- Date:
- Monday , May 14, 2012
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Share:

GeForce 680 & 670 vs. Radeon 7970 & 7950 Gaming Perf.
Wondering how the GeForce GTX 680 and GeForce GTX 670 compare to the Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon HD 7950 at stock frequencies as well as overclocked? You ask for it and we have done just that. Hold onto your hard earned cash and take note of just how the new GeForce GTX 670 compares with the rest of the competition.
Stock Clocks
On this page of comparisons we are looking at all four video cards at stock "out of the box" GPU and memory clock speeds. This means the video cards are running at GPU and memory frequency clocks as determined by the AMD and NVIDIA. NVIDIA's default GPU Boost technology is being utilized, just like it operates using default settings. Keep in mind this article is looking at gaming performance, not IPC (instructions per clock) differences. All our results below are "apples-to-apples" tests at the same settings in each game.
The first four graphs compare the GeForce GTX 670, GTX 680, and the Radeon HD 7950. The second set of four graphs compare the GeForce GTX 670, GTX 680, and the Radeon HD 7970.
GTX 670 vs. GTX 680 vs. HD 7950 at Stock Clocks
Battlefield 3
Starting with the popular BF3 we find both GeForce GTX 670 and GeForce GTX 680 giving us better performance compared to the Radeon HD 7950. The GeForce GTX 670 is almost 19% faster than the Radeon HD 7950 in this game. Performance between GTX 680 and GTX 670 is relatively close. The GTX 680 is 7% faster than the GTX 670. The Radeon HD 7950 just can't keep up with NVIDIA's GTX 670 and 680 in this game.
Batman
Batman continues to show the dominance of the GeForce GTX 670 and GeForce GTX 680 over the Radeon HD 7950. In the portion of gameplay with heavy tessellation, between the 196 second and 361 second mark, we see both NVIDIA GPUs perform much better than the HD 7950. On average, the GTX 670 is almost 22% faster than the Radeon HD 7950 in this game. Once again there is only a small difference between GTX 670 and GTX 680, with the GTX 680 being 9% faster than the GTX 670.
Skyrim
Once again both NVIDIA GPUs of this generation hold a huge lead over the Radeon HD 7950 in Skyrim. The GTX 670 is a whopping 30% faster than the Radeon HD 7950 in Skyrim.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Ex is the only game where the difference isn't as large. Still, the GTX 670 does technically hold a 4% advantage.
GTX 670 vs. GTX 680 vs. HD 7970 at Stock Clocks
Battlefield 3
Now that we have the Radeon HD 7970 compared.
In BF3, amazingly the new GeForce GTX 670, which is cheaper than the HD 7970, is performing right about on par with HD 7970. The average framerate is so close you can't call either one the "winner." Performance is equal, and that means the less expensive GTX 670 is delivering the same experience as the more expensive HD 7970 video card. The $499 GTX 680 adds a bit more performance, but it too is still rather close to GTX 670 performance.
Batman
In Batman, the new GeForce GTX 670 is actually faster than the Radeon HD 7970! Once again in the parts that really matter, with heavy tessellation between 196 seconds and 346 seconds marks, we see the HD 7970 suffer. GeForce GTX 670 is able to give us above 30 FPS in this area, and the more expensive HD 7970 is not. This is impressive.
Skyrim
Even in Skyrim the less expensive GeForce GTX 670 gives us more performance over the Radeon HD 7970. We are seeing the GTX 670 averaging 9% faster than the Radeon HD 7970. If you look in the graph this means performance consistently above 60 FPS. The GeForce GTX 680 offers us even more in this game, giving us 13% more performance over the GTX 670.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Once again we see strong performance from the AMD side in this game. The AMD Radeon HD 7970 is 15% faster than the GeForce GTX 670. The GeForce GTX 680 brings performance up closer to the HD 7970. This was the only game to behave this way, all others as you've seen show the GTX 670 coming out ahead or equal to HD 7970.
On the next page let's see what happens when we overclock all four video cards.








