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670 vs 7970?

2K views 23 replies 21 participants last post by  glina 
#1 ·
I know I've been asking a lot of questions lately but I hope you understand as I am a beginner to the world of computer building.

To start off with, I know that I will be getting the 670 or the 7970 as they are exactly the price I want them to be. However, I'm not sure whether to get the 670 or the 7970. I've always been a NVIDIA fan but I've heard the AMD is better performance-wise. I'm not sure what to choose...

It's between the:

MSI 670 Power Edition

or the

MSI 7970 Lightning (there seems to be lots of problems with this one...)

I'll be gaming on ONE single 1920 x 1080/1200 monitor (maybe a 2560x1440 monitor). The price doesn't matter THAT much. I want a card that will serve me well for a long time. I'm willing to give up some performance for more reliability. I don't need the fastest card out there but I want a card that is both reliable and powerful.

Thanks for ALL your help!
 
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#3 ·
if the price doesn't matter, get a Titan.
 
#7 ·
Easy choice... hd7970
 
#8 ·
I'm a massive nvidia fanboy but I'd say unless you're planning a multi-card config get a 7970. If you're planning to get more cards down the line then get the 670 as from what I've seen SLI is better than crossfire in terms of micro-stutter and performance scaling.

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk
 
#10 ·
The 7970 by far. The 7970 has an extra GB of VRAM over the 670 and a 384 bit bus vs 256 bit. You should be comparing the 7970 to the 680. And at stick the 7970 and the 680 trade blows, but when overclocked, the 7970 destroys the 680 let alone the 670
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by frjoethesecond View Post

I'm a massive nvidia fanboy but I'd say unless you're planning a multi-card config get a 7970. If you're planning to get more cards down the line then get the 670 as from what I've seen SLI is better than crossfire in terms of micro-stutter and performance scaling.

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk
Crossfire scales better actually and there is frame latency in both sli and crossfire
 
#12 ·
Yes, as you have seen, the Radeon 7970 is believed by many to be the best sub-$500 card on the market. There's plenty of data to back this up too. I'd say that the 670, in recent benchmarks and with both sides using the latest drivers, the 7950 is dead even with the 660ti. Since the 7970 is only 3-5% faster than the 7950 and the GTX 670 is 10-20% faster than the 660ti, I personally believe the 670 to be the better card.

At maximum Overclocks, the 7970 will draw about double the power of the 670 and be quite loud as well. If you go that route, I hope you have good room ventilation, cooling.
 
#13 ·
1) If it's all about having the high benchmark scores & over-volting gpu's, buy the 7970 Lightning. If not, save some cash & buy the 670 Power Edition (if using 1080p or 1200p)

2) If you are definitely upgrading your display to 1440p, definitely buy the 7970, especially if you only plan to use a single gpu & have no desire to SLI or Xfire.
 
#15 ·
I like the Batman games and Borderlands 2, so I like the PhysX support NVidia provides. You can always add another card for physX if you want though.

I have both AMD and NVidia cards and really I don't have complaints about either. My main rig at home will always have NVidia because of PhysX. The machine I game on at work has a 6950, my secondary gamer has a 560 Ti, and my HTPC has a 7850. They're all great for 1080p but the NVidia machines have a better edge on Borderlands 2.

Pick the one you like better basically.
 
#16 ·
any of those will work just make sure you get a minimum of 3GB vram.
 
#18 ·
7970 > GTX 670. But AFAIK according to some people this Lightning can't do 120 Hz on an 1080p, but I am unsure though. if any own or has owned the card please correct me if I am wrong.
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadlessKnight View Post

7970 > GTX 670. But AFAIK according to some people this Lightning can't do 120 Hz on an 1080p, but I am unsure though. if any own or has owned the card please correct me if I am wrong.
^this. not sure about the 120Hz info. i think it is even safe to say that the 7970>680.
 
#20 ·
Get the 7970 that is the one. I have three rigs a AMD FX-8120 with a Sapphire 6950 a AMD FX-8350 with a 7950 and a i5 3570K with a GTX 670 and out of all of them both of the AMD rigs perform better. The 670 just does not have the performance that I was expecting from Nvidia. Other than being able to run natively with my Hackintosh that is really all it has going for it. And after the 10.8.3 update that may change and I can finally use my 7970 I got for my i5 rig.
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadlessKnight View Post

7970 > GTX 670. But AFAIK according to some people this Lightning can't do 120 Hz on an 1080p, but I am unsure though. if any own or has owned the card please correct me if I am wrong.
correct. the hd 7970 lightning has single link dvi and so cannot run 2560 x 1440 with the dvi port . you will need a displayport monitor (use minidp to dp cable) or a minidisplayport to dual link dvi adapter which costs 100 dollars. keep this in mind if you decide on HD 7970 Lightning. as for performance 7970 lightning is the faster card without a doubt.
 
#22 ·
Just like others mentioned it depends on whether its important for you to have physx support or not. 7970 is a generally faster card BUT i'd personally chose 670 because i like particular titles that feature physx effects. Not a reference 670 though for sure cause i simply hate that tiny anemic short pcb. But thats me. You might want a take a look at Evga GTX 670 FTW, maybe even 4GB Version if you are planning to get a 1440p monitor.



and if you dont care about physX and/or higher power draw get a 7970
 
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