There's a good chance I might get some hitherto unexpected cash this Christmas and I might put this cash toward getting a new graphics card after the holidays. Right now I'm torn between getting a GTX 670 or the quite a bit cheaper GTX 660 Ti. The card will be complementing a Xeon E3-1245v2 (think Core i7-3770K - 100MHz) and a monitor with no higher resolution than 1920x1200 (because I have no room for something larger than a 24"). I expect to keep the card for the next 3-4 years. Please help me decide one way or the other. On one hand, I'm leaning toward the 670 because I need the card to last for some years. On the other hand, nothing drops in value like a graphics card (except perhaps the processor). Also, please let me know if there are any specific models I should keep my eyes on. Just so I can pounce on a good deal if it shows up. Thanks in advance.
Out of those 2 cards, the 670 wins every time and is better value for money when you look at benchmarks. Although, if you are getting the money at Christmas it might be worth the wait for the radeon hd 8XXX and gtx 7XX series cards if you want it to last for a few years.
The only real difference is in the memory bandwidth, so if you don't think you will need so much bandwidth the 660 Ti looks like a good option. Both have 1344 cores and the same core and memory clock speeds, so anything that doesn't need a constant high bandwidth will appear the same.
all depends on budget 670 is the best sub £300 vid card on the market. 660ti for me still has yet to find its place in the current market, As the overclocked editions are only £10-£15 less than a 670 yet still slower. making them kinda pointless Stock edition is just not cheap enough for the performance it offers, compared to other cards in that price area. the 7950 for example costs less (£215 on scan today) than a 660ti(£230) yet performs better in most games ( Nvidia pref games excluded) Im no fan of AMD as people on this forum will quickly tell you but they do have a decent mid range card something Nvidia have still to get right in the uk market right now.
I agree, for longevity the 670 is a no-brainer. You can always wait for the next best thing, but always get the best you can afford is my advice.
Never trusted SLI, too much heat, power draw, noise (from PSU as well as graphics cards/everything affected by the extra heat) and microstutter that I find very noticeable.
I am in a similar position but £10-£15? The MSI 660TI Power Edition is ~£235 and the cheapest 670 is ~£290. Is it really worth £55 extra?
Thanks for your input, guys. Rep all around. I should perhaps add that the cheapest GTX 660 Ti I can get here in Denmark would set me back about 223 GBP while the cheapest 670 would set me back about 282 GBP. That's roughly 60 GBP extra for the GTX 670. Of course, those are the prices right now. They might, and probably will, change after Christmas, but they actually might go either way.
for the cost the 670 is the better value card tbh it rips the 660ti a new one for the sake of 60-70 quid
At first glance this doesn't seem to be the case. But of course, benchmarks do not necessarily tell the whole story. Thanks for your input, though.
I think the 670 will age better as games become more complex. But both are excellent cards right now.
For reference Never sli 2 slower cards to match performance of 1 bigger card. Just not worth the hassle with driver profiles and such. Even newer games still struggle to produce a working SLI or Crossfire profile so performance tanks to below single card speeds in some circumstances. Farcry 3 and Borderlands 2 the 2 most recent games to struggle with SLI till it got patched.
And do that until the 9XXX or 8XX series? That's what'll happen. Did it for about 6 months with my sig rig, then bought the stuff, and it was out of date. Buy on instinct.
Buy the most powerful single card you can afford to start with and then consider sli/crossfire further down the road when you need a performance boost...by which time the card will have come down in price and provide an 80% or there about performance increase for a relative pittance. The 660ti does not scale as well in sli as the 670 does.....go for the 670....^ or wait for the next gens around q2 2013
Thanks for your input, but SLI isn't for me. Let's if there should be any price drops to the 670 after the holidays. I'm not sure I want to wait for the next gen cards. Especially since they'll be priced even higher. But of course current gen cards will drop in price at least by then.
http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited This article is definitely a vital read for those on the fence, with the whole 660 ti vs 7950 debacle. Bearing in mind all those benchmarks are on 1440p as well, which should benefit the 7950 even more with its bigger bus..
