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7970 a good upgrade?

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

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Joined
6 Jun 2005
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1,856
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Cambridge
Hi Everyone,

I'm looking to retire my old 4870x2 soon, and the 7970 looks like a good candidate, but I'm struggling to decide between the 7970 and the GTX680.

System is:

i7 920 @ 3.6Ghz
6GB RAM
GA-EX58-UD5 motherboard
etc

Is it worth holding out for the 680 to reduce in price a bit?

Many thanks,
 

Cythx

Cythx

Cythx

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967
A 680 is a lot louder than the Sapphire 7970 OC Edition. It'll prolly perform on par/slightly better when OC'd, compared to an OC'd 680.

It's also cheaper
 

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

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Cambridge
Is it quite easy/safe/not much difference in temps and noise overclocking a 7970 to 680 speeds? The Sapphire HD 7970 OC looks quite interesting
 
Last edited:

Rusty0611

Rusty0611

Rusty0611

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The factory OC isn't really of any use but the custom fan can help with temperatures/noise.

I think both the 680's and 7970's are virtually silent while idle. I have a custom fan profile on my 680 and it reaches about 60% to keep it under 65c and I can hear it if I take my headphones off. But the only time it gets to that noise level is when I'm gaming and I always have my headphones on while gaming. So it's a non-issue for me.

I think the 7970's are similar in that respect.
 

oweneades

oweneades

oweneades

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Rusty0611 said:
The factory OC isn't really of any use but the custom fan can help with temperatures/noise.

I think both the 680's and 7970's are virtually silent while idle. I have a custom fan profile on my 680 and it reaches about 60% to keep it under 65c and I can hear it if I take my headphones off. But the only time it gets to that noise level is when I'm gaming and I always have my headphones on while gaming. So it's a non-issue for me.

I think the 7970's are similar in that respect.
Click to expand...

Yes, you certainly wouldn't want to game with a HD7970's fan running at 60% unless you had headphones. At 100% you wouldn't want to game unless the card was in a different room.

The normal fan profile keeps it under 50% in general gaming use which is noticably quieter.
 

BS Dave

BS Dave

BS Dave

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with a custom fan profile on my 7970 i can get 1200 stable at 62 degrees and 47 percent fan which is fine - with headphones on anyway

though the sapphire OCs at 370 are a bargain!!
 
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