Stuck between 660TI and 7950..

[ChaoticWeaponry]

Alright, so as the title states, I'm having issues 'pulling the trigger'. I'm looking at the MSI PE 660TI, and any Radeon 7950 with an aftermarket cooler.. They're almost exactly the same price, but I figure the 7950 will be able to overclock much higher (theoretically). I don't see myself using physX all that much, or CUDA enhanced programs. I'm leaning more on the 7950, but I need some opinions on what I should get. I used the PE 660TI because it should overclock at least somewhat like the 7950.

This PC will be used for pretty high end gaming, and recording gameplay videos. I have an i5-2320 quad core running at 3.8gHz, 8GB of 2000mHz RAM, 3 hard drives (2 in RAID0 for gameplay videos), and I will be planning on absolutely maxing out the overclock on the card, which seems to top out around 1200mHz for the 7950.

[IPCharger]

Get the 7950. If you don't care about Physx and want to get the max overclock possible, then that's the way to go. Plus you get free games.

[ChaoticWeaponry]

Get the 7950. If you don't care about Physx and want to get the max overclock possible, then that's the way to go. Plus you get free games.

Crysis 3 too.. I'm a hardcore crysis fanboy, so that swayed me a lot..

[ou rocks3]

I would also have my vote for the 7950. There is a new 7950 made by sapphire it looks like a reference design 7970!( there is no reference design for the 7950!) Also remember that prices vary widely for these cards. I've seen the 660 ti anywhere between 260-350 bucks.

[ChaoticWeaponry]

I would also have my vote for the 7950. There is a new 7950 made by sapphire it looks like a reference design 7970!( there is no reference design for the 7950!) Also remember that prices vary widely for these cards. I've seen the 660 ti anywhere between 260-350 bucks.

Yeah.. Now I have to decide what manufacturer to choose. Anyone know who would be the best for maximum overclock? I see Sapphire, MSI, and Gigabyte so far (looking on Amazon).

[ou rocks3]

I would also have my vote for the 7950. There is a new 7950 made by sapphire it looks like a reference design 7970!( there is no reference design for the 7950!) Also remember that prices vary widely for these cards. I've seen the 660 ti anywhere between 260-350 bucks.

Yeah.. Now I have to decide what manufacturer to choose. Anyone know who would be the best for maximum overclock? I see Sapphire' date=' MSI, and Gigabyte so far (looking on Amazon).[/quote']

well The Best card would be the card with the best vrm, the best gpu(luck) and the best cooler. I know off the top of my head that the more expensive twin frozr's and the sapphire dual x are good. You should really check out comparisons. I believe Linus has unboxings and overviews and such of some of the cards.

[IPCharger]

The Windforce cooler from Gigabyte is pretty good (I have a Windforce 670). Or you can get one from MSI, Asus, Sapphire. You can't really go wrong.

[TechFan@ic]

The Windforce cooler from Gigabyte is pretty good (I have a Windforce 670). Or you can get one from MSI, Asus, Sapphire. You can't really go wrong.

The Windforce 7950 is voltage locked.

[TechFan@ic]

I also would recommend either the MSI twin frozr or the Sapphire Dual-X . Also consider the HIS IceQ as it seems to be the best overclocker out there.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7950_X2_Boost/31.html

[Humbug]

Both are solid cards. Can't go wrong. If I were you I would buy the AMD, rather than supporting Nvidia PhysX which is bad for the industry.

[Finboy]

I would buy 7950, overclocks nicely and you will get good games with it.

[IPCharger]

The Windforce cooler from Gigabyte is pretty good (I have a Windforce 670). Or you can get one from MSI, Asus, Sapphire. You can't really go wrong.

Didn't know that. That sucks...

[IPCharger]

Both are solid cards. Can't go wrong. If I were you I would buy the AMD, rather than supporting Nvidia PhysX which is bad for the industry.

How is PhysX bad for the industry? Even if you don't have an Nvidia card in some cases you can run it from your CPU, and if you just don't like it then you can turn it off...

[TechFan@ic]

Both are solid cards. Can't go wrong. If I were you I would buy the AMD, rather than supporting Nvidia PhysX which is bad for the industry.

I think he means segregation of the market through proprietary tech halts progression.

[Humbug]

Both are solid cards. Can't go wrong. If I were you I would buy the AMD, rather than supporting Nvidia PhysX which is bad for the industry.

What techfan@ic said, something as fundamental as hardware acceleration of physx should never be tied to individual vendors. Unless their hardware was somehow capable of doing things that other's cannot. In the case of physx it is artificially restricted to nvidia products in an anti-competitive manner. Valve revolutionised in game physics with their source engine; imagine how unhealthy it would have been if for example it only worked smoothly on intel CPUs. Everything that physx does can be achieved in a more open manner but there are a few devs who nvidia manages to influence and lock down. AMD came up with this tressfx hair technology for tomb raider, but while they take credit for the tech and market it they also allow it to be rendered on nvidia hardware which is a much healthier approach...

[ChaoticWeaponry]

I decided to go with this one. Overclocking to the max outperforms the GTX 680, so I'm all for saving ~150 dollars..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161429

[mgsstar]

I would get the SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 3GB card because of its a good card for overclocking with its dual fan heatsink and unlocked voltage.

[IceSanity]

I decided to go with this one. Overclocking to the max outperforms the GTX 680, so I'm all for saving ~150 dollars..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161429

Be careful about those "oh this card OC can outperform said card" people forget to notice that said card is not overclocked..and it sure as hell can overclock. so non comparable information can be misleading. Your not saving ~150$ because that said card can overclock which would null your "savings". You would of most likely overclocked that same card if you had gotten it. Please compare apples to apples.

[ChaoticWeaponry]

I decided to go with this one. Overclocking to the max outperforms the GTX 680, so I'm all for saving ~150 dollars..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161429

Yeah, I understand what you're saying, I just like the feeling of better performance-per-dollar. Even though I didn't explain that I was comparing the overclocked card to a stock card, I'm sure you understood what I meant. :)

[sniksder16]

I know its already been said but I would go for the 7950... just bcause it can run minecraft on ultra and still get 30fps. Sorry about that it had to be said.

[GamerDude]

I decided to go with this one. Overclocking to the max outperforms the GTX 680' date=' so I'm all for saving ~150 dollars.. [url']http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161429

And the best part is, you'd get two AAA games in Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinte.....I have both and while I've not quite gotten into Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite is excellent. If you're not keen on these games, you can sell them quite easily and recoup some of the cost of the card. Either way, most excellent choice of card, that HIS HD7950 looks like one bad mutha.

[sniksder16]

Yea, I just bought a 7870 and I got bioshock and tomb raider. I don't think I will ever play tombraider but bioshockis awesome

[ChaoticWeaponry]

I'm going with the Sapphire Vapor-X 7950 as of right now. I will take another day or two to continue my searching (I want to be absolutely positive I will love the card)