7950 or 7970

FrEaKy

FrEaKy

[H] Movie and TV Show Review Guy
Joined
Jan 31, 2003
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Right now im looking at either the XFX Double D 7950 or the 7970, not sure which to go for, the 7950 being $259 vs the 7970 @ $309, a $50 difference. I have the money to burn for this now and may not get another shot to do this for another 3 or 4 years. Currently am running a 6850 which has been serving me well for almost 2 years.

I plan on playing BF4 with Fraps running (Yes I record gameplay), and Star Citizen as it continues (I know they haven't released recommended anything for SC yet, but I know I can run the discount hanger at 1080p at about 45FPS atm with everything running HIGH).

Which should I really consider, I would like to get the 7950 for sure, but am I better off just spending the extra $50 for the 7970 with the upcoming release of the new R2xx video cards forthcoming? I see all over that they want to compare the R280 to a 7970 and a R270 to a clocked down version of a 7950, so I am just trying to see what my best options are as I have maybe one more week to get this figured out before the wifey finds other uses for my money! :)
 
I'd go for the 7970. I went for the Asus 7970. I will say (not sure if issue has been resolved) that lots of people were having issues with XFX 79xx cards, something about poor VRM cooling I believe. If you're willing to overclock, I believe a nicely OC'ed 7950 isn't much slower than a 7950.
 
R9 280x is a 7970 with faster speeds. msrp on it is $299.

it will have higher resell value in the future, so my vote is to wait

unless you get a good 7970 for <$270
 
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7950 is a great value and performer and it gets my vote unless you can find a killer deal on a reference HD7970.

Both of these cards operate much better when water cooled.
 
J Macker said:
R9 280x is a 7970 with faster speeds. msrp on it is $299.

it will have higher resell value in the future, so my vote is to wait

unless you get a good 7970 for <$270
Click to expand...

I was hearing elsewhere that the 280x was still just a 7970, maybe I was wrong?
 
What if I get a 7950 Double D @ $175 each, thats nto bad is it?
 
FrEaKy said:
What if I get a 7950 Double D @ $175 each, thats nto bad is it?
Click to expand...

Seriously, ignore XFX cards until they can fix their QA process. I've got nothing against them, they have excellent PSUs, but for some reason their GPU thermal solutions are subpar, even with heatpipes.

As for 7950 vs 7970, check out the benches. Note that the 7970 is a GHZ Ed.

Notice that the 7970 GHZ Ed. provides playability in high resolution cases where the 7950 doesn't. You could overclock the 7950 to to get that playability, but your mileage is somewhat limited due to the fewer shaders. That being said, most 7950s have outstanding overclocking potential, so in all likelihood you would be able to cover that deficit.

The real question is: Do you value that extra 10-15% performance increase at the extra ~$100 a 7970 is over a 7950?

If not, go 7950 (Non-XFX). If so, go 7970.

Also, +1 for SonDa5's point.
 
Awesome



I think the smart thing for me to do is just save up what I can and do a mass PC overhaul in the next year or two (by the time star citizen comes out who knows) and than I can buy products based on that time period.
 
FrEaKy said:
Awesome



I think the smart thing for me to do is just save up what I can and do a mass PC overhaul in the next year or two (by the time star citizen comes out who knows) and than I can buy products based on that time period.
Click to expand...

Why suffer through the next gen games that are all coming out with a slow 6870 Freaky? I would buy a nice 7950, as many have mentioned, and enjoy the insane upgrade you are going to get! They o/c very well, even the "average" ones usually hit ~1.1-1.15Ghz on the core, which will give you 7970 performance, often with the stock voltage...

Keep in mind that the GCN cards will also get some nice performance boosts with a lot of new AAA games if Mantle turns out to be half as good as AMD claims it will be...We will get our first taste of it in December with BF4...


EDIT:
Seriously man, buy a good card, and enjoy it..ACtually, if you have the money ready to go, here is the best thing..An MSI Twin Frzr III 7970Ghz Edition with the new games for under $300 out the door, then down to $262 after the MIR..Don't think, just log in and click ORDER!

IF you can fit a 3 slot card in, here is an Asus 7970Ghz Edition that is $287 out the door, and then has a $20 MIR as well...I wouldn't wait, I would bite on either of these and enjoy the 2-2.5X performance improvement!!
 
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