7970 CF vs 780Ti (plus SLI)

snips86x · 1 Jun 2014 at 21:11

Wow, there was me considering a 780/780Ti with absolutely no need to actually change. Looks like adding another 7970 is worth while after all and watercooling is a must. My Parvum S2 wouldn't take 2 air cooled cards.

Five.Stars · 1 Jun 2014 at 21:17

snips86x said:
Wow, there was me considering a 780/780Ti with absolutely no need to actually change. Looks like adding another 7970 is worth while after all and watercooling is a must. My Parvum S2 wouldn't take 2 air cooled cards.

2 79's is a terrific set-up mate and will last for a good while yet (vram permitting), especially in a water cooled rig - you can easily squeeze another 20 - 30%+ out of them.

As I say, there was absolutely no need for me to change, other than the fact I really wanted something new to play with and also give physx and soon g-sync a go.

Maybe if you are looking for a 2nd card, it would be worth your while having a wee look in members market - especially if a pre-fiited EK-FC block would be somewhat attractive!

snips86x · 1 Jun 2014 at 21:19

Five.Stars said:
2 79's is a terrific set-up mate and will last for a good while yet (vram permitting), especially in a water cooled rig - you can easily squeeze another 20 - 30%+ out of them.

As I say, there was absolutely no need for me to change, other than the fact I really wanted something new to play with and also give physx and soon g-sync a go.

Maybe if you are looking for a 2nd card, it would be worth your while having a wee look in members market - especially if a pre-fiited EK-FC block would be somewhat attractive!

That was my intention,but funds don't allow it and there are some cracking deals there at the moment

flame696 · 1 Jun 2014 at 22:19

Wow should have kept my 7970 and just added a 2nd. would have saved me £500!!!

arc@css · 1 Jun 2014 at 22:23

rare said:
Pretty impressive that the 780Ti can hold its own against two of the top end last gen cards.

+1

Gregster · 1 Jun 2014 at 22:33

Nice results and the 780Ti is doing well against the 7970s

triss · 1 Jun 2014 at 23:53

TY five nice wee comparison

7970's were a great card and like a few older cards users will get a better price/performance buff adding another rather then selling and stepping upto the latest gen

kylew_is_back · 2 Jun 2014 at 06:01

rare said:
Pretty impressive that the 780Ti can hold its own against two of the top end last gen cards.

But the 780Ti is more expensive.

Heisenberg · 2 Jun 2014 at 08:45

kylew_is_back said:
But the 780Ti is more expensive.

It's also a single card vs 2 of last generations flagship cards. We've been used to seeing small bumps in generations, this shows that the 780TI (and prob the 290x) are not far behind 7970 crossfire in terms of real grunt. Quite impressive considering it's still on 28nm.

Five.Stars · 2 Jun 2014 at 14:04

Heisenberg said:
It's also a single card vs 2 of last generations flagship cards. We've been used to seeing small bumps in generations, this shows that the 780TI (and prob the 290x) are not far behind 7970 crossfire in terms of real grunt. Quite impressive considering it's still on 28nm.

Agreed, not only that, the 2 7970's at launch would have cost +£800.

Still think the high-end stuff is over priced, especially from nvidia, but these tests do show that their has been quite a leap in performance for a Ti to compete reasonably well with a previous gen high-end dual card set-up.

jimhaumman · 2 Jun 2014 at 23:02

gazzaa said:
Too think you can get 2 7970s for around 230 quid now thats a hell of a lot of bang for buck my cousin just bought a second 680 for 120 quid its pumping out some serious fps now in sli if only my cpu was a i7 id def go for another 280x

i5 would be all right too...

Roady · 5 Jun 2014 at 21:43

Don't forget that the 7970's clock like beasts! That's one of the temptations now as I never found the 7950's that stable when pushed (had 2 & replaced them with 7970's).

I've got a powercolor here (stock 925/1375 (1.175v)) that'll do 1160/1550 (1.185v) on 'custom'-air! (AAXIII)

Five.Stars · 6 Jun 2014 at 04:50

Yeah this was just a simple stock versus 'stock' (my 780ti's are factory overclocked)

Both 7970's did ~1185/ 1600 quite comfortably at 1.25v - possibly higher with more volts as still had +500mV to play with - although only ever used those clocks for benching, even with water blocks.

Quite confident my Ti's will clock like beasts also once water blocked. Not ideal on air just now due to the heat being dumped inside the case. Although they still both boost to 1111mhz at stock, or 1150 if I set the MSI Gaming App to OC Mode.

DJ_Bucho · 11 Jun 2014 at 08:56

Thanks very much for the info, I'm currently running a 7970, and am seriously considering getting a second to run along side it. I was tempted at one point to sell my 7970 and upgrade to a 290x or maybe a 780Ti, but for the amount of money it costs, it looks like I'd be far better off getting another 7970.

Five.Stars · 11 Jun 2014 at 09:07

Given 2nd hand prices, it is a no brainer mate. I only changed due to crazy upgrade itch and notion to try nvidia.

Just a few things to contemplate - make sure your power supply is sufficient and also that you have good airflow in your case as heat will increase unless it is a couple of blower type coolers you are using which exhaust air out the rear of cards/ case.

Gregster · 11 Jun 2014 at 12:54

Team MLG could do with someone like yourself Five Stars if you fancy joining a team on HWbot. Great testing bud

Roady · 11 Jun 2014 at 13:30

Five.Stars said:
Yeah this was just a simple stock versus 'stock' (my 780ti's are factory overclocked)

Both 7970's did ~1185/ 1600 quite comfortably at 1.25v - possibly higher with more volts as still had +500mV to play with - although only ever used those clocks for benching, even with water blocks.

Anything over 1.2v isn't good for long mate, toasty! I try to avoid going anything over +0.1 over stock (1.188 on all my cards)... As my clocks are for generally mining/gaming and not for benching (actually dropped my 2700K back to 4.6 from 4.8 as no noticable difference, except case temps!)

DJ_Bucho said:
Thanks very much for the info, I'm currently running a 7970, and am seriously considering getting a second to run along side it.

DO IT! Basically good 7970 (or a normal one clocked) is equal to a 280X for 75%-80% the cost (second hand)... Some will clock close to 290 speeds, but not worth the temperature trade off... The 290 and 290X are warm cards still so I would only head that route with an after-market cooling or one of the branded good coolers... Even then I'd buy second hand as new prices hurt

Five.Stars said:
Given 2nd hand prices, it is a no brainer mate. I only changed due to crazy upgrade itch and notion to try nvidia.

For under £300 now you can get dual 7970's (second hand of course), insane amount of power for the money!

Five.Stars · 11 Jun 2014 at 14:24

Given the prices my 7970's went for, it would seem it can be had for under £250 mate! Great from a buyers perspective. Not so great when you are on the selling end. But such is life! Actually had an offer of £100 for 1 of my 7970's! Eventually settled for £110 due to no warranty. 10 minutes later a guy comes and offers £105 for a higher specced card (factory overclock) with 2 years warranty remaining! Aye nice try son! Found that quite insulting tbh!

Mal X · 11 Jun 2014 at 14:59

you dont need to go above the AMD Catalyst overclock, it'll have to be 2nd hand cause you cant get the Dual X anymore..

bloody good card..... next year it'll have to be similar again but crossfire this time..

Jeps · 11 Jun 2014 at 16:41

Very nice. Are you going to put another rad in there when you watercool the new cards? I have the same case and a pair of 780Ti's I'm considering watercooling but the P280 doesn't have all that much room.