7970 vs 680 thread.

[ALXAndy]

The GTX 680 us clearly the best card right now, even according to the review you posted its the performance per watt king.

According to every other review, its the definite performance king too. I still want one, plus it does physx and 3D vision.

So you cherry pick one part of the review and then declare the 680 the winner !

Nice one, why didn't I think of that?

Do you know what's hilarious? Not once have I said the 7970 is better. And I could, because in over 70% of those tests it beat the 680 by a couple of frames.

But no. I am not making such claims, as they would be stupid and untruthful.

As for Physx? go and do some reading on Havok. If you are going to come here and try and tell me things please, make sure you are armed with the facts. Years ago AMD and Intel became interested in Havok and were going to invest tons of money into it. It's basically dead similar to Physx.

However, they both soon realised that it was a waste of money and time, as it would not adopt into the mainstream. Nvidia, however, have carried on throwing money at it in the hope it will give them the edge.

It hasn't. Infact, I've seen Havok used in more games than I have Physx. All of the Fallout and ES games use it, so does Just Cause and JC 2, and so on.

So honestly, I suggest you really stop the straw clutching. Nowhere have I gone on and on about how the 7970 is better, just that there is far more to this than the couple of reviews you read before blowing £400.

I'm not even saying the 680 is bad. It's bloody fantastic ! a really good card from Nvidia. However, what I don't want to hear is that it is better than the 7970 because the fact is it clearly isn't.

That is the part I will take issue with. Infact, so wrong do I find those biased reviews that I am now rather upset at seeing people selling their 7970s for a huge loss to replace them with a card that is pretty much exactly the same.

 

[spain]

So I still want one. I would however believe that if one single reviews results vary so much to every other, then that one review is the anomally.

Or honest, just saying. There are some good points being made in this thread and plenty of BS. Andy imho, is right about the new overclocking feature, and it's shameful that overclockers on this forum would be calling it a fair comparison against a stock 7970. But nevertheless the 680 is still a cracking GPU.

 

[MOOGLEYS]

I have a 7970 & 680 that I have been playing with most of today in'between a spot of gardening.
In my opinion at 1080p I cannot tell the cards apart playing games. BF3 is identical on both cards as is Skyrim, NFS, AVP, Dirt 2&3, Metro and Civ V.. The only game I noticed a slight difference is Batman Arkham city where both me and the wife agreed it seemed smoother and less stuttery on the 680. Other than that if you had no idea what card was in the system you would never know playing games.
I think both are great if not slightly overpriced cards and either one is going to give you a decent gaming experience, but they are also both completely pointless as the last gen 580 or even 6970 at 1080p is going to %99 of the time do exactly the same for a lot less money.
For multi-screen I imagine they will show more of an improvement and I'm just about to fire up the 3 screens and see what happens with the 680.

I must be the only 680 owner that has not run any benchmarks on it, I always test by playing the games ...

 

[ALXAndy]

Maybe those charts ALXAndy posted are in increments of 0.1/0.2/0.3 etc etc

Without numbers, how do we know and seriously, that chart looks dodgy.

Oh dear oh lord Greg when is it going to sink in mate?

As I said. PLEASE go back and start reading the thread from the beginning. It wasn't just Tom, it was three other sites. One of them ran the cards clock for clock. IE - at exactly the same speed, just so there could be no doubt or any "but what if a 7970 doesn't hit 1200mhz?"

Then read on, and you will find some very very interesting in depth information about tessellation being around since 2008, and fully running in DX10. However, Nvidia and AMD did not want us to know about it then as it wasn't being used as a selling point for new video cards.

One day you will understand the sort of person I am. I am not here to upset any one, far from it. I am here to stop any one getting screwed.

Fact of the matter is the best card to have right now is not the 680, nor the 7970. It's the 7950 by a mile. £80 cheaper than either offering, just as fast when you overclock it.

 

[Redemption80]

I've not said they were lying. Just that they were unfairly comparing cards.

The 680 overclocks itself, overclocking is a part of the enthusiast PC market. Infact, it's critical now. No one buys stuff that doesn't overclock.

Thus, many reviewers realised what the 680 was doing from the off and thus put the cards up overclocked to compare them. The result? dead even. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. 680 is quieter, 7970 has more vram.

As for the rest? corporation tactics mate. Note how many Modern Snorefare / COD games have been milked using that nasty old engine. Yet people still wait outside shops dressed as marines lmao.

How is it an unfair comparison?

If you mean benching it with the Auto OC on, then i don't know how many did, or didn't, but they should leave it on as the card is going to do that when you use it.
If they disable the AutoOC then they are lying to the consumer as the card will look slower than what its like in reality, it would be like capping vram usage to 2GB so the 7970 didn't have an advantage.

I think most did disable it though, as if they didn't there wouldn't be such a big difference between the stock scores and the OC ones.

Don't assume everyone overclocks, many people don't, they just want to play games with the least amount of stress as possible, a guy over a Guru3D has already said this sounds like a feature for him as he worries about overclocking.

Those Overclock3D score reeks of crap, 8xAA in Metro2033 and BF3 since when was that an option, and overclocked 7950 beating an overclocked 7970, and i've just glanced at it.

 

[bhavv]

So you cherry pick one part of the review and then declare the 680 the winner !

Writing out what they concluded is cherry picking now? How mad can you possibly get?

And the last time I checked, havok doesn't work in physx games.

The GTX 680 is better than the 7970 in every possible way for gaming, just get over how mad you are for wasting money on your 7970 and stop wasting time defending your purchase.

 

[555BUK]

Both cards offer very very similar performance. The 680 has some cool new featurea, but overall they are both much of a muchness (both at stock and overclicked). Just buy whichever brand you prefer.

 

[MarkeR]

Good point, we have no idea what measurement the scale is in, its what can probably be called noob graphs done by an amateur.

Well go to the review in the link above and see for yourself!!!

To be honest, I cannot see what everyone is arguing about, both cards fly with any game out there, both cards run very cool, and to be perfectly honest, the slight more pull in power the 7970 has will not cost you anything significant onto your monthly bill!!

Buy the cheapest!!!!

 

[ALXAndy]

How is it an unfair comparison?

If you mean benching it with the Auto OC on, then i don't know how many did, or didn't, but they should leave it on as the card is going to do that when you use it.
If they disable the AutoOC then they are lying to the consumer as the card will look slower than what its like in reality, it would be like capping vram usage to 2GB so the 7970 didn't have an advantage.

I think most did disable it though, as if they didn't there wouldn't be such a big difference between the stock scores and the OC ones.

Don't assume everyone overclocks, many people don't, they just want to play games with the least amount of stress as possible, a guy over a Guru3D has already said this sounds like a feature for him as he worries about overclocking.

Those Overclock3D score reeks of crap, 8xAA in Metro2033 and BF3 since when was that an option, and overclocked 7950 beating an overclocked 7970, and i've just glanced at it.

I've never seen Tom lie. Ever.

As for not assuming every one overclocks? The 680 overclocks. Any one who buys one does so based on what they can get for free on top of what they paid.

It's an accepted way of life now. Lock down a product and stop that happening and you simply won't sell any.

I find it terribly hypocritical that people have deemed overclocking irrelevant overnight.

It's been a very important part of the enthusiast PC world since it was introduced many years ago. Infact, I bought my Athlon XP because I knew I could overclock it easily just by using the multiplier. That was part and parcel of why that chip was so incredible.

 

[TheRealDeal]

Just incase it has not been said in this thread. Even gibbo said the 7970 had a slight advantage when overclocked. Moogleys has both cards and said he cant tell the difference. I dont know what more you guys want. The proofs there to show you how close these cards are when overclocked. The good thing is the truth will come out in the next week or so when more sites pit the 2 against each other when clocked up.

 

[Gregster]

In fairness, if I had a 580, I would have skipped this generation and waited for the GK110 but as my card was slack in newer games, I upgraded to what I needed.

The guys who are selling the 7970's must have a reason? Maybe they just prefer Nvidia IDK but don't let it make you sad.

You know I have a 3D vision 2 monitor, so I am tied to Nvidia if I wish to carry on 3D gaming (which I do). This was the reason I didn't buy a 7970. I still feel it is a fantastic card but on all the sites I have seen over the last 24+ hours with benches have shown that the 680 is better.

Regardless of 7970 or 680, both are great mid range cards at a high price.

 

[ALXAndy]

Both cards offer very very similar performance. The 680 has some cool new featurea, but overall they are both much of a muchness (both at stock and overclicked). Just buy whichever brand you prefer.

Indeed. This will be the conclusion that is eventually reached because it's the right one.

I'm not even saying go and buy a 7970. TBH? if I had the cash right now I would probably opt for the 680. If I was able to use sense I would opt for the 7950.

So it's not like I'm even saying don't buy the 680. All I am saying is, please, don't sell your 7950 or 7970 to buy one because the truth is there's bugger all in it.

 

[bhavv]

So if you've never seen Tom lie, they are correct when they state that the GTX 680 is the current performance king?

 

[liamcrane]

Wow finally finished reading through the thread! Im guessing the 680 would be the best choice upgrading from a 5850? Can pick an evga one up for £409 which seems a good price.

Do you think i could be bottle necked by my other components (in sig)?

 

[coupe69]

No one buys stuff that doesn't overclock.

No one apart from you it seems

I've always lived by the philosophy that I should really buy what it is I want, and not something less and then try and make it into what I want.

PCs are no exception. If I have to overclock something to make it do what I want it to do natively I would rather pass and save up some more money.

Somewhat contradictory I'm sure you'll all agree.

 

[MOOGLEYS]

Wow finally finished reading through the thread! Im guessing the 680 would be the best choice upgrading from a 5850? Can pick an evga one up for £409 which seems a good price.

Do you think i could be bottle necked by my other components (in sig)?

You would see more gains getting a 2500k, board, 8GB Ram and a 2gb 6950...

 

[ALXAndy]

In fairness, if I had a 580, I would have skipped this generation and waited for the GK110 but as my card was slack in newer games, I upgraded to what I needed.

The guys who are selling the 7970's must have a reason? Maybe they just prefer Nvidia IDK but don't let it make you sad.

You know I have a 3D vision 2 monitor, so I am tied to Nvidia if I wish to carry on 3D gaming (which I do). This was the reason I didn't buy a 7970. I still feel it is a fantastic card but on all the sites I have seen over the last 24+ hours with benches have shown that the 680 is better.

Regardless of 7970 or 680, both are great mid range cards at a high price.

Greg. If they liked Nvidia that much they would have waited for Kepler, just like you mate.

It really is as simple as that. If I thought for one minute that I would regret buying my 7970 and sell it at a huge loss just to go to team green I wouldn't have bought it.

But, sadly that isn't why they are selling them and buying 680s. They are doing so because they have been unfairly misled into thinking they really are better, and not just by a little bit either.

And that is disgusting. Bad reviewing IMO. Well, it isn't reviewing as CAT and I covered, it's salesmanship.

Tell me Greg. Do you honestly think the 680 is worth £430? Truly?

Because when the 7970 came out and kicked the 580s ass (and it did, clearly) Bit tech said "We just don't think it is worth the asking price" or words to that effect. It was scored lower because of the price.

Yet today? they are saying that £400 is a lot of money, but by jove it's worth it !

Give it a few days mate and honestly, you will understand what I am saying. When the honeymoon period is over and you decide to take a good look at all of the reviews you will understand.

 

[bhavv]

Lol and the hypocrite of the year award goes to....

 

[TheRealDeal]

Wow finally finished reading through the thread! Im guessing the 680 would be the best choice upgrading from a 5850? Can pick an evga one up for £409 which seems a good price.

Do you think i could be bottle necked by my other components (in sig)?

Someone might correct me on this but i am sure nvidia cards dont run as well on amd setups as they do on intel. I seen this in an aticle not so long back when comparing intel to amd. The amd cards ran just about as well on the amd setup as they did on the faster intel setups but the nvidia cards seemed to run a lot slower on the amd setup comparing to intel. This was only one article but i have heard people repeating this on these forums. It makes no sense to me really.

 

[ALXAndy]

No one apart from you it seems



Somewhat contradictory I'm sure you'll all agree.

No it isn't. It isn't because once again you have not read the bloody thread have you? You've jumped in in the last page or so missing out on everything we discussed today.

I bought a 7970 because even overclocked the 7950 wasn't as fast as when you overclock the 7970. I've had my 7970 at 1125 just to make sure, then hit reset in AB.

When I bought my I7 950 for £230 I did so because it could hit 4ghz. I've had it at 4ghz just to make sure, then I put it back.

One day when the time comes I know I can get that last drop out of both items. I bought the I7 950 solely because I knew it could hit 4ghz easy, unlike the 920 and 930 that were not absolutely guaranteed to hit 4ghz.

So I bought both products based on what they could do when they overclock. Why? because that is what reviews do with the bloody things ! test them, overclock them, and then test them again !

Edit. That's also why I paid over £60 for a Noctua NH-D14.