Gtx 670 vs. 7970 (vs. 660 Ti.)

[Fjo]

Hi all. This is my first post but i'm pretty sure this is the right place, and whilst i understand similar questions have been asked, at quick glance i can't see any exactly the same.

Basically, i have a system build all complete, save for the graphics card.

I'll be playing at 1920x1080 and would like to have as much as possible max'ed out otherwise.

I'm looking at the MSI Gtx 670 OC (Ref. apart from 50mhz up on the core without boost), that i see at a couple of retailers for about £290.
(N670GTX-PM2D2GD5/OC)

From the multitude of reviews i've seen for similar 670s, this looks to be perfect for me, other than the odd stumble on a couple of titles where it drops just below the 7970. In every case it looks to be the slight knock in texture units down from the 680 and/or memory bus that lets the 7970 on.

By and large this isn't a problem, but i was also wondering about the near future. Ideally this build is for a couple of years at least and i'd like to know your thoughts on whether the 7970 might pull a bit further ahead (or simply that the 670 might struggle a little more in the long run) with new and upcoming games.

The only reason i mention the 660 Ti above, is because i'd imagine my only concerns are greater in its case, and at $300 to $350 + VAT (for argument's sake), the price i can get for a 670 is only about 30 to 50 pounds more.

I can afford about £310 at a push, maybe £320.

Any thoughts would be great.

[cptwhite_uk]

Given the 7970's drivers are more mature you're move likely to see improvements in the 670's drivers. I'd do with the 670 for pure performance in general, unless there's specific instances where the 7970 does better that you'll use frequently, or you can get it at a knock down price and make a worthwhile saving over the 670.

Having said that both cards offer incredible performance and you'd have little to worry about at 1920x1080, the 7970 would probably inch it when going to 2500x1600 or multi monitor however.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Actually as GCN is a massive shift in the type of shaders AMD has used(VLIW to scaler),I would expect driver improvements to yield more performance gains in the future when compared to Kepler. Kepler is essentially a highly tweaked version of Fermi with improvements in effiency. Both trade blows with the latest drivers,it really depends on the games you are running.

This one from The Tech Report uses the same drivers:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/23150/4

Here is the latest Hexus HD7970 and GTX680 review with the latest drivers for both cards in late June:

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphi...dition/?page=5

The standard GTX680 is a bit faster than most GTX670 cards unless the latter has a very large overclock as standard.

I would just wait and see how the GTX660TI pans out and how it affects the pricing of other cards.

[Fjo]

Thanks guys, i've a bit of an update though.

Originally i was looking at pairing the Gtx 670 (most likely) with an i3 2120.
I know that the GPU is by far the most important part for gaming, but i'm starting to wonder whether at such high-end graphics card considerations, that the i3 may behave as some sort of small bottleneck. Keeping in mind that i'd like this build to last a while too.

Based on what i can afford, i could still go for the i3 and a factory OC'd 670,
or i could go for an i5 3450 (with 8Gb 1600Mhz Corsair DDR3),
or an i5 3550 (with 4Gb of the above to start, then double it a little later on).
In either case, i'd pair the i5 with either the XFX 7950 Black DD / FX-795A-TDBC, or wait a little longer and consider a 660 Ti.

Based on various, early reviews though, i think i may favour that particular 7950 (around £270) over potential 660 Ti's for 1080p + High/Ultra Settings + AA in most, if not all games.

I fully realise that even that 7950 is still a way off a stock 670's performance, but with the added support and longevity of the better processor, i may be better off for 2/3 years until the next graphics upgrade.

(PS. In the short term at least, do you think that 4Gb of RAM will be much of a negative? I would upgrade eventually but it's my understanding that most games still don't use much in excess of this - Habitually, i cut unnecessary background processes and apps for gaming.)

What do you think?

[iMike]

Will the 670 go down in price once the 660ti is released?

[HalloweenJack]

well if the rumours are true then not a chance

[Harrybizzle]

If you do go for an i3 and 670, do let us know how you get on. I'd be interested to see what the performance is like.

You could perhaps go for that and then maybe in a year or so when i5-2500ks are cheap as chips you could pick one up and overclock it?

[iMike]

If you do go for an i3 and 670, do let us know how you get on. I'd be interested to see what the performance is like.

You could perhaps go for that and then maybe in a year or so when i5-2500ks are cheap as chips you could pick one up and overclock it?

There is a high chance of it working fine and only bottlenecking slightly as most games these days will not use more than two cores anyway.

[Fjo]

Well, the idea was to try and make the build last for a good while too.
As the funds can stretch a little further now, what i'm looking at is an i5 3550 (not too bothered about overclocking if the starting point's good enough), and getting 8Gb 1600Mhz RAM, Sata3 HDD, decent PSU etc., so i think i'm going to wait to see how the 660 Ti shapes up with the official reveal. Though i'm very tempted to get one of the 670s i see about for £290 or near. The thinking is: whatever the graphics for now, in a year or two the base components of the PC will still be pretty strong, so if i do need an upgrade it's not going to be the i5 or motherboard, but maybe i'll be looking at graphics again...if necessary.

I did find this if anyone's interested though, which looks at how a range of current Intel processors affect gaming with the same GPU:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1877/1/

[MoneyShot239]

Get the 7970

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...15-radeon-7970