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7970 oc or 670?

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WreckWren

WreckWren

Registered
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Joined
Apr 16, 2012
Location
Australia
Hey all,

I'm buying a new video card today with a budget of $515 (which I just cannot exceed, that's down to my last dollar).

The Sapphire 7970 oc is right on that limit here (Australia)

Just under it, however, is an EVGA 670.

Should I go for the 7970? I heard this particular one overclocks like a champ and can even outdo a 680 with a high enough clock, not to mention having the correct size framebuffer. I really hate running out of VRAM, like I did all the time with 560 ti SLI...

Or should I save $35 and go for the bad looking (with a water block anyway) and VRAM-lacking 670? Is the 7970 worth $35 more than the basic EVGA 670?

This will be at least a dual GPU setup in a matter of 2-3 months, and will be W/C within 6.

I've always been an Nvidia man myself, but going with 2GB cards for the 600 series has really soured me on them.


Thanks to anyone who can help! :D


EDIT: Before anyone says 680, they're stupidly expensive here. The cheapest is $580 and it's from Inno3D, which I wouldn't consider anyway. Cheapest decent one (Gigabyte Reference) is $660. $145 more than the 7970 which will be quieter and faster.
 
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Depends on your resolution to me...2GB is plenty for today's and tomorrow's games at 1920x1200 or less (read any benchmarks) so that shouldnt be a talking point really. Now if you are on a 2560x1600 monitor or multiple monitors, I would say 7970 only for the extra vRAM (though note I game happily at 2560x1440 with a 680 and its 'limited' vRAM).
 
I'd say I'd just feel a lot more comfortable with a 3GB framebuffer. As I said I had a nightmare with the 560 ti SLI setup in a lot of games due to the 1GB framebuffer. I intend to go 2560x1440 or x1600 within a year (hence wanting to go SLI/Xfire).

If they made a 4GB 680 with a reasonable price I'd be all over that :p

The other thing that bothers me about the 670 is that it looks ridiculous with a WB.

If only GK110 was out... No idea why Nvidia is stalling like this.
 
Here is a thought... pay for the 4GB 680 instead of considering SLI/Crossfire. A single 680 plays all (properly coded) games at their highest settings (even the 2GB), as well as the 7970 (which is a bit slower out of the box vs 680) at 2560x1600.

Looks is all you. If you think the 670 looks silly with a WB (why? Im assuming the shorter PCB? Get one with a 680 reference PCB) I cant help that. If you still think 2GB isnt enough for a single monitor res, I cant help that either.
 
EarthDog said:
Here is a thought... pay for the 4GB 680 instead of considering SLI/Crossfire. A single 680 plays all (properly coded) games at their highest settings (even the 2GB), as well as the 7970 (which is a bit slower out of the box vs 680) at 2560x1600.

Looks is all you. If you think the 670 looks silly with a WB (why? Im assuming the shorter PCB? Get one with a 680 reference PCB) I cant help that. If you still think 2GB isnt enough for a single monitor res, I cant help that either.
Click to expand...

Only problems with the 4GB 680 are availability and price. They're just not available at all in Australia and I'd imagine they'd be a fortune for a decent one (since even the cheapest considerable brand reference 2GB is $660).

Are there any good brands that make a 680 PCB'd 670? A 680 block would prob fit on that too, so that's an option!
 
There's 670 with 4GB VRAM, too, if you are worried about that.

I wouldn't be, though. By the time you need more than 2GB VRAM (probably about 2-3 years down the line), you will be limited by the GPU power anyways, to play at that high of resolution (and setting).
 
They make a 4GB 670 too.

Edit: Cyber posted as I was typing lol.
 
cyberfish said:
There's 670 with 4GB VRAM, too, if you are worried about that.

I wouldn't be, though. By the time you need more than 2GB VRAM (probably about 2-3 years down the line), you will be limited by the GPU power anyways, to play at that high of resolution (and setting).
Click to expand...

Egh the 4GB 670s aren't available at under $650 in Australia (at least anywhere I know).

I like the idea of more VRAM though, since I can always just add cards without worrying about selling.

Do you think the Sapphire 7970 oc is worth $35 more than a reference EVGA 2G 670?
 
Personally, no. AMD has serious driver issues with their GPUs, and NVidia doesn't. I'm running NVidia and it'll take something serious to change that.
 
That's unfortunate. 4GB 670 goes for around $480 (USD) here. May be worth it for someone to get it here and ship it to you, depending on how Australian customs work.

It's true that if you want to SLI, VRAM becomes more important.

Do you think the Sapphire 7970 oc is worth $35 more than a reference EVGA 2G 670?
Click to expand...
No, but that's probably because I work for NVIDIA :D.
 
Mm if the 7970 was more expensive or the 680 was cheaper it'd be a no brainer for me.

I'd heard that they fixed the driver issues?

Also, why hasn't GK110 released yet?
 
They have "fixed" them, but the next ones that release will be a pain to update to. And the "fixed" drivers have been giving some people issues still, from what I've seen.
 
ATMINSIDE said:
They have "fixed" them, but the next ones that release will be a pain to update to. And the "fixed" drivers have been giving some people issues still, from what I've seen.
Click to expand...

I guess AMD users are just overly optimistic since things haven't been going great for them lately (lots say the new drivers are great).

I would like to stay on the green team but the prices here are killing me... Does anyone know about EVGA's warranties & returns shipping overseas? Might get a 4G 670 from overseas (it's just BARELY in budget) or perhaps a 680 if there's one cheap enough and I won't get screwed by a faulty card.

And I've had quite a lot of faulty cards. I went through 5 GTX 580s before giving up and going 560 ti SLI.

Lesson from that: avoid Gainward and Palit.
 
If you can pull the 4GB 670 from overseas, that definitely sounds like a good way to go.

As far as EVGA's warranty/return, you would probably have to call/email and ask.
 
I'll shoot off an email but if they take more than 8 hours to reply I may just give in and go get a 7970 out of impatience.

Thanks for the help dudes, 'ppreciate it. :thup:
 
Did you read their warranty statement top to bottom? It might be mentioned there.
 
What is the difference where you are at? Their warranty is their warranty. The card borks, you return it, they ship it back.

Get off the vRAM thing of 2GB not being good enough. You are making this entirely more complex than it needs to be.
 
EarthDog said:
What is the difference where you are at? Their warranty is their warranty. The card borks, you return it, they ship it back.

Get off the vRAM thing of 2GB not being good enough. You are making this entirely more complex than it needs to be.
Click to expand...

I want to go to 3-4 cards over time, and more VRAM allows this far better than less.

And I'm just being cautious with a $500+ investment across the planet. We Aussies often get screwed with things like that.
 
I want to go to 3-4 cards over time, and more VRAM allows this far better than less.
Click to expand...
I dont understand this comment. vRAM has nothing to do with SLI/Crossfire capabilities of cards. 3/4 cards, while cool and extremely powerful, are a waste of money with a single monitor even at 2560x1600. Scaling starts to get poor with 3 and especially 4 cards which wastes more $. 3/4 card setups are for benchers, not gamers really.

If you are sticking with a single monitor at 2560x1600, a single 680 2/4GB is plenty, then add on to it later. Again, 2GB isnt an issue unless you are 3D or multimonitor.

GL w/ your purchase. :)
 
EarthDog said:
I dont understand this comment. vRAM has nothing to do with SLI/Crossfire capabilities of cards. 3/4 cards, while cool and extremely powerful, are a waste of money with a single monitor even at 2560x1600. Scaling starts to get poor with 3 and especially 4 cards which wastes more $. 3/4 card setups are for benchers, not gamers really.

If you are sticking with a single monitor at 2560x1600, a single 680 2/4GB is plenty, then add on to it later. Again, 2GB isnt an issue unless you are 3D or multimonitor.

GL w/ your purchase. :)
Click to expand...

Actually, since VRAM is shared, when you add more cards you effectively are increasing the core capabilities and with high core clocks on all cards (and with improved drivers down the line) you can run into memory bottlenecks over time, just as I did with only TWO 560tis.

Thanks.
 
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