7950 vs. 7970 when gaming at 1440p

If all I plan on doing is to game on a single 1440p display (2560x1440), would there be a noticeable difference between a 7950 and a 7970? Or in that situation, would the 7950 be just fine?

The savings between the two would be quite substantial ($100+) so I don't want to purchase a 7970 and then later discover I don't actually need it.

Appreciate any help. Thanks!

It depends on what you play... But I would say get the 7970 in this case.

Oh, you will certainly need it. But it totaly depends on the demanded lifetime of your hardware. In case you want it to last lesser than 3 years a alternate option might be possible but at above 3 years, the 7970 is the only valid option at 1440P. Of course, totaly dependable on games too but you might not know what kind of games you gonna buy the next years, so its simply not secure using a 7950 by using common sense.

And i mean, at 40+ FPS (60 average), for those who are happy to run stuff at 30+ FPS the results could be different.

EarthDog said:

It depends on what you play... But I would say get the 7970 in this case.

Click to expand...

Basically, most of the popular newer releases - BF3, Batman, Skyrim, BL2, etc.

7970 only way to go in that case, those games are rather demanding and future is still even more demanding plus a 1440p resolution is no weaky. Most mainstream gamers are playing at 1080P.

My personal rated usage for GPUs is like that:
7850: For mainstream 1080P gamers without to much demand on FPS.
7870: For upper mainstream 1080P gamers with some demand on FPS.
7950: For high end 1080P gamers with high demand on FPS, or entry level 1440P/eyefinity gamers without to much demand on FPS.
7970: For enthusiasts 1080P gamers with highest demand on FPS, or solid 1440P/eyefinity gamers with some demand on FPS (for eyefinity a good OC design such as the Matrix or DCII is recommended).

For those with high demand on eyefinity, a CF is even better. High demand on 1440P only is still sufficient to cover the needs by a good OC 7970 such as the Matrix.

here's 3 review with up to date 12.11 drivers
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/2.html

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/08/23/galaxy_gtx_660_ti_gc_oc_vs_670_hd_7950/1

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...-12-11-never-settle-driver-performance-4.html

Interesting, the 660 is beaten by 7870 on WoW, which is usualy a game in advantage for Nvidia but AMD seems to catch up. But i always told that the driver is the bottleneck, not the hardware itself.

At 1080P (its intended use) it is only 5 FPS behind 660 TI, and thats without OC, so the 7870 truly can catch up even to that GPU, impressive. I guess at 1150/1400 it will match the 660 TI. At Skyrim, another game i enjoy, the 7870 is even 5 FPS above 660 TI using the new driver, still without OC so the 660TI may even bite the dust. The Radeon might not be the most stable but it definitely got hidden potential.

Seems like the hardest performance gain was on the 7870, which is now performing like some mad beast, in some games very close to the 7950.

Thanks for the comments guys, appreciate the help.

With that said, I'm kinda leaning more towards the 7970. Now for regular vs. GHz - is the GHz all that necessary? I've heard that a regular version can just as easy OC to a GHz - is that true? If that were to be the case, then why even choose the GHz version? Is it worth the extra cost?

For me I've decided to go with two 7950's. They are mammoth 3 slot cards and I'm as excited as a child on Christmas.

I have done a lot of research into this and everyone has recommended the 7950. It's overclocking potential is huge and being over $100 cheaper then it's 7090 counterpart, it's a whole lot of bang for your buck.

Then again I'm gaming at 1080p and these beasts will destroy any card for their price on the market.

One card would have been fine at that res...

It seems to me Xfire is not really necessary until you move into much higher resolutions or 120hz screens. The 7950 on a smaller screen would probably be fine, but if you start multi-screening and at higher resolutions it may not be able to handle ALL the eyecandy. I m not a connoisseur like so many and I can deal with a couple of the bells and whistles off. My current build has a 7970 for crappy resolution on two monitors, but I intend on upgrading to multi-monitor display or two 27 inch IPS displays if possible. This is the case of future proofing and buying the best single card I could for now and having intentions of Xfiring.

Realistically I think the Xfired 7970s will last a minimum of 3 years before it becomes to challenged for my tastes.

The only real questions for me now is which brands of 7950 will I get, and whither I can afford 1 of them from newegg in time to get the 3 free games

I don't know if you have made your choice, but I think the 7950 would be fine at 1440p for all of those games. I use that resolution with my 7870. Of course I have to make a few compromises, but overall it runs very well. If you want 8x aa everything maxed out and don't mind the additional cost then go for the 7970.

Try to go with a brand that has a lifetime warranty like xfx.