TR Forums

Being new to the forums and an avid reader of TechReport, I poured through both of these card's reviews. At the time, the price point of the Radeon HD 7950 was still a bit higher than the 660 TI with relatively comparative performance.

However based on similar price points now ($279 - $299), which makes for the better long term choice. I was thinking the Radeon HD 7950, which typically has around 3GB 384-bit GDDR5, lower power consumption and scores descent on most games. The 660 TI is no slouch, but it has a smaller memory bus at 192 bits, so for larger texture based games it may lag behind eventually.

Anyone care to throw in their 2c worth? I am looking at these two cards which are at the same price point as an upgrade to my current system.

SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 3GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

MSI N660 Ti PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127696

Thanks for your time.

It comes down to two things IMO.
1) Are you sensitive to the lower power usage of the 660Ti?
2) Do any of the 3 free games and 20% off MOH Warfighter bundled with the 7950 interest you? If these are games that you'd buy anyway, it's like a $150 discount on the GPU.

If neither of those are issues, and you're not loyal to either company...flip a coin.

7950 no contest...

Well, performance could be fairly close, but DPete beat me to it. The games definitely tip the scale in the 7950's favor. Unless you absolutely do not care about those games, the 7950 has a much better value at the moment.

Thanks for the input, I had been leaning toward the HD 7950, the free games make it a nice cherry on the top, but it's more the technical aspect that I was wanting to verify.

Thanks

digit

Ignoring game bundles, the 99th percentile performance is quite close but the average performance of the 7950 is a good 10-15% higher if you play with the buttons on this page.

The HD7950 wins in performance and bundle- the 660Ti will draw less power and is therefore likely to run cooler and quieter, and Nvidia wins if you're planning on adding a second card later.

I'd actually been looking to pickup one of the two myself, and I'm interested in the asus variants with the directcu 2 cooler as it seems to be the quietest around. Would anyone have any idea whether there is a appreciable difference in the noise produced between the asus 660 ti and the asus 7950?

valentine wrote:

Would anyone have any idea whether there is a appreciable difference in the noise produced between the asus 660 ti and the asus 7950?

Coolers being equal, the 660Ti should be quieter than the 7950 because it averages 40-50W less under load.
However, coolers are rarely equal and Asus seem to put more effort into the AMD coolers - more heatpipes better materials and higher surface area (though be warned that the AMD Direct CUII coolers are triple slot, whilst the Nvidia Direct CUII coolers are dual-slot)

So it really doesn't matter which team you choose - just pick the one with the game bundle that appeals to you.

7950 all the way. Pick your brand wisely.....I like the HIS iceQ iTurbo 7950's cooler and overall design...It is a blower type with a oversized blower that is very quiet and they overclock well. Keeping the inside of your case cooler is a bonus.
this review card hit 1200 on the core..in my best darth vader voice "Impressive most impressive:)
The card does run a little warm according to the review...but i imagine a positive pressure case would keep it cooler. I always have at least 2 more intake then exhaust fans so my case has positive pressure..that positive pressure will assist the air exiting any cooler venting heat outside the case.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?o ... mitstart=1

vargis14 wrote:

7950 all the way. Pick your brand wisely.....I like the HIS iceQ iTurbo 7950's cooler and overall design...It is a blower type with a oversized blower that is very quiet and they overclock well. Keeping the inside of your case cooler is a bonus.
this review card hit 1200 on the core..in my best darth vader voice "Impressive most impressive:)
The card does run a little warm according to the review...but i imagine a positive pressure case would keep it cooler. I always have at least 2 more intake then exhaust fans so my case has positive pressure..that positive pressure will assist the air exiting any cooler venting heat outside the case.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?o ... mitstart=1

^ Doing it right.

HD 7950 hands down - it's faster out of the box, with overclocking to 1100mhz, it matches a GTX680, it has more VRAM for mods, it performs much better with MSAA and doesn't fall apart in modded games like Skyrim+ENB or should you want to use MSAA.

Recent reviews with latest drivers (Cats 12.11 betas):

1) "the Radeon HD 7950 with Boost simply demolished the GTX 660 Ti across the board with regards to raw frame rates and overall game play experience across our suite of testing."
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/11/ ... _roundup/8

2) With latest drivers, in 14 benchmarks of popular games, HD7950 boost beat GTX660Ti in 12 out of 14 games:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_ ... ock,5.html

Even without overclocking, or 3 free games, HD7950 925mhz is now much closer to GTX670 than it is to GTX660Ti. When you consider that with overclocking, HD7950 surpasses HD7970 Ghz / GTX680 and with room to spare, it's a tremendous value right now:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_ ... ck,13.html

Add 3 free games, and it's unbeatable imo. The power consumption is moot since an after-market HD7950 only uses about 145-157W.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/rad ... 207-9.html

With overclocking, you'll be at 190-200W with GTX680/HD7970 Ghz beating level of performance for $280. That's incredible value.

And HD7950 also wins in almost all GPU demanding titles against GTX660Ti:
- Skyrim
- Arma II games
- Alan Wake
- Medal of Honor: Warfighter
- Crysis 1, Warhead, Crysis 2
- Metro 2033
- Witcher 2
- Battlefield 3

The only reason to get a GTX660Ti is if you must have PhysX or you need CUDA or want to SLI down the line. If you want an NV card, I'd spend a little more for the ~$320 GTX670 (after 10% off and rebate):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814127675

Radeon HD 7950 it is then. I pulled the trigger and ordered from Newegg.

What brand and number? i am curious:)