nVidia or AMD ? i need a upgrade soon

[Scott Webber]

i plan on using 1 car, if i knew how to do SLI then i would use both, but i have no clue so that option is out for me

the HD 7970 is sold out everywhere and i could be waiting a while for that card

i just want a system that can handle my settings on 3 screen, i want most settings on High and a few on Medium or Low (shadows being one of them) is the GTX 680 a big step better then the 7870?

i want the 7970 but im not prepared to wait a while for it (iv'e been waiting 1-2 months now)

Thanks Jim Cole

 

[Calum McLure]

i plan on using 1 car, if i knew how to do SLI then i would use both, but i have no clue so that option is out for me

the HD 7970 is sold out everywhere and i could be waiting a while for that card

i just want a system that can handle my settings on 3 screen, i want most settings on High and a few on Medium or Low (shadows being one of them) is the GTX 680 a big step better then the 7870?

i want the 7970 but im not prepared to wait a while for it (iv'e been waiting 1-2 months now)

Thanks Jim Cole

Plenty on Dabs

http://www.dabs.com/search?q=hd 7970

 

[Rupe Wilson]

i think also you have to have a motherboard that will do sli.... not all do ... maybe wrong on this..

 

[Scott Webber]

Plenty on Dabs

http://www.dabs.com/search?q=hd 7970

ahh cheers m8, never used them before, they any good at deliverying dabs??

cheers.

im going to buy this one - http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-a...i-direct-cu-ii-top-7ZQ1.html?q=hd 7970&src=16

seems to be the best on there so far.

 

[Calum McLure]

ahh cheers m8, never used them before, they any good at deliverying dabs??

cheers.

Aye they're pretty good. I ordered a PSU and GPU from them and it arrived a couple of days later.

 

[Tom]

Newest benchmark (Crysis 3): http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/crysis-3.63688/#post-1372623

 

[Scott Webber]

Newest benchmark (Crysis 3): http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/crysis-3.63688/#post-1372623

thanks tom, im going to blow my mind, so what card should i get? Ghrrr!

 

[Tom]

thanks tom, im going to blow my mind, so what card should i get? Ghrrr!

GTX690, 2 of them!

 

[Scott Webber]

GTX690, 2 of them!

no thanks! lol can't afford it

so im 70% sure im going to get the 7970 , but then i also want the GTX 680 which is almost as equal.

 

[Tom]

no thanks! lol can't afford it

so im 70% sure im going to get the 7970 , but then i also want the GTX 680 which is almost as equal.

I'd never take an ATI anymore, to be honest. Always go with nVidia.

Edit: to explain this a little further, I've always had driver issues with ATI cards. The Crysis 3 performance is good but still...I'd rather take the 680 with a slightly better performance or a card with slightly worse performance but avoid the issues.

 

[Scott Webber]

well as im investing in a card i want to keep for the next 1-2 years , i think the GTX 680 might be my best bet, it runs pretty equal to the 7970, really confused by the two cards, both are epic.

 

[Tom]

well as im investing in a card i want to keep for the next 1-2 years , i think the GTX 680 might be my best bet, it runs pretty equal to the 7970, really confused by the two cards, both are epic.

I can't fault the 680, never had any issues and I still have to find a game that can drop it below 30 FPS.

 

[Jim Cole]

The 680 is going to be very near the same, it all depends on availability and cost. There have been issues with drivers for ATI, and there have been issues in the past with nVidia drivers, so it is pretty much a toss up right now, though the nVidia does appear to be the smoother at the moment, but AMD is working on that issue and has drivers in beta that seem to make it about as smooth as the nVidia drivers.

I will tell you though that I have never had an issue with an ATI driver, might have been my configuration though, not sure.

 

[Scott Webber]

Jim Cole i have never had issues at all with ATI, been with them for the past 6-7 years now, not once have i had a issue, but i fancy a change, that that change all depends on my 3 screens and what would work better.

7970 3GB, or the 680 2GB, both have their perks & both have their downsides..... it's a really hard decision for me

 

[Jim Cole]

Trust me, I know your dilemma Scott. Suffice it to say that you really can't go wrong with either choice, but personally I would go with the ATI card myself. The extra 1Gb of vRAM on the ATI might come in handy later on if games start pushing larger graphics files.

 

[Scott Webber]

it's really annoying, i got to the point of thinking of spending my money on something else, just not not make that hard decision

 

[Matt Horst]

I'm in a graphics card quandary at the moment myself.I got a MSI lightning 7970 a couple of weeks ago and it failed after 4 days and a lot of other brand 7970's seem to have problems also.I thought initially my motherboard my have a bad pci-e slot.I found myself standing on the edge of the obis not being able to game or simrace so i panict and started ordering parts and got to the point that i basically wound up ordering most of what i need to build a new machine.I decided to give the GTX 660ti a try in the new build.After a shopping spree at new egg i figured out that my mobo is actually fine so now it looks like my new build will be a nice back up machine or maybe a dedicated sim racing rig.I still need to find a good upgrade for the 2 5770's i had to reinstall and still would like to go in the 7970 direction.FYI new egg has discontinued the MSI lightning 7970 so it looks like there is a serious problem with that card.Interestingly enough the cheapest 7970 on the market,the Sapphire,seems to be the most reliable with the most favorable reviews so thinking about this card or maybe the Gigabyte witch also has good ratings.New egg has a lot of reviews on all the graphics cards you can read through.
I should have the new machine built in a week or so i will post back in this thread on how the 660ti performs.

The new build:
Case-NZXT Phantom 410
OPTICAL-Lite-on dvd-rom (It was dirt cheep and probably only going to use it once anyway)
Mobo-MSI 970A-G46
CPU-AMD FX 4130 quad core @ 3.8 GHz
CPU COOLER- ARCTIC freezer 13
RAM-8gigs G-skill sniper series @1866
GPU-EVGA GTX 660ti superclocked
PSU-Antec Earthwatts 650 watt (had on hand already from an older machine)
HDD-WD caviar black 1tb
Windows 7 pro OEM (found for only 60 dollars on line in a download version here)Actually bought windows 7 home and got a free upgrade because its customer appreciation month.

If anyone has any experience with the FX 4130 i would be interested in your comments on how it performs.I realized after i ordered it i could have got a fx six core with L3 cache for only 20 dollars more.It was cheap and 3.8 GHz so i hastily threw it into my cart but i didn't notice it looks like it only has L2 cache.

P.S. I forgot to mention for the 4 days my 7970 worked it worked dam good.BF3 on max settings,no micro stutter or lag just butter smooth performance fps round 60 all the time.Really bums me out the dam thing failed .I'm on a single screen though not 3 screens.

 

[Matt Horst]

it's really annoying, i got to the point of thinking of spending my money on something else, just not not make that hard decision

Have you thought about a second 7870 to crossfire?Two of those cards would destroy any game for the next few years.And if your mobo cant do crossfire you could still get a new mobo that can and a second 7870 much cheaper than ether a 7970 or GTX 680.For example the mobo i listed above goes for $80.00 us and a 7870 for around $230.00 or so us.So for a little over $300.00 you will have a very formidable setup you wont need to mess with for a good wile.A 7970 here in the us sells anywhere from about $400.00 to $500.00.Not sure about the 680 but probably over $500.00.

Edit:I see in a above post you have ruled out crossfire.I would reconsider simply because the price to performance ratio can be very high.It's very simple to set up.Simply plug in the second card into the second pci-e x16 slot(refer to mobo manual if you have more than 2 pci-e x16 slots for correct placement) and connect the two cards with the crossfire bridge and then enable crossfire in the catalyst control center.The second card should be identical to your first card.

 

[Simon Bacon]

Have you thought about a second 7870 to crossfire?two of those cards would destroy any game for the next few years.

Being biased I'll go with this. Crossfired 2x 7870 a couple of months ago, ATI drivers (especially the betas ) are very good right now. Really big bang for buck. I run everything and stock and too be honest can't see an upgrade on the horizon anytime soon.

 

[Majnu]

Jim Cole i have never had issues at all with ATI, been with them for the past 6-7 years now, not once have i had a issue, but i fancy a change, that that change all depends on my 3 screens and what would work better.

7970 3GB, or the 680 2GB, both have their perks & both have their downsides..... it's a really hard decision for me

I'd go for 2 7950's
If the games don't tickle your fancy you can flog them. The going rate is £60, so you'll have £120 back in your pocket leaving the cards costing you £360 exc any delivery or Quidco/TCB savings.

If you're going multi monitor the larger vram and bus speed on the AMD card will be a better choice.

The cards overclock on average around 1150 but as you know that is a silicone lottery.