680 Lightning or 7970 Matrix?

[tianfeng]

Asus MATRIX HD7970 Radeon HD 7970 3GB PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, Quad DP at Memory Express

[overhauled101]

I've had both and to be honest I prefer the Asus Matrix card. I am currently switching my system back to that card and will keep it that way until the next gen GPUs come out.

[GT7R]

These days I'd take a 7970 over a 680 any time. And the Matrix/Lightning - both are top notch versions of each card. And damn nvidia's (no) OC policy...

[velias]

I love the 680 lightning, I have two of them. It's a great card. However, this is a tough call - I think the combination of new 680s being voltage locked and the 7970GE's new drivers / lower price might tilt the scale in favor of the matrix.

If you get the free games with the matrix, I would probably get it. Far Cry 3 is getting fantastic reviews.

[BobbyLou]

I think I'm going with the matrix, I'm gaming on a 2560x1440 panel and it seems to blow away the 680 at that res or above, especially when overclocked. I'm not really an SLI or XFire fan either, I prefer just having one very powerful card and the 7970 matrix seems to fit the bill perfectly.

Thanks guys for the help.

[Dzzope]

at that res. AMD is much better bang for buck

[mrjuggles]

Originally Posted by GT7R

These days I'd take a 7970 over a 680 any time. And the Matrix/Lightning - both are top notch versions of each card. And damn nvidia's (no) OC policy...

My 680 OCs to 1250 no problem!

I bought a 7970 about a month after lauch and had such a horrible time with the drivers messing up my sound card, I returned it for a 680 and haven't had a problem since.

I can't comment on the new drivers for the 7970 but I am not impressed it took them almost a year to get to this point. I wouldn't say a 7970 'blows away' a 680 at 2560x1440, depending on the game it's barely a 5-15 FPS increase.

The 680 handles 2560x1440 just fine :)

[Sharchaster]

Go with 680 Lightning, you can overvolt the GPU by yourself....if you get the card which have the LOCKED Voltage like everyone mentioned, you can simply FLASH the BIOS to the unlocked one....

you can find the NICE THREAD on OVERCLOCK.net which can provide you an unlocked voltage...I see some people can reach 1.3 - 1.4 volt....using AB 2.2.3.

This one : [Official] MSI GTX 680 Lightning Owners Club

you can ask everyone in there...