6870->660Ti(?)

[Senna]

Hello guys

O sold my 'old' 6870 and I am looking for an upgrade. I was never a fan of nvidia [and i am still not one] but its fair to consider all the options.

I was looking at : 7870 | 7950 and 660Ti. All 3 are in the same high-ish price range. The issue is which one of these 3 is the best?

[Backstory]
I've been looking at over 20 benchmark sites from different countries, my local one too, youtube video reviews and benchmarks. The amount of bullshit i've seen is just beyond me. On one site 7870 completely rapes 660 Ti in raw processing power and performance [by over 10% fps] also eating less power. On the other site 660Ti rapes everything including radeon 7970 [ in the same game and settings as the site before]. On the next they told me 7870 is slower than 6870 . . on the next video comparison this time someone deliberately frozen fps for 6870 on 30fps . . . the amount of bullshit is just beyond me and at this point i can't tell who is "adjusting facts" for some "little cash".


Specific models ive been interested in are:

Zotac GeForce GTX 660 TI AMP 2GB DDR5 PCI-E BOX + Borderlands 2

Because in most 660 benchmarks it seem to be on top and its the least expensive one of all custom 660Ti

Asus Radeon HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP 3GB DDR5 PCI-E BOX V2

It seems to be at the top of 7950 range. Not sure whats the diffrence between V1 and V2 . . .cant seem to find any ghz edition as well . . .

Asus Radeon HD 7870 DirectCU II 2GB DDR5

TOP version is not available in my country. Funny is that on some sites this card actually outperforms 7950 by ~1-5 fps. Not much but still great for a card CHEAPER that 7950.


I am open to suggestions, but i have to make the final decision till Monday 8th/10/2012 so if u have something in mind please say so. This card has to run all games in 1080p full detail, though mostly online/multiplayer so need to have more than "just" 30 fps. I also do a some Photoshop, cad, design stuff so Keplers architecture "Pixel focus" is little bit worrying.

 

[PetrolHead247]

The 7950 is faster than the 660TI and cheaper, if you can afford a 7950 go for that, or a 7870 if you wanna save some cash. I'd recommend getting a non-reference 7870 or 7950, Sapphire & Powercolor make amazing cards, they're quiet, cool and OC very well. Wouldn't recommend Asus as they botched up their DCUii coolers for some AMD cards, there is a V2 out but i'd still avoid it.

 

[ruairi.C]

out of them three the 7950 is the best.
If you don't want to go for the very high end one (ie Asus DCII) try the sapphire 7950s they're really well performing and very quiet.
Some sort of variation of something like this perhaps
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-305-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673
or
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-304-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

basically a non-ref sapphire one
But I don't know what country you're in so I don't know what sites you use

 

[PEXON]

Were starting to see some amazing prices on the 7950/70's now! Its tempting me to get another one!

 

[Senna]

Yeah, what was the reason for making V2 versions of 7950 CU II ?

for price, in here the diffrence is 15pounds . . . .

so 7950 then 15 pounds cheaper 660Ti then 15 pounds cheaper 7870. So they are comperable. . .thats why i crosshop them.

 

[Senna]

Okey i narrowed down to two options:

£227 Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 TI OC 2GB DDR5 - 1111Mhz core 6ghz memory.

£249 Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB DDR5 + SleepingCats- 900Mhz core 5Ghz memory.


I would probably OC the 7950 to 1ggz because it seems piece ass easy. Couldn't find any direct comparison of these cards so hard to tell. The boosted Radeon 7950 seem to win with 660Ti in every non-game thing xD, loosing drastically in bf3, Sc2, portal, etc.

 

[PetrolHead247]

Go for the 7950 for sure

 

[Senna]

The problem is on the benchmarks that does include >Gigabyte< version of 7950 its either the 800mhz version or very very low in scores. I couldnt find the 1111Mhz 660 anywhere . .

 

[jimbo32]

The 660ti is (in my opinion) one of the worst "bang-for-buck" cards available. The 7870 can be found considerably cheaper (around $80 or £50 less in some cases here in Canada) and is not that far off performance-wise, and the 7950 is right around the same price (and sometimes can be found for less), but performs (and OC's) better.

 

[PetrolHead247]

The 660ti is (in my opinion) one of the worst "bang-for-buck" cards available. The 7870 can be found considerably cheaper (around $80 or £50 less in some cases here in Canada) and is not that far off performance-wise, and the 7950 is right around the same price (and sometimes can be found for less), but performs (and OC's) better.

Agreed. Plus the measly 192bit memory bus on the 660TI hurts it massively

 

[PEXON]

Definitely agree, the 660Ti is by no means a worthy replacement for the 560Ti

 

[Senna]

Hmmm which brand should i go for? after checking few stores like newegg. . . it seems like 50% of 7950 and 660Ti are DOA or die within a 6 hour use time. Regardless of brand v_v. Msi's has fked up voltage limiter and the card just sparks herself to death, Asus are doa, Gigabyte has some screen flickering issues with screen going black for 5s etc.

I kinda feel like i sold my card too early because all the stuff available on the market just doesnt seem worth.

 

[Senna]

Definitely agree, the 660Ti is by no means a worthy replacement for the 560Ti

huh ? u sure are in the correct forum topic? THere was nothing ever said about 560 in here. I know coz i read all of them posts x)))

 

[PEXON]

huh ? u sure are in the correct forum topic? THere was nothing ever said about 560 in here. I know coz i read all of them posts x)))

I was making a general point. The 560Ti was a very good value for money card... it performed very well for the price, but IMO the 660Ti doesn't hence my point of it not being a worthy replacement for a 560Ti, making my point very valid. ^_^

 

[Senna]

I see, but then replacing 6870 with 560 is even less valid x-)

 

[PetrolHead247]

I see, but then replacing 6870 with 560 is even less valid x-)

No he was just saying how the 560TI was an amazing card, yet its successor, the 660TI, is poor in terms of bang for buck. He did not state you should get a 560TI.

Anyway, i have no idea where you got the info on 50% of 7950's and 660TI's being DOA. Never heard of any of the issues listed from those vendors either. Something list this or this or this are great cards

 

[Senna]

I know i was making a joke ;P



Huh where? newegg, and my local shop -> comment sections ;P . I have to be really cautious about that because a lot of these cards have V2 versions and stores in here rather than discontinue the V1 as its broken, they are trying to sell them even more on cheap promotions.
The Sapphire one is not available in here, just the "singleFroZR" one with one lousy fan. I am gonna check on the rest.

 

[jimbo32]

You're aware that most people who would go to the trouble of commenting on Newegg are likely people who are dissatisfied, right? I'm sure there are hundreds or thousands of people who are perfectly satisfied and just never bother to post. Regardless, anecdotal "reviews" like those on e-tailers websites should be taken with about a kilo of salt. I'm sure that at least some of those reported "DOA's" are the fault of idiot customers. There was a post on the NCIX product forums recently with a dude raging (multiple posts, swearing, claiming he was ripped off) about how his new Intel 520 SSD wasn't performing up to specs, and it came out later that his motherboard only had SATA II. Even then, he refused to concede that it was his own fault. There are *a lot* of incredibly stupid asshats out there.

Besides, buying any PC component can result in an RMA, regardless of the manufacturer. The only thing you can do is go for a brand you trust and know has good warranty coverage and customer support.

 

[PEXON]

You're aware that most people who would go to the trouble of commenting on Newegg are likely people who are dissatisfied, right? I'm sure there are hundreds or thousands of people who are perfectly satisfied and just never bother to post. Regardless, anecdotal "reviews" like those on e-tailers websites should be taken with about a kilo of salt.

OCZ springs to mind there! Never had any issues with any of there stuff

 

[Senna]

You sir are perfectly right about that, and of course i know about that. I am no saint to begin with. I fucked a perfectly working card on my own, there are people who even order the card just to take the 'freegame' voucher and then send card back for what_ever_reason and complain about it. The deal is companies wouldn't care to release a V2 version of cards if they had it working before. Also manufacturers cannot be trusted, its not Japan, CEO wont bow his head in public and admit fault, they try to cover it up to keep the sales.

My Sapphire 6870 was actually the second one because the first was DOA, displaying only strange colourful patterns on the screen. So i try to save myself from another boring 2weeks of no-gfx-ishness. I do not believe internet graphs at all, on one of them i saw my 6870 scoring 32fps in Heaven, but i got 42.7fps just 2 days ago.