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Are the GTX 970's & 980's already the best GPU's ever made?
- Thread starter 555BUK
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Soldato
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Quadfire 290's for around the 400 quid mark 2nd hand as a nice ring to it 
Soldato
I despair, I really do... I'll let you work it out when you've calmed down.
Soldato
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Bless ya...
Soldato
Oh, it burns... 
Soldato
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Let it burn.
Associate
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LOL. 7970s have always been faster than 680s.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1322119/12-11-vs-310-33
Lmao.
Soldato
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Soldato
The problem with comparing 680 performance is it's difficult to find any end user results as most 680 owners were too embarrassed to post them up.
On the plus side it was faster in BF3
On the plus side it was faster in BF3
Actually whine coil issue has put me off 970,I was considering the 290 which can be purchased at very good prices,however I've decided to wait for Nvidia 960 and possibly AMD R9 390s depending on how long the wait will be.
Amazing how arrogant some people are with quotes like yours,for the record my main PC has nvidia card and my other rig AMD card so not a fanboy as such,remember gamers like myself normally consider all possible options.
The problem with comparing 680 performance is it's difficult to find any end user results as most 680 owners were too embarrassed to post them up.
On the plus side it was faster in BF3
The 7970 eventually overtook the 680 purely due to better drivers. I owned both cards at the time the 680 was released and swiftly sold the 7970 as it wasn't as good having tested some in game benchmarks. In game minimum fps and general smoothness was quite poor on the 7970 in comparison. A lot has changed since then though, my 290 ran super smooth whilst I owned it.
Soldato
The 290s have just as much chance as any other to get coil whine (excluding PCS+)
Soldato
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Yip!
Mine suffered from bad coil whine. Luckily enough it died a week later and got a full refund back for it.
Mine suffered from bad coil whine. Luckily enough it died a week later and got a full refund back for it.
The problem with comparing 680 performance is it's difficult to find any end user results as most 680 owners were too embarrassed to post them up.
On the plus side it was faster in BF3
What exactly do you mean they were too embarrassed?
Caporegime
I really don't think many people would in the know...not when buying new...
290 just went for 155 in MM ...few more weeks and they will be 125 second hand...
290 is dead tech...hot gfx cards are so yesteryear
Thats ok, they only cost £200 with about £50 worth of freebies.
Besides that, buy a 970 for £270 and try to get back £270 on the MM for it, your just talking rubbish now.
Glued Chokes.
Soldato
Best GPUs ever made? I don't think so. In 5 years I'm sure there will be something better.
Best GPUs made to date? Guess it depends what you consider makes something the 'best'.
If you want pure power, then surely it's the 295x2 at the minute?
If you're looking at performance/£ then I'd say 290.
If you're looking at performance/Watt then probably the 970.
As always there's the triangle of 'things', performance, price and heat/power. You need to consider where in the triangle the 'best' would sit.
The 970 would seem to be a good all rounder at the minute.
It's true that the 970/980 hasn't really pushed the performance envelope over the previous high end AMD cards. But it has done it at a lower power consumption.
Now the 290/290X didn't really push the performance over the previous high end Nvidia cards. But they did do it at a lower cost.
There's the argument that enthusiasts don't care about power efficiency, which may be true. But then there's the argument that enthusiasts don't care about price. I'd say both are true to the extent that enthusiasts won't let either affect them buying what they want.
Nvidia and it's partners will release versions of the 970/980 that have a higher power draw than the current cards, and people will still buy them. People will increase the power draw by overclocking, so it's not that big of a deal.
Likewise with AMD, people will still buy Vapor-X cards and Lightnings for a higher price that doesn't always scale to performance as you're paying the 'premium' tax. Also people will buy AMD cards and then fit waterblocks, thus increasing the cost.
So I don't think that cost or power efficiency really come into the 'best' discussion. They're probably be worth considering in a 'best bang-for-buck' discussion or similar.
So on out and out performance, currently I'd say the 295x2 is the best.
But if asked if I hope the next lot of GPUs will be cool running, power efficient cards or power sucking cards that run so hot they need an AIO loop to make them usable, well I'd go for the former as my preferred direction. From that point of view the 970 is probably the closest to that ideal. But I wouldn't say it's the best.
Best GPUs made to date? Guess it depends what you consider makes something the 'best'.
If you want pure power, then surely it's the 295x2 at the minute?
If you're looking at performance/£ then I'd say 290.
If you're looking at performance/Watt then probably the 970.
As always there's the triangle of 'things', performance, price and heat/power. You need to consider where in the triangle the 'best' would sit.
The 970 would seem to be a good all rounder at the minute.
It's true that the 970/980 hasn't really pushed the performance envelope over the previous high end AMD cards. But it has done it at a lower power consumption.
Now the 290/290X didn't really push the performance over the previous high end Nvidia cards. But they did do it at a lower cost.
There's the argument that enthusiasts don't care about power efficiency, which may be true. But then there's the argument that enthusiasts don't care about price. I'd say both are true to the extent that enthusiasts won't let either affect them buying what they want.
Nvidia and it's partners will release versions of the 970/980 that have a higher power draw than the current cards, and people will still buy them. People will increase the power draw by overclocking, so it's not that big of a deal.
Likewise with AMD, people will still buy Vapor-X cards and Lightnings for a higher price that doesn't always scale to performance as you're paying the 'premium' tax. Also people will buy AMD cards and then fit waterblocks, thus increasing the cost.
So I don't think that cost or power efficiency really come into the 'best' discussion. They're probably be worth considering in a 'best bang-for-buck' discussion or similar.
So on out and out performance, currently I'd say the 295x2 is the best.
But if asked if I hope the next lot of GPUs will be cool running, power efficient cards or power sucking cards that run so hot they need an AIO loop to make them usable, well I'd go for the former as my preferred direction. From that point of view the 970 is probably the closest to that ideal. But I wouldn't say it's the best.
Soldato
Glued Chokes.
That is a strong argument and I can only hope, other manufacturers, learn, and do the same as Powercolor.
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Soldato
It's pretty self explanatory. What do you want me to do other than repeat what I said. It's late and you're annoying, ask me again tomorrow
Soldato
Agree. 970 all the way, if I was looking to buy now (which I have).
My MSI 290x screamed its arse off under load, not to mention hitting 90 degrees.
No I'm saying it beat it, even when it was in SLI, and that the performance difference between a GTX980 and a GTX690 is ~ the same as a 8800GTX and 7950GX2. In fact the performance advantage of the GTX980 over it's predecessors is (like the 8800GTX) much bigger than that of the 9700 PRO (another card lauded for being a landmark performer).