GTX 680 or 7970?

[Gregster]

One thing I have picked up from having a good play with both is that a faster card does not equal a smoother gaming experience. For me the 7970 is a faster card in just about everything I have tried but it does not give as smooth a gaming experience as the 680 which on paper is a slower card.

Nvidia cards do not offer good value for money and if buying now AMD is the way to go as nothing comes close to the value of a 7950. But if you are wanting the best all round gaming experience then a 680 is the way to go. I have not played with 670's so cannot comment on how they compare to a 680.

Good info Moogleys and for me, I would rather pay more for a smoother experience. It is good to read users who have used both and see their feedback.

 

[MaximusV]

One thing I have picked up from having a good play with both is that a faster card does not equal a smoother gaming experience. For me the 7970 is a faster card in just about everything I have tried but it does not give as smooth a gaming experience as the 680 which on paper is a slower card.

Nvidia cards do not offer good value for money and if buying now AMD is the way to go as nothing comes close to the value of a 7950. But if you are wanting the best all round gaming experience then a 680 is the way to go. I have not played with 670's so cannot comment on how they compare to a 680.

In your opinion yes, but like I said I found it to be totally opposite, even in that frametime article the other day with single cards the 7970 had slightly better frametimes than a single 680, multi gpu it's a different story altogether I know. After the never settle drivers you rarely ever see anyone complain about stutter with a single AMD card so I'm not quite sure how the 680 is smoother for you but hey whatever goes I suppose.

 

[LtMatt]

Hold on a minute, they're not even using the in game benchmark? Oh jeez. Greg you need a serious sanity check if you think those 7970ghz results are accurate. I've a good mind to copy them and show the difference.

 

[Gregster]

LOL I love this. I'm sure [H] were the review site of choice not that long ago when it showed an OC'd 7950 matching an OC'd 670 pre 12.11 and now... it's bias and its results can't be trusted (apparently). Come on now don't be daft...

I'm not too interested in the nuances of whether they are bias or not but you can't just pick and choose when you want to declare them bias when it suits you.

Chuckle.

It does make me shake my head with embarrassment. [H] were used all the time by Tommy and others but now they are no good apparently. I wonder if the same would have been said if I pulled a couple of titles with AMD on top?

 

[MOOGLEYS]

In your opinion yes, but like I said I found it to be totally opposite, even in that frametime article the other day with single cards the 7970 had slightly better frametimes than a single 680, multi gpu it's a different story altogether I know. After the never settle drivers you rarely ever see anyone complain about stutter with a single AMD card so I'm not quite sure how the 680 is smoother for you but hey whatever goes I suppose.

I imagine my system is different to yours which could contribute. I'm only saying what I find, I have no bias to either brand I use whatever gives me the best experience on my setup.

Although to buy Nvidia now is madness as they have gone price mental. A 680 is the best part of £400 now which is pure madness. It seems they introduced Titan at a hugely inflated price and then raised everything else up as well.

 

[MaximusV]

I imagine my system is different to yours which could contribute. I'm only saying what I find, I have no bias to either brand I use whatever gives me the best experience on my setup.

True, I think this has a factor as well with compatibility between all the different components that people use. It could even be entirely down to just the card you had.

 

[MOOGLEYS]

True, I think this has a factor as well with compatibility between all the different components that people use. It could even be entirely down to just the card you had.

Still have both. Will never sell my 7970 I have had it since day one. It squeels like mad but runs high clocks, for everday use the cap whine is too much so I grabbed a 680 as it was cheap (ish)..

 

[tommybhoy]

Arguing a point for the sake of it these days greg.

[H] is only used in a rare few occasions for the sole reason that-if they say a 79 is faster then it's said through gritted teeth.

You deflected answer to your quote to the extent that your dismissing tpu's overall performance figures-if your posting around tpu results for Titan, then why dismiss this one?

Again, there is next to nothing in performance between any of them and my op is the general consensus around OcUK as the majority are flocking to AMD simply because comparable performance for less outlay.




This place is shocking these days, too much arguing/bitterness all round and not enough honest help for those looking for it.

 

[Rusty0611]

It does make me shake my head with embarrassment. [H] were used all the time by Tommy and others but now they are no good apparently. I wonder if the same would have been said if I pulled a couple of titles with AMD on top?

All the stick [H] get now is from the same people who were lauding them when the AMD cards roughly matched the nVidia cards when clocked up. You're right it is fairly shocking.

You deflected answer to your quote to the extent that your dismissing tpu's overall performance figures-if your posting around tpu results for Titan, then why dismiss this one?

Overall relative performance graphs aren't really that useful as they smooth out the difference between cards where there is no difference in owning a 7850 to a 7970 where a game is:

a) CPU limited
b) engine limited
c) broken et al

I don't know if you discounted games where the GPU makes no difference whether it would widen or shorten the gap shown on your graph but I'm just pointing out how useless an overall relative performance graph is.

 

[Gregster]

Arguing a point for the sake of it these days greg.

[H] is only used in a rare few occasions for the sole reason that-if they say a 79 is faster then it's said through gritted teeth.

You deflected answer to your quote to the extent that your dismissing tpu's overall performance figures-if your posting around tpu results for Titan, then why dismiss this one?

Again, there is next to nothing in performance between any of them and my op is the general consensus around OcUK as the majority are flocking to AMD simply because comparable performance for less outlay.




This place is shocking these days, too much arguing/bitterness all round and not enough honest help for those looking for it.

You was quick to make me wrong and Matt spot on. I proved that Matt was far from spot on but you still felt you had to correct me?

Stop throwing your toys out the pram anytime someone has a difference of opinion Tommy. You are old enough to know better. I couldn't give two hoots who is faster/smoother/cheaper but when advising people, I try to do it with as much honest info as I can and will jump in when statements are made that "Gaming Evolved" titles are faster on AMD hardware, which clearly isn't the case.

Points of note to clear things up.

There is no doubt the 7970ghz is faster, cheaper and comes with better games. Also considering most games these days are gaming evolved titles using compute based effects that is something a 680 will never be able to compete with.

Clearly this isn't the case as proven by those [H] results. You and others have used [H] on many occasions and now because I show the 680 and 670 to be faster in two of these "Gaming Evolved" games, those results are bias.

Sometimes you just have to ignore the Guff.

Agreed.

I find the 680 considerably smoother than my 7970. Sold my Titan as tbh a 680 is more than enough at 1440p.

User feedback from someone who uses both.

This is info that the OP should be reading and taking note of. So many times we have heard that Nvidia just feels smoother and regardless of 'who is faster', I would sooner have smooth gameplay.

 

[andybird123]

Good info Moogleys and for me, I would rather pay more for a smoother experience. It is good to read users who have used both and see their feedback.

apparently it's only "good feedback" when someone posts up that they switched from a 670 to a 7970 and prefer the latter

the other way round and it's ignored as irrelevant

This place is shocking these days, too much arguing/bitterness all round and not enough honest help for those looking for it.

funny, I don't see any bitterness, only people having a discussion and trying to give good advice based on their own experience and point of view

it's only bitterness if someone starts name calling instead of trying to have valid input

 

[Gregster]

apparently it's only "good feedback" when someone posts up that they switched from a 670 to a 7970 and prefer the latter

the other way round and it's ignored as irrelevant

Good feedback

 

[Arthur Hucksake]

I recently picked up a 7970 Ghz Ed to dabble with. I was tempted to switch from my overclocked 680. It lasted a day, then went back.

Games just feel "smoother" on the 680 with my screen. I don't know if it's because it's a 120hz panel or not. In hindsight I would have experimented further.

[H] rarely do 1080p benchies anymore, and it's apparent the 7970 pulls in a higher frame rate above this. It all seems a bit too selective for my liking.

Not sure when this transition happened but they've been pretty flakey as of late.

The Titan urge grows stronger by the day though.

 

[tribz]

Well, no-one could have forseen where this thread was going to go. I'm shocked!

I'm taking FPS in benchmarks as a performance indicator with a small pinch of salt now since I read about the so called 'runt' frames being counted.

 

[Gregster]

I went with a 670 over a 7950. I think it was the right choice for me. Went from a 6950.

I picked the 670 for a couple of reasons:
I've had bad experience with drivers on the 6950. Every driver from 11.12 to 13.2 had stuttering issues with WoW in Eyefinity. 13.3 finally fixed it though.
I wanted to run Eyefinity/Surround without using a DP adaptor and suffering screen tearing.
WoW runs better on nVidia.

Couldn't be happier and the extra money was worth it.

I find the 680 considerably smoother than my 7970. Sold my Titan as tbh a 680 is more than enough at 1440p.

I recently picked up a 7970 Ghz Ed to dabble with. I was tempted to switch from my overclocked 680. It lasted a day, then went back.

Games just feel "smoother" on the 680 with my screen. I don't know if it's because it's a 120hz panel or not. In hindsight I would have experimented further.

[H] rarely do 1080p benchies anymore, and it's apparent the 7970 pulls in a higher frame rate above this. It all seems a bit too selective for my liking.

Not sure when this transition happened but they've been pretty flakey as of late.

The Titan urge grows stronger by the day though.

Three users in one thread can't be wrong.

 

[tommybhoy]

Pointless childish ramblings all round that don't help the op in the slightest, a few have pointed out preference to AMD over Nvidia/Nvidia over AMD but at the end of the day there is nothing in it regardless the 'fastest' tbph.


But as per usual the gang of three start jumping in defence of one another making it a pointless exercise in discussion.

 

[LtMatt]

Greg those H results are wrong, sorry to disappoint you. Dramatically in some cases. I've tested myself.

Lets get some accurate results up. Gamegpu are always reliable and non biased and use consistent benchmarking methods.

It should note that AMD cards have up to 25% more performance since these results went up for Tomb Raider as well as gains in Crysis 3 (13.3) as well.

 

[Rusty0611]

Pointless childish ramblings all round that don't help the op in the slightest, a few have pointed out preference to AMD over Nvidia/Nvidia over AMD but at the end of the day there is nothing in it regardless the 'fastest' tbph.

lmao where on earth are you seeing childish ramblings in this thread? I'm seeing a discussion but am yet to see where it's really childish.

That's a tad insulting.

But as per usual the gang of three start jumping in defence of one another making it a pointless exercise in discussion.

If quote one and quote two are linked are you suggesting that I have been childish in this thread? I thought everyone was discussing GPUs but you seem to want to lower the quality of the debate.

 

[andybird123]

do they have frametime comparisons matt?
I can't even find gamegpu, unless it is the russian website that comes up? my antivirus wants to block it so I'm not willing to bypass it to get on there

 

[Arthur Hucksake]

Another thing to consider, these benchies don't show factory OCd cards do they.

So the 680 in these are running 1006 / 1058 boost.

You could argue the 7970GE is their "factory overclock" but officially sanctioned.

Would love to see benchies of a 680 with 1085 / 1150 clocks or there abouts.