I'm making a mini itx build with the shenobi prodigy and right now, I have chosen to use a 670 with the build. The current cost is $1100 and I would like to keep it around there. I was just wondering if the 660 ti would hold up in terms of the money I would save in proportion to performance. Another thing I considered was the fact that SLI would obviously not be an option later down the road due to this build's size. Anybody ever have experience with either of these cards? Any alternative suggestions are also greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
price to performance the 660ti and 670 are almost on the same linear graph.
If you can find a cheap 7970 get it. it will kick ass on the 670 and 660ti.
Better of the 2 worlds: get a 7950. it's cheaper than the 670, much better that the 660ti, and performs along side the 670, And you can over clock the hell out of it too. To the point where an OC 7950 will beat a 7970 (stock).
But if you want to stick to Nvidia, go the 670, It's a great card and will suit you well.
It really depends on how what use case you are using the computer for. The 670 is going to be about $100 or 25% more than the 660TI, and NJM1112 is correct in saying that the 660 ti and 670 are pretty much linear in terms of what you pay is what you get. Here is a link to a direct comparison of their gaming benchmarks.
http://anandtech.com/bench/Product/647?vs=598
The 660Ti and the 670 is a good apples to apples comparison. The 660Ti is pretty much a 670 with 1 of the 4 ROP memory clusters deactivated, leaving you with an 192-bit wide memory bus. However, the 660Ti still has a 2GB framebuffer by using an asynchronous pairing of the DRAM to the memory. Because of this, 1/4 of the DRAM clusters have double the amount of ram tied to the 32-bit bus. This means that any game utilizing the last 500MB of the framebuffer will be operating at half speed. In theory, this sounds pretty crippling, but Nvidia does a good job provisioning their framebuffer in software that it isn't really that bad.
However, comparing between the Geforce GPU's and the Radeon 7950 isn't as easy because they are completely different architectures. On paper, the 7950 is literally more bang for the buck. It is cheaper than the 670, but packs more stream processors, a 384-bit/3GB framebuffer and almost 1 billion more transistors.
However, with more of the good comes more of the bad. The 7950 runs hot, loud and requires more juice, 200W TDP vs 150W for the 660Ti. And even though the bitfenix prodigy is pretty spacious IMO, you are going to need a couple more fans to keep the case temps at bay.
However, this doesn't mean the 7950 is a clear winner. The 7950 beats the 660Ti in most cases, and even the 670 in some cases. However, there are more than several occasions where the 660Ti beats the 7950 in some benchmarks.
Those Benches are old, they are before the implementation of the 12.11 and 13.1 Drivers that Gave a pretty hafty performance boost to the 7000 series cards
As it stands right now the 7950 beats the 660TI at any game you throw at it, other than a few one offs (these are usually older or brand new games) and when OC'd will compete with the GTX 670 and beats it in a few scenarios.
Id does use more power but isnt hotter nor louder than the 660TI or GTX 670, most of the better brands of 7000 series cards actually run cooler than there Nvidia counterparts.
Also if your willing to spend 400+ Dollars of a GFX card and the GTX 670's regularly come in at around $430 you should pick up a 7970, it will have no problem beating a GTX 670 and competes/beats GTX 680's
I agree with you except on two parts. "The 7950 runs hot, loud" & your last paragraph.
This is completely false. in the sense of what oem partner you buy it from, watch the video i linked, His temps don't go through the roof and it stay insanely quiet, even on an open test bench.
However, Radeon cards are known for being loud and hot, this bad reputation is caused by the stock amd coolers. Look no further than any video about the 6990. And if you're building an intense gaming machine with loads of gpu horsepower, you're not going to bu a reference card and cooler.
your last paragraph isn't too accurate anymore. with the latest drivers from both sides the 7950 and the 670 trade blows between games.
Thanks for the quick reply guys. Summed up my assumptions pretty well here. Pretty sure i'm gonna stick with the 670 because im pretty sure i'll be doing some editing down the road.
that sounds good, but be aware that only a few video editing programs really take use of CUDA all to well and the 670's Open CL (which quite a few programs use) capabilities are crap even compared to low end radeon cards.