Graphics card Dilemma. 680m, cf7970, sli670??

Hello!
Currently I'm in the market to buy a Gaming rig.
I had my mind set up on buying a single 680m but I've started researching (trying to save a few bucks here and there) and I am wondering if a SLI 670 or a CF 7970 will be good enough? (I'm currently inclined towards an SLI 670 since its a lot cheaper)

I am wanting to game a bit on the notebook and it doesn't necessarily have to be maxed out, (xbox/ps3 type grpahics are ok, 720p) I am also going to be doing some occasional CAD, Music/Video/Image editing,converting and rendering etc. I'm also wanting for that notebook to last me at least 4-5 years, I know even not maxed out, gaming might suck.

With that in mind, would an SLI 670 be enough? If not, I've read many problems with the 7970 having low FPS, would having a CF 7970 help with that problem? (I would mostly game Offline) or should I just go with the 680m and maybe eventually (when the prices go down) get a SLI 680?

If it matters, I'm planning on buying a Sager NP9370, i7 3720 or 3820 with 24/32GB RAM.

 

I'm going through pretty much the same exact dilemma as you. Everything points to getting a 680M, but it's extremely expensive right now. The 670M SLi is included in the NP9370/P370EM which makes it a tempting setup to stay with instead of a single 680M for $250 more!

I don't know if you're wondering the same thing, but I'd like to know how the 670M SLi stacks up against a single 680M. I know that the 675M SLi has around the same exact performance as the 680M (before overclocking, where the 675M wins), but I can't find much if anything about the 670M SLi.

I'd suggest that you drop the RAM upgrade though. You really don't need much more than 8-12GB.

 

It's a hard choice hu? I was also inclined on the 680M and while I try to research some people say an SLI 670M is better than a 680M but others say it won't. It's a tough choice.

On one of the forums I was researching someone posted this site Video Card Comparison - GPUReview.com unfortunately I don't know much about the technical stuff to be able to know what card is better, but the 670M's numbers seem to be close to the 680M. I imagine a dual 670M would surpass a single 680M. But, that's only my guess.

As for RAM, I'm planning on keeping the notebook for a good 4-5 years before I upgrade, so I inclined on getting more RAM in case its something normal in 4-5 years. I might settle for 16GB though.

 

A 670M will have slightly less or the same power as a 550Ti, the 680M is a 670 when overclocked. I would say from benches on clevo cards that a single 680M will be faster and easier (software-wise) to deal with. Plus, with a P15/70EM (if you don't need another card down the road) the config will be cheaper and the laptop weighs less

 

That site is showing the numbers for the 670 and 680, not the 670M and 680M. M is for a notebook, not M is desktop.

And from what I'm looking at, a single 670M is still running a game like Skyrim on max specs with relative ease, so 670M SLi is going to pretty much handle anything that's out right now, but is quickly going to become outdated...

I'm really debating just going with the AMD 7970 right now. It's just as powerful as a 680M, and it's $250 cheaper. Bad driver updates... yeah, but I think that's only a bigger problem when it comes to running the newest games. Seems to take a few months for the updates to fix things in those cases now and then, but I'm not sure.

Off to do more research...

 

The only real issue with the HD 7970m is Enduro, but dual GPU nptebooks dont use Enduro /Optimus anyways.
But dont forget Crossfire / SLI has it shares of issues as well.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

I would suggest you get the single 680m. 670 SLI is pretty much pointless. The only thing that solution will offer is a second GPU in case one of them goes kaboink.

With how slow AMD is at releasing updates to their drivers, the 7970m CF is something I probably wouldn't purchase. It is true that a single 680m is similar to the price of two 7970ms so you have to choose - is that extra $300 odd worth the better service from nv? If not, you can purchase the 7970m CF and then use only the single GPU on games that have problems with CF. I am pretty sure you can turn off one GPU. The 670m SLI though, is imo, a pointless solution to consider if the other two are available.

 

I would actually suggest getting a single 7970m for the time being. I had a single 7970m in an m18x and p150em, and even with the slight Enduro issue (which I didn't notice at all), it played all games I tried with highest or near-highest settings and had no problem whatsoever. By the time you feel the need to upgrade to CF, the CF drivers should be more solid and 7970m prices will be even cheaper.

The 680m is a great card -- it's what I have now in SLI. However, the price premium is extortionate. If Dell hadn't replaced a faulty 7970m for free with them, I never would have bought them over 7970ms.

I would suggest avoiding dual 570/670ms. They are dated cards and not worth it when you can get the same power out of a newer single card (which you can always add a second card to later)

 

Agree with this... upgrade with second card later, when either 680m is cheaper or 7970 is more reliable

 

Neither of those is going to happen before the next generation of GPUs come out. At least, one shouldn't make a purchase based on that assumption. nv has never slashed their mobile flagship GPU prices and AMDs upgrades have always been both slow and not really that great when they have come out.

I would, however, agree with getting on 7970m if you do not want a CF solution. I thought from your post that you wanted two GPUs. Get a 7970m (provided it is not in a laptop where you cannot use only the dGPU) and then purchase two GPUs later. The one upside of purchasing the 680m now is that you can purchase any GTX GPU later and still use it with this one. CF requires identical GPUs.

 

680m in SLI... Now were talking

 

Here is why the 680M is better compared to a 7970M



AMD

7850
7870 ====> HD 7970M
7950
7970



nVIDIA

660
660Ti
670 ====> GTX 680M
680




The 7970M is taken from a tier 3 desktop card meanwhile the 680M is taken from a tier 2 desktop card

 

A 670M is equal to a 6970M from the Radeon family. So just use the Crossfired 6970Ms as your reference for SLI 670Ms. However the lesser Vram amount might bottleneck what the cards can do so... I would go for the single 680M if you want one big beefy card. However if you're gonna go for one 680M and SLI was an option, why not go for Crossfired 7970Ms and leave that thing in the dust?

 

That is only if both cards were at their desktop equivalent clocks, which is not sustainable for serious gaming in the case of 680m on all cases. On stock both perform around the same trading blows. Both can have a regular OC improving performance a lot but yes the 680m comes out a clear victor when overlcocking.

No OC involved then they are on the same tier. Specially in notebooks. The main issue with 680m is the abysmal memory speed used. Up that and then you will see it shine and pass through with ease.

 

Yes. And it's supposed to be fixed soon.

So its really a single 7970M vs single 680M, dont SLI/CRoss

 

Stock vRAM is 1800MHz in 680m, easily OC'd to 2300MHz in most cases. I'm not sure why they didn't offer faster vRAM to begin with though. I'd take that with 2GB over 4GB vRAM any day.

 

Hey thank you all! You all were a lot of help. I now have my mind set on saving up some more cash and try to get the 680m SLI. It seems like the best choice so far.