GTX 680 versus HD 7970 at same clocks.

[the54thvoid]

Hexus are my other go to site after TPU. Very down to earth and very unbiased.

They ran the 7970 at the 680's gpu boost speed. At 1200p the 7970 gives 94.2% of the 680 and at 1600p it gets 96.8%.
Clock for clock (like we all know) the GTX 680 is still the faster card (just!). And something we ought to remember is it does it consuming less power. Something AMD guys have been bragging about for ages.

Link:
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphi...d-7970-clocks/

Kind of annoys me I can preorder a w/c 680 for £10 less than i can buy a w/c 7970. Someone just tell me to buy the Powercolor LCS 7970 (my impatience has been building since January).

[Live OR Die]

I would go for a nvidia card over a amd any day just for the driver support, I had 2 HD 7970s and they were good cards but there drivers were really poor.

[the54thvoid]

Originally Posted by Live OR Die

I would go for a nvidia card over a amd any day just for the driver support, I had 2 HD 7970s and they were good cards but there drivers were really poor.

Yeah, I know all about your experiences (followed your posts ). I'd like to hear some more feedback on single gpu set ups. I'd not go sli or crossfire again just because of the uncertainty and the fact for one screen, the outlay in cost is not worth the performance improvement.

I was waiting to get a watercooled 7970 but I've seen soooooooooooooooooo many negative articles about AMD drivers that it's bumped my confidence. I guess I've waited since January so a few more days to get a watercooled 680 wouldn't kill me.

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by Live OR Die

I would go for a nvidia card over a amd any day just for the driver support, I had 2 HD 7970s and they were good cards but there drivers were really poor.

Since I got my second 6870, I've had absolutely no issue with running games in Crossfire. I think the driver argument is a little flakey because I've never had this "instability" that everyone talks about with AMD drivers. What did you do to make the driver become unstable and was it reproducible?

[Synon Zelra]

to tell the truth. i don't care too much if it's amd or nv
now I just want the card can CF/SLI in windows.

[radrok]

Single GPU setups are fine on AMD drivers just don't run 120hz monitors.
What about a 7970 DCII with the new EK DCII block? Overclocks to 1300Mhz, more or less, naturally it can't be guaranteed for every chip.

http://www.bjorn3d.com/news/EK-FC797...sted/1463.html

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by Aquinus

Since I got my second 6870, I've had absolutely no issue with running games in Crossfire. I think the driver argument is a little flakey because I've never had this "instability" that everyone talks about with AMD drivers. What did you do to make the driver become unstable and was it reproducible?

You also have no frame of reference though - i.e. the drivers from AMD are 'ok' but the ones from Nvidia are much better. Reviewers will often do side by side comparisons. In general what happens is when the AMD drivers work, they work great, but the support is not for as many games as NV.

Also, NV tends to release profiles BEFORE a new big title comes out, whereas AMD tends to do it some time after.

To add to this, you have an older gen card, so by definition your drivers are much less 'flaky' than the guys running 7 series crossfire.

[Shurakai]

I would like to say 680 hands down due to the horrible drivers and random game performance my 7970 DCUII has (lets not even mention the constant flickers), but I don't own one yet. Right now I can say getting smooth performance out of a 7970 is pure luck (Had a Gigabyte 7970 as well, no better than my DCUII and it had a huge coil whine as a bonus).

I don't jump ship much, but after my long(ish, compared to some) line of cards, 9800Pro - X850XT - 1950Pro - 8800GTX - 4850 - < Crossfired - GTX295 - HD5870 and finally HD7970's, I can say the Nvidia series gave me the least trouble, especially with dual monitor setups, the 8800GTX did need a HR-03 to be brought down to bearable noise levels though and the 295 never really got bearable lol

[Red_or_Dead]

Originally Posted by Live OR Die

I would go for a nvidia card over a amd any day just for the driver support, I had 2 HD 7970s and they were good cards but there drivers were really poor.

so you are saying they are better cards than what is offered by todays drivers? So why go nVidia over AMD anyday? you just said 7970's were good cards therefore with better drivers they are what.. great.. amazing.. cards??

[ShiBDiB]

Wheres the question... the nvidia card runs faster, with less power usage, and is cheaper...

[Red_or_Dead]

based on AMD's "poor" drivers apparently

[ShiBDiB]

Originally Posted by Red_or_Dead

based on AMD's "poor" drivers apparently

If your using this logic then nvidias drivers still need to mature as well

[Red_or_Dead]

"I" am not using that logic, read the thread ffs

[Jetster]

Is this the pissing thread. Really thier both nice card and both have issues Really I would take ether one. The competition is very close and thats whats important. It means lower prices for all !

[ShiBDiB]

Originally Posted by Red_or_Dead

"I" am not using that logic, read the thread ffs

your the one who quoted me and said it...

[Benetanegia]

Originally Posted by Red_or_Dead

based on AMD's "poor" drivers apparently

He said "poor drivers", he didn't say "slow drivers".

[Black Panther]

Please keep the discussion civil. The reason why Nvidia vs AMD threads are frowned upon and end up locked is because such topics always degenerate to flaming and insults. Don't disappoint me for not having locked this thread. There'll be no further warnings.

[Crap Daddy]

I thought that it's almost impossible to have a clock per clock comparison since you cannot fix the values for the GTX680. They are constantly adapting to load based on the offset value.

[yogurt_21]

I find it funny that W1z review shows a 6% overall difference and a 4% difference at 2560x1600 while their review shows more than double that percent variation. 14% overall and 12% at 2560x1600.

It makes it hard to take them seriously in this comparison because they're basically overclocking the 7970 and showing the same variation than W1z did with both at stock.

then you take into account the fact that clock matching is impossible and they really do look silly.

even so between the cards at their current price it's a no brainer 680. Faster overall and cheaper while using less power. AMD really needs to drop the price on their 7 series.

[TheMailMan78]

As a long time AMD user who just now switched to NVIDIA I can say 680 all the way.

[the54thvoid]

Originally Posted by yogurt_21

I find it funny that W1z review shows a 6% overall difference and a 4% difference at 2560x1600 while their review shows more than double that percent variation. 14% overall and 12% at 2560x1600.

It makes it hard to take them seriously in this comparison because they're basically overclocking the 7970 and showing the same variation than W1z did with both at stock.

then you take into account the fact that clock matching is impossible and they really do look silly.

even so between the cards at their current price it's a no brainer 680. Faster overall and cheaper while using less power. AMD really needs to drop the price on their 7 series.

No disrespect to W1z but as a scientific approach you take as many reviews as possible to come to a conclusion. W1z is utterly impartial and thorough and that is why we like and trust him. And he has a sense of humour.
But there are other good reviewers out there so it's important to take an average and not rely on one person (who may have had a poor card or a software glitch or whatever).
This review is poor as an example - just look at the games used. Very limited and only uses 1080p. http://www.ocaholic.ch/xoops/html/mo...l_lang=english

[m1dg3t]

How the hell did this thread lead to questioning W1zz's testing methodology?

[W1zzard]

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

How the hell did this thread lead to questioning W1zz's testing methodology?

feels like it always does ^^

[EarthDog]

Thats sad too. As a reviewer myself who doesnt go through NEARLY the effort TPU/W1zz does (we dont have the funds to support our entire review team with games for their benchmarks so most of ours are free with benchmarks), I find it a bit shocking to have it come in to question. This is the FIRST place I go to to look at reviews on ANY product.

I didnt look at that Hexus article, but I have a funny feeling there were some obvious differences in either, settings of the game, resolution (1080p vs 1200), or even the system used. So in most cases its silly to even try to compare one review off another and expect an apples to apples comparison.

[theoneandonlymrk]

Originally Posted by Live OR Die

I would go for a nvidia card over a amd any day just for the driver support, I had 2 HD 7970s and they were good cards but there drivers were really poor.

spoke like a fool, AMD'sdriver department is working fine and well, as ever they brought out a new card ,then perfected / optimised the drivers,

and before you say it ,no AMD are not perfect ,neither are nvidia when it comes to drivers
ive bought both brands on day one and found i had issues for the first few months, my 5870 was a biatch with some games , it has been faultless for most of the time ive had it,

only a fool would buy something like that and expect perfection from the off and x2

sorry sounds agro at you but i hear this shit continuously ,and its fanboy BS, both driver teams can be faulted but on the whole they do both do well