Graphics card decision £200-£250

[uksoldierboy]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6025/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-catching-up-to-gtx-680/13

In half those games a stock 670 matches or beats a 7970GHZ Edition. The 680 is even faster in over half the games. I would imagine a 670 boosting to 1300mhz will run quicker than a stock 680, so......

I am not saying either is better. They both have their pluses and minuses. Where some people get this idea that the 7970's and 7950's are faster is beyond me though. I have read many, many reviews and i haven't read one that unanimously shows the 79XX series being faster than the 6XX series...

When i had my 7970 Ghz edition, it was always quicker (although not by a huge amount) than my cousin's 670, both overclocked.
Either card will get the job done i feel though.

 

[teppic]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6025/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-catching-up-to-gtx-680/13

In half those games a stock 670 matches or beats a 7970GHZ Edition. The 680 is even faster in over half the games. I would imagine a 670 boosting to 1300mhz will run quicker than a stock 680, so......

I am not saying either is better. They both have their pluses and minuses. Where some people get this idea that the 7970's and 7950's are faster is beyond me though. I have read many, many reviews and i haven't read one that unanimously shows the 79XX series being faster than the 6XX series...

Those are taken on drivers from mid 2012, so totally irrelevant to now Anandtech is unreliable for graphics cards comparisons anyway, as they're lazy in using recent drivers.

I'm not saying that the 7950 Boost completely destroys a 670, but that both overclocked has the 7950 a bit ahead. That together with the higher VRAM specs makes it a better buy at the same price, unless you value PhysX higher.

 

[SouthEastBlue]

OK basically all reviews of different cards have different drivers (old AMD ones sucked), and also show comparisons of cards with stock overclocks against reference clocks. So it's not black and white what is better than what.

Basically GTX 670 is quicker in reference speeds against a 7950 in reference speeds, but nearly all the 7950 and GTX 670 cards floating about have stock overclocks.

Also most people on here overclock, so that's normally a big factor in choice. I have read enough reviews and looked at enough forum posts on owners of both cards etc to make my decision, and the 3GB VRAM and overclocking ability make the 7950 an easy choice.

 

[Richeh]

Well I can get a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 670 AMP! for £190 which has a boost core of 1176Mhz or the HIS 7950 Boost for £190 but relying on it overclocking. Bearing in mind this is an upgrade from a 7850 so wat the biggest jump possible without having to spend hours overclocking.

 

[teppic]

Basically GTX 670 is quicker in reference speeds against a 7950 in reference speeds, but nearly all the 7950 and GTX 670 cards floating about have stock overclocks.

It's ahead of a reference 7950, but nobody has those - the reference 7950 Boost and the 670 trade blows depending on the game. Like you say though, cards people buy are rarely at reference clocks.

 

[LtMatt]

You can't go wrong with either card but if you're planning to overclock then the 7950 is the faster and more future proof card imo. Unless you want the 670 for a specific reason like Physx id go with the 7950 all day long. Even a poor clocking 7950 will reach 7970ghz stock speeds.

 

[David Bisset]

looking at the various threads where people clock their cards and bench them on this very forum we can see that the 7950 trades blows with the 670.

e.g. Firestrike gfx scores:
7950
max: 9725
avg (of 21): 7738

670
max: 8416
avg (of 10): 7371

Heaven valley scores:
7950
max: 2266
avg (of 17): 1956

670
max: 2157
avg (of 13): 1974

7950 isn't much ahead, but would be my pick from the two.

Edit: For reference the 680 is behind the 7950 in max score on both, ahead of it on average in both (fire: 9096/7965, valley: 2183/2008)