Asus HD 7970 Matrix Platinum vs GTX 680

[teppic]

Anyone should manage 1200MHz on a 7970 Matrix Platinum; at the stock 1000MHz of the 7970 GE, you get these kind of results vs a 680 (July 2013 drivers):

http://ht4u.net/reviews/2013/55_dir...2][]=8&filter[2][]=SSAA&filter[3][]=16&aa=all

Obviously a high OC on the Matrix Platinum will push these results up much further.

 

[mjenabi2]

+1

The matrix platinums are very fast and overclock well and will beat a GTX 680 in most things.

im very much tempted to jump on the 7970 now but i dont know about the 2 x 8 pin connectors and my psu only having 2 x 6 pins

 

[~>Dg<~]

7970 is faster overall guess it comes down to what you prefer nvidia or ati

 

[mjenabi2]

7970 is faster overall guess it comes down to what you prefer nvidia or ati

I dont really base my judgements on brands tbh. I built my pc last year and i think apart from the gpu everything else is pretty much perfect, so im just trying to get the right card.

 

[~>Dg<~]

ati card is the choice then its faster better overall.

 

[mjenabi2]

ati card is the choice then its faster better overall.

yeah certainly seems to be this way. I will wait a week or two for the 8000 series announcement and if i can save up more money by then, it's likely that i might buy the 770 GTX

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-179-GW&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1750

it seems to have much higher clock standard (no need to oc) and more memory bandwith

 

[Marine-RX179]

yeah certainly seems to be this way. I will wait a week or two for the 8000 series announcement and if i can save up more money by then, it's likely that i might buy the 770 GTX

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=gx-179-gw&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1750

it seems to have much higher clock standard (no need to oc) and more memory bandwith

actually on memory bandwidth side of things, the gtx680 (gtx770 even) would lag quite a big margin behind comparing the the 7970 due to their 256-bit bus limitation.

the gtx770's memory bandwidth is 224.4gb/s out of the box, but the matrix platinum is 1650mhz on 384-bit memory bus, making the memory bandwidth
316.8gb/s out of the box- that's nearly 50% higher in memory bandwidth. on overclocking the memory clock to 1790mhz, it bring the memory bandwidth to 343.7gb/s:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/asus/hd_7970_matrix/29.html
Here's a contrast to the GTX770 Lightning with the memory overclocked to 2040MHz on the 256-bit bus, which is only hitting 261.1GB/s on the memory bandwidth:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_770_Lightning/29.html

For most part the extra memory bandwidth on the 7970's might not show advantage over the GTX770 lower memory bandwidth, but if the games were to use graphic features that are more memory intensive which require more speed on the memory bandwidth, the Nvidia card will clearly lag behind because of losing bigger chunk of frame rate when applying those settings (examples of this include Metro2033, UberSampling in Witcher 2, Extreme AA on Sleeping Dog etc.)

 

[mjenabi2]

Actually on memory bandwidth side of things, the GTX680 (GTX770 even) would lag quite a big margin behind comparing the the 7970 due to their 256-bit bus limitation.

The GTX770's memory bandwidth is 224.4GB/s out of the box, but the Matrix Platinum is 1650MHz on 384-bit memory bus, making the memory bandwidth
316.8GB/s out of the box- that's nearly 50% higher in memory bandwidth. On overclocking the memory clock to 1790MHz, it bring the memory bandwidth to 343.7GB/s:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/HD_7970_Matrix/29.html
Here's a contrast to the GTX770 Lightning with the memory overclocked to 2040MHz on the 256-bit bus, which is only hitting 261.1GB/s on the memory bandwidth:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_770_Lightning/29.html

For most part the extra memory bandwidth on the 7970's might not show advantage over the GTX770 lower memory bandwidth, but if the games were to use graphic features that are more memory intensive which require more speed on the memory bandwidth, the Nvidia card will clearly lag behind because of losing bigger chunk of frame rate when applying those settings (examples of this include Metro2033, UberSampling in Witcher 2, Extreme AA on Sleeping Dog etc.)

that is true. i think ive mentioned as well that the 256-bit mem bandwith is a bit annoying, specially since gtx x80's always had 384 bit but in all the bench marks that ive seen so far of the 770, it has beaten the 7970.

the one thing im afraid of with AMD cards is that my 6970 was terrible. Im a graphic designer and i had so many issues using photoshop with the 6970 but my gtx 480 and 8800 gtx previous to that have always been problem free.

 

[RetrogamerX]

but in all the bench marks that ive seen so far of the 770, it has beaten the 7970.

Exactly. That's the one thing here on these boards they don't want to talk about. No matter how many times you tell them the 770 is faster the 7970, They come up with some number to counter you.

I don't bother any more tbh. It's not Nv friendly here.

 

[teppic]

In comparisons on the latest drivers, the 7970 beats a 770. It also overclocks better, a 770 being just an overclocked 680. That's nothing to do with AMD vs nvidia.

 

[LtMatt]

but in all the bench marks that ive seen so far of the 770, it has beaten the 7970.

The 770 is a great card and it gets close to the 7970. It might even beat it more often than not at low res like 1080p and in games and benchmarks that are not demanding. You can thank GPU Boost for that. Inflating benchmark scores, while the 7970 runs at its stock frequency of 1000 core or 1050.

In demanding games with very high settings like AA and higher resolutions the 7970 will always be faster for reasons mentioned previously. A well clocked 7970 will reach and surpass stock 780 speeds. Something not even a well clocked 770 can quite manage. Some results of a stock 7970 vs stock 770 and an overclocked 770.

EDIT

Apologies for using H, but they normally paint a worse case scenario for AMD.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Everything always starts with "but on the latest drivers..." lol.

 

[mjenabi2]

The 770 is a great card and it gets close to the 7970. It might even beat it more often than not at low res like 1080p and in games and benchmarks that are not demanding. You can thank GPU Boost for that. Inflating benchmark scores, while the 7970 runs at its stock frequency of 1000 core or 1050.

In demanding games with very high settings like AA and higher resolutions the 7970 will always be faster for reasons mentioned previously. A well clocked 7970 will reach and surpass stock 780 speeds. Something not even a well clocked 770 can quite manage. Some results of a stock 7970 vs stock 770 and an overclocked 770.

EDIT

Apologies for using H, but they normally paint a worse case scenario for AMD.

thanks for these. how do they fair at lower res? i currently play at 1680x1050 and might upgrade to 1080 or 1200 max.

because if im honest im expecting the 7970 to be much better at higher res because of the mem bandwith

 

[LtMatt]

thanks for these. how do they fair at lower res? i currently play at 1680x1050 and might upgrade to 1080 or 1200 max.

because if im honest im expecting the 7970 to be much better at higher res because of the mem bandwith

What games will you be playing? Cards are pretty similar so can't really go wrong with either. Both will excel at 1080p and both are probably slight overkill for 1050p.

 

[mjenabi2]

What games will you be playing? Cards are pretty similar so can't really go wrong with either. Both will excel at 1080p and both are probably slight overkill for 1050p.

BF4 and Titan Fall next year. but im on long upgrade cycles (2-3 years) and with me growing older, this might be the last card i buy because my pc will easily last 4-5 years (i think) otherwise my GTX 480 is still a beast.

 

[LtMatt]

BF4 and Titan Fall next year. but im on long upgrade cycles (2-3 years) and with me growing older, this might be the last card i buy because my pc will easily last 4-5 years (i think) otherwise my GTX 480 is still a beast.

7970 in that case.

Battlefield 4 gaming evolved title. Titan Fall ps4 game, AMD optimised title. 7970 has 1 extra GB of vram which might help in Battlefield 4 and will certainly last longer than the 2gb provided with the 770. 2gb might start getting breached in the next year or sooner.

 

[mjenabi2]

7970 in that case.

Battlefield 4 gaming evolved title. Titan Fall ps4 game, AMD optimised title. 7970 has 1 extra GB of vram which might help in Battlefield 4 and will certainly last longer than the 2gb provided with the 770. 2gb might start getting breached in the next year or sooner.

Titan fall is a pc/xbox exclusive, no? but i know that xbox is also AMD based.

i actually made this case on my original post which no one picked up on, it seems.

Im just gutted that i cant have the Matrix plat...

 

[LtMatt]

Titan fall is a pc/xbox exclusive, no? but i know that xbox is also AMD based.

i actually made this case on my original post which no one picked up on, it seems.

Im just gutted that i cant have the Matrix plat...

If its next gen it will be optimised for AMD hardware. Cpu or Gpu. Other than that i know nothing else about the game. It will be coded running on AMD hardware though if its a next gen game.

 

[mjenabi2]

If its next gen it will be optimised for AMD hardware. Cpu or Gpu. Other than that i know nothing else about the game. It will be coded running on AMD hardware though if its a next gen game.

just one thing though. the 7970 is almost 2 years old. where as the 680 is a year old and 770 is just a slightly improved 680.

 

[LtMatt]

just one thing though. the 7970 is almost 2 years old. where as the 680 is a year old and 770 is just a slightly improved 680.

The 7970 is about three months older than the 680. The 770 is just a 680 with a core block boost and slightly faster memory modules making it about, give or take, 5% faster than a 680.