High-end graphics cards: Bigger means better

In this article we round up a selection of high-end graphics cards that are locally available from various retailers.

In our previous roundup, we analysed the options for buyers in the mid-range segment and concluded that the sweet spot was PowerColor’s HD7850 PCS+, pulling into the roundup at R2,200. We’ll be looking at much more expensive cards this time round and some of the really insane stuff at the high-end as well.

As per our previous roundup, Rebeltech, Wootware and Prophecy were used for price comparisons to calculate average pricing, and reviews were sourced from reputable websites such as TechReport, Tom’s Hardware and TechpowerUp!

Setting the standard: Leadtek GTX670 and PowerColor HD7970

Leadtek GTX670 ± R4300
PowerColor HD7970 ± R4100

Going just over R4,000, this pair of cards are the start of the very thinly-populated high-end graphics card market. The GTX670 is based on Nvidia’s Kepler architecture and will simply eat through every game you throw at it. In addition, CUDA and Physx acceleration will change the way you look at games. The reference cooler is a bit louder than custom designs but it exhausts heat better. Because it’s a reference design, Techpowerup’s score of 9.7 for the GTX670 is relevant.

The Radeon HD7970, on the other hand, is AMD’s second-highest card in its GPU family, only outperformed by the GHz edition of the same card. It uses a larger RAM buffer (3GB DDR5) compared to the GTX670 (2GB DDR5), and a larger memory bus at 384 bits to the Geforce’s 256-bit wide bus. Although there are no reviews for the PowerColor HD7970 3GB with the redesigned cooler, the PCS+ version is very similar and earned an Editor’s Choice award from Tweaktown.

The best of the best: Gigabyte GTX680 SO and Sapphire Vapor-X HD7970 6GB

Gigabyte GTX680 SO ± R7100
Sapphire Vapor-X HD7970 ± R7200

Both of these cards cost a fortune and yet both are of the best cards available that money can buy. The Radeon HD7970 6GB from Sapphire has an enormous amount of VRAM, although you’d run out of computational power quicker than available memory. Its only drawback is that you’d very likely want to use this card to set up a six-monitor array and there won’t be enough ports. The Vapor-X 6GB HD7970 won the Gold award from Overclockers Club.

The Gigabyte GTX680 Super Overclock is completely mad. For this card Gigabyte designed a new cooler, using five small high-speed fans to cool down the behemoth. Its clocked higher than any other GTX680 right out of the box and due to the high quality components used in its construction, it’s a bit more efficient as well. Hot Hardware gave it the Recommended award simply because it was the best GTX680 they had ever tested.

Crushing the bank balance: PowerColor HD7990 6GB and Gigabyte GTX690 4GB

PowerColor HD7990 ± R10,000
Gigabyte GTX690 ± R12,000

One is the undisputed king of the dual-GPU hill with aching beauty, the other is a triple-slot Frankenstein. The GTX690 and the unofficial HD7990 cards out there are the peak of what Nvidia and AMD can offer by extension of their third-party manufacturers. Both cards throw in their fastest GPUs and double up on everything – that includes VRAM, bus widths and card lengths or cooler sizes.

The GTX690 is the best dual-GPU card Nvidia has ever made. Its more efficient than a SLI pair of GTX680s in terms of space taken up and power consumption and it even produces much less heat. It also commands a high price, easily extending over R12,000. While you could save R2,000 by going the SLI route instead, this card is somewhat exclusive. You’d buy this more for the bragging rights than anything else. Most reviews of the GTX690 are favourable and Techreport liked it a lot.

The HD7990 is a different beast. Housing two HD7970 cores, it sports a massive 6GB of VRAM and a 768-bit bus, something we rarely see in the hardware industry. While it doesn’t have the allure of the Geforce, it does combat that with good performance and better value – the HD7990 is a full R2,000 cheaper than most GTX690s available locally and comes with no less than six free games thanks to AMD’s Never Settle promotion. Every HD7990 out there is also a custom design. AMD will be releasing their own HD7990 this year, but for now the ones out there are all we have. Tweaktown gave a similar PowerColor HD7990, the Devil 13 edition,their Best Performance award.