Mhz.

Not exactly that difficult to understand is it?

 

[spoffle]

Now you're just trolling or simply awful at simple maths.

Can you guarantee the card will clock even 1 Mhz more than stock clocks? no you can't. The 7970 has an absolute advantage of 125MHz and you can hope you get a 7950 that can overclock to that level then you have a 5% differential.

Not exactly that difficult to understand is it?

You don't understand what trolling means.

My 7950s OUT OF THE BOX run at 950 (that is without me touching anything).

That's part of the point I was making, and whilst there isn't a guarantee that 7950s will overclock, it shows in practice that they do overclock.

Do you know why? Because 7950s and 7970s use the same chips that are capable of the same clockspeeds, and what do you know? They're both underclocked.

If a 7950 doesn't overclock beyond 800Mhz, it's faulty. AMD released a new BIOS for 7950s and 7970s that pushed default clocks up, they wouldn't do such a thing unless they knew that the chips were capable of those clocks.

Your argument may as well be "what if your card doesn't work at all out of the box".

 

[Tonester0011]

Now you're just trolling or simply awful at simple maths.

Can you guarantee the card will clock even 1 Mhz more than stock clocks? no you can't. The 7970 has an absolute advantage of 125MHz and you can hope you get a 7950 that can overclock to that level then you have a 5% differential. Even then, on average the best 7950s overclock to round 1200Mhz where as the same quality relative ratio of 7970s can do 1300Mhz.

Not exactly that difficult to understand is it?

You don't seem to understand the law of large numbers...

 

[Proto]

You don't understand what trolling means.

My 7950s OUT OF THE BOX run at 950 (that is without me touching anything).

That's part of the point I was making, and whilst there isn't a guarantee that 7950s will overclock, it shows in practice that they do overclock.

Do you know why? Because 7950s and 7970s use the same chips that are capable of the same clockspeeds, and what do you know? They're both underclocked.

If a 7950 doesn't overclock beyond 800Mhz, it's faulty. AMD released a new BIOS for 7950s and 7970s that pushed default clocks up, they wouldn't do such a thing unless they knew that the chips were capable of those clocks.

Your argument may as well be "what if your card doesn't work at all out of the box".

The Ghz/boost edition 7970 or OC models also come at higher clocks. Clearly the simplest argument eludes you, and as I'm also (repeatedly) stating the obvious I'll just leave you to it.

You don't seem to understand the law of large numbers...

yes, of course.. another 7950 owner, no doubt.

I'm out.

 

[Tonester0011]

The Ghz/boost edition 7970 or OC models also come at higher clocks. Clearly the simplest argument eludes you, and as I'm also (repeatedly) stating the obvious I'll just leave you to it.




yes, of course.. another 7950 owner no doubt.

I'm out.

2x7970s actually...

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

Now you're just trolling or simply awful at simple maths.

Can you guarantee the card will clock even 1 MHz more than stock clocks? No you can't. The 7970 has an absolute advantage of 125MHz and you can hope you get a 7950 that can overclock to that level then you have a 5% differential. Even then, on average the best 7950s overclock to round 1200Mhz where as the same quality relative ratio of 7970s can do 1300Mhz.

Not exactly that difficult to understand is it?

The highest 7970's on these forums tend to have higher overclocks than the highest 7950's, however that is largely due to the fact that the top scoring 7970's are watercooled, whereas none of the 7950's on the 3DM11 thread (just as a baseline reference for comparing scores) are watercooled (I'm pretty sure). Given the same cooling, both will on average clock very similarly, which makes it a <5% difference between them. The 125MHz stock boost of the 7970 is meaningless, as I can guarantee that every 7950 will reach 925 MHZ with no problems at all. Pretty much since they both overclock roughly the same, there is a <5% difference on average between their overclocked speeds.

 

[spoffle]

The Ghz/boost edition 7970 or OC models also come at higher clocks. Clearly the simplest argument eludes you, and as I'm also (repeatedly) stating the obvious I'll just leave you to it.




yes, of course.. another 7950 owner, no doubt.

I'm out.

Yes, and the "Boost" or "Ghz" editions are the same cards with a new BIOS, a new BIOS available to anyone who wants it.

The means that AMD knows that all 7950s are more than capable of running past 800Mhz without issue.

 

[Tonester0011]

The highest 7970's on these forums tend to have higher overclocks than the highest 7950's, however that is largely due to the fact that the top scoring 7970's are watercooled, whereas none of the 7950's on the 3DM11 thread (just as a baseline reference for comparing scores) are watercooled (I'm pretty sure). Given the same cooling, both will on average clock very similarly, which makes it a <5% difference between them. The 125MHz stock boost of the 7970 is meaningless, as I can guarantee that every 7950 will reach 925 MHZ with no problems at all. Pretty much since they both overclock roughly the same, there is a <5% difference on average between their overclocked speeds.

Not to mention nearly all the highest clocking 7970s on these forums are premium edition models (i think Locky has a 1st week release that does 1300+)

You'd have to be incredibly short sighted to recommend a 7970 over a 7950, due to the performance being so damn close.
This, coming from CF7970 owner

Unless the person buying is happy to pay a premium for top line model, then that's his choice.

 

[dave_beast]

My (bought on day 1) WC reference/upgraded bios to GHZ 7970 runs at 1200mhz at stock volts and 1300mhz on 1.25v, so not a high end card, just a boggo ref PowerColor gpu. Before upgrading to GHZ bios I couldn't get any higher than 1225mhz at 1.28v - Explain that!

 

[aeyz]

I got order status security validation what's mean?

 

[Tonester0011]

My (bought on day 1) WC reference/upgraded bios to GHZ 7970 runs at 1200mhz at stock volts and 1300mhz on 1.25v, so not a high end card, just a boggo ref PowerColor gpu. Before upgrading to GHZ bios I couldn't get any higher than 1225mhz at 1.28v - Explain that!

Oooo
I'm tempted to flash both mine, see if i can replicate your results.

I managed to get higher and more stable clocks since the 12.11 drivers.
Where would i get a GHz bios?

 

[[WU-TANG]GZA]

Personally I'm getting1250 Mhz core and 1550 memory at 1.25v core voltage load temps of 64c on a HIS IceQBoost 7950 bought for £229.

Not pushed it further yet will prolly try just for funsies but I don't kno why this guy is moaning about ppl recommending the7950? It's clearly the bang for buck king of this gen- that and maybe the 7850.

Plenty of 7950s have got to this level it's easily the card to recommend vs the 670/680 or 7970......easily!!!

 

[Proto]

Personally I'm getting1250 Mhc core and 1550 memory at 1.25v core voltage load temps of 64c on a HIS IceQNoosy 7950 bought for £229.

Not pushed it further yet will prolly try just for funsies but I don't kno why this guy is moaning about ppl recommending the7950? It's clearly the bang for buck king of this gen- that and maybe the 7850.

Plenty of 7950s have got to this level it's easily the card to recommend vs the 670/680 or 7970......easily!!!

I didn't say it wasn't good for the money, pretty clear if you actually read and follow what's been said. I just didn't agree with the blatant lies.

In any case, I said I'm staying out of this thread so forget I mentioned anything.

 

[[WU-TANG]GZA]

I didn't say it wasn't good for the money, pretty clear if you actually read and follow what's been said. I just didn't agree with the blatant lies.

In any case, I said I'm staying out of this thread so forget I mentioned anything.

I have read thank you and appreciate that what got you started was the 5% comment and you went from there.

I'm not going to debate the 7970 vs 7950 clock for clock with you as neither of us really want to.

But the important thing is answering the OP and the true answer is not an option he has offered it's the 7950. 670 and 7970 users have said the same -end of

 

[spoffle]

I didn't say it wasn't good for the money, pretty clear if you actually read and follow what's been said. I just didn't agree with the blatant lies.

In any case, I said I'm staying out of this thread so forget I mentioned anything.

Blatant lies? Oh lawd.

Why is it anyone else's fault that you don't know what you're talking about?

 

[Proto]

Blatant lies? Oh lawd.

Why is it anyone else's fault that you don't know what you're talking about?

It's pretty clear who is trying to start trouble here, so how about you stop trolling me?

 

[spoffle]

You don't know what trolling means...

If you're gonna make claims that people are lying, you better be prepared to back them up or be called out for it.

You're being called out on it, and seemingly can't back it up.

 

[Rusty0611]

It's pretty clear who is trying to start trouble here, so how about you stop trolling me?

You're not being trolled you have just got it wrong.

The fact of the matter is if you had two identical silicon quality 7950/70s they'd both reach the same clock speed and as a result be within 5% of each other. What clocks they start at is irrelevant.