# Need help in choosing a graphics card: Gigabyte 7870 vs asus 660



## siddhanthgupta (May 1, 2013)

I'm upgrading my graphics card, and I have narrowed my choices down to the following two cards:

1) GIGABYTE AMD RADEON 7870 2GB OC EDITION (*www.flipkart.com/gigabyte-amd-gv-r...EYBF&ref=ba59d2a6-2a6b-4474-b84f-545406ec60bf)

2) ASUS NVIDIA GTX660 2GB (Asus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card - Asus: Flipkart.com)


Now I have a couple of questions: 

1) Is there any significant advantage the Nvidia 660 will have over the 7870? I have heard about the physX in the nvidia, and am given to understand that PhysX is limited to very few games. I am currently using a rather weak 6670, so are there any significant pros of choosing the NVIDIA over the AMD?

2) Also, I have another hard drive with Ubuntu installed. Currently, I am unable to install my AMD catalyst driver on Ubuntu, and a lot of people are facing the same problem. I have tried everything, but I am still unable to install Catalyst drivers on Ubuntu. That would not be a problem, but unfortunately, when I'm on Ubuntu, my graphics card's fan runs at full speed. I'm not sure if the core itself is also running at full speed, but if it is, that could damage the card. Can anyone confirm that this does not happen on Nvidia? Or that this does not happen on the 7870?

I have a monitor with a 1920x1080 resolution, and I want to be able to play games on it for the next 2 years on atleast high graphics settings (Worst case scenario, I'll settle for medium. AA is not that important for me, so I'd prefer higher quality texture over 16x AA in games). I play all types of games, and want to be able to play all the new ones (Crysis 3, Bioshock: Infinite, Tomb Raider, etc).

And if you want to suggest an alternate graphics card, could you please stick to the ones on flipkart? My local dealer charges more than them, and I trust flipkart over other online shopping portals. My budget was around 16K, but cant stretch beyond 18K.

Thanks in advance.

If you can help me choose a PSU too, that would be great: *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/power-sup...eed-help-choosing-psu-gaming.html#post1895148


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## harshilsharma63 (May 1, 2013)

Gtx 660 is better than HD7870. get the ASus GTX 660 2GB

For PSU, mention your full config and budget.


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## siddhanthgupta (May 1, 2013)

harshilsharma63 said:


> Gtx 660 is better than HD7870. get the ASus GTX 660 2GB
> 
> For PSU, mention your full config and budget.



Can you please elaborate how the 660 is better than the 7870? All framerate tests show that the 7870 is better than the 660 (except in a few games, which are probably tweaked for nvidia cards). AnandTech | Bench - GPU12

Also, can anyone answer the linux question?

Also, one local dealer is offering me the ZOTAC GTX660 for around 15K. Is zotac a reliable company?


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## ASHISH65 (May 1, 2013)

Hd 7870 is faster than gtx 660 by 4-5%.Nvidia performs faster than hd 7870 in few games like battlefield 3,batman arkham.

Zotac is good reputed brand with 5years warranty(after signup with their site)

see in chart hd 7870 and gtx 660

*tpucdn.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_650_Ti_Boost/images/perfrel_1920.gif


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## ghouse12311 (May 1, 2013)

if you are buying gtx 660 why not buy the gigabyte version? its factory oced,has a great cooler and cheaper than other variants..


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## siddhanthgupta (May 1, 2013)

ASHISH65 said:


> Hd 7870 is faster than gtx 660 by 4-5%.Nvidia performs faster than hd 7870 in few games like battlefield 3,batman arkham.
> 
> Zotac is good reputed brand with 5years warranty(after signup with their site)
> 
> ...





ghouse12311 said:


> if you are buying gtx 660 why not buy the gigabyte version? its factory oced,has a great cooler and cheaper than other variants..




I personally prefer the Gigabyte because I know of a service centre for gigabyte in kolkata. However, the dealers here usually quote very high prices, and they are unable to procure cards from more than one company.

Also, I'm a little worried about Zotac's cooling. I've read that their 660Ti had some problems with overheating. Can the 660 also have the same problem? The cooler looks to be the same on both. Also, this review shows that the Zotac is 15 degrees hotter under load as compared with gigabyte: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Round-Up: MSI, ZOTAC, GB - HotHardware

Also...can anyone confirm the linux problem I'm having with AMD? Or can anyone tell me if that won't happen with Nvidia?

And does the nvidia have any advantage over the AMD? Any special gimmicks or anything?


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## ghouse12311 (May 1, 2013)

^^ what price are they asking for gigabyte gtx 660?

i bought my gigabyte gtx 660 for 15k around 3 months ago so i think it should be available now for 14.5k or something..

and if you are going with a 7870 you have pay at least 1k to 1.5 more than the gtx 660


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## topgear (May 2, 2013)

siddhanthgupta said:


> I* personally prefer the Gigabyte because I know of a service centre for gigabyte in kolkata.* However, the dealers here usually quote very high prices, and they are unable to procure cards from more than one company.
> 
> Also, I'm a little worried about Zotac's cooling. I've read that their 660Ti had some problems with overheating. Can the 660 also have the same problem? The cooler looks to be the same on both. Also, this review shows that the Zotac is 15 degrees hotter under load as compared with gigabyte: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Round-Up: MSI, ZOTAC, GB - HotHardware
> 
> ...



first confirm they provide service for gfx cards and then have a look at my siggy ( Blacklist part )


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## flyingcow (May 2, 2013)

OP- I know you trust flipkart but if you try MDcomputers they have 7870XT model for 18k+ DmC and Bioshock infinite for free. I havent buyed anything from them yet, but many forum members have. 7870 XT wins over 660.


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## Cilus (May 2, 2013)

The price of HD 7870 XT has been reduced further and currently it is available at Vedant Coumputer @ 16.6K + 4% Vat. It might be reduced in M.D. too. Better call them and verify. Normal HD 7870 Sapphire is just 15.2K + 4% Vat.


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## The Incinerator (May 2, 2013)

HD 7870 XT , get it eyes closed.


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## siddhanthgupta (May 2, 2013)

topgear said:


> first confirm they provide service for gfx cards and then have a look at my siggy ( Blacklist part )



Thanks for pointing that out. Turns out that service centre just services motherboards.

Thanks buddy. You just saved me a lot of trouble



flyingcow said:


> OP- I know you trust flipkart but if you try MDcomputers they have 7870XT model for 18k+ DmC and Bioshock infinite for free. I havent buyed anything from them yet, but many forum members have. 7870 XT wins over 660.





Cilus said:


> The price of HD 7870 XT has been reduced further and currently it is available at Vedant Coumputer @ 16.6K + 4% Vat. It might be reduced in M.D. too. Better call them and verify. Normal HD 7870 Sapphire is just 15.2K + 4% Vat.





The Incinerator said:


> HD 7870 XT , get it eyes closed.




I am leaning towards the GTX660, because of the Nvidia drivers on linux. 
Vedant and MD are offering me the ASUS GTX660 for 15K. I really don't need any extra games or anything with my graphics card. 

I understand that most people here are gamers.....and play games on windows. But I need a linux OS too, and I really don't want an AMD card because of the problem I currently have with their drivers on linux.

Also, I'm not sure of sapphire's reputation and service over ASUS, especially in kolkata.


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## Cilus (May 2, 2013)

AFAIK, AMD has good open source and unofficial driver support for Linux. There might be issues with their official Catalyst Driver versions for LINUX, you can find very good alternate drivers for Linux for AMD cards. I think *ICO* can help you out there, he is having plenty of experience of LINUX + AMD CARD


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## digitaltab (May 2, 2013)

dear OP, 
nvidia cards perform better in frostbite engine games which are among the most graphic hungry games these days...
and there are very less no. of games in which amd beats nvidia and those games are not that graphic/ hardware hungry as these nvidia games....
like you say dirt 3 is optimised for amd but an equivalent nvidia card can also give maximum performance...
but in case of nvidia optimised games: example battlefield 3, amd 6870 was much weaker against nvidia 560 ti (i am telling you this cuz i own 6870, and i did a lot of research on internet after buying it)
which performs better and is considered to be in the same class as amd 6870.
so its upto you, what do you gonna play....

and yes , sapphire cards are superb as they are AMD official cards as you asked of its reputation...


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## topgear (May 3, 2013)

siddhanthgupta said:


> Thanks for pointing that out. Turns out that service centre just services motherboards.
> 
> Thanks buddy. You just saved me a lot of trouble



you are welcome.



> I am leaning towards the GTX660, because of the Nvidia drivers on linux.
> Vedant and MD are offering me the ASUS GTX660 for 15K. I really don't need any extra games or anything with my graphics card.
> 
> I understand that most people here are gamers.....and play games on windows. But I need a linux OS too, and I really don't want an AMD card because of the problem I currently have with their drivers on linux.
> ...



As for manufacturer either get Zotac or Asus but I like the DC2 cooler more.

have a look at this review :
[Phoronix] 15-Way Open vs. Closed Source NVIDIA/AMD Linux GPU Comparison

and read this :



> Linux graphics driver support for the very latest Radeon HD 7000 "Southern Islands" graphics cards is still a work-in-progress and maturing within the new "RadeonSI" driver. Radeon HD 7000 testing will come separately due to the less than complete OpenGL support at this time. For Radeon HD 7000 series users the best bet right now is just using the proprietary AMD Catalyst graphics card. With the Radeon HD 4000 series GPUs and older not being supported by the mainline Catalyst driver and the legacy Catalyst driver not working well on the latest Ubuntu Linux release,



so as of now your best bet is to stick with Nvidia for good linux support.


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## flyingcow (May 3, 2013)

will the7950 price drop too?


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## Cilus (May 3, 2013)

Shivam24 said:


> dear OP,
> nvidia cards perform better in frostbite engine games which are among the most graphic hungry games these days...
> and there are very less no. of games in which amd beats nvidia and those games are not that graphic/ hardware hungry as these nvidia games....
> like you say dirt 3 is optimised for amd but an equivalent nvidia card can also give maximum performance...
> ...



What a misleading information. Buddy, HD 6870 was never designed to compete against GTX 560 Ti, it was main competitor of GTX 460 1GB and later GTX 560 Non Ti. HD 6950 2 GB was the card to compete against GTX 560 Ti (at same price point) and it performs better in most of the scenarios, specially when you use high AA and AF settings. Get your facts correct. 
Also, I think you have little idea about the recent GCN architecture of the HD 7000 series cards, it is pretty evident from your posts. Get your facts correct 1st.


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## topgear (May 4, 2013)

dotEXE said:


> will the7950 price drop too?



Sapphire HD 7950 Boost is available at 21.5k .. I don't see any chance of immediate price reduction.


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## ico (May 4, 2013)

siddhanthgupta said:


> I understand that most people here are gamers.....and play games on windows. But I need a linux OS too, and I really don't want an AMD card because of the problem I currently have with their drivers on linux.


*Proprietary binary drivers*
Using Ubuntu? AMD Catalyst is completely fine on Ubuntu.
Using Arch Linux or any other bleeding edge distribution? nVidia's binary driver is better.

*Open Source drivers*
No contest here. AMD is better. But open source drivers obviously don't offer the same performance as of proprietary drivers. They're fine for desktop usage, running videos and most Linux games.


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## siddhanthgupta (May 4, 2013)

ico said:


> *Proprietary binary drivers*
> Using Ubuntu? AMD Catalyst is completely fine on Ubuntu.
> Using Arch Linux or any other bleeding edge distribution? nVidia's binary driver is better.
> 
> ...



My problem is that I am unable to install the AMD catalyst closed source drivers on Ubuntu. I am fine with the performance aspect of the current default open source drivers, but my GPU fan runs at full speed when I'm on Ubuntu. Also, I am unsure whether the GPU clock is also running at max speed. I need the AMD catalyst drivers to monitor the core clocks, and control the fan speed of the GPU.

I believe I can perform all my coding on a virtual linux OS (Ubuntu running on VMWare or VirtualBox). Then I'll only need an Ubuntu OS for transferring data to virus-infected pen-drives (windows viruses are harmless on linux, so I can safely transfer data to it, or format it from there). If someone could help me with a workaround for that, it would be great.

Meanwhile, I'm asking all of you once again for your help; I'm down to the following 4 cards:

1) ASUS NVIDIA GTX660 : 15K
2) ASUS AMD 7870 : 15K
3) SAPPHIRE AMD 7870 : 15K
4) SAPPHIRE AMD 7870XT : 16.8K

Based on the performance, I am leaning towards the 7870XT, but I am unsure whether Sapphire provides good service, and whether or not their cards are reliable.
Also, the 7870XT seems a bit recent and a little rare (I've only seen a few reviews from smaller tech-sites), so is it a good buy?


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## ASHISH65 (May 4, 2013)

hd 7870xt-  yes it is very good buy.get it.saphhire are full reliable and have good service support


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## rajan1311 (May 4, 2013)

I did some testing of a GTX 660 vs HD 7850...the HD 7850 overclocked well, and when both were OCed, they were pretty close...so yea, HD 7870 should be faster..

anyways, posted my results here... Zotac GeForce GTX 660 2GB Graphics card Review on Tech Verdict

btw, at office we have a GTX 660 on a system with CentOS(runs fine)...using a 7970 on a remote system with Ubuntu...no issues there too..


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## topgear (May 5, 2013)

siddhanthgupta said:


> My problem is that *I am unable to install the AMD catalyst closed source drivers on Ubuntu.* I am fine with the performance aspect of the current default open source drivers, but my GPU fan runs at full speed when I'm on Ubuntu. Also, I am unsure whether the GPU clock is also running at max speed. I need the AMD catalyst drivers to monitor the core clocks, and control the fan speed of the GPU.



did you read the part where it says :



> With the Radeon *HD 4000 series GPUs* *and older not being supported by the mainline Catalyst driver and the legacy Catalyst driver not working well on the latest Ubuntu Linux* release,



do you by any chance have HD4000 or older gpu chip ? 

anyway, as ico has confirmed you won't face any issues with HD7870 ( Tahiti LE ) and latest offcial drivers.


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## ico (May 5, 2013)

siddhanthgupta said:


> My problem is that I am unable to install the AMD catalyst closed source drivers on Ubuntu. I am fine with the performance aspect of the current default open source drivers, but my GPU fan runs at full speed when I'm on Ubuntu. Also, I am unsure whether the GPU clock is also running at max speed. I need the AMD catalyst drivers to monitor the core clocks, and control the fan speed of the GPU.
> 
> I believe I can perform all my coding on a virtual linux OS (Ubuntu running on VMWare or VirtualBox). Then I'll only need an Ubuntu OS for transferring data to virus-infected pen-drives (windows viruses are harmless on linux, so I can safely transfer data to it, or format it from there). If someone could help me with a workaround for that, it would be great.
> 
> ...


If you're planning to use Ubuntu, then installing Catalyst isn't difficult at all. It installs and works fine if you do it via command line. I'm using Catalyst with HD 6950, HD 6550D and HD 6470M in Ubuntu. 

Which GPU do you have currently and which Ubuntu version are you using? I'll post instructions.


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## siddhanthgupta (May 5, 2013)

topgear said:


> did you read the part where it says :
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I did. I am currently using a XFX AMD 6670 1GB DDR5. 
And thanks. I was beginning to think that this was an issue with the particular card than the Catalyst drivers alltogether. 



ico said:


> If you're planning to use Ubuntu, then installing Catalyst isn't difficult at all. It installs and works fine if you do it via command line. I'm using Catalyst with HD 6950, HD 6550D and HD 6470M in Ubuntu.
> 
> Which GPU do you have currently and which Ubuntu version are you using? I'll post instructions.



I'm using a XFX AMD 6670 1GB DDR5 and I have Ubuntu 12.10. I've only tried installing catalyst using command line. I removed the open-source drivers, installed the required packages and got the *.run file from the AMD catalyst linux driver to run, but the window that opens has no text.

If you could give me step by step instructions, that would be great.


Also, I am thinking about extending my budget a bit and going for a 7950 or a 660Ti, mainly because I'm not entirely sure how reliable 7870XT (which is basically a defective 7970/7950 chip) will be.
Both of those are available for around 20K. Can someone please tell me which one to go for?


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