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Looking for some valid opinions!

oldestgregg

oldestgregg

oldestgregg

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Joined
4 Sep 2011
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Durham
Hi,
First off I would like to say that I am NOT a fanboy or lover of either brand and have had 4xxx,5xxx,4xx and 5xx cards and enjoyed all of them very much..........However! I am running a Hazro 1400p monitor and one GTX580.Needless to say this struggles a bit as its only the 1.5gb version as well.At this moment in time my 580 is on ebay with 3 days left and my plan was to pick up a Gigabyte 7970.Now my problem has started as I am having some second thoughts.I know the Keplar cards will come soon but something is always on the horizon to wait for.So,my questions are
1.Will the 7970 power my monitor sufficiently? Please bare in mind that I am not one for 32x aa but at the same time I do expect managable levels.
2.Will i notice that much of a difference?
I don`t mind pulling the card from Ebay if I agree with someones thoughts,
Thanks for your time:D
 
Thanks fellow Gregg,
I know its been talked about but I have sicken`d myself off benchmarks after looking at so many! Just wanted a few thoughts and maybe there`s someone out there who regrets his purchase?
 
I hear ya and you can't beat real life gaming and feel for a true tell on components. I am sure a few 7970/7950 owners will give you some feedback and hopefully somebody has also come from a 580 to give you food for thought.

Ohhh and btw I am 41.....
 
The 7970 will be adequate for your needs in terms of performance especially should you OC it. One problem might be the software support is in early stages.

As you are coming from a very decent GPU the difference won't be night and day but an OC'd 7970 should run smoothly in mostly all the demanding games at your resolution.
 
Brilliant,I think I will wait and see what I get for my 580 then.My last question would then be-other than warranty,is there any difference with reference models?
 
Try having a look at the Guru3D review instead of relying on opinion.

Look at the 2560x1600 results, close enough to give you an idea.

There are also comparative figures for the GTX 580.

And, of course, the HD 7970 has quite a lot of overclocking headroom.
 
oldestgregg said:
Brilliant,I think I will wait and see what I get for my 580 then.My last question would then be-other than warranty,is there any difference with reference models?
Click to expand...

Some manufacturers will throw in a few more accessories than others.

The cards themselves are identical apart from the Asus which I believe has a tweaked BIOS.
 
Surveyor said:
Some manufacturers will throw in a few more accessories than others.

The cards themselves are identical apart from the Asus which I believe has a tweaked BIOS.
Click to expand...

The PowerColor 7970 I got came with every conceivable lead I will never need!

Wrt BIOS, it's a 30 second desktop click procedure to apply the Asus BIOS to any ref 7970 which gives you unlocked clocks.

Most, if not all 7970's can be overclocked to AMD's control center maximum clock speeds which see the 7970 trading blows with a 590/6990 without updated BIOS's
 
So the cheapest one i can find will perform the same yeah? That sounds good to me.The power color was the one i had my eye on actually.Ive got a sandybridge so im gonna wait a couple of weeks and hope either prices even out a bit or the non-reference hit.If not then sod it! haha
 
oldestgregg said:
So the cheapest one i can find will perform the same yeah? That sounds good to me.The power color was the one i had my eye on actually.Ive got a sandybridge so im gonna wait a couple of weeks and hope either prices even out a bit or the non-reference hit.If not then sod it! haha
Click to expand...

Pretty much yes, except for some overpriced higher stock clock cards, the standard clocks are 925/1375, and most, if not all cards can be maxed to CCC overclock maximums at 1125/1575. Prices *should* be around the £400 mark across all etailers by the end of Feb.

*should* based on trends since day release.
 
You peeps have been Super helpful as usual.All help is appreciated and those little doubts I had are well gone now.I think the trick is to decide and then move on or you will second guess yourself into buying nothing! lol I would wait longer but i sold my other 580 to pay for a new SSD and 2600k and now my resolution is feeling the loss of the 2nd card.Quite looking forward to some new gpu power now
 
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