ZudeoI agree with your choice man. I have two 670 FTW's in SLI and they're silent and power consumption is king. They're definitely the BEST choice for a dual GPU setup.

Most of us neither want nor need the kings of power consumption. Computers are less and less about raw performance at any cost and more and more about efficiency. Only kids, who have their bills paid by others (their parents), or institutions which too have their bills paid by others (most often by taxpayers) go for "kinf of power consumption" when presented with a choice.

raghu78If you get a custom HD 7970 like Gigabyte HD 7970 Windforce the card runs cool.

www.hardocp.com/article/2012/02/08/gigabyte_radeon_hd_7970_oc_video_card_review/8

"While idling at the desktop, the stock GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7970's temperature was 34 degrees Celsius while the fans were running at 20%, and extremely quiet. Under full load the temperature increased to 67c, however fan speed only increased to 34%. We did not have any issue with the fans at this speed. On the overclocked GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7970 we had fan speeds set to 80%, which was not as loud as most video cards, and helped remove a ton of excess heat. At idle, the video cards temperature was 25 degrees Celsius. Under full load with fans still at 80% temperature only reached 56c. "

FYI thats a 1300 Mhz HD 7970 running at 56c with fan speed at 80% and at reasonably low noise levels. And the best part is there is no throttle even if you get your cards to 75c at lesser fan speeds.

I have the GTX 670 OC version of that card. The cooler is pretty amazing, I've never hit temps higher than 50c with the fan at 50%. I picked up the card over the weekend as it was cheaper then the 7970 ($394 vs ~$490, now $430 with the pricedrop). This price drop has made me rethink my purchase somewhat, but the fact that I can just drop my old 9800GT into my system and use it for PhysX without any modding is great! Yes there are only a few worthwhile PhysX supported games, but they are ones I play regularly so that alone is one huge reason I am happy with my choice, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find other GTX 670 owners regretting their decisions as well.

AndreiD250$ for something which is supposed to be lower mid range? no thanks.
Rather just get the discounted previous generation.

Yea I'm with you on that. I STILL play games at medium/high setting with my setup. I will get myself a 7950 once another price cut comes around, most likely before the 8xxx series hits shelves.

XzibitDo you even know your card is factory overclocked.

Damn, I thought that there are magical asus-fairies in my card that increases the performance by 8%.:rolleyes:

Guess the 7700 series didn't receive any cuts since they are already competitive against Nvidia. The 5770/6770 is still a better choice, though.

I can pick up Gigabyte's 1 GHz 7970 Windforce for $429 already, and have been able to for many weeks now. I don't see this as much of a price cut. GHz Edition should have been $449, and vanilla for $399. Missing the GTX670 price point is a big mistake. I hope OEMs will reduce prices further than AMD has.

hardcore_gamerDamn, I thought that there are magical asus-fairies in my card that increases the performance by 8%.:rolleyes:

I just found it strange you were comparing a OC 670 to a referance 7970 thats all.

Since you went SLi a more reasonable comparison would be.

Your Card

To a OC 7970


670 OC is only 1% higher than a ref 680 and the 7970 OC is 5% faster then a ref 680. 4% advantage to the MSI lightning.

Hmm. This news has made me rethink my upgrade plans a bit. I have been a diehard fanboi of ATI ever since the 9700Pro beat the bejeezus out of nvidia, but lately I've been eying the Asus 670 10/10 score card. Mostly I want a card that can play Skyrim/BF3/Stalker really well while also being cool and quiet.

See, I live in the bloody desert of Phoenix, and lately my 5870 has been overheating and crashing my system (I also do have a first-generation XFX 5870, which are buggy as heck). With these price drops I'm having to rethink the Asus 670.

As an outed and committed fanboi, I'd like some opinions that are free of fanboi'ism. I know that's hard, and I used to want to go to my grave defending ATi/AMD, but nowadays I'm not so sure. With this price cut I might return to contemplating them...

Any thoughts from the professionals out there?

Also, edit: I play at 1920x1080 because I make less than 25k a year and can't find an affordable larger screen, so the 1900x1200 resolution scores are the most important to me (unless somebody has an older, larger monitor they can spare? :P)

Crap DaddySo, the 7850 remains as it is since it's the only card that probably sells well. 7950/7870 are priced to make them attractive before the 660Ti hits.

:toast:

Precisely. When they launch you can bet there will be another cut. End of the day 7870 competes with 660 at a cheaper price (249...229?). 7850 competes with gk106 at ~200. 660/gk106 will narrow the 7800 series margins but likely cause a perfect price gap between 7870/7950 and 7770/7850 where Sea Islands will roost.

XyvikHmm. This news has made me rethink my upgrade plans a bit. I have been a diehard fanboi of ATI ever since the 9700Pro beat the bejeezus out of nvidia, but lately I've been eying the Asus 670 10/10 score card. Mostly I want a card that can play Skyrim/BF3/Stalker really well while also being cool and quiet.

See, I live in the bloody desert of Phoenix, and lately my 5870 has been overheating and crashing my system (I also do have a first-generation XFX 5870, which are buggy as heck). With these price drops I'm having to rethink the Asus 670.

As an outed and committed fanboi, I'd like some opinions that are free of fanboi'ism. I know that's hard, and I used to want to go to my grave defending ATi/AMD, but nowadays I'm not so sure. With this price cut I might return to contemplating them...

Any thoughts from the professionals out there?

We are very similar...

My free-of-bias opinion is wait for the 8800 to drop. It will compete with gk104...be that 680 (as one would hope if 1792sp) or 670 (if the top model is 1536sp). Either way, the prices will erode enormously and value will soar because of diverse options. There will be 1080p bargains aplenty, especially in the >7950 market, where currently from 670 on up is a huge diminishing return.
One can assume your market will be 660/7870-> 680/8870. I expect you will be able to find something perfect between $200->350.

I think 660/7870 is and will end up being the best bet for value...followed closely by 7950/670. I would hold off until the former is under 250 or the later ~300. Even now though a 7950 is a good value for perf/$. 7870 is good for perf/space...and may better suit your climate.

MSI R7950 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC Radeon HD 7950 3GB 38...

MSI R7870 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC Radeon HD 7870 GHz Ed...

XzibitRetailers here today just upped their 670 prices from 399 to 429 on referance designs.

These prices look good but they wont hit retailers for a week or two.



Do you even know your card is factory overclocked. :laugh:

also the new AMD drivers helped the 7970 pull out on top vs the gtx 670 in many benchmarks

still too high. 7970 needs to be at or under the 670's price to be exciting.

Right now it's a bit like: Do you want a card that is 7% more expensive, ever so slightly faster, and substantially louder, hotter, and much more power hungry?

And the answer is... no, not really.

at $429 it is a 'meh' product. Needs to be at $399-$389 to be really attractive.

phanbueystill too high. 7970 needs to be at or under the 670's price to be exciting.

Right now it's a bit like: Do you want a card that is 7% more expensive, ever so slightly faster, and substantially louder, hotter, and much more power hungry?

And the answer is... no, not really.

at $429 it is a 'meh' product. Needs to be at $399-$389 to be really attractive.

qft

phanbueystill too high. 7970 needs to be at or under the 670's price to be exciting.

Right now it's a bit like: Do you want a card that is 7% more expensive, ever so slightly faster, and substantially louder, hotter, and much more power hungry?

And the answer is... no, not really.

at $429 it is a 'meh' product. Needs to be at $399-$389 to be really attractive.

Your logic mimics mine. Since the launch of the GTX 670, the 7970 has been less of a value [money and performance-wise]. I am super satisfied with my Gigabyte GTX 670 OC purchase and it's huge overclocking capability on top of the factory oc.

The 7950 is the card to have ATM if you ask me, nothing to match its performance for the $$$.

Would be nice to see them under $300 but some mfg's are close enough already so...

if their price were really dropped off at the market, i want to buy two 7950 cards and cf them ...

phanbueystill too high. 7970 needs to be at or under the 670's price to be exciting.

Right now it's a bit like: Do you want a card that is 7% more expensive, ever so slightly faster, and substantially louder, hotter, and much more power hungry?

And the answer is... no, not really.

at $429 it is a 'meh' product. Needs to be at $399-$389 to be really attractive.

You want a HD 7970 which competes with GTX 680 when both cards are overclocked and thrashes it in compute or bandwidth constrained scenarios to be available for the same price as GTX 670. And what do you guys have to say about the GTX 680 selling for USD 500+. keep waiting for lower prices. AMD is clearing the stock of HD 7970 and HD 7950. The newer HD 7970 Ghz edition and HD 7950 Ghz edition cards are going to sell at USD 500 and USD 400. They are going to give more performance at stock but overclocked performance is going to be similar to current HD 7970 1 Ghz cards (which do 1150+ Mhz with voltage tweaking) and are selling for USD 450. :)

Dirt Showdown
techreport.com/articles.x/23150/6
www.hardware.fr/articles/869-14/benchmark-dirt-showdown.html

Alan Wake
www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7970_GHz_Edition/6.html
www.hardware.fr/articles/869-7/benchmark-alan-wake.html

Crysis Warhead
www.anandtech.com/show/6025/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-catching-up-to-gtx-680/4

Witcher 2
www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/54954-amd-radeon-hd-7970-3gb-ghz-edition-review-14.html

Metro 2033
www.legitreviews.com/article/1979/8/ (Very High DOF with MSAA)
www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review/16
(Very High DOF with AAA)

The most demanding games run faster on the HD 7970 Ghz. BF3, Crysis 2 are close enough on HD 7970 Ghz and GTX 680. Depending on the review scenario you could get either card coming out ahead. Batman AC (FXAA) is faster on GTX 680 while MSAA is slightly faster on HD 7970 Ghz. Shogun 2 is faster on GTX 680.

Looking at games which are doing 100+ fps at 1080p and judging these high end cards is just silly. None of the high end cards are going to break a sweat in those games. Put them through really demanding games and scenarios. And then you will see the HD 7970's capabilities. And if you still believe the GTX 670 is a match for the HD 7970. :banghead:

raghu78And if you still believe the GTX 670 is a match for the HD 7970.

AMD has finally stepped up and lowered prices to better compete with nvidia. :)

The GTX 670 non-oc is a better value and performance card vs the HD 7970 non-oc for gamings at or below 1080p. Above 1080p AMD's extra memory pulls it ahead. But of course OCing each card will vary results greatly.

I see it as this so far [fell free to amend :D]:

GTX 670 = HD 7970

GTX 670 OC = HD 7970 Ghz/GTX 680

GTX 680 OC = HD 7970 Ghz OC

Hilux SSRGBut of course OCing each card will vary results greatly.

NEvermind every sample of even the exact same card will put out differnt clocks ,s othere is no point in comparing overclocking per se. Factory-Overclocked, sure, but counting on perforamcne that just might not be there doesn't make much sense to me.


I've seen some pretty decent price drops since this was posted, with prices lower than what's posted here, which is what I had hoped would happen. I hope a tonne of cards sell, so AMD can afford more driver programmers! :banghead:

AndreiD250$ for something which is supposed to be lower mid range? no thanks.
Rather just get the discounted previous generation.

come to New Zealand where $250 gets you an HD7770 1GB

and the HD7850 2GB is going for $389.00

gopalWhere do you get these news buddy?
Well it is great but i think the prices are still high

I agree, also on the guy who said 250 for lower/middle range is too much, again agreed, a 7850 isn't enough card for that much a while back I got my two 480's with acceleros pre-mounted on them for that much and they overclock great and stay cool and minus power consumption way better for gaming...and I just recently got an almost new gigabyte 7970 from amazon used (looks new in box) for 335 bucks! Haven't tried it yet so who knows but likely it is fine and that is the way to go, especially these prices for the crappy reference coolers? no thanks...

raghu78You want a HD 7970 which competes with GTX 680 when both cards are overclocked and thrashes it in compute or bandwidth constrained scenarios to be available for the same price as GTX 670. And what do you guys have to say about the GTX 680 selling for USD 500+. keep waiting for lower prices. AMD is clearing the stock of HD 7970 and HD 7950. The newer HD 7970 Ghz edition and HD 7950 Ghz edition cards are going to sell at USD 500 and USD 400. They are going to give more performance at stock but overclocked performance is going to be similar to current HD 7970 1 Ghz cards (which do 1150+ Mhz with voltage tweaking) and are selling for USD 450. :)

capabilities. And if you still believe the GTX 670 is a match for the HD 7970. :banghead:

this is all true, but the gtx 670 beats or at least as you say "competes" with the 7970 in basically every game even at high res and I agree the 7970 is the overall better card but gpgpu are nice for number crunching programs but...that's worthless to a large part of the community or they do little of it so a slower card that is adequate is fine, but yes in most of the situations people care about in gaming particular when you figure in most 670's overclock very high it will compete with a 7970 and run cooler, and use less power so...even if it is slower in some cases overall it has a lot to be reckoned with for the money, this coming from someone who just bought a 7970! lol