7970 vs 7950

[RadeonHDx]

I know I've done one of these threads before on the 7990 vs 690 but anyway...
Which is better for gaming and is it really worth the £100 for the difference in performance? BTW I can't crossfire and I will be doing a pretty nice custom loop for this in a Bitfenix Prodigy .
Thanks!

 

[SeekaX]

you want to upgrade from a 7870 to a 7950/7970? dat sense. but yea the 7970 is probably the better choice considering that you thought about dual gpu cards.

 

[SavageCupcake]

I'm not sure on this but a 4170 might bottleneck a 7970. I'd still get the 7970 though.

 

[Cru]

Pretty sure a 4170 would bottleneck a 7970

 

[alienware]

All depends on the game as to whether it's CPU dependent.

I reviewed a Celeron G530 last year vs a I7 950 and the Celeron did amazingly well. Both were running a single GTX 480.

 

[RadeonHDx]

No, this would be going in a fresh new build with a 3570k but thanks for the reply's anyway!

 

[SavageCupcake]

Oh if its with a 3570k then get the 7970 for sure

 

[SeekaX]

can only share my experience with a 7950 and an FX-4100. new games run properly, old games run like crap. some driver issues.

 

[alienware]

What resolution are you going to be running the card at? If you are running at 1080p then there's no point in getting a 7970 as at that resolution it will achieve nothing a 7950 can't. The same can be said if you were looking at either the 670 or 680.

The only game you will see any benefit in is Crysis 3, and tbh even a 7970 can't run that at max settings with 4XMSAA. Well, not at a decent frame rate any way.

Personally I would opt for the 7950, then if you really feel the need add another at a later date (or if you want to play Crysis 3 at acceptable frame rates with MSAA on).

If you are running 3 monitors then by all means go with a 7970 but I can't help feel they're a bit pointless if you're running 1080p on one monitor.

 

[seumasbeathan]

Im going to go for the 7950 here, the extra £100 doesnt seem worth it for me

 

[Destro521]

if its just single card I would say 7950 for sure. I have nothing but great experiences with my XFX black editions and the icing on the cake is that @ 1200 Core and 1575 memory Both my cards are stable

While I haven't tried my older games yet the newer games run fine

 

[NeverBackDown]

Considering you can not add another gpu because it is a mini itx build, then by all means go for a 7970, also you were looking at a 680/7990. Have you thought about the TITAN? Pretty sure it is the same length as a 680, which is about the same length on a 7970, should fit and give you steller performance in an ITX build

 

[RadeonHDx]

Thanks for all the feed back
I wont be getting a TITAN as they are about £800 and I don't really want to dish out double as much money as I was hoping on the build.
As for the 7970 vs 7950, is the only real difference the clock speeds and the slightly different processing chip?
Thanks again!

 

[SeekaX]

Thanks for all the feed back
I wont be getting a TITAN as they are about £800 and I don't really want to dish out double as much money as I was hoping on the build.
As for the 7970 vs 7950, is the only real difference the clock speeds and the slightly different processing chip?
Thanks again!

afaik a 7950 is a 7970 chip that wasn't good enough.

 

[alienware]

afaik a 7950 is a 7970 chip that wasn't good enough.

Pretty much. Same goes for any GPU below a 680 really. They cut them from the same wafers then anything that doesn't make the grade gets lazer cut (to remove the cores that are faulty) and then sold as a lower product.

It's rare that they leave in any easter eggs like they did with the 6950. Toward the end of production they actually lazer cut out the extra shaders.

 

[SeekaX]

Pretty much. Same goes for any GPU below a 680 really. They cut them from the same wafers then anything that doesn't make the grade gets lazer cut (to remove the cores that are faulty) and then sold as a lower product.

It's rare that they leave in any easter eggs like they did with the 6950. Toward the end of production they actually lazer cut out the extra shaders.

meh that is not exactly right. the gk104 GPU is used in the 680, 670 and 660ti. the 660 and the 650ti use gk106 and the 650 gk107.
same for amd. 7970 and 7950 use tahiti, 7870 and 7850 use pitcairn.

 

[alienware]

meh that is not exactly right. the gk104 GPU is used in the 680, 670 and 660ti. the 660 and the 650ti use gk106 and the 650 gk107.
same for amd. 7970 and 7950 use tahiti, 7870 and 7850 use pitcairn.

Well I didn't mention the 660 and 650ti

 

[SeekaX]

Well I didn't mention the 660 and 650ti

you said everything below 680, you didn't set a limit

 

[RadeonHDx]

Ok thanks guys! 7950 it is! (unless I get a good amount of money from my current system)

 

[NeverBackDown]

Do you have a build log yet? Would love to see it come together!