GTX 680 Sli vs HD 7970 CF for large resolutions

[zeddius]

backstory....to make it short i just ordered 2x 7970 for CF, and i wonder if i should cancel the order and buy 2x GTX680. I know that on single monitors the GTX680 beats the 7970 by a safe margin, but my use is eyefinity, so i play games at 5760*1080.

The GTX680 has 2 GB ram vs 3G with the 7970. I have read, without seeing evidence, that 2GB ram might actually be a limiting factor for those resolutions....and if this is true, i might stick with the 7970s.....

Any inputs would be greatly appriciated.

 

[Absolute0]

in 3 monitor setup, performance between the two cards was much closer, the GTX680 lead diminishing. However I haven't seen good SLI benchmarks yet. So wait and see.

 

[Lepton87]

http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/15196-geforce-gtx-680-kepler-samt-sli/15#pagehead that's the only site that did SLI benches. 7970CF actually came out slightly ahead. I wonder why almost nobody did any SLI benchmarks, it's a high-end card(at least in price) many enthusiasts buy those cards for multi-gpu configurations. It probably wasn't in the reviewers guide How long are you going to keep those cards? Right now 3GB doesn't confer any advantage but that will undoubtedly change in the future so for 3 monitor gaming 7970s are more future proof.

 

[notty22]

I believe 3 monitor testing was done at Hocp , and they did not run in to ram limitations at those resolutions. It's brought up in the forums a couple times. Here is Kyles comment on potential 4gb gtx 680's.

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038522274&postcount=59
Kyle_Bennett HardOCP Editor-in-Chief, 14.9 Years
Status:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lorddeth
http://www.evga.com/articles/00669/#GTX680HydroCopper

Awesome review as always guys!!!! And I was looking through the versions EVGA plans to release, the 4GB FTW version as well as the 4GB Hydro Copper versions look AWESOME!!!!!!!!! <drool> I will be snagging some new cards soon methinks.........................;-)


I don't know what EVGA will be charging for it, but I would suggest it will not be worth it if it carries a premium over $50. After seeing what we have seen, I have to wonder why I need more RAM on this GPU.

 

[Lepton87]

I believe 3 monitor testing was done at Hocp , and they did not run in to ram limitations at those resolutions. It's brought up in the forums a couple times. Here is Kyles comment on potential 4gb gtx 680's.

Yes, but that was on a single card.

 

[Grooveriding]

What the 680 needs is more memory bandwidth, not more memory. I would stick with the 7970s as the 680s will not give you more frames and there are a couple games where they will be slower at such high resolutions.

 

[zeddius]

http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/15196-geforce-gtx-680-kepler-samt-sli/15#pagehead that's the only site that did SLI benches. 7970CF actually came out slightly ahead. I wonder why almost nobody did any SLI benchmarks, it's a high-end card(at least in price) many enthusiasts buy those cards for multi-gpu configurations. It probably wasn't in the reviewers guide How long are you going to keep those cards? Right now 3GB doesn't confer any advantage but that will undoubtedly change in the future so for 3 monitor gaming 7970s are more future proof.

According to this test and the fact that i mainly play battlefield 3, i cant see any reasons as to why i should change to GTX680. 7970 CF beats 680 Sli on 5760*1080. If this is correct though

 

[Lepton87]

According to this test and the fact that i mainly play battlefield 3, i cant see any reasons as to why i should change to GTX680. 7970 CF beats 680 Sli on 5760*1080. If this is correct though

There's no reason other than price and brand preference. But for example in my country 7970 is actually 10% cheaper :/

 

[zod96]

Wow at 2560x1440 in BF3 SLI 680 kick ass. 130 max 110 minimum at high settings. That is exactly what I play at too. I get my 2 680's tomorrow Looks like I'll be using a sick day tomorrow

 

[Absolute0]

According to this test and the fact that i mainly play battlefield 3, i cant see any reasons as to why i should change to GTX680. 7970 CF beats 680 Sli on 5760*1080. If this is correct though

Thanks for the link

Also has OC'd 7970 vs. OC'd GTX680 that was very nice to see

 

[INGlewood78]

Honestly, you can't go wrong with either. If I bought today, I'd prob get 680s b/c its $100 cheaper (for 2). I haven't had any problems with drivers but I trust nvidia's driver support more than AMDs...

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Why did they test high when they are getting over 100 mins?

 

[Lepton87]

???


You link the 7970 getting utterly destroyed, 33 min vs 54... It got stepped on.

without time graphs min fps are useless

 

[BallaTheFeared]

without time graphs min fps are useless

Yeah I edited like crazy, with proper mins fps well over 60 at 1600 are worthless as well.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Well the GTX 680 ran into some problems with memory bandwidth on Crysis Warhead which I can only imagine would get worse as the resolution goes up.

The memory bandwith problems may show themselves in games where they didn't before in NV surround.

I think some benchmarks are in order.


Edit: At HardOCP a couple games saw the gap being closed between the cards which is interesting.

 

[Eymar]

More SLI (2x, 3x, 4x SLI) benchmarks: http://nl.hardware.info/reviews/2641/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-quad-sli-review-english-version

Edit: Some more from geforce.com http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/nvidia-surround-on-the-geforce-gtx-680/#1

Also good guide on connections for nvidia surround and single card/sli (link to sli connections) : http://www.geforce.com/optimize/guides/how-to-correctly-configure-geforce-gtx-680-surround/#3

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Quad SLI, oh yeah!

lolz $2000 in gpus


lol how awful.

 

[Lepton87]

More SLI (2x, 3x, 4x SLI) benchmarks: http://nl.hardware.info/reviews/2641/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-quad-sli-review-english-version

It's really a mixed-bag :/

 

[Eymar]

It's really a mixed-bag :/

Yeah, posted before looking in depth. Looks like some optimizations are in order. Tri-sli scaling isn't good at all.

 

[Grooveriding]

Yeah, posted before looking in depth. Looks like some optimizations are in order. Tri-sli scaling isn't good at all.

It generally isn't. The best scaling is always from that second card, once you move into 3 card territory, scaling drops off. There are some outliers where you get amazing scaling on all 3, mostly only in synthetics, not games.

I've seen four card setups that perform worse than three card setups as well, as you can see in this review. Four is pretty much pointless unless you just run 3DMark world record runs or some such thing.

 

[Mopetar]

It's really a mixed-bag :/

Yeah. You can really see where the 680 hits a wall in some games once the settings get maxed out and definitely see where AMD hasn't gotten around to getting their drivers sorted out or bothered with their crossfire profiles.

 

[omeds]

It generally isn't. The best scaling is always from that second card, once you move into 3 card territory, scaling drops off. There are some outliers where you get amazing scaling on all 3, mostly only in synthetics, not games.

I've seen four card setups that perform worse than three card setups as well, as you can see in this review. Four is pretty much pointless unless you just run 3DMark world record runs or some such thing.

I know you have Tri, but so do I, I get great scaling on a single display but generally use heavy amounts of IQ too, SSAA, AO etc.

 

[Snowshredder102]

According to this test and the fact that i mainly play battlefield 3, i cant see any reasons as to why i should change to GTX680. 7970 CF beats 680 Sli on 5760*1080. If this is correct though

There's almost never situations where it's worth it to scrap a flagship GPU for another one.