Would you exchange 2x7970's for 2x GTX 680's?

[codydewey]

I have had my new 7970's for a week now, and have been quite pleased. My video card provider has offered to send me out 2 of the gtx 680's. I currently play at 1080p resolution and am looking at either eyefinity or 3d in the next month. It looked like the xfire 7970 were beating out or barely trailing the new 680's in SLI. Opinions, thoughts?

7970's clock 1300/1800 max and 1250/1650 24/7. In a dual card config, is it worth it?

[valtterieranen]

Do you have to pay? If it's a matter of just picking one then I'd go with the 680's. Even if they're matched in performance, the 680's would run cooler and quieter and we all know how good NVidia is with drivers. There's also mention of NVidia sacrificing some SLI scaling to produce more stable framerates with less microstuttering.

[codydewey]

Do you have to pay? If it's a matter of just picking one then I'd go with the 680's. Even if they're matched in performance, the 680's would run cooler and quieter and we all know how good NVidia is with drivers. There's also mention of NVidia sacrificing some SLI scaling to produce more stable framerates with less microstuttering.

No cost to me, no.

Biggest concern is with xfire vs SLI at max clocks.
Microstutter hasn't been an issue with these cards, but I would want to make sure I have the highest possible framerates in a multi card config.

I have a feeling Nvidias 3D solution will be better as well. Unless someone can tell me a reason not to do it, I will have my guy ship me a couple EVGA's next week.

[BTBJP]

No cost to me, no.

Biggest concern is with xfire vs SLI at max clocks.
Microstutter hasn't been an issue with these cards, but I would want to make sure I have the highest possible framerates in a multi card config.

I have a feeling Nvidias 3D solution will be better as well. Unless someone can tell me a reason not to do it, I will have my guy ship me a couple EVGA's next week.

I skipped the 7970s and I am happy I did. So far today the drivers have been great. Not sure if your FPS will be any higher but for no cost I would swap just to be clear of ATI drivers!

[Ruzhyo]

nVidia's 3D is better than ATI w/Tridef. However, it depends a bit on which 3D monitor you go with and which games you play.

However, I have this feeling like ATI's 3GB of RAM is going to be a factor when doing multi-monitor setups and/or 3D...

[dragomirc]

If no cost, nothing to lose performance wise, and noticable gain (power use, less drivers hasle, heat and noise).
I would like you to compare CF vs SLI.

[Raptor156]

Microstutter hasn't been an issue with these cards, but I would want to make sure I have the highest possible framerates in a multi card config.

It probably will be once you go Eyefinity unless AMD fixes it in the next driver release. If it's not fixed in the 12.3 release, I'll probably try to take one card back to Microcenter and sell the one I bought from Newegg for 2x 680s. If they next driver release fixes it, I'll stick with them since I'd rather not have to go through the hassle.

AMD have lost my respect this time with the Crossfire/Eyefinity issues. Single card it's been great, but I didn't buy two to just end up using one...

[codydewey]

nVidia's 3D is better than ATI w/Tridef. However, it depends a bit on which 3D monitor you go with and which games you play.

However, I have this feeling like ATI's 3GB of RAM is going to be a factor when doing multi-monitor setups and/or 3D...

I have read many things that make me agree with you, I am concerned of going with the AMD 3d solution. The RAM limitation may also prove to be an issue, but I will swap out for 4GB versions of the GTX if needed.

If no cost, nothing to lose performance wise, and noticable gain (power use, less drivers hasle, heat and noise).
I would like you to compare CF vs SLI.

Let me start by saying, it's nice to have you around once again, you were missed and several of us were concerned.
The performance should be faster, but there is limited SLI vs Xfire reviews, and even fewer that OC the cards to their max speeds.
It's the driver's, 3D, and performance with non TWIMTBP titles that concerns me. Heat hasn't been an issue with these cards in my case. It's a Corsair black 600t w/ 4x120mm fans intaking through the panel onto the cards. Under load in BF and other games Max temp is 60'c on one of them and 55'c on the other, that is at 1150/1550 clocks.
Id be honored to run some comparative benches for you, just tell me the game / program and what settings to use in the game's/card's options and I will do it!

It probably will be once you go Eyefinity unless AMD fixes it in the next driver release. If it's not fixed in the 12.3 release, I'll probably try to take one card back to Microcenter and sell the one I bought from Newegg for 2x 680s. If they next driver release fixes it, I'll stick with them since I'd rather not have to go through the hassle.

AMD have lost my respect this time with the Crossfire/Eyefinity issues. Single card it's been great, but I didn't buy two to just end up using one...

I hear you R. I am currently using these drivers.->AMD Catalyst 12.4 OpenCL 1.2 (8.960.0 March 15) AMD Official BETA
Here :

Win 7 32/64
http://developer.amd.com/Downloads/O...ersWindows.exe




Try this:
Uninstall your driver and any overclocking tools (AB, Trixx, Precision, etc.)reboot
Run Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?sja6d1z3t2ld6as ATIMAN with option "A", let it do it's things and it will reboot, when it comes back on, then use option "C" and let it run. last option is "Q" to quit. Then reboot again.
Install the driver I linked and then reboot.
Disable ULPS in regedit. Search registry for enableulps. Change all the 1's to 0's, then reboot.There should be two results per pane, change them both and then hit F3 to find the next set, etc.
Verify that ULPS is disabled and your cards are not shutting off. If working proper then continue
Install AB beta 15 http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-Afte...load-2884.html set it up the way you like, monitoring, style ext.
Enable overclocking and set up your fans then reboot.
If you cannot overclock with AB then;
To fix the problem you need to download the two dll files and place them in your system folder. The files should be placed like this:

atipdl64.dll - to - \Windows\System32\
atipdlxx.dll - to - \Windows\SysWOW64\

You need to REBOOT afterwards.

The files can be downloaded here:

http://andora.tk/ATIDrivers.zip


-----
Cross fingers and check your performance...
GL

I skipped the 7970s and I am happy I did. So far today the drivers have been great. Not sure if your FPS will be any higher but for no cost I would swap just to be clear of ATI drivers!

As shown above ^, it would sure be nice to not have Driver nightmares. Nice 3dm11 score, btw!


Thanks for all the input peeps!

[Raptor156]

I hear you R. I am currently using these drivers.->AMD Catalyst 12.4 OpenCL 1.2 (8.960.0 March 15) AMD Official BETA
Here :

Win 7 32/64
http://developer.amd.com/Downloads/O...ersWindows.exe

Linux 32/64
http://developer.amd.com/Downloads/O...iversLinux.tgz


Try this:
Uninstall your driver and any overclocking tools (AB, Trixx, Precision, etc.)reboot
Run ATIMAN with option "A", let it do it's things and it will reboot, when it comes back on, then use option "C" and let it run. last option is "Q" to quit. Then reboot again.
Install the driver I linked and then reboot.
Disable ULPS in regedit. Search registry for enableulps. Change all the 1's to 0's, then reboot.There should be two results per pane, change them both and then hit F3 to find the next set, etc.
Verify that ULPS is disabled and your cards are not shutting off. If working proper then continue
Install AB beta 15 (http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-Afterburner-2.2.0-Beta-15-download-2884.html)and set it up the way you like, monitoring, style ext.
Enable overclocking and set up your fans then reboot.
If you cannot overclock with AB then;
To fix the problem you need to download the two dll files and place them in your system folder. The files should be placed like this:

atipdl64.dll - to - \Windows\System32\
atipdlxx.dll - to - \Windows\SysWOW64\

You need to REBOOT afterwards.

The files can be downloaded here:

http://andora.tk/ATIDrivers.zip

May try that tomorrow, but your links don't work, says Bad Request for me.

[codydewey]

Links fixed, thanks for the heads up. Please let me know what kind of luck you have.