7970 vs. 680

[munchtime]

Hey, guys i just wanted to know which card was better and worth my money more. I'm making a new build for myself, and i want the best performance out of the card. Which one would be better?

Thank you :3

[Dave :)]

7970 gets my vote. But, they really are neck and neck, i would suggest you get which ever one is cheapest.

[ericlee30]

I agree they are neck and neck some games play better on the 7970 then the 680 and the 680 play some games better then the 7970 all in all to me it all comes down to, if you need the cuda cores. Most games do not take advantage of the Cuda cores but if you do video editing as well as gaming I would be leaning more towards the 680 rather then the 7970.

[DrainDoc]

Overall they are pretty close in performance. It depends on the game thats being played, the resolution it's being played at. The display it's being played on.

CPU, memory, different factors play into it all. It's just not the cards themselves most times.

[Wats]

Gaming? 7970

Editing? GTX680

[SubTract]

7970 gets my vote. Overclocks like a beast. High res gaming it's amazing. Go 680 for video editing. or just a decent CPU with quick sync

[munchtime]

what if the games im playing are usually fps... cause when im done building my pc, im gonna buy battlefield 3, black op2 and other hit fps' when it comes out... and also i hear that many of people say that some games are designed for the nVIDIA, so it runs better on nVIDIA cards... help?

[munchtime]

And which 7970 would you get... like asus, gigabyte? or which manufacteurer?

[EChondo]

I would recommend the Gigabyte and MSI 7970.

[munchtime]

why not asus? They seem like a pretty good and reliable company!

[EChondo]

why not asus? They seem like a pretty good and reliable company!

Well then why ask us? If you think ASUS is a good and reliable company then why ask which manufacturer?

[Nexus]

I believe the 7970 is generally faster atm with the latest drivers (not sure if that has changed or not). Usually with high end cards they sort of change back and forth between which one is faster with driver updates.

When choosing which card you want you should consider whether you want CUDA, eyefinity, or 3d etc.

If your just wanting a solid card that will play any game you throw at it just pick whichever one is cheaper and dont worry too much.

Just be warned, the reference design cards run loud, so if this bothers you, make sure to choose a card with a custom cooler on it.

Hope this helps

[MarineTuck]

my vote is the 680 but ive had the worst luck with all ASUS products.

[munchtime]

http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=68755&vpn=HD7970-DC2-3GD5&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1405

This good enough?

[TechFan@ic]

http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=68755&vpn=HD7970-DC2-3GD5&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1405

This good enough?

That's a pretty epic card, it's the quietest and coolest model, only issue with it is its large size which comes into play when Crossfiring a bunch of them.

Other than that, it's pretty epic .

Will also look very nice on an ROG board .

[munchtime]

http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=68755&vpn=HD7970-DC2-3GD5&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1405

This good enough?

Im planning to use an ASUS Z77 deluxe motherboard and also LOL, i don't believe that i'll do crossfire. With that expensive of a card ... probably not

[FatmanJJ]

http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=68755&vpn=HD7970-DC2-3GD5&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1405

This good enough?

I have that card it's fantastic runs pretty much everything on highest settings and most games I can do 4X SSAA.

[Opsilon]

Gaming? 7970

Editing? GTX680

i think it's another way around... 7000 series should be more powerful in editing but 600 should have smoother gaming experience

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6025/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-catching-up-to-gtx-680/14

[jeffrly]

Gaming? 7970

Editing? GTX680

@Opsilon Unfortunately that's probably only true if you're using an application that supports both OpenCL (AMD) and CUDA (Nvidia)

Adobe products (It's safe to assume that's basically what most people will be using for video production, yes I know Linus uses Sony Vegas) like After Effects only support CUDA and although Adobe CS6 supports OpenCL, it's only on the MacOS version and only if you have certain mobile Radeon cards offered on Macbook Pros.

[Frestylezz]

my vote is the 680 but ive had the worst luck with all ASUS products.

I vote 680 as well, just because I've always had Nvidia (except in my cheap school laptop) and never had a reason to swap. I've had no problems with ASUS yet, but I did have problems with MSI. A burned 680 reference and a 560Ti hawk that makes the noise of a helicopter.

[ZeroPlasm]

7970. There is still potential in GCN and it is more of a workstation card as well. NVidia for rock solid stability, CUDA, PhysX, 3D Vision and all those jazz.

[BroliviaWilde]

With each new release, both sides are basically leap frogging each other to take that "crown" back over who makes the better gpu. Facts are that there are so many variables that it is next to impossible to determine. Both chips are used in a wide variety of solutions by many different gfx card manufactures with all kinds of different cooling and performance enhancements. Also, many games are geared more towards one chip over the other, and both chips are better at different things. All that being said, let's hear Linus give us the final answer in a ncix video he did awhile back:

[munchtime]

Hey guys, so the new beta release of Nvidia's driver just came out, so, what would it be like for the 680 now and the 7970... which one would be better? any changes to the 680? Is it now better than the 7970???

[munchtime]

my friends just gave me another option, they said, the 4870 x2 is a really good card. is it really worth it.? or is it not as great as the 7970?

[MrPibbles]

I forget the source, but there was a recent test and it showed that the 7970 was flat out a little better than the 680, not a huge amount, but it was still there. The 680 is more stable, no microstuttering and would just work. 7970 Over clocks way better than the 680. The 680 will blow the 7970 away in editing videos in adobe programs. Multi monitor set ups will be better on the 7970 due to more memory. It's really more dependant on whats cheaper and what will you be doing with it