The Best Graphics Cards: Nvidia vs. AMD Current-Gen Comparison

Kotaku: AMD kick-started 2012 with the release of the Radeon HD 7970, the first member of the Radeon HD 7000 GPU series. This launch marked the introduction of the first-ever graphics card to be made on a 28nm design process, representing the company's most complex GPU to date, with 4,313 million transistors in a 352mm2 die.

[hiredhelp]

Finally a proper benchmark with both AMD Boost and Non Boost cards.

[dedicatedtogamers]

The only thing they don't mention is the compatibility of these cards and the drivers they use. I have a 7xxx series AMD Radeon card, and there are a handful of games (mostly R* games) that are a pain in the butt to get working. nVidia, while they do have their flaws, have better driver compatibility.

[Wikki]

just bought the AMD 7870 on a black friday sale for 150 off... excited for the shipment to arrive. miles ahead of my current 4850

[ATi_Elite]

AMD pretty much beat the crap outta Nvidia this round!

HD 7970 GHZ card is a straight up BEAST! Then add in the fact that you can get one cheaper than a GTX680 and also the HD 7970 performs better than a GTX 680 across 3 screens!

after that though pretty much any card you get is good enough for your budget! Also I prefer SLi/CFX instead of one card but that's just me! If your gonna spend $500 bucks on a GPU then u might as well buy 2 $250 GPU's and out perform one $500 GPU!

Nvidia does have CUDA, Physx, and Native 3D while AMD's has ATi Stream and OpenCL (CUDA like features) and 3D by way of you choosing what 3D software you want but NO Physx!

All in all any card you get is good as long as it's within your budget!

[vortis]

Hey man, quick question:

What's the bottleneck for a CPU configuration using a HD 7970? Would I need a hexcore to make most out of an OC'd 7970?

[decrypt]

You dont need a Hexacore, thats because games barely use quad core. Unless you are into video editing or something.

I would recommend any intel quad core around 3ghz. Oc it to 4.5ghz and you are golden. Preferably an I5 CPU. Its cheaper and is just as fast as an I7 in games.

Edit: I would recommend the 3570k cpu if you are on a budget, its amazingly powerful and nothing beats it at that price (229usd) this will easily oc between 4.5 Ghz - 5ghz.

I personally prefer Nvidia over AMD, due to better driver support. The difference between a GTX 680 and 7970oced edition isnt huge, both of them play games flawlessly. Its just that in the end Nvidia has always proven to have better drivers.

[vortis]

@decrypt

Okay thanks.

I already have a QC @ 3ghz but I wasn't sure if getting a 7970 would be too much. Main thing I'm trying to avoid is bottlenecks.

But thanks again for for the info. Right now the 680 is way too expensive but I really do want that PhysX support.

[Petro]

Only thing there is that they didn't test GTX 690 at all, well yes its expensive, but it is faster than any other card out there. One GTX 690 is little over twice as powerful as SLI GTX 670.

[infamous-butcher]

well it is a dual gpu card. Its kile saying they didnt have the 7970 in Xfire or 680 in sli. I think you made a mistake there too. one 690 is not 2X 670 in sli. one 670 yes but not 2X.

[Petro]

"One GTX 690 is little more powerful than SLI GTX 670." That's how I was supposed to write it, didn't obviously check what I wrote there, sorry for that one. :P

"well it is a dual gpu card. Its kile saying they didnt have the 7970 in Xfire or 680 in sli."
No and no, even tho it has twice the amount of chips on it, it doesn't mean that its two cards, you can still have 4 way SLI with GTX 690. So GTX 690 is a single card.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

Might find this interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Petro]

Well, to his defense, he has no idea that he is wrong about the fact that PhysX has a way bigger hit on the CPU than on GPU, but Borderlands 2 happens to be very light on CPU so it doesn't really matter there. :)

[AKS]

The fact that the 7970 GHz is around 1 ft. long and weighs 3 to 4 lbs. took it out of contention for me. I went with a 2-card setup, and there's no way I could fit two of those monsters onto my board. Went with 2 EVGA GTX 670 4GB cards instead.

I'm pretty happy with my GPUs. They chew up most games with ease. The downside is that I've pissed off a few people by recommending games they've seen me playing and then later discover that it's too demanding for them to run at decent settings. I have a hard time detecting such things with my current setup. LOL.

[LAWSON72]

The 7950 for $300 is such a great price. Also, to make it even better when i ordered mine it came w/ far cry 3, hitman, and sleeping dogs for free.

[papashango]

If you look around and wait for sales the Sapphire Dual-X 7970 drops to around 360'ish.

Very very good aftermarket cooling. I have mine OC'd to 1200mhz. This card OC's like a champ.

[SkullBlade169]

Rocking my GTX670. ^^ Was a nice upgrade from the HD4870 that I was using before.

I got burned by AMD's patchy driver support so I'm not using them again even if their cards do perform better.

[B-radical]

In all fairness the amd cards have more memory on them. Which is a good thing for AMD fans, i currently have a gtx 560ti which atm is still holding up.....for now... lol i do plan on getting either a 600 or 700 series gtx when they become available

[AKS]

I think the difference in VRAM is going to start becoming significant in they very near future (strictly for high end graphics of course), which is why I bought 4 GB versions of my cards. I was told by many that there's no reason to buy a card with more than 2 GB of VRAM, but I have two games in which I managed to exceed 2 GB of VRAM at just 1080p already, Crysis 2 and Max Payne 3.

http://steamcommunity.com/s...

You can also easily get there with heavily modded games. And it would be no problem to find games that hit exceeded 2 GB if you moved up to 2560 x 1600 and beyond.

[Zha1tan]

I like AMD and Nividias competition, its healthy for the GPU industry.

Just recently upgraded from a PNY GTX 580 to a Twin FroZr III GTX 680 which is alot mroe powerful, uses alot less power and runs incredibly cool! Its idling at 23 degrees right now and on load goes to 50.

Its also overclocked so its pretty rediculous!

http://i.imgur.com/Zqsgy.jp...

[coolmaster]

I absolutely love my GTX670. I think that for now it is the best card for your money because it performs flawlessly in any game, ranging from BF3 to Skyrim and Hitman Absolution. Drivers are coming out frequently and it is good. I'm fully satisfied with it and will be replacing it only when the 700 series comes out.