Which graphics card for my system - 770 v 7970

TheRealDeal · 29 Jul 2013 at 18:14

Blazin23 said:
"A new source familiar with the matter has provided additional information to Digital Foundry that confirms only 4.5GB of the PS4's 8GB GDDR5 memory pool is guaranteed to game developers right now, while also clarifying how the PS4's "flexible memory" works in practice.

In real terms, an additional 512MB of physical RAM may be available in addition to the 4.5GB mentioned in the SDK. Flexible memory consists of physical and virtual spaces, and the latter introduces paging issues which impact performance. In our original story we combined them together.

For practical game applications, the correct figures for this story, as we understand it now, are a guaranteed 4.5GB for development and a further 512MB from the flexible pool. We have updated the headline accordingly."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-ps3-system-software-memory

Blazin

http:// http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2013/07/28/ps4-ram-rumours-absolutely-false-according-to-developer/

This has been refuted with a report at the bottom saying as much as 6gb of ram is being used in a game.

Jarrastafari · 29 Jul 2013 at 21:35

Physx impact, PS4 development rumors, 770 vs 7970?!

Juicy thread!

yoyo59 · 30 Jul 2013 at 01:39

a 770 is a 680 and some 670s are just as good as 680s

7970 are like 7950s so either choose a 670/680/770/7950/7970

depending how much you want to spend

ICDP · 30 Jul 2013 at 08:03

yoyo59 said:
a 770 is a 680 and some 670s are just as good as 680s

7970 are like 7950s so either choose a 670/680/770/7950/7970

depending how much you want to spend

Having owned or tested all of the above apart from a 770 (which is a 680) I agree with this assessment.

If you had a golden sample of each of those cards they would be within 10% of each other for performance in current games. Other than cost, the only thing that could sway a decision is if you prefer future proofing over Physx, or Nvidia over AMD.

Atlas23 · 30 Jul 2013 at 08:58

TheRealDeal said:
http:// http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2013/07/28/ps4-ram-rumours-absolutely-false-according-to-developer/

This has been refuted with a report at the bottom saying as much as 6gb of ram is being used in a game.

I stand corrected. However, I don't think people should be too worried about 'next gen' games being unplayable on their PCs because they only have a 2GB GTX 770. The Xbox One GPU is comparable to a HD7790 (source) while the PS4 is more comparable to a 7870 (see previous source again).

Furthermore, they will be most likely pushing for games at 1080p (source) and while I know 4K is supported, not enough people have a 4K TV to make it worthwhile producing games for that resolution yet.

Finally, as the consoles are based on an x86 architecture, I would be more inclined to think that they would be easier to run on PC than some of the awful PC ports we received from the Xbox 360, e.g. GTA 4, where if you didn't have a processor with 3 or more cores (due to the 360's 3 core CPU), you could barely run it (till they eventually patched it).

Anyway, I've probably gone off on a bit of a tangent here. Effectively what I'm trying to say is that, (personally) I don't think the 'next gen' games are going to be that much of an improvement for PC gamers, as we are already seeing much better graphics on some 6 year old games (Crysis + Real Lifesis mod). And especially as GTA 5 will be released on current gen consoles, and (from the trailers and gameplay trailer) it looks to be somewhat incredible

Although, if The Witcher 3 has Uber Sampling again, it may kill many of your graphics cards

Blazin

RetrogamerX · 30 Jul 2013 at 09:48

Blazin23 said:
I stand corrected. However, I don't think people should be too worried about 'next gen' games being unplayable on their PCs because they only have a 2GB GTX 770. The Xbox One GPU is comparable to a HD7790 (source) while the PS4 is more comparable to a 7870 (see previous source again).

Furthermore, they will be most likely pushing for games at 1080p (source) and while I know 4K is supported, not enough people have a 4K TV to make it worthwhile producing games for that resolution yet.

Finally, as the consoles are based on an x86 architecture, I would be more inclined to think that they would be easier to run on PC than some of the awful PC ports we received from the Xbox 360, e.g. GTA 4, where if you didn't have a processor with 3 or more cores (due to the 360's 3 core CPU), you could barely run it (till they eventually patched it).

Exactly. A 770 2gb card is plenty for next gen console games on pc at 1080p And anyone saying it's not is a fool.

Martini1991 · 30 Jul 2013 at 09:57

The way some people talk about VRAM, you'd forget people game at 1GB VRAM still at 1080p, they just don't max out the AA lol.
I'd always push people to 2GB VRAM now though, but I still know loads gaming at 1GB fine.

KillBoY_UK · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:02

se_vietboi said:
So for 1080p/1200p:

770 for Physx and IMO slightly faster performance vs 7970 at stock clocks.

7970 for free games and cheaper price (?)

Can we just leave it at this?

this /close thread

Atlas23 · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:11

Martini1991 said:
The way some people talk about VRAM, you'd forget people game at 1GB VRAM still at 1080p, they just don't max out the AA lol.
I'd always push people to 2GB VRAM now though, but I still know loads gaming at 1GB fine.

I've been gaming at 1920x1200 on my laptop's ATi HD4850m with 512mb of vRam for the past 4 years! Managed to play most games at medium/high with no anti-aliasing!

Even Metro 2033 played well

Blazin

dmferrett · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:27

Blazin23 said:
"A new source familiar with the matter has provided additional information to Digital Foundry that confirms only 4.5GB of the PS4's 8GB GDDR5 memory pool is guaranteed to game developers right now, while also clarifying how the PS4's "flexible memory" works in practice.

In real terms, an additional 512MB of physical RAM may be available in addition to the 4.5GB mentioned in the SDK. Flexible memory consists of physical and virtual spaces, and the latter introduces paging issues which impact performance. In our original story we combined them together.

For practical game applications, the correct figures for this story, as we understand it now, are a guaranteed 4.5GB for development and a further 512MB from the flexible pool. We have updated the headline accordingly."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-ps3-system-software-memory

Blazin

Interesting,
Thanks for the post and link. So we now have tangible evidence thats graphics memory is targeted at up to 4.5Gb going forward because of the release and specification of next gen console. (ITs terrible we are tied to console evolution these days!!). So if the these machines sport 8GB, what on earth are they going to use the reamaining 3.5gb for? How much is the operating system going to use? Will there be a system memory allocation. (Not utilised for graphics)

This simply reinforces people's sugggestions that 2Gb Vram wont be enough shortly, but likewise 3gb gpu's will however face the same issues possible later in the next gen console's lifetime.........This is could be a good prompt to buy a 6gb card next possibly HD8000 or what ever Nvidia release.....

Why have two people been suspended for expressing their views on a public forum?

Was there abuse, bad language or any other lawfull reason?

Martini1991 · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:30

dmferrett said:
Interesting,
Thanks for the post and link. So we now have tangible evidence thats graphics memory is targeted at up to 4.5Gb going forward because of the release and specification of next gen console. (ITs terrible we are tied to console evolution these days!!). So if the these machines sport 8GB, what on earth are they going to use the reamaining 3.5gb for? How much is the operating system going to use? Will there be a system memory allocation. (Not utilised for graphics)

It has 3.5GB allocated to the OS, it isn't 4.5GB to graphics.

RetrogamerX · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:38

dmferrett said:
Interesting,
Thanks for the post and link. So we now have tangible evidence thats graphics memory is targeted at up to 4.5Gb going forward because of the release and specification of next gen console. (ITs terrible we are tied to console evolution these days!!). So if the these machines sport 8GB, what on earth are they going to use the reamaining 3.5gb for? How much is the operating system going to use? Will there be a system memory allocation. (Not utilised for graphics)

This simply reinforces people's sugggestions that 2Gb Vram wont be enough shortly, but likewise 3gb gpu's will however face the same issues possible later in the next gen console's lifetime.........This is could be a good prompt to buy a 6gb card next possibly HD8000 or what ever Nvidia release.....

Why have two people been suspended for expressing their views on a public forum?

Was there abuse, bad language or any other lawfull reason?

Funny lol you thought it was 4.5 vram lol

dmferrett · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:42

I read 4.5Gb to game developers!!! (I.E. Graphics) With 3.5Gb for Operating system and general system ram.....

How are you interpreting this?

It wont have 3.5Gb for the operating system alone as it needs spare ram to function...

ubersonic · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:44

Isn't the PS4's GPU supposed to be on par with a HD7850 (or was that the XB1's?) so what exactly would it do with >2GB? (apart from caching textures to reduce load times from disc or something).

Martini1991 · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:49

dmferrett said:
I read 4.5Gb to game developers!!! (I.E. Graphics) With 3.5Gb for Operating system and general system ram.....

How are you interpreting this?

It wont have 3.5Gb for the operating system alone as it needs spare ram to function...

4.5GB to game developers yes... That's for everything, not for just video memory, it's you interpreting it wrong.

RetrogamerX · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:51

Martini1991 said:
4.5GB to game developers yes... That's for everything, not for just video memory, it's you interpreting it wrong.

+1

Atlas23 · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:51

dmferrett said:
I read 4.5Gb to game developers!!! (I.E. Graphics) With 3.5Gb for Operating system and general system ram.....

How are you interpreting this?

It wont have 3.5Gb for the operating system alone as it needs spare ram to function...

I interpreted it as the system will be separate from the game. I think quite a few people have misread this as it has an APU, so there is no separate RAM/VRAM like most normal computers.

ubersonic said:
Isn't the PS4's GPU supposed to be on par with a HD7850 (or was that the XB1's?) so what exactly would it do with >2GB? (apart from caching textures to reduce load times from disc or something).

See:

Blazin23 said:
The Xbox One GPU is comparable to a HD7790 (source) while the PS4 is more comparable to a 7870 (see previous source again).Blazin

Blazin

Martini1991 · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:54

The PS4 is more inbetween the 7850/7870 (Due to shader count) but its actual performance due to the APU nature of bandwidth issues (Although the PS4 is trying to tackle this with GDDR5) we don't know how it'll actually perform.

alias86 · 30 Jul 2013 at 10:54

dmferrett said:
Stuie, if you use surround (3 screens) with 2x670's and you try to play bf3 Mp at 5760x1080p in ultra your cards will probably crash your system. The 2GB Gddr memory bandwidth is a massive problem for high resolution 4k and 5760x1080p gaming.

Like i've posted before my
bro had 3x660ti's that could only manage high settings in BF3 and would crash out when ultra was selected at 5760x1080p.

2Gb is a major problem for high res or multiscreen gaming. (Crysis 3, Battlefield 3 MP etc)

I agree that you need more ram when useing surround gameing. at home i m running 3 6950 @ 6970 spec WC. In BF3 i get a good 45 - 50 FPS on the one just under ultra. i can play on ultra but the frame rate dies but is still runs ok and does not crash cos is out of ram. (i think its just AA i have off.)

note i have the 2gb version. i read some where that even if you have 3 cards its not the same as having 6gb in total as all the cards have to keep all the screen information (some think like that)

with regards to the cards. there are similar i would get the AMD one if you want the games that come with it or the games you play do well on that card.

arc@css · 30 Jul 2013 at 11:00

alias86 said:
i read some where that even if you have 3 cards its not the same as having 6gb in total as all the cards have to keep all the screen information (some think like that)

That's right. If you have, say 3 x 2gb cards, effectively you have 2gb of vram.