7970 CF OR 770 sLi

[jamesbritt268]

Part of the reason a lot said 770s is because the frame pacing issue is NOT fixed at the moment multi monitor wise and that is what this person is using. It may be fixed in a week, month, or few. Nobody knows. But if you want something to work as it should out of the box for this person, the 770s are the way to go imo.

I see what you're saying however, the driver fixes are already available in part. And it brings AMD around 20 perc / to nvidias 10 perc. Additionally it was my understanding Eyefinity had better support then NVidia surround.

Again I'm not sure about the amd versus NVidia multiple monitor solutions, that's just the consensus of tid bits I gathered off multiple sites.

 

[trueblack]

Sorry but I have to toally disagree with all the 770 recommendations. A 7970 ge with boost from sapphire is 270 after rebate with 100 dollars in free games on newegg. I just purchased a second.

I was really wanting to go NVidia since my last NVidia card was a 5900. Although my laptop is NVidia.

The 7970 ge is within 2perc of the 770 in most benchmarks. Comes with more vram stock. And mine both clock to 1250mhz easy on the core (althought they're both water cooled).

Crossfire frame pacing issues have been addressed with the first and second beta releases of catalyst 13.8. Don't get me wrong it's not totally fixed. But this shows this is probably going to be continued going forward. Who plays direct x9 games anymore? And if a game is DX9 chances are a single 7970 is overkill. The only modern title I can think of that this might apply to is civ 5. Don't get me wrong im sure theres some, but that wouldn't be my concern.

The performance of two 7970s is on par with the 770s, have more ram, and are cheaper, and come with free games. Not to mention for a cheaper price than a 680 you will outperform all the single card NVidia options.

Add in the fact that all the next gen consoles are running AMD hardware, amd game optimization will be very prominent.

Eyefinity frame issue buddy. not fixed. I hope you have just 1 monitor.

Between Eyefinty and Nvidia Surround, I prefer nvidia surround, lets start with the window start bar.
If you ask me, eyefinity is quite crudely made. I won't give it any edge over Nvidia Surround if we talking about <3 monitors.

if you have more than 3, like a 6 monitor set up 2 x 3.. then eyefinity has clear advantage. but only if you go so far.

 

[jamesbritt268]

Eyefinity frame issue buddy. not fixed. I hope you have just 1 monitor.

Between Eyefinty and Nvidia Surround, I prefer nvidia surround, lets start with the window start bar.
If you ask me, eyefinity is quite crudely made. I won't give it any edge over Nvidia Surround if we talking about <3 monitors.

if you have more than 3, like a 6 monitor set up 2 x 3.. then eyefinity has clear advantage. but only if you go so far.

Ok buddy so in two weeks to a month the eyefinity support will be included. Then the argument still remains spend 540 dollars, get six games and equal if not superior performance at higher rez. Or be short sighted now and spend 800 and get nothing else. Where's the logic in that.

At 270 dollars for a hugely overclockable 7970ghz edition in the current price enviroment it's almost ignorant to ignore the advantage.

 

[trueblack]

Ok buddy so in two weeks to a month the eyefinity support will be included.

Good luck.

Then the argument still remains spend 540 dollars, get six games and equal if not superior performance at higher rez. Or be short sighted now and spend 800 and get nothing else. Where's the logic in that.

At 270 dollars for a hugely overclockable 7970ghz edition in the current price enviroment it's almost ignorant to ignore the advantage.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GeForce_GTX_770_WindForce_OC/27.html

read here. learn a thing or two. Superior performance from 7970? ppssfh.

further, after frame pacing, CFX doesn't scale as good as before. (10% worse) making CFX even less than SLI that it already is. So... Logic?? what LOGIC??

I am not sure 'WHO' will actually like those game bundles to be honest. all those games are like .. old.. but I suppose there's always someone that hasn't been playing them that might find some value.

If anyone that's under a rock, or short sighted, that's you bud.

 

[EarthDog]

I see what you're saying however, the driver fixes are already available in part. And it brings AMD around 20 perc / to nvidias 10 perc. Additionally it was my understanding Eyefinity had better support then NVidia surround.

Again I'm not sure about the amd versus NVidia multiple monitor solutions, that's just the consensus of tid bits I gathered off multiple sites.

no idea what 'percs' are... Sorry.

Yes, in part. But HIS part currently doesn't work is my point. Wouldn't it be a shame to drop $600 to have to wait for the frame pacing issue to be resolved?

 

[dudleycpa]

no idea what 'percs' are... Sorry.

Yes, in part. But HIS part currently doesn't work is my point. Wouldn't it be a shame to drop $600 to have to wait for the frame pacing issue to be resolved?

Agreed! $600 and frame pacing doesn't work. That doesn't make sense.

Again what about a Single card solution? 7970 for $300 or GTX 780 for $650.

or 2x7950 $400(?) or GTX 760 for $500(?).

 

[trueblack]

single card solution 780 is best.
but raw power for $1000 budget,
I will get 2x 770 4Gb for SLI as best choice. (which will be around 30%-40% more than 780)
2x 780 or 2 x Titan of course better, but out of the user's budget for now.

 

[jamesbritt268]

Good luck.


http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GeForce_GTX_770_WindForce_OC/27.html

read here. learn a thing or two. Superior performance from 7970? ppssfh.

further, after frame pacing, CFX doesn't scale as good as before. (10% worse) making CFX even less than SLI that it already is. So... Logic?? what LOGIC??

I am not sure 'WHO' will actually like those game bundles to be honest. all those games are like .. old.. but I suppose there's always someone that hasn't been playing them that might find some value.

If anyone that's under a rock, or short sighted, that's you bud.

Hahaha bud, buddy boo, budster, thats your fav word huh?

Can't say i have too many issues with my crossfire setup @ 1200 /1550 on each card and getting anywhere from 70 to 100+ fPS in Crysis 3 everything maxxed out.

Worst thing I have to do is alt tab sometimes....boy what a waste of 600 bucks.... lol

Look I get it guys this is what it boiled down too....

"Look Nvidia/AMD new shiny thing better then older shiny thing!"

I know the 770 might be marginally better or equal. (Love how none of those pretty pictures you showed me showed a 7970 at OC above 1ghz)

Look I get AMD crossfire drivers need work.

I get that everyone on this forum only always recommends whatever is the newest best thing out at the time. That's fine.

But every other place this question is asked. Tom's, guru 3d, etc etc the majority of the opinion is that the 7970 x2 for 540 plus 6 games is a better deal. I know because I literally just made the same decision after researching various peoples opinions on numerous sites. I had the budget to buy anything I wanted.

Can you get better performance? Sure. But not better performance per dollar. (aside from maybe crossfire 7950's).

So go ahead there's newer better cards out and recommend them. You're right the 7970 is not the best performing or newest.

But its the best performance per dollar.

Not to mention the fact with new consoles coming out this is the absolute worst time to go invest a huge chunk on graphics cards that might not be capable in the newer console ports to come, and that the next gen from amd is a refresh, and nvidias current titan and lineup is vastly overpriced.

End of story. No offense.

I'll take my 300 i saved from the cards and go drinking, have a great time, and have the same performance.

 

[trueblack]

End of story. No offense.

none taken.

this forum we do not recommend people buying broken things.
CFX is broken. end of story.

broken things are cheaper on performance/cost.
You can buy a car with 3 wheels if you like won't stop you.

we can talk about it when it is fixed.
Good for you that you are happy in your setup.

 

[(G{in}[AK)TION]]

jpaul, i guess you can ignore the people here at this point since all i see is "fanboy syndrome".

if your on a budget, you can go for either two 7870s or two 7970s. they work great for all the games i play. just keep yourself grounded while installing the hardware.

as for drivers, use this utility. it will remove anything that has amd code in it off your computer so you can do a fresh intall of your graphics drivers to which i recommend installing the latest drivers from AMD. they have always been the same with mining in performance, but it does improve the gaming experience for me.

just so you know, i used to play sleeping dogs in my living room on the 1920x1080 39 inch tv when i was home alone. performance sucked hard with one card (while i was experimenting) but with crossfire enabled, it really made game play much more smoother even at max settings (60fps). and this is with the two 7870s i have.

now, if you feel like going with nvidia, be aware they suck at bitcoin mining and do not have much overclock ability (from what i read). their control center are as average as amds though. just different settings and options missing. like nvidia control panel does not have overclocking support but catalyst does.

if you want more details on picking which gpu you should buy, then refer to this video instead.

and lastly, post some pictures of the build here when your done. im sure we (at least me) would like to see pictures of the finished build

EDIT: this was posted at 1:23am so sorry for the bad grammer and the way i wrote this post. just cant sleep well atm.

 

[EarthDog]

Hahaha bud, buddy boo, budster, thats your fav word huh?

Can't say i have too many issues with my crossfire setup @ 1200 /1550 on each card and getting anywhere from 70 to 100+ fPS in Crysis 3 everything maxxed out.

Worst thing I have to do is alt tab sometimes....boy what a waste of 600 bucks.... lol

Look I get it guys this is what it boiled down too....

"Look Nvidia/AMD new shiny thing better then older shiny thing!"

I know the 770 might be marginally better or equal. (Love how none of those pretty pictures you showed me showed a 7970 at OC above 1ghz)

Look I get AMD crossfire drivers need work.

I get that everyone on this forum only always recommends whatever is the newest best thing out at the time. That's fine.

But every other place this question is asked. Tom's, guru 3d, etc etc the majority of the opinion is that the 7970 x2 for 540 plus 6 games is a better deal. I know because I literally just made the same decision after researching various peoples opinions on numerous sites. I had the budget to buy anything I wanted.

Can you get better performance? Sure. But not better performance per dollar. (aside from maybe crossfire 7950's).

So go ahead there's newer better cards out and recommend them. You're right the 7970 is not the best performing or newest.

But its the best performance per dollar.

Not to mention the fact with new consoles coming out this is the absolute worst time to go invest a huge chunk on graphics cards that might not be capable in the newer console ports to come, and that the next gen from amd is a refresh, and nvidias current titan and lineup is vastly overpriced.

End of story. No offense.

I'll take my 300 i saved from the cards and go drinking, have a great time, and have the same performance.

Getting Deja vu...."Wouldn't it be a shame to drop $600 to have to wait for the frame pacing issue to be resolved?". Being serious, not everyone can see the issue. If the OP can, that would be a waste of $600 until those drivers come out.

I guess to me THAT is the real question for the OP. Can he tolerate the potential Microctutter/frame pacing issues until they come out with a fix? If he can't/doesn't want to, clearly the NVidia card(s) is(are) the choice. If he can or wants to take the risk, than the 7970's are a great choice.

 

[dudleycpa]

^^^^Enough Said. It is a choice simple as that!

 

[(G{in}[AK)TION]]

what is with this microstutter in crossfire? i dont see it much in the games i play. in fact, i barely see it!

 

[EarthDog]

what is with this microstutter in crossfire? i dont see it much in the games i play. in fact, i barely see it!

*Lifts rock up...*

http://www.overclockers.com/nvidias-fcat-gpu-testing-pursuing/

 

[bluezero5]

heh. every AMD vs NVDA choice threads turns into microstutter debate.........

.... I am not sure what to think about that. hehe.

 

[anhikilator]

I recommend you the 770 SLI setup. I returned my CFX 7970 setup due to the multiple issues I was having with games at 1440p. This was before the new driver came up but I read some post saying that it isn't totally fixed yet, and only for DX11, DX9 games have the same issue. All those problems went away with the new setup.

 

[EarthDog]

DX10 and single monitor fixed. DX9 and multi = not yet.

 

[trueblack]

on my gaming team, as of last week, we converted the last AMD user into Nvidia.
(he went for 760 SLI set up)

Overall. we agree frame pacing is better than radeon pro (for SURE), but there's a performance discount, and it makes it easy for a person to 'blame the card' when a bad situation arrives in gaming. (it might not even but the card's fault, but high level gaming, you CANNOT live with these uncertainties.)

Until AMD comes out with 9000 series for us to take another look into.
for now it seems like an nvidia world for a few more months.

except if you are bitcoin mining, then yeah, 7970. hands down. (we have a station dedicated to that, where we threw in all the 7970 cards we cannot return due to void warranties.. we figured, hey, at least make it pay itself.)

 

[doogansquest]

heh. every AMD vs NVDA choice threads turns into microstutter debate.........

.... I am not sure what to think about that. hehe.

I would wager most people have never actually experienced it. They read about it on the internet, disliked AMD already, and now just go to it as the default for an argument. It's the same way people who aren't wealthy blame the wealthy for their problems (instead of a corrupt government), because there was one (slanted) news story or internet article about it. Most people have no real gripe, but it's easier to go with the flow and feel a part of something than it is to conduct real experiments for yourself.

I make around 4 GPU purchases per year, a pretty even mix of each brand, and I've never experienced micro-stutter with the Crossfire setup. I like both companies equally, and currently own a pair of GTX760's in SLI. I had 2 7870LE's in Crossfire before, however, and had zero issues. I'll probably buy something from the AMD refresh when it comes, and then the next NVIDIA line as well. It's like an addiction.

 

[dudleycpa]

I make around 4 GPU purchases per year, a pretty even mix of each brand, and I've never experienced micro-stutter with the Crossfire setup. I like both companies equally, and currently own a pair of GTX760's in SLI. I had 2 7870LE's in Crossfire before, however, and had zero issues. I'll probably buy something from the AMD refresh when it comes, and then the next NVIDIA line as well. It's like an addiction.

Thanks fellow forum member! That help make "the day"!

Would it be true to say that a pair of GTX760s in SLI and $150ish in your pocket made it an easy choice? Some might say that?