New build - what graphics card would you recomend?

[awelect]

Hi guys,

I have built my first pc using:
RampageIV extreme motherboard,
i7 3930K CPU,
Corsair H80 cooling
and Corsair DDR3-1600 16GB RAM.
SILVERSTONE Strider Essential ST70F-ES 700W ATX12V Active PFC Power Supply

Running windows 7 Pro 64 bit. At the time my budget couldn't stretch to a decent graphics card (to avoid the mocking I won't spec that here). I can afford one now. I am looking at:

ASUS HD7970-DC2T-3GD5 Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0
Or
ASUS GTX680-2GD5 GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0

There isn't a lot of price difference, the Radeon having more ram surprises me as the cheaper card. Any suggestions would be very gratefully received - is there something else I should be looking at?

Cheers,

Andrew

[HiVizMan]

Are you planning on over clocking either card?

And both cards are very good and have their good points and their bad points depending on who you are talking too. Graphic cards are the pride and joy of fanbois all over the world. The red and green camp is very polarised. To say the least.

Honest answer is either would be perfect for your need as there is nearly nothing between them, one will be slightly (less than 1%) better in one game and the other would be just as slightly better in another.

The only real plus is the fact that with the red team (AMD) you can add a second card of a different model in a year or two's time, CrossfireX allows a pretty fluid upgrade path. Sli does not, you need to have the same card with the same amount of memory to Sli.

Both are good.

[awelect]

Thanks very much for your quick and comprehensive reply!

I am not planing to use CrossfireX at the moment and probably won't overclock the card either. But things change and I believe in trying to future proof (impossible with computers I know) so embracing the more flexible expansion path sounds like the better choice.

[Zka17]

awelect wrote:
I am not planing to use CrossfireX at the moment and probably won't overclock the card either. But things change and I believe in trying to future proof (impossible with computers I know) so embracing the more flexible expansion path sounds like the better choice.

Just a thought about future expansions... you may need to upgrade your PSU if you decide to throw in a second VGA... doesn't matter which one of the above cards you will decide to go with, 700W is fine with one of them... but you need more juice if using more then one...

[HiVizMan]

Zka17 the newer cards are using a whole heap less power than say the 480 or 580 cards of last generation. The 7970's and 680's will only use about 350 Watts of power at max load. And unless you are running stress tests 24/7 you are not going to be using full power now are you. But yes 700w for dual cards is going to be right on the edge. That being said the OP might only look at going dual card some time in the future. So right now it is not an issue I would suspect.

[JPBart]

HiVizMan wrote:
Zka17 the newer cards are using a whole heap less power than say the 480 or 580 cards of last generation. The 7970's and 680's will only use about 350 Watts of power at max load. And unless you are running stress tests 24/7 you are not going to be using full power now are you. But yes 700w for dual cards is going to be right on the edge. That being said the OP might only look at going dual card some time in the future. So right now it is not an issue I would suspect.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/05/21/asus_geforce_gtx_680_directcu_ii_top_gpu_review/9

Battlefield 3 single player. Multi player is even higher

GTX 680 uses 425 Watts
HD 7970 uses 432 Watts

Not a chance you can run 2 of them on a 700W PSU. Minimum of 1000W but 1200W would be ideal.

[Arne_Saknussemm]

JPBart wrote:

GTX 680 uses 425 Watts
HD 7970 uses 432 Watts

Those figures are total system power which includes 160w non GPU power. 700w would be 40 w below the limit...850 would do it fine. There are plenty of sli certified 850s.

A Gtx 670 now wont break the bank and is right up there on performance. Another one sometime down the road wont leave you short of power....

[awelect]

Hi all,

Thanks for your great comments.

Update:
I have bought and installed ASUS HD7970-DC2T-3GD5 Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 and it works like a charme!

I don't think I will have the need for an additional graphics card - was just keeping my options open. Adding another power supply or upgrading down the line isn't an issue. Although space in the box is starting to become an issue - with 6 hard drives, 2 dvd rws, water CPU cooler etc even in a big box gets full!

[Zka17]

Yes, Sir! It was just a thought as the OP mentioned "more flexible expansion path"...
I agree, right now, 700W will not be an issue whichever card, in single configuration, would be selected...

[chrsplmr]

With all that running .. you may want to consider - sooner, than later with the PSU.
Great choice on the GPU, Best of Luck..
You can cross-fire Anytime ... agreed.c.