Awesome review of AMD HD 7970M vs GTX 680 just released including dual GPUs!

Hey guys,

here is awesome comparison of AMD flagship 7970M vs GTX 680M with both CF and SLI. Test is performed on EUROCOM SCROPIUS P370EM with the same CPU 3720QM and we have very surprising winner here.

Test mobilnÃch grafik — GTX 680M (SLI) vs. HD 7970M (CF)

Enjoy the test (use google transalte)

Honza

 

Amd ftw.
....

 

yep, this is what 7970m can do without enduro, i've seen it myself where m17x with enduro disabled runs a whole lot smoother than my one, despite me having a much faster CPU (3610qm on m17x vs 3720qm overclocked to 3.8ghz on mine).

 

I wish I could understand the article lol. Even with google translate I was pretty confused.

stop making me wish I bought an AW lol

I'm still within 30 days, I could still return it.

must....resist....urge....to RMA.....arrrrgh

 

The 680m is a ripoff for Alienware and P370EM buyers, but an ok/good value for the EM series. If the 7970m Enduro is fully fixed, I'd be pretty happy.

I just learned that the GTX 680m is a downclocked GTX 670. If you have the available power you can overclock to GTX 670 levels and you'd be alright since the GTX 670 obviously handles those clocks as stock clocks. Of course you can OC the HD 7970m but you'd only get to HD 7870 levels if you want to match the desktop counterpart as with the 680m to 670. In that respect, the 680m wins in terms of stable overclockability.

 

I wish they used the latest BETA drivers for the machine) tnx for the review!

 

This is a brilliant review and I'm really glad I went with the HD7970m,still waiting for my AW R4
(3 weeks now already and they have a parts shortage so it could be another 3 weeks-F&@@#!!!)

I can't believe that Nvidia are asking for a extra $300 for their card as AMD is clearly better and at $200 who would so no.
Nvidia are like a bunch of con artists ripping off the public and if people think paying an extra $300 for maybe a extra 5 FPS in some games has some serious issues or maybe it is an image thing.

Well done to AMD and keep up the good work!!!!!

Cheers.

 

You must really love benchmarks like these... and you must hate nVIDIA haha

 

Ha ha!!!!!!

Nvidia are great especially when it comes to finacial gain and keeping the fake economy going,

I hate being ripped off.

 

Point taken, SLi surely isn't worth it...... as far as I see it. But 680M vs 7970M, yeah I'll leave that

 

I like the phrase "con artist." It makes me think of Nvidia as a secretive ninja/special agent group that wears black gear and screws with people just for the hell of it. And maybe a few of the members paint with brushes because they are that bada*s. They are artists after all.

 

yeah yeah yeah, nvidia sux and amd are amazeballs etc lol... but take it from a 7970m owner - with enduro enabled laptops I would gladly spend the extra $300 for a card that works. it will be 8 months since the release soon and we still do not have a stable driver that just works. this beta is a nice improvement, but even when it runs stable it still has a long way to go to bring our cards to the same level as 7970m without enduro. still dx9, 10 and 11 games are under utilizing nearly as bad as before, its just less noticeable as we now get more fps per % utilization.

 

lmao still ragging on enduro, even after 12.11. If you're getting better framerates, then what the hell are you complaining about? You saw anandtech's review, the 7970 had better utilization than the 680m. Seriously dude, I've told you a million times, just buy a 680m and quit complaining/ragging on the card. It's gotten so old lol. While I don't deny there may still be some underutilization in a few games, it's extremely rare. I have played 30 games since 12.11, and I have never seen utilization under 85%.

 

So you have pitted a non-Enduro 7970M and an Enduro enabled 7970M, and have come to the conclusion that they work the same? Its not just about utilization, its the overall performance too. If the AW can produce better fps than the Clevo, there is still a problem with Enduro. If it is no problem for you, fine, don't talk about it, but don't come telling the rest of us what to do. Some of us want to use the full potential of the 7970M, because that is what we paid for.

 

I'm aware that enduro isn't perfect, but neither is optimus. Any form of switchable graphics will cause a loss in performance. 12.11 has shown that amd is working on improving performance, and aside from the instability and BSODs, it has been a massive success. I don't think enduro will ever match the performance of a dedicated 7970m, but neither would an optimus 680m. Regardless, amd is showing that they care about their customers and want to fix the situation. And why should I not talk about my positive experience with 12.11 when people like articjoe can complain about their card in 95% of their posts? Double standard to say the least lol. "Hey everybody, make sure to complain about the 7970m as much as you want, just don't say anything positive!"

 

Dont mind the extremists failwheel, we all know the hotfix is giving excelent results, i myself have started using physix on MED in borderlands 2, because my framerates are so much better now (i used to set it on low). arctic has been a long time negativist and will keep being so, its it self-appointed job.
To be fair there is still a long way to go, but the tide has definetely turned the right way.
One question tho:
What are the new dates for future driver releases? Is there any article analyzing the new driver, its issues and future driver improvements?

right now it seems we need a goal, a set objective we can aim for and work for.

well, IMHO

cheers
Voz

 

Thanks Voz, I've noticed that you've been a levelheaded voice in the debate since people were first realizing the 7970m wasn't living up to its potential. It was partly your well-warranted optimism that lead me to change my order from a 675m to the 7970m, and I haven't regretted that decision for a second since getting my laptop. I agree there is more work to be done, but I think amd is up to the task. I don't know when the new driver will finally be out (I imagine in November) but I'm really excited for it. I'll be doing a clean install of windows with the final 12.11 on my ssd. I hope there will be additional performance tweaks along with fixing stability issues that some have been experiencing.

 

There are no extremists here. Try reading arcticjoe's post again.

 

I guess your post is directed towards me, so I'll point out that I never said anything about extremists. Not sure what reading articjoe's post again proves, but I did just to make you happy!

edit: I guess I should have reread voz's post to see you were talking to him and not me lol. disregard this post please

 

I have to ask you guys, especially those who own the 7970M in CF: Is the 7970M good in NP9370/P370EM or not?

From my understanding most of the problems are related to Enduro issues, however, I've gotten the feeling that there might be other drivers related problem with the combination. Also, is microstuttering a bigger problem on the 7970M CF than 680M SLi?

I'll be buying a P370EM, but only perhaps in march or so, and despite realizing that future cards and drivers will probably have been released by then (thinking 780M and 7990M, and I'm not claiming anything here, just going by rumours that are only rumours) - I'd like to know the current state. Are the AMD cards good or a pita?

 

AMD cards are great. They have pretty much always been a better value than nvidia in the mobile gpu market. The 7970m is a powerful card that was hampered from the start by Enduro underutiilization issues. Laptops that could turn Enduro off (Alienware M17x for example) show the true potential of the 7970m, and it's a monster, especially for the price. Its performance is nearly identical to the 680m at a much lower price point. Even Enduro-enable laptops are vastly improving, starting with the new 12.11 beta. The new drivers show awesome gains in benchmark scores, with stock 7970m scores now higher than 680m scores. Benchmarks aren't everything, but it shows you the potential of the card.

To answer your question, there is nothing wrong with the 7970m hardware. It's the driver support in Enduro models that has caused problems. No Enduro, no problems, and hopefully in the coming driver releases Enduro will be completely fixed. Assuming the NP9370 doesn't use Enduro (which I have heard before) you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I would even recommend the Enduro version in another laptop if the 680m is out of your price range. I bought the 7970m knowing about the utilization problems because the new drivers would be coming out. I'm not at all disappointed. It beats the hell out the 675MX, which is the same price as the 7970m.

 

If you look at the latest Clevo 680M vs AW 680M benchmark, you will see the Clevo performing as well as the AW. But that is beside the point, since I am not comparing the 7970M to the 680M. This isn't some debate on whether the Nvidia or AMD card is better, that is irrelevant. What is relevant, is that AMD gets the 7970M working as good as possible, and that it nearly matches the 7970M on AW (they promised us only 1-5% loss). I'm not saying I'm getting that poor of a performance, and I'm still on stock drivers. I just want my machine to be more future proof.

People should post their issues, and others should encourage them to do so. I'm not saying you shouldn't post your positive experiences, just don't throw them at peoples faces, who are still bothered by the situation. And about Voz, he got his laptop like some weeks ago...Its easy to shout out from the bushes, while other people have been through the frustration and uncertainty of whether they should switch the card or not (sticking with the 7970M wasn't an easy decision!), while AMD said nothing about the issue (and were in fact, covering it up).

I'm happy that there is progress, and I hope there will continue to be more progress.

 

yep, that post of mine had serious rage written all over it.

you must be very selective with your testing then. very first 3 games that i've tried (and only games that i have tried so far) all show signs of under utilization. I can show you BF3 MP hitting 60-ish% utilization on certain large maps on ultra and 70-ish% in Crysis 2.

re: utilization - we do not have the driver Anand Tech have used and I am only comparing my 7970m to another 7970 without enduro...not 680m.

 

Buy a 680M already.

 

have had my laptop on ebay since the driver came out. will take £1200 for it if anyone is interested, spec in in my sig.

 

You cannot deny that utilization improved, though. I don't understand why you put your laptop up on ebay after seeing the progress made with 12.11. The 7970m has the capability of performing like the GTX 680m in terms of stable and consistent utilization, as Chris Angelini was told by AMD that the copy engine is being used. The problem is drivers, and seeing that utilization improved with 12.11, who is to say that it won't be further improved?

Sell whatever you want, but I am positive that by early next year you will be wishing you had kept the 7970m. Also, it sucks to see 7970m owners selling their cards.

 

To be honest there are a few reasons for me getting rid of the this laptop, - enduro issue was just something that prevented me from selling it for reasonable money. i'm looking for something with better speakers & no switchable graphics so I can OC the LCD screen. I may well end up going for m17x or maybe go back to HM series with 7970m.

 

Hmm, is it too late to buy a laptop now (waiting till Christmas)? Should I just wait for the next generation of GPUs to be released?
The upside is I could save more money.
The downside would be if, the Christmas sale was great, I would be missing the Christmas sale.

The 7970m looks really tempting, but I'm afraid of the possibility that the 7990m or 8970m being released a few months after my purchase.

 

lol, yeah, I'm really upset here. All I was saying is you should seriously just get a 680m if you're still upset with the card. Don't even wait to sell your current one, just buy a 680m and put it in your laptop. You could have done it months ago, but instead you've wasted hours upon hours checking the forums, complaining about the issue, calling people fanboys, etc. It makes absolutely no sense to keep the card.

And how exactly was I selective? I have bought around 35 to 40 games since getting the laptop. I've tested nearly all of them since 12.11 with Hwinfo64 to see max/min utilization. I haven't played Crysis 2, but I've played Crysis Warhead. I've played BF3 (mostly single player and co op, a few minutes of caspian border to check the improvements,) Saint's Row, The Witcher 2, Sleeping Dogs, Arkham City, etc, all of which suffered from underutilization before 12.11 (though only a couple were reallu bad.) Every single one plays great. All of them. And even if there were drops in utilization down to around 60%, I wouldn't notice without monitoring lol. Framerates would still be good in most titles.

Please, tell me honestly, without monitoring framerates or utilization, how many of your games would you notice it? I don't have Crysis 2 yet, but I can attest that BF3 runs like butter.

Throw them in someone's face? I told him he should buy a 680m and said I don't suffer from any utilization problems with 12.11. I was disagreeing with him, and you replied telling me I shouldn't share my opinion on an open forum. derp.

I don't know what "shouting out from the bushes" means, so I'll leave that alone lol.

There is nothing wrong with buying a laptop now. There is always something newer and better on the horizon when it comes to technology. If you want a laptop, I'd suggest you just get it now. It will likely be 6 months or longer before the new gpus are out.

 

hey guys i just bought the bf3 close quarters.
and if you remember a mate from here he was testing the 680m on ultra.(p170em+680m)i dont know to be honest what drivers he had?
if i remember corect he was about 42-49fps.
i tested mine 49-60fps(stock),just amazing guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:

 

not sure where that came from or what its in reference to but you do sound a little ragey there, dare i say it ;P.

its actually cheaper to sell my whole laptop and buy a new one than to go through manual card swap. with manual swap it will cost me nearly £600, plus I lose my warranty. if I sell the whole laptop I lose a lot less and can go for something different.

you manage to answer that question yourself there:

... you've only tested BF3 in scenarios that did not have any significant utilization issues in the first place.

well, we both seem to be reporting contradicting things here, so one of us must has to be being somewhat economical with the truth. I can post proof that BF3 still has issues with larger maps, can you do the same that it doesnt?

 

Well in this video, Battlefield 3 Max settings 12.11 beta driver 64 player match. - YouTube. This man is getting a solid 45-60fps on Caspian 64 players. And he mentions there is a 10 fps increase when he is not recording.

 

I was just defending a fellow forum member from being verbally attacked without a reason. When you are saying things like "stop raging already", you are belittling our case of demanding further improvements. And with the thing about Voz, I meant that he has hardly faced the issue to the extent the rest of us (many of us waited months for even an acknowledgement of the problem) have. It is unfair to belittle the ordeal some of us had to go through. I (we?) am certainly not anti-AMD, which you can see if you look up my post history.

AMD will likely release new cards by Q2 2013.

 

So stop raging about the 7970M already... Get over it, it's in your past.

Oh BTW my FPS in BF3 in Caspian and Firestorm with 64 players is just dandy. 50-60 FPD is fine by me.

 

Dont get me wrong, I am not arguing that 7970m runs bad all the time, for most part BF3 is a lot smoother than it was - I'm just pointing out that there still are issues with certain games, maps, or scenes where utilization goes down. Caspian map even before this driver did not have many problems with utilization, - Gulf of Oman and Karkland maps do have several areas where fps dips to bellow 30 with 12.11.

 

where in my post am i raging about 7970m?

 

failwheeldrive, is it true that NP 9370 does not support enduro?
if this is the case, i am feeling to go with 7970M crossfire with NP 9370..
no enduro problems = no driver problems = no poor gpu utilization = beastly NP 9370 on 7970M crossfire rite?

 

Well to be honest a real stress tester would be, Arma 2, WItcher 2 and Metro 2033.
(Threw Arma 2 in there, since it has poor optimization, but want to see performance.)
These games utilize the GPU more than the CPU compared to BF3. I would love to see the performance on these games with the new 12.11.

 

its true, in 9370 7970m is much better value than 680m.

 

ARMA 2 still runs poorly, with a lot of sub 30fps dips; Witcher 2 and Metro 2033 run well - but they never had issues before the beta anyway.

 

thanks arcticjoe..
since there is no problems in 9370 with enduro, i will aim for crossfire 7970M..
by the way, are u 100% sure that there will be no enduro problems for 7970M on 9370?
because, i will be spending big money that i saved since last year to buy my laptop..
i do not want to regret..
thanks a lot..
any advice is much appreciated.

 

The 9370 doesn't have the option to use Enduro..

 

Why is the 670mx 200$ more than the 7970m on the 9370. Thought the 7970m would outperform it.

Also between the 9170 and 9370. Is the 9370 bigger and thicker than the 9170? And in terms of cooling, are they relatively the same? Looking at the 9170 and 9370, configured both with the same specs, only a 50$ difference.

 

It does, by a long shot. Nvidia usually charge a premium for their cards, so in most cases they are overpriced.

 

so it is 100% safe to go for crossfire 7970M on NP 9370 because its free from enduro problems rite?
sorry for my repeating questions..
this is because, i wanna be 200% sure on which laptop to buy..
if this is the case, i would go for 9370 crossfire and not for alienware single gtx 680M..
my final question is still "so it is 100% safe to go for crossfire 7970M on NP 9370 because its free from enduro problems rite?"

 

It can't have endruo issue when it doesn't use enduro. That doesn't mean the crossfire driver is perfect though and that apply on both amd/nvidia.

 

go for it!!:thumbsup:
no enduro-no problems!!

 

thanks..
hahahaha....

 

Not to be ignorant or anything. But can't you just disable enduro. Isn't enduro using a hardware similar to the multiplexers. With the hardware there should be a software to tell it when to switch or not. So why not just shut down the software completely. Or is the software part of the 7970m as well?

Or I can be completely wrong, and enduro doesn't use anything like the multiplexers.

 

No Mux in 150/170EM. No enduro=no image on the screen.