** SINGLE GTX 580 3GB VS SINGLE 7970 3GB REVIEW BY OcUK **

[Gibbo]

Hi there


Right due to having such a busy day I've only just finished testing both single card setups at their maximum possible overclocks.

System Specification
Intel 8 Core Xeon (16 threads)
Asus P9X79 Pro X79 Mainboard
16GB Corsair Dominator GT 2133MHz
NVIDIA Palit GTX 580 3GB Twin Fan (Latest Official Drivers) (OC: 902MHz Core / 4355MHz RAM / 1.1v - Very minor and rare corruptions due to memory, fans at 100% and getting hot)
ATI MSI 7970 3GB (Supplied Drivers) (OC: 1125MHz / 6300MHz / Stock voltage - Zero corruptions and at OverDrive limitation, I reckon these cards are good for 1200-1250MHz core and 6500MHz RAM, which will give a further good boost)
NVIDIA Fans set too 100% during testing - Quite Audible
ATI Fan set to 66% during testing - Same loudness as NVIDIA at 100%
Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit


To start the ball rolling, here is the Heaven 2.5 Benchmarks:-


Heaven 2.5 @ 1920x1080 & 2560x1600 with 4x and 4x enabled for testing

ATI 7970 OC is 25% faster than GTX 580 3GB OC at 1920x1080 resolution on average FPS.

ATI 7970 OC is 30% faster than GTX 580 3GB OC at 2560x1600 resolution on average FPS.



3D Mark 11

ATI 7970 OC is 20% faster than GTX 580 3GB OC at Graphics Score on Default Extreme 3D Mark 11 settings.



3M Mark Vantage

ATI 7970 OC is 17% faster than GTX 580 3GB OC at overall score on 3D Mark Vantage default test.



Quake 3 Timedemo 001 FPS Test - 2560x1600 resolution, High Res texture pack

GTX 580 3GB OC = 784fps
ATI 7970 3GB OC = 885fps

ATI is 13% faster than NVIDIA is this old yet classic game.



Maximum Temperatures underload/gaming

ATI = 57c (66% Fan ATI)
NVIDIA = 82c (100% Fans NVIDIA)



I was unable to do any further BF3 testing as RJK owns the game he is off ill, I've tried creating an Origin account but can't get anywhere with it. I shall re-attempt again in the new year.

What this test shows is ATI is a clear winner, they shall be very similar price to each other and ATI may become a little cheaper a few weeks after launch.

What I did notice is the colours in games seemed more vivid on the ATI cards which to my eyes was more pleasing, I felt the ATI card gave a visually better gaming experience.

I also believe the ATI card has a further good 5-10% more to give yet due to extra headroom in overclocking, as the card hits Overdrive maximums easily on stock voltage. Wheras the NVIDIA card was on the edge of stability, If ATI can reach 1250MHz core and 6500MHz you can add close to an additional 5-10% to these scores further extending ATI's lead.

I've not had time to do stock benchmarks, but both cards were overclocked, with NVIDIA as far as it could go and ATI as high as the Overdrive would allow me.

The ATI cards also have superb scaling in Crossfire and in the few games we tested the Crossfire stutters, flickers of the past seemed to be completely gone, even in Tri-Fire.

Overall its a great card, however if your already on a GTX 580 its not a worthwhile upgrade unless your sole intentions are gaming at 2560x1600 then going forward a 2GB or greater card is a must.

Right now a GTX 580 3GB is a great card and NVIDIA are known for better drivers plus you have the additions of PhysX and 3D Vision.
Yes ATI's new card is faster than NVIDIA's current fastest and will likely get faster with driver updates and as the cards can be clocked higher.

Over a 6950 or lower this is a very good upgrade as one 7970 overclocked performs within reaching distance of a pair of 6950's or a single 6990.

Nice one ATI, though I fear this victory will be short lived as Keplar when it comes in April/May will be very quick, though ATI will have their 7990 by then as well.

 

[Gibbo]

Nvidia have a digital vibrancy setting in the drivers which can boost saturation or lower it depending on personal taste. IQ does however vary between drivers also and the presets for games in Nvidia drivers are at quality, not high quality, which disabled a lot of the texture filtering techniques giving marginally better IQ overall.

Vastly better review this time than last time Gibbo! Atleast now we can see what the cards are actually doing in terms of performance. The overclock on the 7970 gives it a big lead over the 580gtx with over 200mhz core and nearly 2ghz vram difference lol. That'll definitely account for the difference in performance, however its appearing that the architecture itself is very similar in terms of performance, with the brute force of the clocks on the GPU and Vram setting the tahiti based cards apart now.

Interesting stuff!

Yes but the overclocking is unfair still, as NVIDIA card is maxed by a limitation of the hardware and what I would deem safe running for a 24/7 gaming PC.

The NVIDIA card was at the limits on 902MHz core at 4355MHz, plus the fact I had to give it 1.1v to get there which pumped underload temperatures upto a peak of 82c meant I was not willing to try and push it harder simply because most users at home would not as more voltage would have seen the temps climb above 90c.

The ATI card was at a dis-advantage as we are clearly nowhere at its maximum overclocking potential. Its doing 1125MHz and 6300MHz memory ON STOCK VOLTAGE and peaked at 57c whilst gaming with fans set to same audible volume as the NVIDIA card. Infact you can set the ATI card to 20% fan which to me is silent and the temperatures still remain under 75c.

I really wish I could get my hands on that AMD GPU Tool some of the guys of get their hands on at Extreme so I can see what this 7970 can really clock too.

 

[Gibbo]

Also gibbo, did either of the cards get cap squeel on quake 3 at those daft FPS numbers? I'd actually fear for my graphics card if it was pumping out that many FPS :| (and I own two of the palit 3gb cards lol)

No squeals or sounds are power crackling from either cards at all.

 

[Gibbo]

intresting what you mentioned about the ati having more vivid colour as its the reason i changed from nvidia to ati, at the time i changed from a 8800gts to 3870 xfire and thought the nvidia colours looked a bit washed out compared to ati, ive said it before here and other forums but pretty much been told im talking out my rear end, i used to go to quite a few lan partys and could tell who was using ati or nvidia just by looking at the screens

+1

Exactly what I've witnessed today. Both cards allow you to adjust gammer, contrast, brightness, colour etc. So no doubt adjustable to match on both but out of the box for me the ATI gave a better visual experience.

 

[Gibbo]

Using an '8 Core Xeon' 16 gb or ram and having the OC over and above the other card is not showing real word performance in my eyes. That type of hardware is not what most of us use.

if you used an i5 overclocked and had both cards at similar clock speeds then that would be a comparison.

seems to me more like a way of OC to boost sales seeing as this new ATI card is getting amazing reviews against a card that has been on the market for some time.

The review is fair.

Infact the review favours NVIDIA more so, card at its maximum potential overclock, mature drivers and in the same PC.

Also we fail to see one thing, we sell both cards, have both cards in stock, we also want you to be buying 580 GB's as well.

 

[Gibbo]

still going to give miss leading information to those of us that buy them and dont have that type of CPU to use.

+ both cards were not at the same clock speeds so of course the ATI card is going to be faster..

Yeah show me a GTX 580 please which can run at 1125MHz and 6300MHz on its stock cooler, its a physically impossible. You can't compare NVIDIA and ATI clocks to each other.

Are you just trolling?


The GTX 580 here could not run any faster than 902MHz core and 4355MHz without causing visual anomolies or locking up and things were getting toasty.

The ATI card on the other hand was limited by software limitations, the card can clock far higher than what we have achieved.

This is a fair test for both cards and the only card here which has more to come is the ATI card, as it can clearly clock a lot more higher and as drivers mature it shall gain more as well.

 

[Gibbo]

When you say priced similar to the 3GB 580 I'm assuming that's at current OcUK prices, because they can be had cheaper, so a 7970 at around £430-450 still seems very expensive compared to a 3GB 580.

I am confused. If a 3GB 580 goes for say £400-£450.

Than how can it seem expensive if the ATI card is the same price, yet it offers 20-30% more performance.

Your logic is confusing me.

 

[Gibbo]

Will we see a price drop on the 580's if they are both the same price but the AMD card prooves to be the better card?

Upto NVIDIA.

Were selling plenty of 580's, sold 21 units today, which is pretty good as its a Friday and most people are drunk in pubs I suspect.

The 580 still flies of the shelf, if everyone else has similar sales and they remain un-changed when 7970 is out NVIDIA probably won't touch price and will milk the last of the 580's until Keplar comes along.

 

[Gibbo]

it would be interesting to see how they perform watercooled ...

No different, I need the new AMD GPU Clock tool before we go there, which I can't find.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

New scores from myself.

1x 7970 @ 1140MHz core & 7100MHz memory (Stock voltage & Stock cooler)

I've managed to unlock the clocks a little more by using an older version of MSI afterburner (1.6.0 Beta 5). Voltage is still locked though.

The maximum stable and visual corruption free I've managed is 1140MHz core and 7100MHz memory.

This has given another 5-7% performance boost over the previous OC scores, very impressed.

 

[Gibbo]

I've BIOS flashed one of the cards.

Seems 1225MHz & 7800Mhz is stable.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

Right now I AM IMPRESSED!!

New results at 1225MHz Core & 7800MHz RAM:-

Maximum GPU temperature at these clock speeds was 72c, mighty impressive indeed.

 

[Gibbo]

Gibbo, do you think over the next few months when the manufacturers get to grips with the GPU. We'll start to see MSI Lightening cards with really amazing overclocks? Thinking with their enhanced PCBs and Power Phases it should be an awesome card.

I think when such cards come out they will be doing circa 1300/8000 clocks with those on air.

Put them under water and we may see 1350-1400 / 8500 clocks.

So yes this card is an overclockers dream.

The 7950's especially the 1.5GB's when they come in March if they do could be the ultimate Xfire setup.

 

[Gibbo]

GTX 580 3GB OC vs ATI 7970 3GB OC


Right we've now pushed the ATI card to what I believe is its safe maximum of 1225MHz and 7800MHz core. There is still a tad more voltage to put through the card but this seems the sweet spot clock speed wise.

So with these new results, the ATI card is:-

43% Faster than an OC GTX 580 3GB at 1920x1080 in Heaven

50% Faster than an PC GTX 580 3GB at 2560x1600 in Heaven


So with the card overclocked to where it can go were seeing in this particular benchmark upto nearly 50% performance improvement over a GTX 580 3GB.

 

[Gibbo]

GPU-Z as promised:-

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

For those interested, with Tri-Fire with this Xeon rig, maximum power draw at the socket has been 800W whilst the cards have been running Heaven and it typically sits around 700W under load, dropping to circa 150-200W at idle.

 

[Gibbo]

what was the 580 clocked to?

902 / 4355

Any higher visual anomalies were present and they were rather hot.

In synthetic benchmarks such as heaven and 3D Mark ATI are now flying now can see what the cards can really clock too. I mean 7800MHz memory is mental and I think 8000+ is even possible, just too scared to dare go that high.

But 50% faster in Heaven at 2560x1600 is impressive, shows the cards have truly impressive raw power and crossfire now works a treat.

 

[Gibbo]

Being fast in benchmarks is all well and good but its doesn't transfer that power into games as well.

How do we know, have any reviews posted gaming results yet at speeds of 1225MHz and 7800MHz?

I suspect gaming at 2560x1600 with one of these at such speeds is going to be very very impressive, the amount of memory bandwidth on offer is simply unreal and I suspect it will translate into gaming performance.

I mean come on if Quake 3 which is now seeing 900fps with one card at those speeds can see a gain from the overclocks, I am sure 10yr newer more modern games will see even greater gains.

I like both NV & ATI, but if I was buying a new high-end card now, ATI is the clear victor at this high-end price point.

If I already had a 3GB GTX 580 then I'd keep that.

If I had a 30" Monitor or Eye-Infity setup and was on a 1.5GB GTX 580 or 6970 then yes I'd upgrade as the new card will give a decent gain even at stock speeds and upto a further a 20% additional performance can be gained by overclocking.

What ATI have here is a card which performs well at stock, but its real secret is its overclocking ability, I've never known a card like it.

In perfecentage terms were talking:-

Core 925MHz upto 1225MHz (300MHz increase / 32% increase)
Memory 5500MHz upto 7800MHz (3300MHz increase / 42% increase)

Thats 37% boost clock speeds wise from overclocking, that is simply amazing and with custom PCB's from board partners, better coolers and more mature drivers the 7970 is and I repeat going to be a great card.

 

[Gibbo]

Taking up the point about real-world gaming.

The Guru3D chart for metro 2033 illustrates what these cards can do in 2-way cross-fire at stock:

They are at stock speeds.

From my testing we can clearly see that overclocking these cards to circa 1200/7600 will give a good additional 25-30% onto those scores.

No other cards currently available have to the same overclocking ability as these cards do.

I myself am a little confused as to why ATI launched at the clock speeds they have.

From my testing I would say ATI could have very happily realised cards at 1100MHz and 6800MHz without issue.

However manufacturers test under far stricter conditions, for essence these cards would have had to pass torture testing in say a 50c hot lab room and remain stable with zero airflow.

The board partners don't have the same restrictions, they will upgrade PCB components, cooler and there testing will be far more relaxed, no doubt done just ambient 25c conditions with reasonable airflow.

ATI as a manufacturer have far far stricter testing methods to ensure their product is suitable for all including military, government, CAD applications etc.

Board partners when they make cards will test in just gaming environments and this is when we shall see stock cards at far far higher frequencies, even already there is rumour Sapphire will have a 1325MHz card in the form of a Toxic.

 

[Gibbo]

How about they do a benchmark of metro map ON BF3

Ive yet to see my good 'ol 470 struggle yet (Im the margin under 1080p).

Have you got anymore benchmarks on the horizon to show us Gibbo?

No more benchmarks sorry, very very busy now with well work.

RJK may get some time on Saturday to have a play, but launch is Monday so within a week we shall be hearing end-user feedback.