GTX675mx vs AMD RADEON 7970m

[dan2690]

I am soon going to be purchasing a new gaming laptop and have a choice of these graphics cards. I just wondered which is best for gaming. Any advice would be appreciated thanks

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The AMD card is faster:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-675M.70785.0.html

However,I would check and see if the problems with Enduro still exist.

 

[bru]

Cat you seem to have linked to the wrong Nvidia card the 675m instead of the 675mx, , but even still the 7970m is still faster than the 675mx but the gap is just not quite as wide.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Oops! Yes,bru is right.

 

[Rroff]

The 675MX isn't massively faster than the M tho, but I'm a bit wary of reccomending the 7970m it still doesn't seem to be entirely trouble free.

675M/MX are at the end of their useful lifespawn IMO they do well enough with all the latest games but you can tell they are giving everything they've got to get there. I'm running a GTX675m in my laptop with a massssssive overclock on it but thats not something I'd reccomend or that anyone else would get those clocks

 

[ArchAndroid]

Another thing to keep in mind is that nVidia Optimus currently works much better than AMD Enduro so for those occasions when you're not plugged in, Optimus can save you energy by using Intel Graphics for 2D applications. While Enduro can also do this, there have been quite a few problems with AMD's implementation.

 

[andybird123]

the 7970m has a very good price to performance ratio in comparison with the nvidia equivalents, and thus are very attractive

my advice would be to google the following in various combinations before choosing a 7970m; 7970m, enduro, problems, plus any game you are thinking of running

I mainly wanted my laptop for a particular game and have been very disappointed with the results, though if your game(s) is/are well supported by AMD then you may not have the same issues

 

[Sin_Chase]

My laptop has switchable AMD graphics.

It's on an Intel platform though and is a TOTAL mess. There is ZERO driver support/updates from AMD and I rely on a 3rd party making custom driver packages to get game updates from newer drivers.

I have not used nVidia mobile graphics so cannot comment on how they compare but I know that my AMD/Intel solution is a total ball ache.

 

[dan2690]

Thanks for all your advice. The laptop i am looking at buying has a choice of graphics cards and the price difference for a 680m is about £260 would you say that is worth the extra money over 7970m or 675mx. Thanks

 

[Rroff]

680m (not MX) and 7970m are broadly similiar performance wise so spending £260 over the odds is quite an ask, 675m/mx is around 30% slower (similiar to a desktop 560ti) and while OK at the moment is going to struggle a lot sooner than the other 2.

I've had a really good experience with my GTX675m - a lot better than I expected so if the 680m was only £100 more or so I'd reccomend it unreservedly - however I can't reccomed the 7970m in good faith i.e. one of the main notebook reviews sites comment:

"Nearly 60,000 hits and more than 1,200 comments on 80+ pages: Our forum thread »Radeon HD 7970M problems« proves that AMD's mobile high-end graphics card was even months after its launch anything but mature. Driver and dynamic graphics switching (Enduro) especially caused disappointments."

For every person I know that has it running OK I know another who has no end of problems - even after the supposed Enduro fix.

 

[iv-tecman]

I've got the 7970m and i'd only recommend it if you grab a laptop where you can actually turn this feature off. My m17x allows for enduro to be turned off, turned it off after two days of owning the laptop, zero issues with my 7970m since..

If I'd not been able to turn if off, my m17x would have been sent back, and I'd have paid extra for the 680m.

Apparently its all been fixed, I don't know as i hug my m17x with is disable intergated gfx option and have never considered using enduro since Fn F5 was pressed since owning the laptop.

TL: DR

Buy a 7970m only if the option to turn it off and run just the 7970m only is possible, otherwise go with something else.

 

[Sin_Chase]

iv-tecman.

Solid advice if you are permanently tethered to a power outlet. NOT being able to use the integrated GPU to save power when doing desktop work is a huge con though.

If switching does not work at all then do not buy the laptop at all is my advice. Unless you fancy abysmal battery life for running the discrete GPU non-stop

 

[iv-tecman]

iv-tecman.

Solid advice if you are permanently tethered to a power outlet. NOT being able to use the integrated GPU to save power when doing desktop work is a huge con though.

If switching does not work at all then do not buy the laptop at all is my advice. Unless you fancy abysmal battery life for running the discrete GPU non-stop

Yes, that is a worthy mention. If you intend to only use your laptop from a power outlet then being able to turn enduro off is big plus, but if you value battery life then its a big con..

I've managed just over two hours on battery for my m17x with enduro turned off, but this was just general internet and watching a movie with the alienware lights turned off and no additional peripherals plugged in.

You fire up something intensive then this plummets to just under an hour.. Woeful battery performance without enduro enabled but to be expected… Problem you’ve got is the fans for the 7970m kick in etc… Amazingly watching a movie via web streaming allows for good battery life, obviously this reduces using something like Media player classic or VLC.

That is where enduro comes into its own, if it worked as intended.

 

[Sin_Chase]

Good point also. My laptop with AMD GPU gets STUPIDLY hot and stupidly loud even when idling.

This will be the same for nVidia mobile GPUs also. It's a lot of heat to dissipate from a laptop chassis and you will get the noise to match, even when idling.

Being able to turn off the discrete GPU to remove the heat/noise is just as worthy as saving battery

 

[iv-tecman]

Good point also. My laptop with AMD GPU gets STUPIDLY hot and stupidly loud even when idling.

This will be the same for nVidia mobile GPUs also. It's a lot of heat to dissipate from a laptop chassis and you will get the noise to match, even when idling.

Being able to turn off the discrete GPU to remove the heat/noise is just as worthy as saving battery

And hence the whole idea of enduro... If it had actually worked.

Reduce fans, reduce noise, reduce heat increased battery life. Sadly, I just say, meh, headphones, no endure find a power outlet job done.

Anyone buying a 7970m equipped laptop ensure you can run it solely on discrete gfx and turn off the integrated gfx, best of both worlds IMO.

 

[Rroff]

Good point also. My laptop with AMD GPU gets STUPIDLY hot and stupidly loud even when idling.

This will be the same for nVidia mobile GPUs also. It's a lot of heat to dissipate from a laptop chassis and you will get the noise to match, even when idling.

Being able to turn off the discrete GPU to remove the heat/noise is just as worthy as saving battery

TBH my Samsung 700G7C is really quiet, even using turbo cooling mode (which lets me run a ridiculous overclock) its only about as loud as an average laptop at idle. Tho my Clevo is another story.

7970m is a desktop replacement GPU tho IMO so to some degree its a non-issue in that regard, if your buying a laptop for use away from a power outlet then its not really the best of choices.

 

[Gregster]

My laptop has switchable AMD graphics.

It's on an Intel platform though and is a TOTAL mess. There is ZERO driver support/updates from AMD and I rely on a 3rd party making custom driver packages to get game updates from newer drivers.

I have not used nVidia mobile graphics so cannot comment on how they compare but I know that my AMD/Intel solution is a total ball ache.

Exactly the same for me. Mine isn't a top end gaming laptop but even still, it cost me £800 and I expect it to play the games I have on it (not many). I have nothing but a headache with gaming and trying to get driver updates... It just doesn't happen from AMD.