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Going from 680 Lightning to 7970 Lightning-Your opinions?

513 views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  detunedstring 
#1 ·
I'm trading my 680L for a 7970L mainly because I have a 1440 monitor. I've reached a VRAM limit on one of my favorite games with only 2GB, hence why I've been searching for a 3GB card. I guess I want your opinions on the trade.

Is the power consumption between the two significant when both cards are stock and OC'd?

Performance-wise, are the two similar @1440 resolutions?

It's an even trade, am I on the short end of the deal?
 
#2 ·
The 7970 lightning will pull ahead in most games @ high resolutions, and they overclock pretty well aswell so if its an even trade, you're getting the much better deal imo. The most I'd pay for that trade though is £10-20. So its not a huge difference.

Make sure the 7970 doesn't flicker in 2d apps, its a widely reported error that CAN be fixed by overclocking the idle VRAM speed. It doesn't affect 3d games at all, but I had a 7950 that flickered and my first lightning flickered, and the idle VRAM overclock was a workaround, however, returning the cards for new ones got rid of the problem entirely. You might not care about it tbf, but if that card has it, its annoying as hell
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#3 ·
I would sell the 680 and upgrade instead of trading for a 7970. The difference will be small in terms of performance at that resolution. Of course this would be an option if you didn't care about a budget.
 
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#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyph3r View Post

The 7970 lightning will pull ahead in most games @ high resolutions, and they overclock pretty well aswell so if its an even trade, you're getting the much better deal imo. The most I'd pay for that trade though is £10-20. So its not a huge difference.

Make sure the 7970 doesn't flicker in 2d apps, its a widely reported error that CAN be fixed by overclocking the idle VRAM speed. It doesn't affect 3d games at all, but I had a 7950 that flickered and my first lightning flickered, and the idle VRAM overclock was a workaround, however, returning the cards for new ones got rid of the problem entirely. You might not care about it tbf, but if that card has it, its annoying as hell
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Thanks for the heads up. Not sure what bios the AMD card has though, this is my first AMD card. Wonder if a Boost or GHZ bios would help with that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mark_thaddeus View Post

I would sell the 680 and upgrade instead of trading for a 7970. The difference will be small in terms of performance at that resolution. Of course this would be an option if you didn't care about a budget.
Trying to keep from spending any money on the trade. I've noticed I used to buy some relatively high level stuff only to play games that need that horsepower when they are a year or two old and five bucks. Really looking at 3GB for the resolution I have and some longevity.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharchaster View Post

If it's trade between the 680 Lightning and 7970 Lightning BOOST EDITION, then go for it.
Eh, even if its not the Boost Edition, you can still flash the Boost Edition BIOS to the normal Lightning which turns it into a BE.

Or you could just overclock it from 1070mhz to 1150mhz.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyph3r View Post

Eh, even if its not the Boost Edition, you can still flash the Boost Edition BIOS to the normal Lightning which turns it into a BE.

Or you could just overclock it from 1070mhz to 1150mhz.
1150? if that is all, then just get a normal 7970 with unlocked voltages.

@op, can't you just give up some eye candies and stick with the 680?
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyph3r View Post

Eh, even if its not the Boost Edition, you can still flash the Boost Edition BIOS to the normal Lightning which turns it into a BE.

Or you could just overclock it from 1070mhz to 1150mhz.
I will not accept those lightning, if the card can only do 1150 Mhz max on core. Other than that, that's the good idea to flash the card...so even you only have a normal lightning, you will get the boost edition performance.
 
#10 ·
What game is using more than 2gb? (Unless it's obviously like modded Skyrim). My 2gb 670 is holding up just fine with surround which is ~69% more pixels than 1440p.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by raghu78 View Post

OP if its a HD 7970 which does 1200+ mhz rock stable in games then its a trade worth it. the extra 1GB VRAM is useful . the 1440p resolution is generally more in favour of HD 7970 OC. check the card thoroughly for stability. if its a straight swap its a fair deal.
I went ahead and did the trade. I find it kind of weird overclocking compared to Kepler. On stock voltages (standard bios), my memory can hit 1800mhz-1900mhz without a hitch but trying to get 1100 with a little bump in voltage to 1.2 volts it crashes. I'm still working it out. I like to see what I can do with stock voltages first, then try and max it out whenever I find time throughout ownership of the card. Nothing I play dips below 60fps, no real need to push it really.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharchaster View Post

If it's trade between the 680 Lightning and 7970 Lightning BOOST EDITION, then go for it.
It shows GHZ edition on the box, but both bios settings don't match a BE bios, at least the one's I've seen searching Google.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyph3r View Post

Eh, even if its not the Boost Edition, you can still flash the Boost Edition BIOS to the normal Lightning which turns it into a BE.

True, but from what I've read, wouldn't that just mean the same thing as overclocking it manually?

Or you could just overclock it from 1070mhz to 1150mhz.
Tried that on the core clock using stock volts. Still working out overclocking it to my preferences.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 100cotton View Post

What game is using more than 2gb? (Unless it's obviously like modded Skyrim). My 2gb 670 is holding up just fine with surround which is ~69% more pixels than 1440p.
See below. Using HD mods in my fav game brings it over 2GB.

Quote:
Originally Posted by malmental View Post

sell and grab a GTX 780...

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Don't have the money. Nor the need for that much power.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lacrossewacker View Post

What clocks are you running with on your 680L?

What game is giving you issues?
F1 2012 with Hd mods . Tracks and half the teams alone brought VRAM usage up to 2GB. With the 3 gb, I was finally able to have all cars, garages, and tracks in HD textures. I guess I could have left the in-game models as standard considering most of the cars can't be seen if you're in front as often as I am :) . The 680L I had before could easily get over 1300mhz on the core and 7000mhz on the memory. It was quite the beast, at least compared tosome of the cards I've had in the past.

Thanks for the advice and opinions guys. I'm really liking the 7970L. For one, it doesn't set fans at %100 reverse at startup like the 680L. It was extremely annoying going into the Mobo bios to make adjustments with the fans running that high. Still haven't had a chance to check the energy usage between the two. That and Tomb Raider looks better with the stupid TressFX hair enabled :)
 
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