The 7950 outperforms the 660 Ti in most games. That doesn't mean either is a bad buy.

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

If you want to spend more, the 670 is the best card at the next price point. If you want to spend even more, the 7970 is the way to go. There's no such thing as "future proof" and the best thing to do is to buy the card that satisfies all of your needs for a few years and then, when it doesn't do what you need it to, buy a new card that satisfies all your needs for a few more years. Buying a much higher-end card than you need is not the way to go.

I guess my next question would be 7970 or the gtx 670 ftw?

kayakptboys wrote I guess my next question would be 7970 or the gtx 670 ftw?

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

The $400 7970 will annihilate the $400 670 and overclock much better due to the superior cooler. No question what the better card is, and consider that this 7970 is considered to be better than the 680.

Thank you for all the advice;
if I buy the 7970, would an i5-3570K be a good cpu?
Also this is my first build & I think I plan to over clock my cpu to 4.2

kayakptboys wrote Thank you for all the advice;
if I buy the 7970, would an i5-3570K be a good cpu?
Also this is my first build & I think I plan to over clock my cpu to 4.2

Yes. You'll need a motherboard that can support overclocking and an aftermarket CPU to justify the purchase of an unlocked CPU, though. The 7970 can also require a ~650w PSU when overclocked. What other parts are you looking at?

The best bang for your buck is definitely the EVGA GTX670 FTW+ 4gb. It rivals high end 680s for hundreds less. I got 2 in SLI, they run anything and everything I throw at it at over 160fps easy.

spidum wrote The best bang for your buck is definitely the EVGA GTX670 FTW+ 4gb. It rivals high end 680s for hundreds less. I got 2 in SLI, they run anything and everything I throw at it at over 160fps easy.

I have that and it doesn't even run everything on medium at 160 fps
#GetBoned

spidum wrote The best bang for your buck is definitely the EVGA GTX670 FTW+ 4gb. It rivals high end 680s for hundreds less. I got 2 in SLI, they run anything and everything I throw at it at over 160fps easy.

Your setup only makes sense if you're running a 2560 x 1440 (or 1600) monitor or three 1080p monitors in Surround. For a single 1080p monitor, there's no need for a 4GB card and they exist solely to accommodate SLI setups for high-resolution gaming. Two 670s for 1080p monitor is completely pointless unless the monitor is 120 Hz. If your minimum frame rate is greater than the refresh rate of your monitor (almost certainly 60 Hz) then anything more is pointless.

The 7970 still outperforms the 4GB 670 and, in Crossfire, the 7970s will perform better than two 680s. The 7970 is the better card and it will overclock higher, stay cooler, and be quieter due to a superior cooler.

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

r00t wrote

spidum wrote The best bang for your buck is definitely the EVGA GTX670 FTW+ 4gb. It rivals high end 680s for hundreds less. I got 2 in SLI, they run anything and everything I throw at it at over 160fps easy.

Your setup only makes sense if you're running a 2560 x 1440 (or 1600) monitor or three 1080p monitors in Surround. For a single 1080p monitor, there's no need for a 4GB card and they exist solely to accommodate SLI setups for high-resolution gaming. Two 670s for 1080p monitor is completely pointless unless the monitor is 120 Hz. If your minimum frame rate is greater than the refresh rate of your monitor (almost certainly 60 Hz) then anything more is pointless.

The 7970 still outperforms the 4GB 670 and, in Crossfire, the 7970s will perform better than two 680s. The 7970 is the better card and it will overclock higher, stay cooler, and be quieter due to a superior cooler.

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

Whoah Whoah! Butthurt ati fanboy over here. Calm down son. No need to get your jimmies rustled. I personally do not use ati cards purely because they are severely more prone to failure, their build process is less precise and my water blocks are for 680s. But if you want to buy a cheaper card that is more likely to break sooner be my guest. But at least with nvidia I get what I'm paying for.

And by the way I have 3x 240hz monitors in nvidia surround. So my setup is well worth it.