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Which GPU

Nocky24 said:
May I refer you to the benchmarks in this thread Dave:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18390154

I don't think the word 'destroy' has any place in your argument. They trade blows equally and both are very good cards for the op's res.

Seriously stop defending your 7970, it's boring and there's no need. They're both good cards (I know, I've used both).
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AFAIK, that wasn't a Lightning being reviewed?

Rusty0611 said:
Precisely. I think if he posted some stuff on here without all the rhetoric then his 7970 favouritism would be allowed to pass :)
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You've been on this forum how long? 2 months? Read all my posts? LOL
 
dave_beast said:
AFAIK, that wasn't a Lightning being reviewed
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Nope it wasn't, it was a heavily overclocked 7970. What's your point?

An overclock is an overclock whichever way you want to look at it. Just because it bares the word Lightning doesn't mean it provides any additional performance to an equally clocked reference model (temps and noise aside).
 
dave_beast said:
You've been on this forum how long? 2 months? Read all my posts? LOL
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Ah but how long have I been hiding in the shadows reading and not posting? Anyway, relevance how?? All you've been harping on about in the graphics card section is either directly or indirectly how good your 7970 is. Excellent. Everyone is very pleased you have a nice card. :)

Also I noticed you missed my percentage overclock comparison. Convenient as it completely rendered your point obsolete :)
 
Rusty0611 said:
It won't destroy a 680. You're talking utter nonsense. It may be slightly better but then paying £75 more you'd expect it to be a little better no? At least in certain situations.

My 680 clocks to 1285 or more if I boost the fan. Not a clock for clock comparison but the performance increase is more than enough to match and surpass a 7970 in certain scenarios. I understand the 7970 performs better in certain scenarios as well but for to come out and saying it "destroys" it shows the level of your intellect.
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Indeed.

Neither a GTX680 or HD7970 will destroy each other, unless a specific game massively favours one game over the other.

Either card is great for the money with the GTX680 being slightly better for 1080p and "out of box experience" whilst the HD7970 edges it at very high resolutions and possibly max overclock potential.

Power consumption and temperatures are basically a wash in real world usage so which card you look at getting comes down to what games you are playing.

Get the card that performs better in the games you play.

For what its worth banding around saying a 1300mhz HD7970 beats this and that is basically pointless. 1300mhz is not an average overclock for a HD7970, most will do 1100-1200 on reasonable voltage or at reasonable fan levels. Yes some like the lighting card may do better *but* at a hefty price premium. The same basic argument also applies to the GTX680.

For reference I own a HD7970. It clocks to 1125/6600 on stock volts and 1150-1200 at up to 1.25v depending on how hard I am willing to push the fan.

I run Eyefinity so a move to a GTX680 is basically pointless but if I was buying for 1080p now I would be getting a GTX680.
 
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Wow ty for the replys :)

I have been reading the vram threads and I must admit a lot of the 2gb vs 3gb vram seems over hyped, Allthough I still have this niggleing doubt that if I buy another 2gig card there will be this uber vram eatting monster of a game just around the corner lol.

The Lightning looks really good aswell so dose the KFA2, but the prices on them ouch :(

The one reason I like the Sapphire card is beacuase it is the same price as the referance gtx680 which is about as high as I am willing to go price wise.

Still havent compleatly made my mind up yet, think I need to sleep on it.

Nn guys and ty for your help.
 
At 1600p the performance delta is basically minute between the two cards.

The GTX680 doesn't seem to be phased by its relative lack of Vram but that niggling doubt will be hard to overcome especially as 1600p could cause 2GB to be a bottleneck in future games.

TBH though I would probably go for the GTX680 in your case. The out of the box performance will be better and by the time games really do need 2GB+ VRam (at 1600p)* then you will probably want more GPU grunt anyway.

By this I actually mean *NEEDS* more than 2GB of Vram and not just a "nice to have thanks to one setting ala Witcher 2 Uber Sampling".
 
oweneades said:
At 1600p the performance delta is basically minute between the two cards.

The GTX680 doesn't seem to be phased by its relative lack of Vram but that niggling doubt will be hard to overcome especially as 1600p could cause 2GB to be a bottleneck in future games.

TBH though I would probably go for the GTX680 in your case. The out of the box performance will be better and by the time games really do need 2GB+ VRam (at 1600p)* then you will probably want more GPU grunt anyway.

By this I actually mean *NEEDS* more than 2GB of Vram and not just a "nice to have thanks to one setting ala Witcher 2 Uber Sampling".
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+1
 
Bodom said:
Had just about made my mind up, then I saw this review.

http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=28910&page=7

Check out the 2560x1600 table.
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/OC-26x16.jpg


Seriously feel like just tossing a coin and going with what ever it lands on lol
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Didn't realise they were that close!

I suggest you filter down all the different cards you'd consider (in terms of brand and cooler) and then go for the cheapest.

Eg, of the windforce cooled 7970 was cheaper than the 680 equivalent, go for the 7970 :)
 
I just want to thank every one who posted.

I was really tempted to go for the 680, but affter reading tons of reviews and forum posts there just seems to be hardly anything between the 680 and 7970 once there overclocked @1600p, So I have desided to go with the Sapphire HD 7970 OC 3072MB GDDR5.

Mainly just beacuase of the custom cooler and that niggling doubt about the vram.

I will be looking to keep this card for around 12/18 months atleast and allthough I agree that 2gig vram is still perfectly fine at 1600p I just cant shake the feeling that in afew months time there will be a game that really dose need the extra vram.

Thank's guys :)
 
Bodom said:
I just want to thank every one who posted.

I was really tempted to go for the 680, but affter reading tons of reviews and forum posts there just seems to be hardly anything between the 680 and 7970 once there overclocked @1600p, So I have desided to go with the Sapphire HD 7970 OC 3072MB GDDR5.

Mainly just beacuase of the custom cooler and that niggling doubt about the vram.

I will be looking to keep this card for around 12/18 months atleast and allthough I agree that 2gig vram is still perfectly fine at 1600p I just cant shake the feeling that in afew months time there will be a game that really dose need the extra vram.

Thank's guys :)
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Fair enough - I probably would have done the same thing if I had a monitor at that resolution. As there's so little in it, you may as well get the card with the extra VRAM.

Enjoy :)
 
Ty :)

Diddant really want to be gaming at this res tbh I was quite happy running at 1900x1200 lol.

I orded a 22" monitor for my girlfreind that was DOA so I phoned up Dell someone messed up and sent me the wrong replacment beacuase the next day one of there delivery guys turned up with this 30" monster.

The deliver guy said just keep your mouth shut and enjoy the free upgrade so I did they never asked for it back or charged me the extra for it, so I ended up with a monitor that was still selling for just over a grand for about £200.

So I gave my girlfriend my old 24" monitor and I kept this one.

I was tempted to sell it but affter useing it for a week I fell in love with it the pictuer quality on this thing is just incredible.

But the upside is I can now justify spending stupid amounts on graphics cards :D, If I was still on my 24" monitor I dont think I my 6970 would still be more than enough and wouldn't need to upgrade hehe.
 
Bodom said:
I just want to thank every one who posted.

I was really tempted to go for the 680, but affter reading tons of reviews and forum posts there just seems to be hardly anything between the 680 and 7970 once there overclocked @1600p, So I have desided to go with the Sapphire HD 7970 OC 3072MB GDDR5.

Mainly just beacuase of the custom cooler and that niggling doubt about the vram.

I will be looking to keep this card for around 12/18 months atleast and allthough I agree that 2gig vram is still perfectly fine at 1600p I just cant shake the feeling that in afew months time there will be a game that really dose need the extra vram.

Thank's guys :)
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Can I resommend a Gigabyte windforce card or MSI TF instead as they are both better in terms of CS
 
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