Gigabyte 680 WindForce VS 7970 WindForce

[masscrazy]

http://www.ddworld.cz/pc-a-komponen...d-7970-oc-graficka-bitva-na-ostri-noze-6.html

Interesting results. At almost £50-100 difference in price, the 7970 no brainer right?

 

[Rusty0611]

They don't push the 680 anywhere near its limits so not a valid comparison IMO.

The 680/7970 maximum overclocked are within a gnat of each other. So pick the 7970 as it's cheaper unless the 680 has something you want/need, i.e. Physx, better drivers (questionable)... etc.

 

[MichaelM]

They don't push the 680 anywhere near its limits so not a valid comparison IMO.

The Windforce 680 is 182MHz over reference clocks while the Windforce 7970 is only 75MHz over reference clocks.
The overclocked reference 7970 is still 63MHz lower than the Windforce 680's clocks.
I think it's Gigabyte's way to justify the price difference to people who won't overclock by themselves no matter how easy it is.

If anything it's unfair to the Windforce 7970. Especially on the overclocking page they took the Windforce 680 up to 1250MHz and seemed to ignore the Windforce 7970 completely.

 

[CinderzFTW]

I would go for the 680. It beats the 7970 hands down on power and there is still a bit of headroom in it for more overclocking.

 

[Gregster]

If you can get the 7970 for £100 cheaper and you don't use NVIDIA 3D vision then deffo go that way.

A no brainer as you say.

 

[Troezar]

If you can get the 7970 for £100 cheaper and you don't use NVIDIA 3D vision then deffo go that way.

A no brainer as you say.

Good unbiased advice.

 

[masscrazy]

And considering Gigabyte have a good rep I'm even more inclined to go with the 7970.

Waiting for end of the month to see what happens.

 

[Dazboots]

And considering Gigabyte have a good rep I'm even more inclined to go with the 7970.

Waiting for end of the month to see what happens.

My windforce 7970 does 1295 core / 1970 memory.
its a great card. i leave my fan on 50% 24/7 at 1250 1650. temps dont go over 68c in eyefinity.

 

[Mariusmssj]

Does the windforce X3 cooler perform well in heat/noise area?

 

[Mr. May]

I would go for the 680. It beats the 7970 hands down on power and there is still a bit of headroom in it for more overclocking.

Poor biased advice I am afraid they have both been shown to be amost the same power when overclocked so its a choice of ..

Cheaper with more Vram or Better drivers less Vram

 

[Dazboots]

Does the windforce X3 cooler perform well in heat/noise area?

I keep my fans @ 50% and tbh u can hardly hear it. best cooler on stock card i have ever had. vrm temps never go about 70c

 

[Mariusmssj]

I keep my fans @ 50% and tbh u can hardly hear it. best cooler on stock card i have ever had. vrm temps never go about 70c

really nice to hear

 

[dave_beast]

At the current prices, only a green eyed fool would buy a 680. If the prices were comparable it'd be a different story.

 

[Dazboots]

At the current prices, only a green eyed fool would buy a 680. If the prices were comparable it'd be a different story.

Best thing is i have seen these cards go for £389.00 and thats a steal.
pitty Ocuk dont stock these cards.

 

[OLDCell]

I got the 7970 OC Windforce yesterday and it's a brilliant card, very cool at idle of about 32c and never goes above 60c when under load.

Not overclocked it yet, I've got all day off tomorrow and Friday so will get overclocking then.

But Skyrim with HD mods and everything maxed out is running at 60FPS outside and 120FPS inside, I have tweaked the ini and prefs for performance without loosing quality.

 

[StonedPenguin]

Best thing is i have seen these cards go for £389.00 and thats a steal.

It really isnt imo, £300 would be.

 

[OLDCell]

It really isnt imo, £300 would be.

You'd be lucky... At the £300 price point it would force out any potential sale of the lower end cards due to price-performance and ATi would loose out in the long run.

£389 for the 7970 is a good price, a price point of £350/£380 is where the 7970 should be and that's what we are starting to see.

 

[Dazboots]

You'd be lucky... At the £300 price point it would force out any potential sale of the lower end cards due to price-performance and ATi would loose out in the long run.

£389 for the 7970 is a good price, a price point of £350/£380 is where the 7970 should be and that's what we are starting to see.

I payed £440.00 for mine 2 months aga and still love it
can still play battlefield 3 at 5836x1080 on ultra 1 card,eyefinity.

 

[tommybhoy]

Cheaper with more Vram or Both can have driver issues, less Vram and PhysX/Cuda

Fixed it for you!


The 680's having a torrid time at the moment for some users much the same as some users having a torrid time with the 79**'s.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18395624

(It's quietly slipping down the forum, but I would expect no less)

Straight from the horses mouth(Nvidia forum):

'At this point: don't buy the GTX 680.

It has a problem that other NVDIA cards don't have. After a lot of tweaking the problem isn't as noticeable as it was, but it's still there in my situation.

Switching back to a 560 Ti and a 580 has solved the problem. So it's 680 related... '

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=226227&st=120

BOTH of them have driver issues for some.

Back to the op, the Lightning/Windforce perform very similar out the box to the 680, win some, lose some, in both instances you won't notice anyway, and they all have more room in the tank for oc'ing.

So it goes down to cheaper, more vram, fancy cooling v's PhysX, Cuda and Nvidia 3D(if you have it).

 

[masscrazy]

So i've kind of changed my mind.

Am thinking lightning now, considering its £420 but still £30 over the Windforce... decisions decisions...

.....
So it goes down to cheaper, more vram, fancy cooling v's PhysX, Cuda and Nvidia 3D(if you have it).

PhysX is it worth it?