Cant decide Red vs Green

[Socky]

I am going to get a new graphics card for around $300 and it is going in a small form factor computer (i.e. Bitfenix Prodigy). I am either getting the GTX 660TI or the HD 7950. I obviously know the 7950 is the better of the two however I want to get the NVidia Shield which obviously can only be used with a nVidia graphics card (from what I know). My question is, What is the better trade off?

[Guest]

Which game(s) do you predominantly play?

[fishymamba]

I vote for 660Ti. The difference between the two cards is not that much but it depends on the game. In some games the 7950 crushes the 660ti, in some games it is the other way around. For example the 660Ti beats the 7950 in Battlefield 3(which is why I got a 660ti), but in Crysis the 7950 beats the 660Ti.

The 660Ti also consumes less power, but it is a negligible amount.

So if you plan to get the Shield when it is released go for the 660Ti. BTW you might have to sit tight to get the Shield, it probably wont be out till at least the end of the year.

Of course I might be biased because I have one....but it works great and I am very happy with it!!

If you are going to get a new GPU by the shield come out get the 7950.

Also if you like any of the games that come with the AMD bundle go for the 7950.

7950 vs 660 Ti: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/645?vs=647

[DaFirnz]

What kind of resolution/ monitor setup are you running or planning to?

[IceSanity]

I'd say get the 660 ti. There might be a slight trade off like some of the other posts have mentioned (depending on the games). From my understanding, your thinking of just really investing into the Nvidia eco-system. Its truly why I buy nvidia cards (I game using nvidia 3d vision, and now that shield is coming out, even more of a reason to keep with the eco-system). Options vs no option (thats the price your really paying)

[iRandomize]

I vote for 660Ti. The difference between the two cards is not that much but it depends on the game. In some games the 7950 crushes the 660ti, in some games it is the other way around. For example the 660Ti beats the 7950 in Battlefield 3(which is why I got a 660ti), but in Crysis the 7950 beats the 660Ti.

The 660Ti also consumes less power, but it is a negligible amount.

So if you plan to get the Shield when it is released go for the 660Ti. BTW you might have to sit tight to get the Shield, it probably wont be out till at least the end of the year.

Of course I might be biased because I have one....but it works great and I am very happy with it!!

If you are going to get a new GPU by the shield come out get the 7950.

Also if you like any of the games that come with the AMD bundle go for the 7950.

7950 vs 660 Ti: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/645?vs=647

Those benchmarks has got to be on old drivers. The 7950 consistently beats the 670 on the newest drivers.

[iRandomize]

The 7950 is easily the faster card, however, if you wan't to go dual-gpu, Crossfire is very flawed, and not really very beneficial. I honestly can't see why you would get an nVidia shield, the technology only works on your own LAN, which of course requires you to be at home, where your computer is anyways?

I vote 7950 any day. The current beta drivers (once stable) will boost the performance even further, as well as fix the current stuttering "issues".

[TechFan@ic]

I personally don't see the benefit of Shield at all, if you are at home near your powerful rig, why would you stream games to a much inferior platform ? "smaller screen & no mouse and keyboard".

If you are at home wouldn't you just play on your PC ? & since Shield only supports Android games outside the proximity of your Nvidia rig that makes it pretty much useless outside the house as well as you can play Android games on your phone...

In any case for Shield you will need an Nvidia card.

But setting all of this aside, the 7950 is a much superior card to the 660 Ti.

Stock performance is pretty much the same as a 670 while offering performance that exceeds the 680/7970 when overclocked.

You also get 3GB of RAM and a much larger memory interface, which is extremely important with anti aliasing .

The performance of the 660 ti tanks too much with AA, rendering it unusable .

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-memory-bandwidth-anti-aliasing,3283-13.html

And on top of that you get 2 premium titles bundled for free with the card (Crysis 3 & Bioshock Infinite).

Latest 7950 review : http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/his_radeon_7950_x_iceq_review,10.html

[CrazyMike]

I am going to get a new graphics card for around $300 and it is going in a small form factor computer (i.e. Bitfenix Prodigy). I am either getting the GTX 660TI or the HD 7950. I obviously know the 7950 is the better of the two however I want to get the NVidia Shield which obviously can only be used with a nVidia graphics card (from what I know). My question is' date=' What is the better trade off?[/quote']

I think your question might be a little vague. Like mentioned, you should ask what are you going to do with the card? Are you playing games? What type of games? Are you the type that likes the full blown out graphics? Do you notice AA on or off? What kind of monitor are you using?

All these questions are important when choosing between red and green. Personally I love NVIDIA cards for their design and performances (specifically physx). Radeon is beast with FRAPS (which will be fixed in future with better drivers). Truth is, if you are the type that doesn't even notice the little tid bits while gaming none of those matter. Do you zoom in all the time an see the soft edges of blacks? Do you care about how the explosions are when a grenade goes off?

Being a small form factor case, I would mostly look at cooling between the two cards. Which brand are you specifically looking at? Is that brand going to optimize the cooling for your card in your case situation?

Now for my opinion: I personally love the graphics and physx that NVIDIA provides. I personally own a Asus 660Ti, and although I am not getting the FPS that the 7950 gives at full res, I can very much play games comfortably at lowering down the notch slightly to achieve 30FPS (average). Not only that, the cooling of my cards are very decent. Keeping it comfortably at 30c when loaded.

[iRandomize]

I am going to get a new graphics card for around $300 and it is going in a small form factor computer (i.e. Bitfenix Prodigy). I am either getting the GTX 660TI or the HD 7950. I obviously know the 7950 is the better of the two however I want to get the NVidia Shield which obviously can only be used with a nVidia graphics card (from what I know). My question is' date=' What is the better trade off?[/quote']

I think your question might be a little vague. Like mentioned, you should ask what are you going to do with the card? Are you playing games? What type of games? Are you the type that likes the full blown out graphics? Do you notice AA on or off? What kind of monitor are you using?

All these questions are important when choosing between red and green. Personally I love NVIDIA cards for their design and performances (specifically physx). Radeon is beast with FRAPS (which will be fixed in future with better drivers). Truth is, if you are the type that doesn't even notice the little tid bits while gaming none of those matter. Do you zoom in all the time an see the soft edges of blacks? Do you care about how the explosions are when a grenade goes off?

Being a small form factor case, I would mostly look at cooling between the two cards. Which brand are you specifically looking at? Is that brand going to optimize the cooling for your card in your case situation?

Now for my opinion: I personally love the graphics and physx that NVIDIA provides. I personally own a Asus 660Ti, and although I am not getting the FPS that the 7950 gives at full res, I can very much play games comfortably at lowering down the notch slightly to achieve 30FPS (average). Not only that, the cooling of my cards are very decent. Keeping it comfortably at 30c when loaded.

30FPS average on a 660Ti? What resolution are you playing at? 30C under load? Your card must be broken... The 660Ti should be able to run most games @ 60fps with medium to high settings (on 1080p).

[iRandomize]

I personally don't see the benefit of Shield at all, if you are at home near your powerful rig, why would you stream games to a much inferior platform ? "smaller screen & no mouse and keyboard".

If you are at home wouldn't you just play on your PC ? & since Shield only supports Android games outside the proximity of your Nvidia rig that makes it pretty much useless outside the house as well as you can play Android games on your phone...

In any case for Shield you will need an Nvidia card.

But setting all of this aside, the 7950 is a much superior card to the 660 Ti.

Stock performance is pretty much the same as a 670 while offering performance that exceeds the 680/7970 when overclocked.

You also get 3GB of RAM and a much larger memory interface, which is extremely important with anti aliasing .

The performance of the 660 ti tanks too much with AA, rendering it unusable .

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-memory-bandwidth-anti-aliasing,3283-13.html

And on top of that you get 2 premium titles bundled for free with the card (Crysis 3 & Bioshock Infinite).

Latest 7950 review : http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/his_radeon_7950_x_iceq_review,10.html

This!

[CrazyMike]

I am going to get a new graphics card for around $300 and it is going in a small form factor computer (i.e. Bitfenix Prodigy). I am either getting the GTX 660TI or the HD 7950. I obviously know the 7950 is the better of the two however I want to get the NVidia Shield which obviously can only be used with a nVidia graphics card (from what I know). My question is' date=' What is the better trade off?[/quote']

I think your question might be a little vague. Like mentioned, you should ask what are you going to do with the card? Are you playing games? What type of games? Are you the type that likes the full blown out graphics? Do you notice AA on or off? What kind of monitor are you using?

All these questions are important when choosing between red and green. Personally I love NVIDIA cards for their design and performances (specifically physx). Radeon is beast with FRAPS (which will be fixed in future with better drivers). Truth is, if you are the type that doesn't even notice the little tid bits while gaming none of those matter. Do you zoom in all the time an see the soft edges of blacks? Do you care about how the explosions are when a grenade goes off?

Being a small form factor case, I would mostly look at cooling between the two cards. Which brand are you specifically looking at? Is that brand going to optimize the cooling for your card in your case situation?

Now for my opinion: I personally love the graphics and physx that NVIDIA provides. I personally own a Asus 660Ti, and although I am not getting the FPS that the 7950 gives at full res, I can very much play games comfortably at lowering down the notch slightly to achieve 30FPS (average). Not only that, the cooling of my cards are very decent. Keeping it comfortably at 30c when loaded.

30FPS average on a 660Ti? What resolution are you playing at? 30C under load? Your card must be broken... The 660Ti should be able to run most games @ 60fps with medium to high settings (on 1080p).

You're so right. LOL. I am meaning Crysis 3 Full 1080p graphic quality with AA on x2. That is my "notching down slightly" . Right now I am playing Bioshock Infinite and easily getting an average of 60FPS (That's just what I've been seeing, not running the benchmark).

[fishymamba]

I am going to get a new graphics card for around $300 and it is going in a small form factor computer (i.e. Bitfenix Prodigy). I am either getting the GTX 660TI or the HD 7950. I obviously know the 7950 is the better of the two however I want to get the NVidia Shield which obviously can only be used with a nVidia graphics card (from what I know). My question is' date=' What is the better trade off?[/quote']

I think your question might be a little vague. Like mentioned, you should ask what are you going to do with the card? Are you playing games? What type of games? Are you the type that likes the full blown out graphics? Do you notice AA on or off? What kind of monitor are you using?

All these questions are important when choosing between red and green. Personally I love NVIDIA cards for their design and performances (specifically physx). Radeon is beast with FRAPS (which will be fixed in future with better drivers). Truth is, if you are the type that doesn't even notice the little tid bits while gaming none of those matter. Do you zoom in all the time an see the soft edges of blacks? Do you care about how the explosions are when a grenade goes off?

Being a small form factor case, I would mostly look at cooling between the two cards. Which brand are you specifically looking at? Is that brand going to optimize the cooling for your card in your case situation?

Now for my opinion: I personally love the graphics and physx that NVIDIA provides. I personally own a Asus 660Ti, and although I am not getting the FPS that the 7950 gives at full res, I can very much play games comfortably at lowering down the notch slightly to achieve 30FPS (average). Not only that, the cooling of my cards are very decent. Keeping it comfortably at 30c when loaded.

Turning down the AA in Crysis 3 really boosts the FPS with my 660Ti, it is that memory bus holding it back.

[Arun46682]

hd7950 +1 and nvidia shield project i dont see any Benefit Fishymamba is right getting inferior system to run games in small screen instead of Powerfull system in my opinion its kind stupid idea better get something else i dont know if u r saving money right now for nvidia shield better get more powerfull GFX for little bit of future proofing

[YugaFGT]

Get 7770 vapor-X in crossfire :D

[Socky]

What kind of resolution/ monitor setup are you running or planning to?

1920x1080

[Socky]

Which game(s) do you predominantly play?

Right now since I don't have the greatest computer I am playing BF3 and FPS games going for about 60 FPS at medium to high settings at 1920x1080

[CrazyMike]

I am going to get a new graphics card for around $300 and it is going in a small form factor computer (i.e. Bitfenix Prodigy). I am either getting the GTX 660TI or the HD 7950. I obviously know the 7950 is the better of the two however I want to get the NVidia Shield which obviously can only be used with a nVidia graphics card (from what I know). My question is' date=' What is the better trade off?[/quote']

I think your question might be a little vague. Like mentioned, you should ask what are you going to do with the card? Are you playing games? What type of games? Are you the type that likes the full blown out graphics? Do you notice AA on or off? What kind of monitor are you using?

All these questions are important when choosing between red and green. Personally I love NVIDIA cards for their design and performances (specifically physx). Radeon is beast with FRAPS (which will be fixed in future with better drivers). Truth is, if you are the type that doesn't even notice the little tid bits while gaming none of those matter. Do you zoom in all the time an see the soft edges of blacks? Do you care about how the explosions are when a grenade goes off?

Being a small form factor case, I would mostly look at cooling between the two cards. Which brand are you specifically looking at? Is that brand going to optimize the cooling for your card in your case situation?

Now for my opinion: I personally love the graphics and physx that NVIDIA provides. I personally own a Asus 660Ti, and although I am not getting the FPS that the 7950 gives at full res, I can very much play games comfortably at lowering down the notch slightly to achieve 30FPS (average). Not only that, the cooling of my cards are very decent. Keeping it comfortably at 30c when loaded.

Turning down the AA in Crysis 3 really boosts the FPS with my 660Ti' date=' it is that memory bus holding it back.[/quote']

Totally true. This is why i went from x16 to x2 in the AA aspect.

[carolkarine]

Get 7770 vapor-X in crossfire :D

terrible idea. not enough V-ram. at this budget, I wouldn't suggest a 2gb card, let alone two 1gb cards. he wants to get at least a 660 ti 3gb if he's deciding between that and a 7950. (I personally would choose the 7950 over the 3g 660ti. stronger card... but, of course, if you want to get a shield, you need a 660ti)

[mvitkun]

well the shield will be at minimum $300,most likely closer to $500.

and for what,to play your games on a clumsy controller?

I'd say invest the money your saving on shield and buy a well binned 7970.

[sniksder16]

Maybe don't get either and don't get the shield (which from what I've seen won't be that good anyways) and spend the money you would have spent on a 7970 or gtx 670-680

[Guest]

Which game(s) do you predominantly play?

That's nothing really to be sniffed at. Anyway, https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2LKAgEko3SAeUVZTEZMeENOeTQ/preview

[ericlee30]

Here is something in short. If you have a reason for Cuda cores then Nvidia all the way, for everything else, right at the moment AMD is wiping the floor with Nvidia with the 7000 series cards.

[crazycanadian96]

Right now id go for the 7950 because of the free bee's! They offer around the same preformace levele for about the same price. unless you need cuda.

[DaFirnz]

Here is something in short. If you have a reason for Cuda cores then Nvidia all the way' date=' for everything else, right at the moment AMD is wiping the floor with Nvidia with the 7000 series cards.[/quote']

Right now id go for the 7950 because of the free bee's! They offer around the same preformace levele for about the same price. unless you need cuda.

This and that!