7970 or 680?

[Jamdude]

There has been a lot of discussion over these two cards but which one is best? Here in the UK the 3GB XFX 7970 Black Edition is around £300 and the 2GB EVGA GTX 680 SC is around £380.

Both have 28nm manufacturing processes, 7970 has more cores but lower core and memory clock speed but a higher bit rate than the 680.

​So overall, which one is the preferred choice for gaming?

[Dave :)]

Pretty equal overall. 7970 performs better in some games, whilst the 680 performs better in others. They are equally as good as each other. At the price, the 7970 offers the best price / performance, but then AMD has also had an aggressive pricing plan. My personal choice would be the 7970, but if you want phsyx etc, then go with the 680.

[TechFan@ic]

An HD 7970 Ghz edition which is basically an overclocked 7970 will outperform a GTX 680.

Not only that but it's cheaper and you get 3 games for free with it as part of the amd never settle bundle (Far Cry 3 + Sleeping Dogs + Hitman Absolution + 20% off medal of honor warfighter)

The never settle bundle :

http://www.techpowerup.com/174146/AM...e-Bundles.html

Performance comparison after the AMD never settle driver update :

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...rmance-13.html

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...rmance-14.html

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2059/3/

Tom's hardware chart of all GPUs on all games before the driver updates:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...ance,2976.html

Press control+F and paste AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition .

[Huskie]

With current prices, I'd get a 7970.

Especially if they still come with those game bundles.

[TechFan@ic]

The bundles will continue till the last day in March .

[Bhups]

From my what I have heard I would defiantly go for the 7970 considering the boost all the 7000 series cards got from the new drivers AMD released. Also you cant go wrong with free games!

[Jamdude]

Thanks for your input. Looking at various reviews, it seems that the 7970 outperforms the 680 in quite a few games and it is cheaper. I'm not too bothered about PhysX but now don't know whether to wait until the 8XXX series come out to see how they are. They are usually fairly prices at launch so waiting a couple of months for prices to drop could be a good idea, what do you guys think?

[Gmac]

I recently upgraded my video card and have this same question of which way to go. And let me tell you this topic has been debated into the ground all over the internet. I personally dont think its a debate at all. I think it is a very very simple answer. Which one do you want?

In all honesty they both perform very similarly when it comes to gaming. They do have a lot of differences that might be a factor to you but it doesnt sound like they are. The 7970 has more Vram so if you are really serious about setting up large multi monitor setups eyefinity then you should think about the 7970. It also overclock better and higher then the 680. On the flip side you get perks like physx and such with the gtx brand, having owned both i like the drivers on the gtx side more. But it is not a deal breaker. Both sides and their fan boys package these as being very different when they are not so much. They both end up doing the same thing in differnt ways.

My whole point is for the vast majority of people out there playing the average game. They will both do pretty much the same thing. Run it on the highest settings possible at a very high frame rate. So unless you really seen someone about one you dont like. Then get the one you just want or maybe which ever one is cheaper or has the game bundle that you like more. Because they are both really good cards that will do what ever it is you want them to do. I find this whole debate kind of pointless.

That all being said when i upgraded i went from a 5850 toxic to a gtx 670 ftw and i couldnt be happier. Really i switched from red to green for two reasons. First was i just wanted to see what the other side was like and secondly i like the games that came with my 670 more then what you got with 7900's. When i upgrade again i might switch back but im happy for now and that is all that matters.

I would just like to suggest the 7950 and 670 to you. I personally think that they are the best bang for you buck but thats just my two cents

[TechFan@ic]

The AMD sea islands cards will be released on April while Nvidia improved kepler cards will be released on June , expect prices to fall in July.

[simtransporter]

My advice would be, If you are planing on an eyefinity multi monitor set up i would go for the 7970, it has more RAM than the standard 680 which will help when running eyefinity at high resolutions. If you are looking for 3D i know nvidia has better support for 3D so i wound consider nvidia for 3D gaming and AMD for eyefinity. Although they are both good cards, its hard to go wrong with either.

[s0nrise]

At the moment, a 7970 is much more value (considering that you get one of those boundle deals), but my personal choise is still a 680.

I had a 6950 before, and I didnt do good with it.

[Jamdude]

I'm running two monitors at 1080p each with no 3D, that will be my setup for a long time I'm sure.

[gamer tom]

If you're building a hackintosh, go with the Nvidia cards because they have official driver support.

[TechFan@ic]

I recently upgraded my video card and have this same question of which way to go. And let me tell you this topic has been debated into the ground all over the internet. I personally dont think its a debate at all. I think it is a very very simple answer. Which one do you want?

In all honesty they both perform very similarly when it comes to gaming. They do have a lot of differences that might be a factor to you but it doesnt sound like they are. The 7970 has more Vram so if you are really serious about setting up large multi monitor setups eyefinity then you should think about the 7970. It also overclock better and higher then the 680. On the flip side you get perks like physx and such with the gtx brand, having owned both i like the drivers on the gtx side more. But it is not a deal breaker. Both sides and their fan boys package these as being very different when they are not so much. They both end up doing the same thing in differnt ways.

My whole point is for the vast majority of people out there playing the average game. They will both do pretty much the same thing. Run it on the highest settings possible at a very high frame rate. So unless you really seen someone about one you dont like. Then get the one you just want or maybe which ever one is cheaper or has the game bundle that you like more. Because they are both really good cards that will do what ever it is you want them to do. I find this whole debate kind of pointless.

That all being said when i upgraded i went from a 5850 toxic to a gtx 670 ftw and i couldnt be happier. Really i switched from red to green for two reasons. First was i just wanted to see what the other side was like and secondly i like the games that came with my 670 more then what you got with 7900's. When i upgrade again i might switch back but im happy for now and that is all that matters.

I would just like to suggest the 7950 and 670 to you. I personally think that they are the best bang for you buck but thats just my two cents

Like you said Gmac both are very good but the whole point of the debate is, if they're both equally good (as you claim), why is one (GTX 680) significantly more expensive than the other (7970).

If two components perform exactly the same while one is a lot more expensive than the other , that makes the more expensive one worse , not equally good.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.

[Gmac]

I recently upgraded my video card and have this same question of which way to go. And let me tell you this topic has been debated into the ground all over the internet. I personally dont think its a debate at all. I think it is a very very simple answer. Which one do you want?

In all honesty they both perform very similarly when it comes to gaming. They do have a lot of differences that might be a factor to you but it doesnt sound like they are. The 7970 has more Vram so if you are really serious about setting up large multi monitor setups eyefinity then you should think about the 7970. It also overclock better and higher then the 680. On the flip side you get perks like physx and such with the gtx brand, having owned both i like the drivers on the gtx side more. But it is not a deal breaker. Both sides and their fan boys package these as being very different when they are not so much. They both end up doing the same thing in differnt ways.

My whole point is for the vast majority of people out there playing the average game. They will both do pretty much the same thing. Run it on the highest settings possible at a very high frame rate. So unless you really seen someone about one you dont like. Then get the one you just want or maybe which ever one is cheaper or has the game bundle that you like more. Because they are both really good cards that will do what ever it is you want them to do. I find this whole debate kind of pointless.

That all being said when i upgraded i went from a 5850 toxic to a gtx 670 ftw and i couldnt be happier. Really i switched from red to green for two reasons. First was i just wanted to see what the other side was like and secondly i like the games that came with my 670 more then what you got with 7900's. When i upgrade again i might switch back but im happy for now and that is all that matters.

I would just like to suggest the 7950 and 670 to you. I personally think that they are the best bang for you buck but thats just my two cents

I think i do get your point and it is a good point. Is there a good reason for pay the extra money for the 680, the fabled best single gpu card on the market, over the 7970? I really cant answer that. I would think not.

I just know that when it comes to really gaming you really wont see or feel any difference in these two cards.

I guess im just always confused while this is even still a debate for people. It has been done to death everywhere. The differences are plain as day and have been stated over and over again.

[YellowDragon]

Its actually splitting hairs between these two cards, some games work better with the 7970, some games work better with the 680. They are both excellent GPUs, I would say the deciding factors would be.

1. Multi-monitor- are you going to use more then 1 display or "eyefinity" or "surround" then go with the 7970 as it has 1gig more of VRAM

2. Rendering- If you need a card that can also video edit and do after-effects get the gtx 680 since it has CUDA

[TechFan@ic]

I recently upgraded my video card and have this same question of which way to go. And let me tell you this topic has been debated into the ground all over the internet. I personally dont think its a debate at all. I think it is a very very simple answer. Which one do you want?

In all honesty they both perform very similarly when it comes to gaming. They do have a lot of differences that might be a factor to you but it doesnt sound like they are. The 7970 has more Vram so if you are really serious about setting up large multi monitor setups eyefinity then you should think about the 7970. It also overclock better and higher then the 680. On the flip side you get perks like physx and such with the gtx brand, having owned both i like the drivers on the gtx side more. But it is not a deal breaker. Both sides and their fan boys package these as being very different when they are not so much. They both end up doing the same thing in differnt ways.

My whole point is for the vast majority of people out there playing the average game. They will both do pretty much the same thing. Run it on the highest settings possible at a very high frame rate. So unless you really seen someone about one you dont like. Then get the one you just want or maybe which ever one is cheaper or has the game bundle that you like more. Because they are both really good cards that will do what ever it is you want them to do. I find this whole debate kind of pointless.

That all being said when i upgraded i went from a 5850 toxic to a gtx 670 ftw and i couldnt be happier. Really i switched from red to green for two reasons. First was i just wanted to see what the other side was like and secondly i like the games that came with my 670 more then what you got with 7900's. When i upgrade again i might switch back but im happy for now and that is all that matters.

I would just like to suggest the 7950 and 670 to you. I personally think that they are the best bang for you buck but thats just my two cents

I very much enjoy intelligent conversation and debates with people who carry themselves with the utmost respect like you do.

I'm really glad we have people like you in the forums , usually debates like these end up being filled with disrespectful and utterly pointless fanboy remarks.

[TechFan@ic]

Its actually splitting hairs between these two cards, some games work better with the 7970, some games work better with the 680. They are both excellent GPUs, I would say the deciding factors would be.

1. Multi-monitor- are you going to use more then 1 display or "eyefinity" or "surround" then go with the 7970 as it has 1gig more of VRAM

2. Rendering- If you need a card that can also video edit and do after-effects get the gtx 680 since it has CUDA

Why not include "price" as it's the most prominent difference between the two cards.

[Dr3nz4r]

go for the 7970.. better Performance per Dollar value

[bartekxx12]

A least here in the UK the HD7970 is about £100 cheaper than the GTX 680, which is like 25% less. And they perform about the same so...

[bartekxx12]

Here in the UK the 3GB XFX 7970 Black Edition is around £300

Yeah I think SCAN on eBay have it the cheapest, £285 with delivery http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3GB-XFX-Radeon-HD-7970-DD-Edition-with-Ghost-Thermal-5500MHz-GDDR5-925MHz-204-/360543921232?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item53f217a450

[zephiK]

Probably 7970 in pricing. I would get a 670 over a 680 though IMO.

Should of been 7970 vs a GTX 670.

[TechFan@ic]

Probably 7970 in pricing. I would get a 670 over a 680 though IMO. Should of been 7970 vs a GTX 670.

7970s and 670s are usually compared to each other because both have similar pricing, but in terms of actual performance the 7970 is comparable to a 680, while an overclocked 7950 to an overclocked 670 , like Linus showcased .

[Jamdude]

680>670, the 7970 and 680 are more similar in performance.

[zephiK]

680>670' date=' the 7970 and 680 are more similar in performance.[/quote']

Obviously the 680 > 670, I was just saying that often 7970 is compared with a 670 because like previously said about price comparisons.

AMD turning down the price of a 7970 obviously made 7970 a more appealing GPU. It's a ongoing battle between the 670 & 7970 simply for the factor of price.