MSI N760 TF 2GD5/OC GTX 760 Overclocking Review @ [H]

[FrgMstr]

MSI N760 TF 2GD5/OC GTX 760 Overclocking Review - We take the new MSI N760 TF 2GD5/OC video card and overclock it to its highest potential with MSI Afterburner. We don't stop there, we also overclock all the comparison cards to their highest potential, and see if the GTX 760 can still hold its own. We also compare performance with the Radeon HD 7950.

 

[Nuby1Canuby]

Great review! I love the reviews where you overclock all the cards.

 

[Maxx]

Your core results are pretty much spot-on with what I'm getting with my two cards. I also hit 1280/1306 with boost on the cards. Although I found the various 7950s to be compelling, I knew I wanted to SLI, which is why I went with green over red. It does make me curious to wonder which cards do better in a dual configuration, especially if you take temperature/noise/power into the equation. For $10 over reference I have two cards that run really pretty quiet and cool, and I'm of the opinion that SLI probably scales better in the top games (at least more immediately), although I'd be happy to be proven wrong. My brother is running 7950's and he seems to suck up more power, have more issues with heat, etc., esp with his one reference card, and I generally out-perform him.

https://borecraft.com/files/00000.png (Unigine Valley with SLI at signature settings)

 

[lagittaja]

Thanks for the review.
So looked at the OC perf section and the 7950B is performing 8.4% faster when the average FPS is calculated from those six results. Discard Tomb Raider and it's 4.7% faster.
System power consumption is 31.8% higher with 7950B with both OC'd.
So mmyeah, 760 definitely is the king of the hill at this price point.

 

[fanboy]

Thank You for the level reveiw Kyle .. ( 760 definitely is the king of the hill at this price point. ) the HD7950 is built for more then 1920x1080 gaming as the 3Gb of ram is there for reason and i'm sure they didn't have time to go any higher in there reveiw..

With the overclocked reveiw the cards look cpu limited.

 

[geok1ng]

If we really wanna compare the 7950 against the 760 we need tests at 1440p or 1600p. I wont pull the trigger until i see 1600p numbers for single card and SLI.
Another conclusion from the article is that AMD will have to lower the price on the 7870 LE.

 

[raghu78]

the conclusion that a GTX 760 OC provides similar gameplay as HD 7950 OC is not true. of the 4 games you tested HD 7950 OC is faster by 2 - 7% in Metro Last Light, Farcry 3, Crysis 3. But Tombraider is more than 25% faster on HD 7950 OC. Tombraider has higher AA levels of SSAA 2x and SSAA 4x. if 25 - 30% higher performance cannot allow higher settings what can.

previous hardocp reviews have shown Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs, Max Payne 3 also to be significantly faster on AMD cards. HD 7950 is 3 - 7% slower than HD 7970 at same clocks and is similar to what GTX 670 is to GTX 680.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/03/11/asus_hd_7970_directcu_ii_video_card_review/6
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/03/11/asus_hd_7970_directcu_ii_video_card_review/8

what this review shows is even a 1100 mhz HD 7950 OC is faster than GTX 760 OC at close to 1.3 ghz. and 1100 mhz is reached at stock voltage on the majority of HD 7950 boost cards. the GTX 760 is a power efficient card - thats a fact. but GTX 760 OC is not a HD 7950 OC competitor in perf.

one of the things in the hardocp kepler reviews is a AMD win even by 25 - 30% is always ignored or played down while if its a Nvidia win its exaggerated. hardocp's data and their conclusions are two very different things.

 

[tonyftw]

the conclusion that a GTX 760 OC provides similar gameplay as HD 7950 OC is not true.

Actually it is true. The 760 was only slightly behind in the games they tested, except one (which had tressfx enabled). The end user will not notice that extra 2-7%, in game.

HD 7950 is 3 - 7% slower than HD 7970 at same clocks and is similar to what GTX 670 is to GTX 680.

This I can agree with it, from my personal testing.

what this review shows is even a 1100 mhz HD 7950 OC is faster than GTX 760 OC at close to 1.3 ghz

Speculating.

1100 mhz is reached at stock voltage on the majority of HD 7950 boost cards

I would slow down on the majority part. Only a whooping two 7950 boost cards I owned, could clock that high at stock (1175/1195 respectively).

but GTX 760 OC is not a HD 7950 OC competitor in perf

That is your opinion. Every test/review will disagree with your statement. The 7950 is faster at their max oc's, but they are comparable.

one of the things in the hardocp kepler reviews is a AMD win even by 25 - 30% is always ignored or played down while if its a Nvidia win its exaggerated

Proof of these examples? I must be reading something else then.

Great review as usual guys.

 

[raghu78]

Actually it is true. The 760 was only slightly behind in the games they tested, except one (which had tressfx enabled). The end user will not notice that extra 2-7%, in game.

i mentioned the other games previously used in hardocp's test suite which are not currently used. you cleverly avoided responding to that. they are still some of the most demanding games and very popular for benchmarking. so across a wider range of games the HD 7950 OC is faster. did you see the HD 7970 review where a HD 7970 OC is close to 40 - 50% faster than GTX 680 in sleeping dogs, hitman.

This I can agree with it, from my personal testing.

so we both agree on HD 7950 and HD 7970 perf diff clock for clock.

Speculating.

no. do you know the concept of interpolation. a 1100 mhz HD 7950 would be 3 - 5% slower than HD 7950(1150 Mhz) . it would match the GTX 760 OC in 3 of 4 games while beating it by 20% in tomb raider.

I would slow down on the majority part. Only a whooping two 7950 boost cards I owned, could clock that high at stock (1175/1195 respectively).

1100 mhz is definitely achievable at stock volts on the majority of HD 7950 boost cards. especially those cards with good coolers. like sapphire dual x , his ice q x2 boost, msi twin frozr, asus direct cu ii, gigabyte wf3.

Proof of these examples? I must be reading something else then.

saying that HD 7950 OC does not allow better playable game settings in Tomb raider is not true. here is tomb raider performance review

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/03/20/tomb_raider_video_card_performance_iq_review/6

"Without any level of AA on, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 averaged 61.6 FPS with TressFX also enabled. Enabling FXAA brought the video card down to 60.2 FPS, but provided us a performance "free" form of aliasing. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 was only 2.2% slower with FXAA enabled.

Enabling 2X SSAA on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 resulted in 26.2% slower performance than playing with FXAA, and had an average framerate of 44.4 FPS. This was our highest playable setting for the GeForce GTX 680. Enabling 4X SSAA will make bring the average framerate of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 down to 34.3 FPS. This is 22.7% slower than with 2X SSAA enabled, and 44.3% slower than with no AA enabled "

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/03/20/tomb_raider_video_card_performance_iq_review/7

"In this image we are looking at the back of a helicopter and a fence to the left of the screenshot. With no AA enabled the helicopters tail is very jagged and choppy, and the fence stands out against the background as being very jagged. Enabling FXAA adds a slight blur to these textures, but does a better job at hiding some of the aliasing. 2X SSAA cleans up FXAA's rougher spots, and makes the fence on the left seem more realistic and smooth. 4X SSAA smooth's the rest of the helicopters tail, and makes removes more jagged areas of the fence."

SSAA 2x is shown to improve image quality compared to FXAA. HD 7950 OC (68.4 fps) is significantly faster than GTX 680 (60.2 fps) with FXAA. SSAA 2x is clearly mentioned as the highest playable setting on GTX 680 (44.4 fps). with SSAA 2x HD 7950 OC should be close to 50 fps and definitely playable at 1080p. saying that HD 7950 OC does not allow improved graphics settings in tomb raider is not true and misleading .

 

[tonyftw]

they are still some of the most demanding games and very popular for benchmarking

I respectfully disagree. They were popular at one point, but not at the moment.

so across a wider range of games the HD 7950 OC is faster

And where did I mention that it isn't? The 7950 oc'ed is faster, but its performance is comparable to the 760 oc.

did you see the HD 7970 review where a HD 7970 OC is close to 40 - 50% faster than GTX 680

Irrelevant to this discussion, and yes the 7970 oc'ed is faster than the 680 (surprise, surprise).

no. do you know the concept of interpolation. a 1100 mhz HD 7950 would be 3 - 5% slower than HD 7950(1150 Mhz) . it would match the GTX 760 OC in 3 of 4 games while beating it by 20% in tomb raider.

Please post proof of this.

1100 mhz is definitely achievable at stock volts on the majority of HD 7950 boost cards. especially those cards with good coolers. like sapphire dual x , his ice q x2 boost, msi twin frozr, asus direct cu ii, gigabyte wf3.

It's achievable, yes, but by the majority? I would say no. I had 4 7950 boost cards that could not reach 1100, game stable.

saying that HD 7950 OC does not allow better playable game settings in Tomb raider is not true.

And, again, where did I mention this?

The gtx 760 oc'ed, is comparable to the 7950 oc'ed. I can cherry pick benchmarks if I wanted to too, but it doesn't change the fact that both card's perform quite similarly.

The 7950 is the better card, however it does have a slightly higher price tag (please don't post some "on sale" card, basing this off msrp).

 

[raghu78]

I respectfully disagree. They were popular at one point, but not at the moment.

not really. go around and see other sites. hitman, sleeping dogs, max payne 3 are used by many sites like anandtech, hardwarecanucks, techreport, tomshardware.

And where did I mention that it isn't? The 7950 oc'ed is faster, but its performance is comparable to the 760 oc.

how do you say comparable perf when in the best cases GTX 760 OC is slightly slower than HD 7950 OC and in worst cases like tombraider, hitman, sleeping dogs, max payne 3, dirt showdown its massively slower. more than 20% perf diff is not a joke. thats the diff between GTX 770 and GTX 780.

Please post proof of this.

perf scales in the best cases at 80 - 90% of clock scaling. so 1150 mhz will be atmost 4 - 5% better than HD 7950 at 1100 mhz. there is enough data on the internet . go to overclock.net for more user posted benchmarks.

It's achievable, yes, but by the majority? I would say no. I had 4 7950 boost cards that could not reach 1100, game stable.

at stock voltage or with extra voltage too ? also were they having custom coolers or ref coolers. the ref cooler design is avoided by most AIB for poor cooling and noise. the custom cooler cards don't have problems hitting 1150 - 1200 mhz with voltage tweaking.

The gtx 760 oc'ed, is comparable to the 7950 oc'ed. I can cherry pick benchmarks if I wanted to too, but it doesn't change the fact that both card's perform quite similarly.

why is a game where a nVIDIA card loses badly called cherry picking. the fact is in the last 18 months AMD has invested significantly in GAMING EVOLVED with many titles running much better on AMD cards. this is something which never strikes to many people. Nvidia GTX 760 OC even in the best cases like Metro Last light (which is a TWIMTBP title) cannot beat AMD HD 7950 OC cards. but when it loses in a Gaming Evolved title its by an embarassing margin of > 25%. this alone should be enough to say thet are are not comparable by any stretch of imagination.

 

[Maxx]

Tony, Raghu...I have 2x760, my brother has 3x7950's at his disposal (one reference), and we have been testing them back and forth for days in various configurations. Reality is I'm getting the cleaner experience from it. I found my OC quick and easy, at cool and quiet temperatures, while days later we try to match my scores on two of his with various techniques. I'm not the type to shy away from difficulty...I used to trace lines on Athlons with a mag glass like the rest...but it's just smoother. I stand by the fact that a good 760 is the best no-nonsense card in its segment. Stock voltage, stock TDP limit, I beat his cards at 2x any way you slice it. I'm enjoying games while he's trying to figure out why he can't...not to mention he's running hotter, more noise, and more power. 'nough said.

 

[raghu78]

Tony, Raghu...I have 2x760, my brother has 3x7950's at his disposal (one reference), and we have been testing them back and forth for days in various configurations. Reality is I'm getting the cleaner experience from it. I found my OC quick and easy, at cool and quiet temperatures, while days later we try to match my scores on two of his with various techniques. I'm not the type to shy away from difficulty...I used to trace lines on Athlons with a mag glass like the rest...but it's just smoother. I stand by the fact that a good 760 is the best no-nonsense card in its segment. Stock voltage, stock TDP limit, I beat his cards at 2x any way you slice it. I'm enjoying games while he's trying to figure out why he can't...not to mention he's running hotter, more noise, and more power. 'nough said.

we are talking about single GPU. for multi GPU Nvidia has the better experience. AMD's CF frametime issues are well documented. Until AMD's CF frame pacing driver arrives on july 31, Nvidia has the superior multi GPU experience.

for single GPU HD 7950 OC is the faster card and without doubt.

 

[Michaelius]

For that 1% of users that overclocks heavily....

For everyone else 760 is better, cheaper and more efficient card

 

[fanboy]

There is some odd reason that [H] keeps useing 1920x1080 in there reveiws .. as i said before the HD7950 is built for more then 1920x1080 gaming so you would have to beat it across the whole playing feild to say

For that 1% of users that overclocks heavily....

For everyone else 760 is better, cheaper and more efficient card

I bought my HD7950Boost for more the 1920 x 1080

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3e11mkEs_o



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yQqQ1jP7KQ

 

[Brackle]

Think the 7950 is still the better buy. You can get a sapphire 7950 for $269 (249 after MIR).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202026

 

[5E7EN]

Nice review, interesting comments - seems this is a perfect card for those 'planning on going SLI in the future' buyers...

 

[Mccaula718]

Still no buyers remorse for the 7950 I purchased earlier this year then.

 

[Max9R]

Nice review, interesting comments - seems this is a perfect card for those 'planning on going SLI in the future' buyers...

Agreed, for at least the next few weeks anyway, this would be the superior choice for a multi-card setup. Also, AMD's FP driver might suck and you know this is a sure thing. Otherwise for a single card it seems to me the 7950B is a no-brainer at the recent sale prices (not so much at full price) unless you're really hung up on physx...

 

[Brackle]

Agreed, for at least the next few weeks anyway, this would be the superior choice for a multi-card setup. Also, AMD's FP driver might suck and you know this is a sure thing. Otherwise for a single card it seems to me the 7950B is a no-brainer at the recent sale prices (not so much at full price) unless you're really hung up on physx...

Also do not forget about the 4 free games as well, thats even more value over the 760.

 

[DooKey]

Also do not forget about the 4 free games as well, thats even more value over the 760.

Isn't the AMD bundle dead now?

 

[Max9R]

Isn't the AMD bundle dead now?

Actually no, and good point by DASHIT. Although not the same value it was a few months back it's still pretty good if you don't have the games already.

 

[TheGoat Eater]

If your point is to get the other because of the games - will you play them all the time and like every one, and will it last you for a few years? That for me is where the argument for any free games falls flat. I know I will be playing many games and give bundle games little play as has happened many times over now. I will be getting one of these likely to test out and see how I like it.