Question about these two graphics cards.

[BarnacleStinson]

So I'm looking at buying a GPU to replace my GTX 750. Not looking for anything majorly insane, and I've settled on two used cards: an HD 7970 for $80, and a GTX 680 for $160. What I'm wondering is which is better? I've done my own research and from what I've found, these are the specification differences:
 

680: Better peak reflection and reflection handling, peak lighting effects, peak multi rendering and multi rendering.
 

7970: Slightly faster effective speed, better texture detail, faster NBody calc and peak NBody calc, faster peak complex and complex splatting, better peak texture detail, better lighting effects.

So which of these stats matter more when playing games like Assassin's Creed, Minecraft, Darksiders, Tomb Raider, GTA, Doom, Ashes Singularity, and Witcher 3? And how well will either one run these games (if at all)?

[79wjd]

7970, A 7970 is faster than a 680.

 

1080p at medium-high settings (depending on the game).

 

What CPU and PSU do you have though?

[007agentHP]

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-680-vs-AMD-HD-7970/3148vs2163

 

7970 is 6% faster

[SkilledRebuilds]

Finding benchmarks in older games, will still show the difference between them (Obviously look for GPU-Heavy games)

 

[79wjd]

Just now, 007agentHP said:

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-680-vs-AMD-HD-7970/3148vs2163

 

7970 is 6% faster

Don't use that site, it's the same crap as CPUboss. It's ultimately just deceiving -- actual benchmarks in games are FAR better. 

[007agentHP]

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

Don't use that site, it's the same crap as CPUboss. It's ultimately just deceiving -- actual benchmarks in games are FAR better. 

http://www.babeltechreviews.com/hd-7970-vs-gtx-680-2013-revisited/

 

looks about on par

 

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/618?vs=555

 

depends on the game you look at.

 

[m0k]

i own a gtx 770, which is essentially a gtx 680
its very power hungry

actually so is the 7970
just have adequate cooling for both scenarios

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, 007agentHP said:

http://www.babeltechreviews.com/hd-7970-vs-gtx-680-2013-revisited/

 

looks about on par

 

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/618?vs=555

 

depends on the game you look at.

 

I didn't disagree with your conclusion, just the means by which you originally came to it. 

[007agentHP]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

I didn't disagree with your conclusion, just the means by which you originally came to it. 

just to ask. what do you see wrong in userbenchmark? their scores seems reliable. even looking at benchmarks they seem pretty reliable. 

[BarnacleStinson]

How much performance can I expect out of these games on the 7970, paired with an i5-4460? From what I can tell the Witcher 3 might not run so well, but that's based off the recommended settings

[Letharas]

Look what card is cooler if u wanna overclock

[79wjd]

3 minutes ago, 007agentHP said:

just to ask. what do you see wrong in userbenchmark? their scores seems reliable. even looking at benchmarks they seem pretty reliable. 

The problem is the test suite they use isn't exactly representative of real world performance (that's not to say it doesn't sometimes fall in line -- even CPUboss is accurate sometimes). 

 

2 minutes ago, BarnacleStinson said:

How much performance can I expect out of these games on the 7970, paired with an i5-4460? From what I can tell the Witcher 3 might not run so well, but that's based off the recommended settings

Witcher 3 should be 60fps @ 1080p medium(ish) settings. 

16 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

1080p at medium-high settings (depending on the game).