Which graphics card to get?

davidparry1000 · 1 Sep 2012 at 12:19

I have been searching through lots of forums and reviews all over the internet but haven't come to a definitive answer to which graphics card i should get to play BF3, so hopefully someone could help.

The main game i will play is battlefield 3 on ultra and my spend limit is £300 if i could get a straightforward answer i would be so greatful. thanks

mickyflinn · 1 Sep 2012 at 12:32

7970 or the gtx 670 but in my opinion the 670 .

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/05/14/geforce_680_670_vs_radeon_7970_7950_gaming_perf/4

sin · 1 Sep 2012 at 13:35

Get 7950 overclock it save some money for beers

james_2k · 1 Sep 2012 at 16:52

+1 for 670

Cutshaw · 1 Sep 2012 at 16:59

7950 will without question get you more fps per £. Given the driver improvements and overclocking potential, it's even more clear cut.

I was adamant about getting a 670 for present and future games that use physx, but for the price of the 670 I wanted(directcu II) I got a 7950 with 4 games, a 1tb usb 3.0 hdd and Dark Souls.

If you are going to be mainly playing BF3 which doesn't use something like physx(if physx is a valid reason for buying any card is debatable), it's a no-brainer.

Gregster · 1 Sep 2012 at 17:08

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £299.99
Total : £310.79 (includes shipping : £9.00).

For out of the box performance, the 7950 can't compete with the 670.

or...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Sleeping Dogs PC Game £239.99
Total : £251.39 (includes shipping : £9.50).

For value, this is a great card. If you enjoy overclocking, then this is the card to get.

What CPU do you have to use with your new card btw?

davidparry1000 · 1 Sep 2012 at 18:13

intel i5 3570k i havent overclocked it but im thinking about it?

Gregster · 1 Sep 2012 at 18:15

davidparry1000 said:
intel i5 3570k i havent overclocked it but im thinking about it?

It should be UK Law to overclock that CPU

I was just making sure your GPU puchase would not see a bottleneck David and it wont

Cutshaw · 1 Sep 2012 at 18:44

That KFA2 card listed is going to be hot and noisy. It's an absolutely reference cooler, right? The windforce 7950 is one of the more expensive models, custom cooler and overclocked. So the gap in price a bit wider in reality?

The very cheapest(in stock) 7950 is the X-Edition, which still has a very capable twin fan cooler and factory overclock. So while the already large price difference in your comparison was £60, it could be as high as £70 and and that's with a nice cooler on the cheaper card.

Going up to a 670 with a comparable custom cooler and still keeping the UK RMA service, you are looking at a difference of £90. The 670 EX OC.

MAK360 · 1 Sep 2012 at 19:30

Not really good at advice but from what people have said.

If you want the most performance for your £300 (overclocking later) buy the 7970 for 680 performance.

The 7950 will match the 670 performance with money to spare, just as the 7970 vs the 680. Both 7950 or 7970 will save you enough money to buy you a good component (RAM, SSD, Case etc) but with same performance as the 670 or 680.

Am hoping nvidia drop prices soon, they simply cannot be recommended unfortunately

Cutshaw · 1 Sep 2012 at 19:49

MAK360 said:
Am hoping nvidia drop prices soon, they simply cannot be recommended unfortunately

I agree 100% and I would say I was borderline desperate to switch to Nvidia. Nvidia with dropped prices and things wont be as black and white as they are just now.

james_2k · 2 Sep 2012 at 00:10

reason ati has dropped the prices is that their cards are worse at the high end than nvidias. overclocking aside. not everyone wants to do that anyway. and you can OC nvidia cards too..

also the ati drivers.. shudder..

Nuclear Fusion · 2 Sep 2012 at 00:42

james_2k said:
reason ati has dropped the prices is that their cards are worse at the high end than nvidias. overclocking aside. not everyone wants to do that anyway. and you can OC nvidia cards too..

also the ati drivers.. shudder..

I don't agree with you that AMD are worse at the high end than Nvidia, a 7970 competes very well with a 680- especially when both are overclocked to the max. Of course Nvidia cards can also be overclocked, but the reason why people mention it in reference to AMD cards is because the HD 7000 series cards have so much overclocking headroom.
There really is no reason not to overclock, it is literally just moving a few sliders in Afterburner, I've overclocked my 7950 to 1000/1400 (reference for a 7950 is 800/1250) without even touching the voltage. If I was to up the voltage a little I could reach 1200+MHz on the core. So stock for stock benchmarks really don't show the full potential of these cards.
As for AMD drivers, I think that is more down to personal experience because my last 3 cards have all been AMD and I have had no issues.

Menty · 2 Sep 2012 at 02:13

james_2k said:
reason ati has dropped the prices is that their cards are worse at the high end than nvidias. overclocking aside. not everyone wants to do that anyway. and you can OC nvidia cards too..

also the ati drivers.. shudder..

I don't think that's accurate now, maybe a month or two back (although the driver debate will always be current).

humbug · 2 Sep 2012 at 03:46

Menty said:
I don't think that's accurate now, maybe a month or two back (although the driver debate will always be current).

Agreed, 12.8 Drivers are superb.

felton1592 · 2 Sep 2012 at 06:45

james_2k · 2 Sep 2012 at 10:09

well considering nvidias drivers have been (pretty much) solid for years and ati ones.. not so much. then well...

no need to turn this into a never ending war of the companies, but it is generally considered that nvidia owns the performance crown at the moment.

and to be fair not everyone wants to overclock, i havent with this card and dont think ill need to for a while

also afaik, ati cards are using more juice than the nv equivalent. for those paying their own power bills this could also factor.

humbug · 2 Sep 2012 at 14:39

It's as simple as this. 7950 £250, GTX 670 £330, once overclocked the performance in BF3 is the same for both cards and yet the 7950 is £80 cheaper.

If you want to spend £330 get a 7970 which will completely Muller the GTX 670

Gregster · 2 Sep 2012 at 14:57

humbug said:
It's as simple as this. 7950 £250, GTX 670 £330, once overclocked the performance in BF3 is the same for both cards and yet the 7950 is £80 cheaper.

If you want to spend £330 get a 7970 which will completely Muller the GTX 670

So why not get a 680 which completely "Mullers" the 7970?

humbug · 2 Sep 2012 at 15:02

gregster said:
So why not get a 680 which completely "Mullers" the 7970?

For a start its £400 +, and it doesn't, BF3 is usually a much stronger bench for nvidia than AMD, its a console port / nvidia optimised game, the GTX 680 is on that slide, in the middle, the 7970 is on the right. it matches the GTX 680.

As for the performance crown, that's about to change http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...-7990-graphics-card-review-battlefield-3.html

Sorry, i know this looks a bit AMD fanboi. I just can't see how nvidia make any sense at current prices, if they were the same price it would not be as clear cut for me at all.