7950 OCed vs 660Ti OCed 1080p

IC3 · 21 Dec 2012 at 15:31

I had this conversation in collage with one of my friends about these 2 cards and new drivers. He said that 660Ti with new drivers and after oc is still faster and better for 1080p as it keeps better low frame rate and has good high fps.
Searched the internet for benchmarks to prove him wrong, but only found one that showed 7950 beign faster and rusty`s cf vs sli test which isnt really relevant.
By oced, I mean both cards pushed to max at stable clocks for 24/7 usage.

SkodaMart · 21 Dec 2012 at 16:18

I have hardly any overclocking headroom on my card, the boost clock is 1200 MHz.

I have succesfully overclocked the memory using EVGA precision and the card was faster, it also felt smoother in games....

Right up to the point where a tank blew up in my face in World of Tanks and instead of an explosion I got a strange wire frame drawing. (No artifacts of any description, and the card runs well otherwise)
It isn't the first time I have noticed strange things when overclocking the memory of graphics cards using software.

'Out of the box' The GTX 660 Ti is faster than the HD 7950 in Heaven 3.0, I got around 1550 with my HD 7950 and around 1600 with my Ti.

The only disadvantage with the Ti is the memory bus. This was done intentionally by nVidia to force it in line behind the GTX 670. (Otherwise the GTX 670 would have been rather pointless!) In reality all this nerfed memory bus means is that you will have to reduce AA settings to maybe 2x in demanding games, truth is I can't see much difference with 2x or 4x anyway.

All the 'performance' of the HD 7950 is based on overclocking and I don't dispute the fact that they do overclock well.

The problem I have with them is the number of failures and faulty cards there seem to have been, this in itself has put me off and I was totally amazed when Weehamish chose a HD 7970 over a GTX 680 for his new build - due to the number of problems he had previously with ATi cards.

I have seen very few complaints from users of nVidia 6## series cards.

IC3 · 21 Dec 2012 at 16:46

SkodaMart said:
I have hardly any overclocking headroom on my card, the boost clock is 1200 MHz.

I have succesfully overclocked the memory using EVGA precision and the card was faster, it also felt smoother in games....

Right up to the point where a tank blew up in my face in World of Tanks and instead of an explosion I got a strange wire frame drawing. (No artifacts of any description, and the card runs well otherwise)
It isn't the first time I have noticed strange things when overclocking the memory of graphics cards using software.

'Out of the box' The GTX 660 Ti is faster than the HD 7950 in Heaven 3.0, I got around 1550 with my HD 7950 and around 1600 with my Ti.

The only disadvantage with the Ti is the memory bus. This was done intentionally by nVidia to force it in line behind the GTX 670. (Otherwise the GTX 670 would have been rather pointless!) In reality all this nerfed memory bus means is that you will have to reduce AA settings to maybe 2x in demanding games, truth is I can't see much difference with 2x or 4x anyway.

All the 'performance' of the HD 7950 is based on overclocking and I don't dispute the fact that they do overclock well.

The problem I have with them is the number of failures and faulty cards there seem to have been, this in itself has put me off and I was totally amazed when Weehamish chose a HD 7970 over a GTX 680 for his new build - due to the number of problems he had previously with ATi cards.

I have seen very few complaints from users of nVidia 6## series cards.

Also nvidia have better low fps.
Which in my knowledge makes the game more playable and much smoother.

EDIT:
I'm just waiting for gregster and rusty to post some comments and benchmarks

I've also seen a article that AMD will quit gaming market and start to make components for working stations in 2014

imginy · 21 Dec 2012 at 16:54

SkodaMart said:
I have hardly any overclocking headroom on my card, the boost clock is 1200 MHz.

Have you tried putting the voltage up using msi after burner?

If you put the core voltage on +100 mv that should get you at least an extra 50 on the core.

If you put the memory voltage on +50 that should get you at least an extra 350 on the memory.

IC3 · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:00

There was actually more complains about power edition and HAWK than normlan twin frozr coolers as they runed hotter and the OC was worse...
If I buy 660Ti it will be gigabyte.

imginy · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:01

The 7950 can overclock more so is going to win.

I get a really good overclock on mine straight out the box and also other people have seen big improvements when changing to the 2.2v bios.

Maybe with a new bios editor the 660ti will be able to close the gap on the highly clocked 7950's.

IC3 · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:02

imginy said:
The 7950 can overclock more so is going to win.

I get a really good overclock on mine straight out the box and also other people have seen big improvements when changing to the 2.2v bios.

Maybe with a new bios editor the 660ti will be able to close the gap on the highly clocked 7950's.

Show me a Benchmark that shows 7950 beating 660Ti at 1080p

SkodaMart · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:03

imginy said:
Have you tried putting the voltage up using msi after burner?

If you put the core voltage on +100 mv that should get you at least an extra 50 on the core.

If you put the memory voltage on +50 that should get you at least an extra 350 on the memory.

I can get around +20 MHz on the core, it's hardly worth it.

I like the card, it performs well and I am generally happy with it.
I don't have any overclocking software installed at the current moment in time.

I have seen your results and they are impressive. Shows what these cards can be capable of.

SkodaMart · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:08

IC3 said:
Show me a Benchmark that shows 7950 beating 660Ti at 1080p

There are a few here:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/3.html

Most of those are at 4x AA.

The 660Ti might do better at 2x AA

IC3 · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:10

SkodaMart said:
FarCry3, taken from Guru3D

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/far_cry_3_graphics_performance_review_benchmark,6.html

7950 is loosing

EDIT:

But If I buy 660Ti or 7950 they will be overclocked

imginy · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:11

IC3 said:
Show me a Benchmark that shows 7950 beating 660Ti at 1080p

Go look at any of the 3dmark11 or heaven or vantage scores on this site there is no denying that the highly clocked 7950's are a long way out infront.

I can show you some really great scores from 660ti that are far better than all cards except for the 7950,7970,670 and 680.

I don't think there is a lot separating the 7950 and 660ti when overclocked but its obvious when they have the option for more voltage they are going to take the lead.

Take a look at this 660ti 3dmark11 score it's massive over 10K!!
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5205878
But 7950s can pull over 11-12k when highly overclocked

IC3 · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:14

imginy said:
Go look at any of the 3dmark11 or heaven or vantage scores on this site there is no denying that the highly clocked 7950's are a long way out infront.

I can show you some really great scores from 660ti that are far better than all cards except for the 7950,7970,670 and 680.

I don't think there is a lot separating the 7950 and 660ti when overclocked but its obvious when they have the option for more voltage they are going to take the lead.

Take a look at this 660ti 3dmark11 score it's massive over 10K!!
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5205878
But 7950s can pull over 11-12k when highly overclocked

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4346495 - LOL

SkodaMart · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:15

HD 7950 is a great performing card if you get a good one.

It's the if that puts me off.

imginy · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:16

IC3 said:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4346495 - LOL

What?

IC3 · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:16

SkodaMart said:
HD 7950 is a great performing card if you get a good one.

It's the if that puts me off.

imginy · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:22

IC3 Don't get me wrong I much prefer nvidia I think they run smoother and have far less problems and that is why I bought a 660ti.

But 7950 has voltage control and as your comparing overclocked vs overclocked the 7950 is going to win.

SkodaMart · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:22

imginy said:
What?

Graphics Score 40039552 :eek:

SkodaMart · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:23

imginy said:
IC3 Don't get me wrong I much prefer nvidia I think they run smoother and have far less problems and that is why I bought a 660ti.

But 7950 has voltage control and as your comparing overclocked vs overclocked the 7950 is going to win.

Agreed.

IC3 · 21 Dec 2012 at 17:23

imginy said:
IC3 Don't get me wrong I much prefer nvidia I think they run smoother and have far less problems and that is why I bought a 660ti.

But 7950 has voltage control and as your comparing overclocked vs overclocked the 7950 is going to win.

The sapphire vapor-x seems a very good overclocking card issue free.
I will hold on, maybe OCUK or any other shop makes some good bargain after christmas or new year. Im not in a rush although Im using extremely overclocked gts 250 1gb

Rusty0611 · 21 Dec 2012 at 18:38

Bear in mind that's a stock 660Ti vs a stock 7950 so when both are overclocked the gap will be larger.

http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1352691741F74TQBhKZT_3_5_l.png

http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1352691741F74TQBhKZT_5_5.png

http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1352691741F74TQBhKZT_7_5_l.png

Also they did an overclocked comparison a while back on old drivers so depending on the game you need to add a good 10-15% on top of the 7950 results over the 660Ti when talking in today's terms.

The 670 results on this review are terrible and not reliable but their 660Ti vs 7950 looks about right:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/08/23/galaxy_gtx_660_ti_gc_oc_vs_670_hd_7950/3

The only problem with 7950s which is of a concern is the MSI ones. The failure rate on other models is no different to the failure rate on any other graphics card no matter how much SkodaMart tries to convince everybody otherwise.

As above, the problem with the 660Ti is that it doesn't benefit from overclocking as much as the performance bottleneck is on the memory bus whereas the 7950 gains more clock for clock from overclocking and you have unlocked voltage for the enthusiasts.

The 660Ti would be a good plug, play and forget £200-210 card. However, it's overpriced and not really that future proof as its memory bus is already limiting it quite badly in games with AA applied. Competing with the 7870 would give it a good chance of really shifting some units but even then (and I hate to say it as humbug owns that card) for the enthusiast even a 7870 is a better card as it allows you to over volt and really push it high and will be faster in the majority of games with AA applied. There's also this:

Hopefully that gives you enough information to digest

.