660 TI vs HD7970

[Getback]

Just curious about the pros and cons of both. May order this tonight. The 7970 is cheaper I believe.

[gyrene81]

depending on the brand/model whether it factory oc'd or not...looks like the 7970 3gb is better in some, not as good in others.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/647?vs=508&i=371.372.373.374.375.376.377.378.379.380.381.382.385.384.383.386.387.388.389.390.392.393.394.395.396.397.400.398.401.459.457.456.405.460.391.426.406.424.407.411.410.422.423.409.413.412.414.415.416.417.418.419.420.421

[Debrody]

No contest: the 7970 is 30-35% faster than the Geforce, but also is around 450$ while you can get the 660ti for ~300$.
The real match is between the 7870 - 660Ti (about the same performance, the Radeon is ~50$ cheaper) or the 680 - 7970 (about the same performance, the Radeon is ~50$ cheaper again).

[Getback]

I pulled the trigger on this. Ordered the 660 TI. For some reason just couldn't wait. Haven't used nvidia in years. My current card is a 3800 radeon if that tells you something. That will go into my other computer.

I felt the TI had good performance for the money and let's face it. Has to be much better than a 5 year old video card.

[gyrene81]

err...what processor do you have in that system?

[Debrody]

I cant really follow your logic Sabot, but have much fun with your new toy 

[Getback]

err...what processor do you have in that system?

i5 2500k

[Getback]

I cant really follow your logic Sabot, but have much fun with your new toy 

Didn't put a lot of logic into it. Except it was new and shiny.

[gyrene81]

don't worry about what Debrody thinks, you made a decent decision...

[Getback]

don't worry about what Debrody thinks, you made a decent decision...

It was a at the moment sort of thing. I've heard the TI's were good and that the 560 TI was highly recommended on these boards. Soooooooooooooo if the 560 TI is good the 660 TI must be outstanding. It seemed the benchmarks against other Nvidia products was fairly high and less in cost. It was the 7870 that I was comparing it to. I put 7970 in error. The 7870 was much less expensive for the record.

I haven't used Nvidia since I bought one that just sucked. Ended up giving that to my son. Then I was given a 6950 by a board member. Which I deeply appreciated but it ran extremely hot. Never did get it to work right.

Anyway I'm looking forward to putting this bad boy in. Though now I'm wondering if I have a 3.0 bus or whatever that is. I think I have the same MB as you Gyrene. Do you know?

[Debrody]

Oh, got you now.
Yes, the 560Ti was a great card price-performance wise, the 660Ti is quite fast too. Only thing, the 7870 can give you the same performance for a sightly lesser price, i would have chosed that one.
Anyway, your card is a decent one, i hope you will find fun with it for a long time 

[cattb]

If its not 3.0 slot, the card should be backward compatible. Look up your motherboard at the manufacturers website. The info should be there.

[Getback]

If its not 3.0 slot, the card should be backward compatible. Look up your motherboard at the manufacturers website. The info should be there.

I hope it is backwards compatible. My configuration is 2.0 x 16. Darn it.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I hope it is backwards compatible. My configuration is 2.0 x 16. Darn it.

The card does not require a 3.0 slot, it's only supported.

[Getback]

Received and installed it last night. Upped some settings just a tad to see what would happen. I think the settings were "View details faster and ground effects" or something like that. It kept on chugging along nicely. Can't say it was readily apparent that it was better than my old Radeon 3800. Then it dawned on me that maybe the colors were just a bit brighter and the graphics much smoother. Normally I play about 35 minutes and log but last night I was on for maybe 2 hours and my eyes didn't get strained. Then I was somewhat inspired and began attacking from a disadvantaged position. It was just fun.

A couple of things that were different from the Radeon series is the power came from 2 6-pin connections on top of the card. That allowed a bigger card and easier access to plugging the cables in. At first I kept looking at the card thinking where do you put the cable. They weren't at the end like I'm use to. Then when I was about to believe they didn't need an additional power source I spotted the double 6-pin connection on top. Since the old card had only used one 6-pin connection I wondered if my Power Supply had the capability. It did. After a short search through a giant box of cables I found another 6-pin cable.

The installation, both physical and driver, went very smoothly. Usually I miss something. It started right up with out issues.