670 or 7970?

[lamadoje]

I'm planning on building a dual-booting hackintosh in which I'm going to use OSX for getting work done and Windows for gaming. Don't tell me that Windows is better or anything like that, I like them both and that's not what I'm here for anyways. The problem is that I'm building an ATX system but I'm having trouble deciding which card to get. The 2 that I'm choosing between at the moment are the Asus DCU2 670, and the Asus DCU2 7970 since I want GPUtweak, and I love how they look and perform. The issues are expansion, and value. The 670 is dual-slot with a relatively good price and great performance. The Asus 7970 performs better, is a great price, comes with Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite, and FC3 Blood Dragon, but doesn't have cuda, is triple-slot (which is the expansion issue), and is a little trickier to get working with OSX. The 670 costs $370, and the 7970 costs $415. The value of the games you get with the 7970 is $135. I appreciate the help.

[Zero Tolerrance]

In these videos linus compares invidia cards with amd cards. 

[Helltech]

The are priced accordingly. The 7970 is better, but is more expensive. it sounds like for your needs a 670 would be better. 

 

 

For your build i think you might be interested in this though,

 

http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/GTX670DCMOC2GD5/

[notenoughtv]

It would be a pain in the ass to use a 7970 for OSX. The 670 on the other hand is supported out of the box. When you say expansion I'm guessing you mean a second graphics card. This would only work for your Win boot since OSX is not compatible with SLI or Crossfire.

The 7970 is quite a faster card but if you want to save yourself some time and trouble get the 670.

[XiaoPigs]

Go for the 7970. Outperforms the 670 straight off the bat and overclocks better then the 670.

I don't recommend GPU tweak though(based off personal and other users experiences). Use MSI Afterburner.

[ZombifiedPyro]

7970 is a better card. 670 is cheaper. They are priced pretty fairly, get which you can afford. If you plan on going dual cards in the future do NOT get a 7970, you gain little to no benefit from Crossfire at this current point in time. 

I agree, get the 7970 is you have the money and get the 670 if you need cuda. If you want to go dual cards get the 670, with the extra money you could get the 4GB version.

 

Edit: have you considered the mac ready cards?

680: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130912

 

7950: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202027

They are very pricey, but the work better on OSX, at least I have heard.

[LIGISTX]

If you need cuda for work you are doing on OSX, get that. It will help a lot more for your daily life than a better GPU will for gaming, assuming you put daily life stuff ahead of gaming (lol... real life ahead of gaming). But seriously, cuda will be helpful if you have programs that utilize it, and the 7970 will destroy in games. Also, 150 dollars worth of free games, for me that would be a HUGE incentive.

 

Really comes down to what you want better performance in, games or cuda enabled programs. Like others stated, might be pretty hard to get 7970 to work on OSX compared to a nvidia solution. 

[james3015]

get the 670, 7xxx cards are very difficult to get working and the 670 will provide cuda acceleration

 

link if you decide to go with the 7970 http://www.tonymacx86.com/user-builds/94200-asus-x79-rampage-iv-extreme-core-i7-3930k-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-3gb.html

[winny3141]

CUDA is extremely important! If you want to do video editing and other 3D applications, and take full advantage of the gpu, then you need an nvidia card. However, I am not sure if Hacintosh will work with a general pc gpu as Elric Pharis, from TechOfTomarrow, used a GTX 680 Mac edition gpu for his windows and Hackintosh build. Again, I am a die hard PC guy and didnt even watch the whole video, but it seemed to me that to take advantage of cuda in Mac apps, like Final cut pro and imovie or whatever you use, You need a mac certified gpu to get full gpu support in Hackintosh. Again, take what I am saying with a grain of salt. Hope I was some help.

- winny3141 :D

[lamadoje]

Wow, you guys are awesome thanks for all the help. So by expansion I actually just mean adding a sound card or a wifi card, etc. I just want to make sure I'll have enough space. The motherboard I'll be using is the Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH. The games are somewhat of a big deal considering they are games that I want to buy anyways. The main issue is basically CUDA vs. gaming. So all in all do you guys think that having CUDA, but performing slightly lower in games and not getting any free titles at the slightly lower price of the 670 makes up for the better in-game perfomance, free games to come along with, but no CUDA at the slightly higher price of the 7970?

[joelthezombie15]

I always like green team but 7970

[P1X3]

If you plan to use it with hackintosh then please be aware that 7xxx series are supported, but not fully. Some cards work like champs. Others require either some DSDT injection or sleep method to work.

[lamadoje]

Would it be a terrible idea to buy the 7970, use the game codes then sell it for $370 and buy the 670 with that money?

[mgsstar]

Would it be a terrible idea to buy the 7970, use the game codes then sell it for $370 and buy the 670 with that money?

I wouldn't do that. I would just get the 7970 to save all the hassle unless you really need CUDA which helps if you are rendering videos or folding.

[KBGaming]

I'd personally get the 670, if you're going to get OSX.

Just for the less hassle.

But I'd recommend the 7970 with no OSX.

More games, better performance, no Apple. xDD

[lamadoje]

I just bought the Never Settle Reloaded codes on eBay so now the games aren't a factor. 670 it is! Thanks for all of your guys' help, you're awesome!

[josh_05]

What is your monitors resolution? If at 1080p the 670 will do fine and you have cuda, better mac support expansion etc but if your at 1440p the 7970 would be worth considering...

[lamadoje]

What is your monitors resolution? If at 1080p the 670 will do fine and you have cuda, better mac support expansion etc but if your at 1440p the 7970 would be worth considering...

Right now I have a 7850 and I can play most games up to like the Borderlands 2 range on my 1440p Korean monitor at >60fps so to be honest I don't think it will be a big issue. If it is I can always tone down the settings or play on my 23" 1080p Asus monitor.