for the same price as a GTX670 you can purchase HD 7970 edition which is faster.
If there are no givens, maybe you shouldn't be recommending people to buy something based on overclocks only.
Truth be told, I've had both a 670 and a 7950, and in terms of performance, the 670 was smoother. No need for overclocks, ran cool and never crashed. Had this weird shadows glitch though.
The 7950, does overclock, and is extremely fast when it does get overclocked, however it's not stable in every game. Crysis 3, for example, requires me to lower my overclock by around 100 MHz to be stable. In DOW2, it keeps crashing when overclocked. Not to mention, you're not likely to get the same overclocks everyone else is getting. Mine, at 1.25V, hits the limit around 1100/1500 for true stability. The "average" that some users have been hawking around here is a 1200/1575 overclock, which you'll see isn't that average after all.
No, the 7950 is not as fast as the 670 when both are clocked. The 670 is definitely a nice experience... you plug it in, and just play without worrying about heat or overclocking. The 7950, of course, does offer you the opportunity to overclock. Not to turn you away from the 7950, I think mine was a good buy, but do beware that there are a lot of sheep on this forum that like to regurgitate what they hear.
Cheapest GHz is $440
Cheapest 670 is $340
My apologies, I read edition as GHz for some reason.
Kepler overclocks just fine.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?284014-KGB-Kepler-BIOS-Editor-Unlocker
As a matter of fact, the bigger problem is the locking of voltages and using the crap non-reference boards (For AMD/ATi) on the new (August 2012 and newer) pcbs on basically every manufacturer other than MSI.
If you're buying ATi/AMD 7xxx, you MUST buy MSI now if you want to overvolt.
Hilariously, with the Nvidia Bios Unlocker and the fact that the manufacturers MUST use reference PCBs means that EVERY SINGLE KEPLER is a perfect overclocker (as long as the cooler on it is good).
Obviously for bitcoins and such ATi/AMD wins every time though.
<-= Sucker that's stuck with a locked XFX 7970 Black Edition that ends up performing worse than unlocked 7950 MSI card. (Can only do 1025 core 1725 memory on locked voltage)
If there are no givens, maybe you shouldn't be recommending people to buy something based on overclocks only.
Truth be told, I've had both a 670 and a 7950, and in terms of performance, the 670 was smoother. No need for overclocks, ran cool and never crashed. Had this weird shadows glitch though.
The 7950, does overclock, and is extremely fast when it does get overclocked, however it's not stable in every game. Crysis 3, for example, requires me to lower my overclock by around 100 MHz to be stable. In DOW2, it keeps crashing when overclocked. Not to mention, you're not likely to get the same overclocks everyone else is getting. Mine, at 1.25V, hits the limit around 1100/1500 for true stability. The "average" that some users have been hawking around here is a 1200/1575 overclock, which you'll see isn't that average after all.
No, the 7950 is not as fast as the 670 when both are clocked. The 670 is definitely a nice experience... you plug it in, and just play without worrying about heat or overclocking. The 7950, of course, does offer you the opportunity to overclock. Not to turn you away from the 7950, I think mine was a good buy, but do beware that there are a lot of sheep on this forum that like to regurgitate what they hear.
Can you show proof that the 7950 boost at stock speeds matches the gtx 670? at stock speeds, it is more comparable to a 660ti, as displayed here http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited. There's a reason why the boost was released. The 670 is a better card, OP. You're much better off with the 670 than the 7950. Also, the 670 you have will be very similar to 680 speeds without touching a thing. It is the faster card, with better drivers. Nobody in this thread would recommend the 7950 over the 670 at the same price point. If the 60 dollar difference is that important to you then by all means get the 7950. But you won't care for the $60 difference when you experience the difference.
Would you be happy then if I told someone to buy something and its a guarantee it will overclock? Cause that it not the case with ANY card.
Or, stop emphasizing overclocks and concentrate on stock performance. Which, guess what, does make the 670 faster than the 7950. The 7950 is attractive because of price and because of an overclocking potential, but because it's not guaranteed, it may mean that given luck, you could have a 670 that's faster than a 7950, even when both are overclocked. We also forget that these 670s also can overclock pretty well, and that it can also match a 7970 GHz too.
When you take that into account, the 7950 isn't always the most attractive card. Not to mention, the 670 has a better performance/W, which matters when running compact systems where heat dissipation and power supply matters more.
Or, stop emphasizing overclocks and concentrate on stock performance. Which, guess what, does make the 670 faster than the 7950. The 7950 is attractive because of price and because of an overclocking potential, but because it's not guaranteed, it may mean that given luck, you could have a 670 that's faster than a 7950, even when both are overclocked. We also forget that these 670s also can overclock pretty well, and that it can also match a 7970 GHz too.
When you take that into account, the 7950 isn't always the most attractive card. Not to mention, the 670 has a better performance/W, which matters when running compact systems where heat dissipation and power supply matters more.
I have nothing against the 670, but for price performance and the fact he is on a budget, the 7950 is the way to go. If he can indeed get the numbers we see around, its even a better card for his budget.
I do have to agree right now, the 7950 is definitely good for the money. Especially since nvidia stopped bundling games, it's harder to recommend a 670 in a budget situation.
The icq2 card in that graph costs as much as a 670.
So does the vapor x..
So I wouldn't save a darn thing sending this card back for either of those.
Remember I have the galaxy sitting here unopened. So this is also about the worth of sending it in, waiting for a refund, then buying another card.
Also the galaxy is OC at 1006.. so it isn't stock.
Kepler overclocks just fine.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?284014-KGB-Kepler-BIOS-Editor-Unlocker
As a matter of fact, the bigger problem is the locking of voltages and using the crap non-reference boards (For AMD/ATi) on the new (August 2012 and newer) pcbs on basically every manufacturer other than MSI.
If you're buying ATi/AMD 7xxx, you MUST buy MSI now if you want to overvolt.
Hilariously, with the Nvidia Bios Unlocker and the fact that the manufacturers MUST use reference PCBs means that EVERY SINGLE KEPLER is a perfect overclocker (as long as the cooler on it is good).
Obviously for bitcoins and such ATi/AMD wins every time though.
<-= Sucker that's stuck with a locked XFX 7970 Black Edition that ends up performing worse than unlocked 7950 MSI card. (Can only do 1025 core 1725 memory on locked voltage)