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Advise on choosing ASUS/EVGA GTX 670/680 2GB/4GB

Geoffie

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I'm building a new rig and have some questions especially concerning the graphics card. It's my first 100% build, I know a bit but I'm not THAT technical. I give you the speqs of the system I want (some parts I already have because I got a deal on them, they are marked with *, other items are still open for discussion if you see problems arrising).

My biggest struggle to choose is the graphics card. I will use my pc for video editing (probably with pinnacle studio), to burn and play blu-ray on my full-hd television which is also connected to my pc and I will also use it for gaming and I want to be able to play games (like Crysis 2, Black Ops 2 and Diablo 3) at the highest settings (meaning highest resolution and all options 'on'). For the graphics card aswell as for my whole system I'm aiming for performance and stability and future proof (4 years having no problem running everything). But I don't want to waste money either, so I want to pick a graphics card wisely, so I'm not going for a gtx 690.
Some more facts I can give: I stick with one monitor setup, I'm not that interested in SLI either, I might overclock my cpu and gpu but not extremely because I don't want to invest in custom water cooling. And I want a graphics card with NVIDIA chip from either ASUS or EVGA.

So here comes my most important questions as these have serious price differences for me:
1) going for ASUS or EVGA?
2) is it worth going for 4GB or will 2GB do the job?
3) 670 or 680?
4) I still have my old graphics card ASUS GT 7950 gt (512MB), do I put it in my system for physx or is it ready for the waste bin?
5) Any other advise/problems/comments in this system?

Speqs

Cooler Master HAF X (probably with upgrade of an extra top fan)
*Corsair Gold AX850 Pro (hope this is sufficient?)
ASUS Sabertooth X79
*Intel i7-3930k (c2) (possible I will overclock, but not extremely, 4.0-4.2, if achievable with given speqs)
Corsair H100i
*Corsair Vengeance Quad Channel Memory DDR3 16gb (4x4) 1866 C9 (9-10-9-27)
Samsung 840 Pro 128gb SSD (if sufficient for system and applicatons, otherwise 256 model?)
Crucial M4 512gb SSD (for 'My documents')
LG BH10LS38 blu-ray burner
* DELL UltraSharp U2711b (= 27" WQHD 2560x1600)
* Windows 7 Ultimate and Office 2010 Home and Student
 
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1) I would get an EVGA card because of their easy RMA procedures in case you need it.
2) The monitor you'll be getting will probably require more than 2GB VRAM at 2560x1600 for some games so I would go 4GB.
3) Since you're not interested in SLI I would go for a 680.
4) I don't think AMD cards can become a dedicated Physx card. I apologize if I'm wrong.
5) As for your system, looks good for the most part. If you can get that 840 Pro to a 256 GB version that would definitely be more future proof. :)
 

Geoffie

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Thanks

As for question 4, the ASUS 7950 GT is with NVIDIA chipset. So would it be any usefull?
 
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Thanks

As for question 4, the ASUS 7950 GT is with NVIDIA chipset

7950GT has no cuda cores,it cannot do physix.

at that ress you should take a good look at what AMD has to offer,if you want Nvidia just get an aftermarket cooler 2gb 680GTX.
 
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Oh my mistake. I misread that :)

Jack1n does bring up a valid point. AMD does offer great cards at great prices, especially at higher resolutions.
 

Geoffie

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Very true about RMA procedures from EVGA, but I don't want to invest in an aftermarket cooler for my graphics card, it has to stop somewhere, so I was wondering if I go for ASUS with DirectCUII if those twin fans do the job properly, at least they look professional but I also know you can't always judge by the looks?

Personally I'm easier to be convinced that 4gb rather than 2gb would be a difference worth spending money for. Don't shoot me I could be wrong, I'm just thinking out loud... But would there be a significant difference between a 670 and 680 both on 4gb since there's a bigger price gap and clockspeed could be tweaked a little higher on the 670 (if necessary)?

I also took a look at ASUS with AMD (although I was determined to go for NVIDIA) but there the limit is 3gb, so first I need to figure out about the memory.
 
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Well I strongly advise you to buy a 4GB model to be future-proof and I find 2GB RAM on top nVidia models to be a serious error from nVidia, or actually an expert marketing trick. You see, many future titles will require more than 2GB ram and you will be forced to upgrade from your 2GB 670 or 680 to a 700 series, while the 670 and 680 card itself has the power to play the game on max graphics but just lacks memory.

I own a 3GB amd 7970 and in 2 games that I own I constantly have over 2.5GB of memory consumption on a single monitor. Those are Crysis 2, Skyrim.

At the end of the day, it all just matters on how much money you want to cash out and what type of games you play. If you go for a reference model, I would strongly advice you to go for an AMD card because they are like 30% cheaper for the same performance, but if you go for a good aftermarket model then the price difference between a 7970 and 680 is not that big so the nVidia 4GB is a logical option.

Edit: I could find a KFA 680 aftermarket model with 4GB ram at £420 on uk websites
 
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Very true about RMA procedures from EVGA, but I don't want to invest in an aftermarket cooler for my graphics card, it has to stop somewhere, so I was wondering if I go for ASUS with DirectCUII if those twin fans do the job properly, at least they look professional but I also know you can't always judge by the looks?

Personally I'm easier to be convinced that 4gb rather than 2gb would be a difference worth spending money for. Don't shoot me I could be wrong, I'm just thinking out loud... But would there be a significant difference between a 670 and 680 both on 4gb since there's a bigger price gap and clockspeed could be tweaked a little higher on the 670 (if necessary)?

I also took a look at ASUS with AMD (although I was determined to go for NVIDIA) but there the limit is 3gb, so first I need to figure out about the memory.

You can't go wrong with either brand, I have two ASUS 670s myself in SLI. I just hope mine doesn't crap out on me anytime soon. :) I've read a lot of horror stories on ASUS with their RMA.

The ASUS cards are definitely much more quiet than my EVGA 680, even in SLI. Not a big difference in terms of performance. You're looking at 5-10% less but you might get lucky with one that is on par with a 680. Overclocking will definitely close that gap even further.

Even with 3GB VRAM, one of TPU's 7970 review puts the 7970 at a considerable advantage over the GTX 680. Especially at 2560x1600 resolution.
 
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I dont like the coolers on EVGA at ALL. Asus RMA system is a nightmare (only experienced MoBo RMA), but their cards are pretty damn awesome. Coolers are good, overclock is good, all round solid cards. It's just if they go wrong, you have an average percentage of having a few problems with RMA. EVGA has very good RMA, and I've heard many good reviews on that, but I just cant say anything other than the cards are good average cards.
 

TheMailMan78

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I dont like the coolers on EVGA at ALL. Asus RMA system is a nightmare (only experienced MoBo RMA), but their cards are pretty damn awesome. Coolers are good, overclock is good, all round solid cards. It's just if they go wrong, you have an average percentage of having a few problems with RMA. EVGA has very good RMA, and I've heard many good reviews on that, but I just cant say anything other than the cards are good average cards.

My EVGA 670 FTW Edition beats most 680's.
 
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Just a quick note from somebody who has Gigabyte GTX 670 2gb OC version.

If You can pay, get the GTX 680, but GTX 670 can be clocked a little to have the same performance. If You need any opinions or benchmarks, let me know...
 
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