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1x GTX Titan vs 3x HD 7970 X-Fire

danno81
Level 7

‎02-21-2013 08:18 AM - last edited on ‎03-06-2024 10:01 PM by Community Admin

Hi everyone.

I’m spending money on new graphics next week either way, but... My current build contains a single GTX 580 and I originally decided to wait for the 780 before an upgrade, but now I think “stuff it, I upgrade now!”. Up until now I’ve always used NVidia as I’ve liked their cards, their software and I use the CUDA functionality with Badaboom for video compression (although they’ve retired the product and no longer support future CUDA cards past 5xx series GPUs). I also use NVidia 3D through my monitor, but the NVidia 3D functionality is built into the monitor and it will accept and 3D source via HDMI, this means it will be compatible with AMD cards.

After getting very excited about the new GeForce Titan, I decided to get one on launch day. I have the money and the missing part of my setup (specs in sig) is an up to date graphics rig. I’m taking a lot of assumptions of real world benefits to me based on the review as that cards are not yet out to consumers. Now, after the lift of the NDA and release of the benchmarks and reviews for the Titan I was thinking; should I really buy the Titan, or spend similar money on tri xfire 7970s? I’m not really an AMD person, but I’m open minded to changing my habits.

My real questions, does anyone have any experience of these cards, their scaling with 3 of them, and their stability and use beyond raw benchmarks? Subjective and objective positions welcome. Microstutter on AMD xfire is a concern of mine and that’s one of the reasons a single card and AMD seem awful at managing this generally. With £800 - £1000 to spend on GPUs what do should I really do?

My choices in head are:
3x HD 7970
1x GTX Titan (on release, subject to availability)

http://www.ebuyer.com/353110-powercolor-hd-7970-v3-3gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-dual-mini-displayport-ax7...

Problems I think I’d have with AMD:
-Will not look anywhere near as good in my setup as the Titan
-3D support sucks compared to GeForce cards and I’d be stuck with 720p via HDMI for 3D (Is this still true?)
-Build quality is lower generally and has more plastic
-I’m maxed out effectively with the 3 7970 cards, whereas I can add 2 more Titans at will if I feel like it
-Micro stutter!

If I get the AMD cards though, I may mine a few bitcoins for pocket money!

The Titan costs a lot for what it is, but I’m not TOO bothered about that if I’m only going for one card for now.

Any thoughts or experience? I doubt I’m the only person asking similar questions though.

Many thanks,

Dan.
Intel 3930K CPU overclocked and stable at 4.6GHZ
Corsair H100i closed loop waterblock for CPU
Asus Rampage IV Extreme motherboard
32GB Corsair Dominator RAM (4 * 8GB @ 1866MHZ, CAS9)
2x GeForce 780 GTX in SLI
Samsung 830 256GB SSD
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12 REPLIES 12

Zka17
Level 16

‎02-21-2013 10:10 AM

LOL, 3xHD7970s vs a single GeForce Titan! And you still have a question?! 😄

I haven't seen benchmarks results yet, but I'm not sure that the GeForce Titan is much more better than a HD7970, specially, if you compare to the GHz Edition cards... - it's like you would ask to have one chocolate or three?

The build quality depends on the manufacturer of the card, I'm sure there are very good AMD/ATI cards on the market and poor Nvidia ones too...

If you have that kind of money, then go and get an Asus Ares II... that's already 2xGPUs, if it's not enough, then you can get later an another one too... (don't think it will be the case though)
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danno81
Level 7
In response to Zka17

‎02-21-2013 11:34 AM

OK, I just ordered 3x 7970 1ghz OC's. I may pop those into my old i7-920 PC and run it as a bitcoin rig for a while.

I may get the Titan anyway, review below:

http://m.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-gtx-titan-performance-review,review-32635.html
Sorry about the mobile site link, will correct when I get home.

It generally beats the GHZ edition by a nice margin, plus it looks awesome so would go perfectly with RIVE and Dominators. I have the Tri SLI option as well with 2 more Titans if I wish.

I should get it and take photos and be very happy 🙂

I also may be mad and in need of a good care home!
Intel 3930K CPU overclocked and stable at 4.6GHZ
Corsair H100i closed loop waterblock for CPU
Asus Rampage IV Extreme motherboard
32GB Corsair Dominator RAM (4 * 8GB @ 1866MHZ, CAS9)
2x GeForce 780 GTX in SLI
Samsung 830 256GB SSD
Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD
Antec 1200 V3 case
SilverStone Strider ST1500 1500W PSU
3 x HN274H bmiiid 27" 120HZ 3D Monitors
Synology DS1512+ (5 x 3TB WD Red RAID 6)
Razer Black Widow Ultimate 2013 & Mamba 2012
Sennheiser PC 363D and Razer Tiamat 7.1 Headsets
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Krindor
Level 11

‎02-21-2013 01:44 PM

The Titan is the best singleprocessor card, but is beaten by any card in SLI as well as the dual-GPU 690 and 7990 in performance. 3x 7970 will have a much better performance compared to 1 Titan, the Titan is about 50% better than a single 7970 but Is about 30% worse than 2x 7970 and the performance is about half of 3x 7970. The only real use of the Titan is with tri and quad sli, as well as competitive GPU benchmarks for the worlds fastest card.
| Chassi: Phantom Fulltower White Edition | Mobo: Maximus V Extreme | CPU: i7 3770k
| Memory: 2x8gb G.Skill Trident X 2400mhz | GPU: PNY Geforce GTX 670 | PSU: NZXT Hale 90 750w
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danno81
Level 7

‎02-21-2013 02:21 PM

I think my argument (to myself) for the Titan is;

Best card without SLI or Crossfire so no issues with that
Can add more Titans when drivers are more mature
AMD have agressive micro stuttering issues when in Crossfire from the benchmarks I've seen

I have 3 7970s coming on Saturday so I'll test them out.

Oh yes, and the less than objective "because I just want one" pops into my head as a reason 🙂

I'm not sure how many people will really buy them though. Quite a small amount I think
Intel 3930K CPU overclocked and stable at 4.6GHZ
Corsair H100i closed loop waterblock for CPU
Asus Rampage IV Extreme motherboard
32GB Corsair Dominator RAM (4 * 8GB @ 1866MHZ, CAS9)
2x GeForce 780 GTX in SLI
Samsung 830 256GB SSD
Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD
Antec 1200 V3 case
SilverStone Strider ST1500 1500W PSU
3 x HN274H bmiiid 27" 120HZ 3D Monitors
Synology DS1512+ (5 x 3TB WD Red RAID 6)
Razer Black Widow Ultimate 2013 & Mamba 2012
Sennheiser PC 363D and Razer Tiamat 7.1 Headsets
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Myk_SilentShado
Level 15

‎02-21-2013 02:31 PM

Hmm it may be a tough call to guess how many will waste money to get a Titan. For the diehards who have to upgrade every cycle and the OverClockers who run their cards into the ground, honestly, I don't think there will be that many sales....everybody is waiting on the next cycle of 7xx from Nvidia and the 8xxx from ATI.

Personally I don't think the price is justifiable and Nvidia should have waited for their 7xx release and updated the Titan to squeeze with that line, rather than unleash this only a bare few months before they push out their next GPU cycle.
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danno81
Level 7

‎02-21-2013 02:41 PM

NVidia have told a few sites that the 7xx series will not exceed or reach the capability of the Titan. It should hold the crown for a couple of years.

Not a guarantee though, but it's unlikely you'll see 6gb in stock 780's or possibly the rendering ability of the GPU itself. As always, reports are often shown to be false and things will progress upwards given more time.

Tis an awesome card though. Scan.co.uk already have the prices of the cards and pre-builds. About £830 a card at the moment! It is a lot...
Intel 3930K CPU overclocked and stable at 4.6GHZ
Corsair H100i closed loop waterblock for CPU
Asus Rampage IV Extreme motherboard
32GB Corsair Dominator RAM (4 * 8GB @ 1866MHZ, CAS9)
2x GeForce 780 GTX in SLI
Samsung 830 256GB SSD
Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD
Antec 1200 V3 case
SilverStone Strider ST1500 1500W PSU
3 x HN274H bmiiid 27" 120HZ 3D Monitors
Synology DS1512+ (5 x 3TB WD Red RAID 6)
Razer Black Widow Ultimate 2013 & Mamba 2012
Sennheiser PC 363D and Razer Tiamat 7.1 Headsets
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Black4
Level 8

‎02-21-2013 03:03 PM

Why not consider the ARES II as another option? That's in the same league as the Titan.

http://rog.asus.com/209042013/graphics-cards-2/ares-ii-review-roundup-part-2/

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Zka17
Level 16
In response to Black4

‎02-21-2013 04:42 PM

Black4 wrote:
Why not consider the ARES II as another option? That's in the same league as the Titan.


I'm sorry, Black4, but the Ares II in the same league as the Titan?! No way!!! The Ares II is a dual GPU card, mate... haven't seen yet comparison tests between them, but they would be like comparing apples with oranges...

Regarding the price, they're very close indeed... but to be in the same league? no...
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