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AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster!

Posted By: Immermann

AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/22/11 08:22 AM

The reviews are out! And it's a killer card!

But with a MSRP of US$549 I can't motivate a purchase frown
Hopefully the 7950 will have a more palatable price (though not likely) when it shows up in a couple of weeks.
Too bad Nvidia is still some months out with their new cards, we need some competition to bring down these prices.


HardOCP.
VR-Zone
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/22/11 10:08 AM

Thanks another good review:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review

While it looks like it beats the 580 GTX at modern games at about the same price, it doesn't seem like ass kicking evolution I had been hoping for just a bit better than the 580 but not a generation above.

Still it looks good for the solid Eyefinity and 3GB support and great idle power consumption (580 can't handle 3 monitors unless SLI'ed), maybe the beta drivers are lacking and it will hopefully improve over the 580 GTX more as the drivers mature.

For the price, I think for now I will be sticking with my crossfired 5870s for another year as the performance has held up well (similar to crossfired 6950s) and keep the fingers crossed for driver improvements and prices to drop on the 7970 and 580 GTX eventually (5870s were $399 new and those are still $150 higher)
Posted By: T}{OR

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/22/11 12:12 PM

I'll wait for more reviews and when it actually comes out, but for now it looks as if AMD has done a good job. Unlike 6xxx with series... Too bad the fan designs is still rubbish, as in too loud (the same from last 3-4 gen. cards??). This thing coupled with some after market coolers (e.g. TwinFrozr III or those on Gigabyte SOC cards) will make this an awesome GPU.

We have yet to see what is cooking in the Nvidia's camp.
Posted By: Immermann

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/22/11 01:58 PM

It looks like they managed to screw up the thermal paste on some of the review cards (good job...).
It made a pretty big difference when they replaced it (the table at the bottom of the page should be readable).
CLICK

---Edit---
Basically what this post says (from HardOCP forum):
CLICK
Posted By: BigC208

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/22/11 07:53 PM

Looks like a good competitor for the GTX580 for a Christmas raincheck. Lower power requirement is a real plus. Now the wait's on to see what Nvdia counters with. Liked it better when they refreshed at the same time. Spending 5-600 bucks on a card when you know something better's coming in 3-6 months is a bit disheartning. Maybe Nvidia can become the bargain bin leader for a while and drop the price of a 580 to sub $400 levels untill the 680 hits the street.

For me personally buying a 7970 now is like buying a 580 two weeks ago. Is it a smart buy with 680 in the pipeline? It's only evolutionary better. Almost a GPU generation late. I'm going to wait for Keppler. Keeping my fingers crossed the 680 has three DVI out.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/22/11 08:19 PM

Eyefinity 2.0 will allow P-L-P setups
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/22/11 08:27 PM

If one wades through the details in some of the longer articles, its apparent that the HD7970 really is a jump from the prior art -- in every respect (e.g. FPS, 3DStereo, Video encode/decode, Compute, DX11.1, Windows 8, etc). There is more to it than mere FPS -- its a total package.

Given the limitations of games (Skyrim, for example), it really can't show off its best stuff at normal resolutions (like 1920x1200) or lower. At normal and low resolutions, the CPU tends to limit things these days (but FPS is still plenty high with a mid-cost quad-core CPU). For normal resolution, single-monitor gaming, the HD7950 will be the card for most folks to get (about $400 they say).

As resolutions rise (in the test reports), the HD7970 advantage grows.

So, for folks at the bleeding edge (Eyfinity, 3DStereo, etc), HD7970 s the card.

I assume the Nvidia GTX680 will be faster than HD7970 in FPS because Nvidia won't release it until it is -- given rumored issues, that may be months away. After that, the HD8970 will be just around the corner -- so on to the end of time (or at least a few years) smile

Competition is good smile
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/23/11 02:22 AM

Yeah it will be interesting to see if NV embraces the tripple monitor on a single card feature like AMD has, for now AMD has that market easily.
Posted By: BigC208

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/23/11 03:26 AM

It's the reason I went with a $320 gtx570 to tie me over. I use an old 8800gts-640mb for my left and right monitor, the 570 for the middle. I really want to go surround video but the 580 did not have a 3 monitor one card solution at the time. Nvidia has to step it up with the 3 dvi out on the 680 or It's 7970/7950 for me next fall. On the other hand I could sell my 570, get a 7970 and have eyefiniti right now. Lets see how the 7970 does with Il2 CloD.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/23/11 03:15 PM

Here are some more reviews, as posted in the "7000 rumor" thread. I've removed the already mentioned HardOCP and Guru3D links:


Quote:
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/23/11 04:00 PM

I think the 7970 will really show it's true (28 nm) colours once the enthusiasts are able to get over the 1125 MHz CCC clocking limit.

So far almost all the reviewers (that I've read, I haven't read them all) who have OC'd the card with Catalyst have been able to push it to that limit without voltage changes; this suggests that the card has a fair bit of headroom to explore...
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/23/11 05:11 PM

Cool! If the TIM is applied correctly at least, it should be a screamer! smile
Posted By: ArgonV

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/23/11 07:07 PM

I'll hold on to my 5870's for a bit longer. smile Still, a good improvement for AMD. I'm not willing to lay down the cash when for my needs it won't gain me as much per dollar. Now, if someone wants to buy my 5870's off of me, we can talk. wink
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/24/11 09:19 AM

Yeah I was hoping the 7970 was going to be another huge milestone leap card like the 8800GT and the 5870 were for their times, in those current reviews it seems more like the iterative 10-20% increase over the competition as most of the last few years of releases have been from both companies...

However overclocking is a good point, maybe if it can be highly overclocked or newer drivers bring out the performance (as the last few have done for the 5870), then indeed there could be a higher increase over the 580 GTX yet to be had.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/24/11 06:39 PM

they tested them using pre-release drivers
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/24/11 07:42 PM

I compare AMD/ATI to AMD/ATI first.

Thing is, the 28nm HD7970 was supposed to be released a year ago and replace the 40nm HD5870. However, it was delayed because TSMC couldn't get their 28nm production line working. The 40nm HD6970 was a "stopgap" product. To add to the confusion, had the 28nm HD7970 been released last year it would have been called HD6970 (or HD6870).

Running at 1GHz, the HD7970 is about as good as my two HD5870 in crossfire. So, one HD7970 does the work of two of the cards it was supposed to replace. That's a generational improvement. It also does a lot of other things well (e.g. physics, compute, tessellation) and already supports DX11.1 and Windows 8. Its a high performing one card solution for 3 monitor gaming -- a big improvement over GTX580 in that regard.
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/24/11 11:50 PM

I think for multi-monitor set ups AMD is a clear winner with this card; but for those of us running a single monitor on a relatively recent GPU I'm not sure there's any compelling reason to upgrade to the 7970... I think it's price will drop pretty fast once nvidia releases it's Kepler cards...
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/25/11 03:16 AM

Originally Posted By: Cold_Gambler
I think for multi-monitor set ups AMD is a clear winner with this card; but for those of us running a single monitor on a relatively recent GPU I'm not sure there's any compelling reason to upgrade to the 7970... I think it's price will drop pretty fast once nvidia releases it's Kepler cards...


I agree smile
Posted By: dutch

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/26/11 06:42 PM

Guys do not forget nVidia is finally responding: http://www.tweaktown.com/news/21936/leak..._580/index.html

But still no release date????
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/26/11 07:00 PM

Interesting and impressive numbers. Will nVidia do Surround gaming on a single card though?
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/26/11 08:13 PM

Skipping a number is good salesmanship -- still may be the GTX680 under a different name. Even AMD is raising the "number designations" on old designs now (Nvidia started that practice quite a while back). May also want to get the first number "7" to correspond to the AMD first number "7" -- so as not to appear "behind" by using a "6".

I did read a rumor a few months back that the planned GTX680 design (planned for late this Fall originally) was moved to March/April due to serious problems. If they did a redesign, that could also be a reason to skip a number -- though its still a redesigned 680.

I notice most of the benchmarks are "high-tessellation" benchmarks at high-resolution. They show ratios, not FPS. AMD HD7970 also has high ratios under the same conditions. Nvidia numbers might be "projected numbers" based on "design goals" -- rather than actual FPS benchmark data.

Nonetheless, I don't expect Nvidia to turn out the "second fastest" card. They will do whatever it takes to claim the FPS crown smile

AMD HD7990 dual-CPU card is due in Q1 according to the latest rumor. Given the excellent CrossFireX scaling of HD7970 (close to 2x when it works), dual-GPU HD7990 could give the fastest FPS for a single-card on into the Fall.

Anyhow, the sooner Nvidia gets the GTX780 on the market the better (to lower AMD prices and speed up release of the HD8970). Competition is good smile
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/26/11 10:22 PM

Originally Posted By: Allen
Nonetheless, I don't expect Nvidia to turn out the "second fastest" card. They will do whatever it takes to claim the FPS crown smile


They wouldn't give us another 5800 FX, would they? eek Quite the hot unit, but I still had one of those in a Shuttle SFF. biggrin
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/27/11 03:48 AM

Fudzilla rumor says the supply of HD7970 will be good on January 9. We'll see smile
Posted By: No Name

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/27/11 07:28 AM

the 7990 will be the card to get
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/27/11 11:39 AM

Re: it's a monster. Anyone try to find a CPU that has as many transistors as this puppy? 4.3 Billion, not a Xeon, Itanium or any I looked at came close. biggrin 2.6 for a Xeon is where the list on Wiki ends. :p
Posted By: Jedi Master

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/27/11 03:26 PM

I think this shows more about how far short the 6xxx series fell than anything else. It's faster than a 580, but it also costs more and came out a year later. And it's only like 10% faster, so if you just bought a 580 in the last few months it's certainly not cost-effective to buy this now.

AMD put themselves back into competition with nvidia, but they're not clearly leading like nvidia was last go around. How their new cards stack up in a few months will determine that...but my gut says we'll see a 680/780 that's like 10% faster than this one but costs slightly more.

In short, will going from $500 to $550 be worth it for you for 10% more speed? Will then going from $550 to $600 be worth it for another 10%?

Of course, I've not bought the top end card from anyone for years now. Perhaps the 9800 was the last ATI card I had that was tops at the time, since then I've gone with upgrading my card more frequently but buying 2nd-best, like my 5850 or now my 570.

DX11.1 seems like a big nothing, just like DX10.1 was, so that's irrelevant. Like DX10 itself, by the time we have enough out there using it to make it worthwhile, there will be a 2nd generation of cards using it that will do it better. Those early DX10 cards were just crappy at it, but they ran DX9 like mad.


The Jedi Master
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/27/11 03:55 PM

Originally Posted By: Jedi Master


In short, will going from $500 to $550 be worth it for you for 10% more speed? Will then going from $550 to $600 be worth it for another 10%?
If it's choosing between two new cards? I'd go for the 550$ one. In hardware, you would pay 50% more for 10% performance. When you were presented with the 6950 and 6970, they were priced 270€ and 330€ respectively, but they didn't differ 10% on average.
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/27/11 04:07 PM

Agreed, I was hoping for the 7970 to be more than just the 10% gain over the 580 and was disappointed by that.

Also a single 7970 is as fast as my two 5870s, but the cost of the 5870's has come down to the point where you can buy two for ~$300:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD5870-1GB-PCIE-PB

I am not loyal to a particular brand but in this case I was rooting for the underdog ATI, IMHO it seems likely a 10% improvement will not hold out for long and at this point the main edge it has on NV is the 3+ monitor support, it remains to be seen if NV has that on their radar or not, if they do then ATI's business will be even more affected.

I am hoping both that the NV 680/780 are indeed a generation above in performance (not just 10% incremental), and that they support 3+ monitor, and that ATI has some better product not far behind the 7970 that has better performance, hopefully the 7970 is like the 6870 line which was not really better than the 5870 for other than crossfireX and with the recent driver updates even that benefit has been eroded, hopefully they have another product not far behind the 7970, like the 6970 which made the 6870 be something that was just in between generations release that most enthusiasts skipped.
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/27/11 04:33 PM

The big improvement over GTX580 was at high resolutions and high graphics settings -- up to 30 percent IIRC and 20 percent typical. One would not expect much improvement at "normal" resolutions for a couple reasons. Also, as mentioned before, HD7970 at 1Gz seems to roughly equal two HD5870 in Crossfire (very respectable improvement for AMD fans).

Does indicate (to me), that the HD7970 and Nvidia competitive product (whenever its released) makes most sense for those running 3 monitors or one very high resolution monitor (well above 1920x1200). Most folks would be better served (price/performance wise) by the next lower card (e.g. HD7950), I imagine. Maybe even 2 cards lower for folks with normal monitors.

Personally, I think a 50 percent FPS improvement over what one already owns should be the minimum "tipping point" leading to a new card. That's "cold logic". Thing is, I don't always base my purchases on "cold logic" smile
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/27/11 06:22 PM

Originally Posted By: Allen
...or one very high resolution monitor (well above 1920x1200).


This year there will be (quite) a few 4k TVs at the CES. Not sure if that'd be QFHD (or 3840 x 2160) or one of the other 3-4 resolutions associated with 4k.
Posted By: Jedi Master

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/27/11 09:03 PM

Well, percentages are misleading. A 10% improvement at 20fps means 22 fps. At 100fps, it's 110 fps, but then you don't really need more at 100fps do you?

Even a 30% improvement at 30fps becomes 39fps, which is about where you'd see a difference, but those are in rare circumstances (high res that only huge/multimonitors do with FSAA and all).

I think it boils down to being worth the upgrade if you've got a single 6xxx or 5xxx card, maybe even worth it if you have crossfire'd 6/5xxx because of the power considerations, and worth it if you have a 4xx or lower nvidia card. It's just that anyone with a 560 or above likely won't care to. Especially if you have a 560, actually, as that means you're not going to spend $550 on a card if you wouldn't spend for the 570. wink


The Jedi Master
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/27/11 10:34 PM

i want one... and it'll last another 6 years like my 8800 has.
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/28/11 12:58 AM

Originally Posted By: Jedi Master
Well, percentages are misleading. A 10% improvement at 20fps...


Agree smile
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/28/11 01:37 AM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
i want one... and it'll last another 6 years like my 8800 has.


Your 8800 probably didn't cost $550, I think I remember paying $299 for mine and it's still going strong on my daughter's handme down gaming computer.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/28/11 01:23 PM

Originally Posted By: kludger
Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
i want one... and it'll last another 6 years like my 8800 has.


Your 8800 probably didn't cost $550, I think I remember paying $299 for mine and it's still going strong on my daughter's handme down gaming computer.

If you look at the specs of his Chevron 9 system, it was the GTS high end version from EVGA. I think it was around 350-400$ and back then the dollar was strong. smile
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/28/11 02:05 PM

Today's rumor: The HD7950 will cost $450 on January 9. Based on specifications, it should easily best an HD6970 (it better at that price).

Repeating, until Nvidia competes (and their 28nm design is having problems it is rumored), prices will be higher than AMD fans are used to paying.

AMD being number one sucks smile Can't wait until they take their rightful "second place" and lower their prices.

I'm quite willing to let Nvidia fans have the pleasure of "paying the price" for that extra few FPS (see Jedi Master's post above) smile
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/28/11 03:57 PM

Originally Posted By: Allen
Today's rumor: The HD7950 will cost $450 on January 9. Based on specifications, it should easily best an HD6970 (it better at that price).

Repeating, until Nvidia competes (and their 28nm design is having problems it is rumored), prices will be higher than AMD fans are used to paying.

AMD being number one sucks smile Can't wait until they take their rightful "second place" and lower their prices.

I'm quite willing to let Nvidia fans have the pleasure of "paying the price" for that extra few FPS (see Jedi Master's post above) smile


Ditto...
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/28/11 04:05 PM

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/AMD-Radeon-HD7990-HD7950-ati,14366.html

Originally Posted By: TomsHardware
With the paper launch of the Radeon HD 7970 last week, we are starting to get more leaked information about the other models hitting the market under the new "Tahiti" platform. In the information leaked by xtreview, The HD 7950 will have 1792 stream processors, 28 GCN compute units, which is down 256 stream processors from the HD 7970. It will utilize a 384-bit memory bus and 3GB GDDR5 just like the HD 7970. The HD 7950 looks to utilize 112 texture units and 32 full color ROPs. It has support for a maximum of 6 displays. What is still unknown at this time is the core clock speed, memory clock speed and price point. With the HD 7970 set to release around $550, I would expect the HD 7950 to fall closer to the $400 price mark at release.


Posted By: Jedi Master

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/28/11 08:50 PM

Of course, having 3GB RAM, a full 50% more than any other single-GPU card, can't help the price.



The Jedi Master
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/28/11 10:58 PM

Originally Posted By: Jedi Master
Of course, having 3GB RAM, a full 50% more than any other single-GPU card, can't help the price.



The Jedi Master


RAM is dirt cheap and overstocked, both DDR3 and GDDR5.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/31/11 04:11 PM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
Originally Posted By: Jedi Master
Of course, having 3GB RAM, a full 50% more than any other single-GPU card, can't help the price.


RAM is dirt cheap and overstocked, both DDR3 and GDDR5.


How 'bout 6GB? Or one clocked some 50% higher? :

Originally Posted By: Legit Review, based on ChipHell info
It would appear that AMD’s Radeon HD 7970’s overclocking capabilities are the real deal. A confidential company document from Sapphire has leaked to the net, that outlines 6 non-reference graphics cards to be released by Sapphire in 2012. The two graphics cards that really stand out are the 'Atomic RX' and 'Atomic WC' that both come clocked at 1335Mhz core and 5735Mhz memory. There is another card listed that looks to stand out as well codenamed “FLEX 6G”. The “FLEX 6G” packs 6144MB of video memory running at stock clock speeds of 925Mhz core 5500Mhz memory.
...



Yes please! readytoeat

[EDIT] LegitReview news item
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/31/11 06:03 PM

Thanks, for that one, JAMF.

Now, I'll consider waiting for the Sapphire products because they would give me more than the few percent boost I was expecting (I have time as my CrossFire setup runs everything well). Heck, the boost could easily approach 20 percent (maybe more??).

BTW, why would I buy for a few percent? As I've posted before, I'm a fan and I give the HD5870s to family members -- so we all benefit from my excesses smile

Of course, the Sapphire price may be "eyewatering" -- just as the performance will be "mouthwatering". So, I've not made up my mind, yet smile
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 12/31/11 07:21 PM

Good rumors on the overclock potential, hoping that's true.

It would be cool if the 7950s could be flashed to 7970s like the recent situation with the reference 6950 2GB cards which could be flashed and unlocked to a quasi 6970...

I am actually going to keep an eye out to see if some stash of ref 6950/2GB reference cards ever shows up on sale for the $150 price point that the 5870 cards seem to have shown up recently, a pair of those 6950s flashed to 6970s and crossfired would make a good upgrade while I wait for the 7970/680 prices to come down into reasonable range.
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/02/12 02:53 AM

Looks like a "reference" HD7970 will go to 1.26GHz and P10259 in 3DMark 11 (3DMark Graphics Score 9785). This beats my two CrossFired HD5870s quite nicely. Outstanding Physics score too (beats GTX580 which has architecture originally designed for calculations and adapted to graphics). So, now the "stock" single HD7970 is looking good to "somewhat justifiably" replace a CrossFire setup (at least an AMD fan needs less of an excuse smile ).

The OC is not dirt simple. They say it needs special software, firmware, and voltage increase. I assume the above Sapphire product will incorporate the same (transparently to the customer).

HD7970 Hits 1.26GHz
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/02/12 11:32 AM

I see a "water block" has been developed for the HD7970. Since I use water cooling for the CPU, I might consider it to get the highest OC on the GPU. I am guessing the high price will NOT be "cost effective" for the FPS increase. But, it could be a fun experiment.

HD7970 Water Block
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/03/12 04:28 PM

It's not clear whether VR-Zone reached the max core speed allowed with the unreleased BIOS. On the one hand 1267 MHz seems like an odd number for the BIOS limit to end on, suggesting that they didn't; on the other hand, they only bumped the voltage by 0.10 to 1.25v [EDIT: on reflection, 0.10 bump is not insignificant...]. If 1267 was not the limit, and the card wasn't overheating it begs the question as to why VR-Zone didn't push the voltage a little more (perhaps the 3rd party software didn't have higher voltage options) [EDIT: it's very possible the card couldn't take more thant the 0.10 bump.

With the fan going 100% they got temps of 66 celsius which indicates that temps were not the limiting factor (maybe the noise level was the limiting factor wink ).

Given the upside potential for this card I suspect we are going to see a broader than usual range of factory OC cards and enthusiast mods for the 7970 in the coming months... especially since it looks like nVidia's Kepler might be delayed.

For myself, I still don't see the benefit to upgrading my 6970 given that I'm able to play everything pretty much maxed out... then again, I don't play Metro 2033 or other such games.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/03/12 06:53 PM

Originally Posted By: Allen
I see a "water block" has been developed for the HD7970.


I'd place a small wager that of the list of Sapphire cards I linked to, the "Atomic WC" comes equipped with a water block. smile
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/05/12 04:27 PM

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/AMD-Radeon-HD-7970-3DMark-ATI,14413.html
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/06/12 06:50 PM

A Sapphire HD7970 showed up on the AMAZON site in Germany -- it was there when I looked smile

Supposedly, HD7970 should not be on the market, yet. But, rumor is, that they may hit the market at many sites tomorrow (January 7) -- ahead of the "official" January 9 publicity date. HD7950 release is now moved to the first week in February.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/06/12 06:58 PM

Originally Posted By: Allen
A Sapphire HD7970 showed up on the AMAZON site in Germany -- it was there when I looked smile

Supposedly, HD7970 should not be on the market, yet. But, rumor is, that they may hit the market at many sites tomorrow (January 7) -- ahead of the "official" January 9 publicity date. HD7950 release is now moved to the first week in February.


Its not there now....
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/06/12 07:24 PM

I just looked again. It was there and I put one in my cart -- and began the check out process. Did not go through with the purchase, of course smile

Amazon HD7970
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/06/12 08:03 PM

it says: Currently out of stock.

520 EUR? thats like $670 USD isnt it?
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/06/12 08:57 PM

I'll be interested to see if they actually do hit the USA market tomorrow (January 7) -- at Newegg or Amazon.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/06/12 11:45 PM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
it says: Currently out of stock.

520 EUR? thats like $670 USD isnt it?


Yes, but with the usual market and tax differences, you'd see a price of 600-625$, if not lower.

I'll be checking the shops all weekend, that's for sure. I already have shop searches on "speed dial" in Firefox at work.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/07/12 12:18 PM

Found one priced 467€, Gigabyte GV-R797D5-3GD-B. Equates to $594US.

Sapphire 21197-00-40g @ ProVantage

A picture that was found at Overclockers.co.uk :



They also have their own water cooled card up for preorder

Donanim Haber (Hardware News) reports the SRP has been lowered by AMD by some 10%

Finding prices is easier with product codes / SKU (Stock Keeping Units):
ASUS HD7970-3GD5 90-C3CHJ0-U0UAY0YZ (Reference design) (link)
ASUS HD7970-DC2-3GD5 90-C1CRM0-U0UAY0BZ (DirectCU II) (link)
ASUS HD7970-DC2T-3GD5 90-C1CRM1-U0UAY0BZ (DirectCU II, 1GHz) (link)

Club3D CGAX-7977 (Reference design) (link)
Gigabyte GV-R797D5-3GD-B (Reference design) (link)
GIGABYTE GV-R797OC-3GD (3 fan cooler) (Gigabyte newsroom)
HIS H797F3G2M (Reference design) (link)
MSI R7970-2PMD3GD5 (Reference design) (link)
Powercolor AX7970 3GBD5-M2DHG 3GBD5-M2DHG (Reference design) (link)
Sapphire 21197-00-40g (Reference design) (link)
VTX VX7970 3GBD5-M2DHG (Reference design) ](link)

XFX (link)
FX-797A-TNFC (Reference design)
FX-797A-TDFC (non-ref double fan cooler)
FX-797A-TNBC (Reference design with 1GHz)
FX-797A-TDBC (non-ref double fan cooler with 1GHz)

(list will be amended over time)

[Edit 2] XFX added. Thx Allen. thumbsup
[Edit 3] More XFX models added, MSI, HIS, Club3D, Powercolor and VTX links
[Edit 4] Gigabyte links and 3-fan SKU added
[Edit 5] ASUS DirectCU version details added, SKU coloured
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/07/12 01:22 PM

Amazon USA has them this morning (went from 7 left to 6 left as I wrote this). Actually from Beach Audio via Amazon.

XFX HD 7970 Core Edition 3GB $586 delivered.

HD 7970 $586

In looking at GTX580 prices, I see that the price is actually about right (unfortunately). Its more than I'm willing to pay right now for the small improvement over my CrossFire system.

We'll see what Monday brings.
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/07/12 02:11 PM

Wow!

Beach Audio vis Amazon just bumped the price on the last 6 cards from $586 to $627 delivered (they've just adjusted the number back to 7 remaining).

I expected something like that -- but not with the first batch. These things can get expensive. I won't be playing on that field.

Come on Nvidia, get your act together. We need competition smile
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/07/12 11:17 PM

The prices now range $634 to $684 delivered (for a $550 card) -- and, they're selling them jawdrop
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/08/12 04:26 AM

$611 + Shipping now.

Guess i go with a 6950/70 until prices come down.?
Posted By: AggressorBLUE

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/08/12 05:52 AM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
$611 + Shipping now.

Guess i go with a 6950/70 until prices come down.?


My 6950's been keeping me happy. The 2GB model does a nice job filling screen real-estate too. Plus I'm told69 cards scale pretty well, so xFire is a more viable option now.


$ for $, I'd stick with the 6950.
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/08/12 01:46 PM

Originally Posted By: AggressorBLUE
...xFire is a more viable option now. $ for $, I'd stick with the 6950.


Agree smile

Folks with HD6xxx would do better with CrossFire at these prices. Particularly as the HD6xxx series should drop in price as the HD7xxx are released (kind of like the situation where I bought two HD5870 for a total of $410 when the HD6xxx came out).

Hopefully, HD7970 prices will become sane as more are released over the next month.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/08/12 02:13 PM

I sure hope sane pricing will extend to that super OC'ed Sapphire card, when it shows up on the virtual shelves. smile
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/08/12 06:19 PM

I'll prolly just get a 6950, then next year when prices are lower, grab a 7970 and 2 more screens.
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/09/12 01:49 AM

I see Newegg has them (Sunday evening). Three brands selling for the suggested list price of $550. And, others nearby in price.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/09/12 02:16 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...207000%20series

$549, so a 7950 would be about? ... $449-$479?
Posted By: AggressorBLUE

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/09/12 03:54 AM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...207000%20series

$549, so a 7950 would be about? ... $449-$479?



Yeah, I'm still happy with my 6950, lol.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/09/12 09:55 AM

List of product codes changed, in the post with the picture. smile
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/09/12 12:14 PM

Newegg out of stock on all of them this morning (Monday). I would have "jumped" last night and bought a Sapphire -- but decided to wait.

Now I want to see what they do with non-reference highly OC designs -- because it looks like that will yield a genuinely worthwhile improvement (over 35 percent faster based on rumor and some test results -- that's a big deal to me).


P.S. Now that the first batch is gone. It will be interesting to see if the next batch sells for an elevated price. That has been how it has worked in the past (first batch at MSRP, then, sell for what the traffic will bear).
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/09/12 12:46 PM

For eyefinity users, we can fall back on WSGF to give us the skinny. Looking at the blue bars in the bottom graphs, the 7970 sits between the 6970 and 6990/6970CF. For improvement over a single 6970, it's an easy 30+% (Not OC'ed)

http://widescreengamingforum.com/article/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review-benchmarking
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/09/12 04:26 PM

Another review suggesting that the 28nm 7970 has a ton of OC head-room:

Guru 3D
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/09/12 05:31 PM

XFX Black edition (tdbc) @ BenchmarkReview.
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/09/12 09:28 PM

Wow pretty good performance compared to the 580s especially overclocked, unless Nvidia reduces prices on the 580s I don't see why anyone would buy them instead of the 7970, also good to hear mention that even the non-factory-overclocked cards seem to have lots of OC headroom.
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/10/12 03:18 PM

More evidence that there's a lot of OC headroom on the 7970:

HardOCP used a 3rd party util to bump voltage up to 1.3v and was able to get to 1.26GHz on the Vchip and 1.75GHz on the GPU memory! This is their "highest stable OC" so presumably they tried and failed to push it higher.
At that OC the 7970 is a clear winner against the 580 (of course you may hear your electric meter whirring at the wattage consumed when it's OC'd like that). Heat was not the limiting factor in getting higher.

HardOCP 1.26GHz
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/10/12 05:25 PM

CPU Division needs to take a hint form the GPU Division.
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/10/12 09:23 PM

For all that the 7970 is a monster, nVidia's Kepler will also be 28nm with likely similar potential... AMD may not keep the crown very long, though nVidia has been uncharacteristically quiet in the face of the 7970's release... I'm starting to wonder if a q1 release for Kepler is still in the offing.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/10/12 10:03 PM

Originally Posted By: Cold_Gambler
For all that the 7970 is a monster, nVidia's Kepler will also be 28nm with likely similar potential... AMD may not keep the crown very long, though nVidia has been uncharacteristically quiet in the face of the 7970's release... I'm starting to wonder if a q1 release for Kepler is still in the offing.


Which is why AMD kept the reference clock where it was instead of pushing it further (which it could have easily).

So Many review sites completely missed that, they state the clocks can easily be increased by up to a GHz with no problems.

IMHO, where the clocks are now, the 7970 dominates everything single core. Why show your best hand when your opponent hasnt even been dealt yet.

AMD is waiting for competition. So When nVidia releases their new unit, AMD will bump the Reference and Stock Clocks higher for the 1st revision of retail boards, not to mention they'll have a head start in driver maturity.
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/12/12 11:47 PM

One of the iRacing members tested his new 7970 against his 6950/2GB unlocked to 6970 on the same i5-2500k@4.7Ghz system using 3x Asus 23" 1080p Eyefinity mode.

His results look to confirm what we have been discussing, 7970 at stock is ~20% faster iRacing 3 screen FPS compared to 6970 on his same system, but once overclocked 7970 up to 1125/1575 then the improvement from 6970 is ~40% and it seems like he might have even more overclock potential with an aftermarket cooler.

Test system :
CPU: Core i5 2500k
GPU: Sapphire Flex 6950 2Gb with unlocked shaders and clocked to 6970 specs. (Listed as 6970 in the spreadsheet)
GPU: Sapphire 7970 3Gb
RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600
MB: ASRock Extreme4 Gen3
Displays: 3x Asus 23" 1080p

Pretty cool especially if they get the drivers working well for crossfire.
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/13/12 06:24 PM

It looks to scale well... for the games with driver support:

7970 Xfire review

It even scales (almost perfectly linearly well for Shogun 2 in TriX and QuadX (note that they appear to have stuck with default core and mem):

ONLY FOR THE 1% wink

Of course, with 4X7970 more power is pulled (900W!!) than my PSU is rated for.
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/13/12 06:44 PM

Rumor that price is dropping slightly in Europe (Germany at least). I think they were charging above MSRP.

I've been checking Newegg daily. The prices seem to be holding at the original asking prices. Some prices have always been $550 (which is the USA MSRP). Frequently out of stock then back in stock 24 to 48 hours later.

This is an improvement versus last weekend when price hit over $680 on the weekend (then fell on Monday with general availability).

Also an improvement over HD4xxx and HD5xxx where the price quickly spiked upward after release. Of course, HD7xxx started high to begin with (those older 4xxx and 5xxx models were priced much better to begin with -- I think I paid $270 for my HD4870 top card).

P.S. Now I'm waiting to see how the super factory OC cards turn out. No real "internal pressure" to buy a reference card as it does not outperform my current cards sufficiently.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/13/12 07:12 PM

Added some Gigabyte info to the "post with the picture" above too. They have a 3 fan cooler version and I added the SKU / product code.

That 3 fan unit still has the exhaust grille, but I wonder if it will expel more than 5% of the warm air comming of the nearest fan. (no heatsink ribs pointing towards the exhaust)
Pictured @ HardwareLUXX (German)

Powercolor has a Vortex waiting in the wings with a second DVI connector: Pictured @ Fudzilla
Posted By: Kinex1984

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/13/12 07:49 PM

i think that untill i don't see a major gap between my actual card (6970) and a new card i will keep the money.


it's quite some year that they are doing this economy fps where they sell a new card that only give you a small advantage in terms of fps.


if i buy a new card i want to see a gap of 50 fps at least of fps, not spending at the same time more than 200 euro/dollar. Call me a dreamer...
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/13/12 08:12 PM

Kinex, I tend to advise people to skip a generation. People like Allen ( wink ) don't need such advice. Though I'm chomping at the bit darts-pony, I'm with Allen and waiting for the factory OC'ed ones. taz
Posted By: NamelessPFG

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/13/12 09:52 PM

Heh, it only took FOUR YEARS for a single-GPU card to show up that can run Crysis at Very High/Enthusiast DX10 at 1920x1200 and still maintain 60 FPS average...well, the stock HD 7970's not quite there, but if the overclocking potential is anything to go by...

Now I'm just waiting for NVIDIA to counterattack with Kepler and drive prices down before I finally replace my 8800 GT.
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/14/12 01:13 AM

I'm of the "skip a gen" upgrade group... Actually, I'll probably do what I did last time: pick up a second 6970 in a year or two when it's selling for a 100$ and Xfire them.

That's what I did with the 4850... Though I waited a little long to go up to the 6970.
Posted By: ArgonV

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/14/12 02:09 AM

I tend to skip two generations. Tho with the two 5870's I have now I think I'll skip three!
Posted By: LukeFF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/14/12 03:40 AM

I don't really see any compelling need at the moment to upgrade from my 5970, because I can run all my games at max detail just fine.
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/14/12 12:39 PM

Quote:
"CES was abuzz with talk that Nvidia’s next generation GPU architecture [Kepler], both desktop and notebook variants, is coming in early Q2 2012.

The timeframe that we heard more than once is April..Kepler..significantly faster than the Radeon HD 7970..we would not be surprised by a staggering price tag..."


I expect the fastest Kepler to be faster than HD7970 -- even if Nvidia has to OC Kepler to levels past good engineering practice. Of course, it won't be called OCd. Good -- may bring down the price of HD7xxx for folks like me.

Also rumored that AMD/ATI is working on a faster HD7xxx to release at the same time -- because as noted in this thread, the stock "reference" HD7970 has a lot of speed left in the tank. Also, rumored dual GPU HD7990 around the same time.

So, April is the month I'll be waiting for. In the mean time, I will enjoy my CrossFire system that runs everything well in Eyefinity -- including the game that will possibly take up most of my time until then.
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/15/12 07:02 AM

I am also likely skipping this generation and staying with my 5870s (very happy with the long life of the 5870 going on 2.5 years), but I am hoping to pick up a couple of 7970s or 580s once the next generation 680s/780 and 8970s makes the price for these drop :-)
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/20/12 11:22 AM

Pictures of the 7950 from Sapphire online, OC edition:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=357457

Sapphire HD7950 3G GDDR5 PCI-E HDMI/DVI-I/DUAL MINI DP OC VERSION
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/20/12 11:27 AM

Originally Posted By: Allen
Quote:
"CES was abuzz with talk that Nvidia’s next generation GPU architecture [Kepler], both desktop and notebook variants, is coming in early Q2 2012.

The timeframe that we heard more than once is April..Kepler..significantly faster than the Radeon HD 7970..we would not be surprised by a staggering price tag..."


I expect the fastest Kepler to be faster than HD7970.. Good -- may bring down the price of HD7xxx for folks like me...



Above rumor confirmed: Kepler in March/April and faster than current AMD reference HD7970.

Nvidia Kepler Rumor

So, I await the faster non-reference HD7970s and the, likely, lower AMD prices.

Competition is good smile
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/20/12 02:46 PM

i dont see how they can say "nvidia wins, handily"

unless 79xx is just another Bulldozer.. lol..


I guess if i get my new system complete, to run my 8800 and wait for price drops or go with a 69xx Series,
I'll prolly only be going on one screen anyway (cept when i do video editing).
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/20/12 03:35 PM

Four slot cooler anyone? Yeston has one : @ EXPreview

Asus 7970 Direct CU II pictured @ TechPowerUp GPU runs at 1GHz.
Posted By: Jedi Master

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/20/12 03:53 PM

If the new card is always 5% faster than the 7970, then "they win handily." It doesn't have to BLOW AWAY the 7970 to win.
If your team score 112 to 110 in a basketball game, you still win.


The Jedi Master
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/20/12 07:42 PM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
...unless 79xx is just another Bulldozer.. lol..


It can't ever be that, because it proved that by performing at least 5% better than its predecessor. wink
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/20/12 09:29 PM

Saw on WSG that there is a 6 port 6GB 7970 coming nice!


Also some overclocked ones there too.

The 7970 seems much more exciting to me now with the overclock potential than it was originally.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/20/12 09:41 PM

i wanna see what XFX does with them.. they seem to be my favorite, since i moved from nVidia. (eVGA dont do AMD).
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/20/12 10:06 PM

Originally Posted By: kludger
Saw on WSG that there is a 6 port 6GB 7970 coming nice!

Also some overclocked ones there too.

The 7970 seems much more exciting to me now with the overclock potential than it was originally.


You could have spotted them in post 41 in this thread. Look for : readytoeat
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/21/12 01:22 AM

Thanks JAMF I must've missed it one of the times I was on my iphone.

I have to admit the overclocked 7970 benchmarks I've seen are making it look more and more attractive, I was planning to go SLI Nvidia with my next upgrade from my 5870's mostly because NV seems to handle FSX (and now rFactor2) better than ATI does (damn jaggies without supersampling), but one 7970 now to replace my two 5870s is still a consideration since the extra performance should allow running SSAA on with those games, and also the 3GB for 5760x1080... and there's always the possibility of crossfired 7970s down the road too.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/22/12 08:38 PM

I've added the DirectCU SKU's and links in the post some 40 posts back. (and coloured the SKUs)
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/23/12 10:08 AM

First 3DMark benchmarks for the 7950 have been spotted. I haven't compared them to 7970 numbers, so if anyone wants to check that?

http://newtechnik.com/amd-radeon-hd-7950-benchmark-results-spotted.html
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/23/12 04:36 PM

Specs of the 7950 at the Turkish "Hardware News" (Donanim Haber)

Original article

Google translated (doesn't appear to function at work)

Found on Bit-tech.net
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/23/12 05:53 PM

Pretty incredible that Sapphire will offer 7970s at 1335 GHz core! That's about a 40% OC.

That they plan to sell them at these speeds indicates that they have a high level of confidence that they will get enough chips that (albeit with some pretty hefty cooling solutions) will hit those numbers.

Wouldn't a 6 port, 6 GB mem card likely be a 7990? rather than a 7970?
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/23/12 07:41 PM

Originally Posted By: Cold_Gambler
Wouldn't a 6 port, 6 GB mem card likely be a 7990? rather than a 7970?

Well, that would go against historical naming. The xx90 cards have always been dual GPU cards. They are deviating a bit, by not naming this one "Eyefinity 6".

The "Flex" name was used for cards that didn't require any adapters between the card and monitor. The old one had 3 DVI. The new one has 6 mini-DP connectors, so that bit fits... if you buy 6 displays with DP ports.
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/23/12 08:22 PM

Originally Posted By: JAMF
Originally Posted By: Cold_Gambler
Wouldn't a 6 port, 6 GB mem card likely be a 7990? rather than a 7970?

Well, that would go against historical naming. The xx90 cards have always been dual GPU cards. They are deviating a bit, by not naming this one "Eyefinity 6".

The "Flex" name was used for cards that didn't require any adapters between the card and monitor. The old one had 3 DVI. The new one has 6 mini-DP connectors, so that bit fits... if you buy 6 displays with DP ports.


Yeah exactly this 6 port single CPU version of the 7970 would be similar to the 5870 E6 2GB version that they put out (I wish I had snatched up two when I saw them on NewEgg clearance for $200 at one point when the 69xx series cards came out)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3621/amds-radeon-hd-5870-eyefinity-6-edition-reviewed

So similar to the normal version, single GPU but with double the Eyefinity ports and VRAM to handle it.
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/23/12 08:54 PM

Right you are... For some reason I was assuming that the 2X Vram meant there would be 2 cores. Nevermind my feverish thoughts wink
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/23/12 10:20 PM

You could attempt to OC it to 1.3GHz? biggrin

Nice review of the XFX OC'ed edition: @ HardwareHeaven
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/23/12 11:12 PM

Originally Posted By: JAMF
You could attempt to OC it to 1.3GHz? biggrin

Nice review of the XFX OC'ed edition: @ HardwareHeaven


Wow thanks for the nice pointer, that looks good compared to both the 580 and 6970, they also had a nice review that compared 580 SLI to 7970 CF for 5760x1080:

Powercolor 7970 Crossfire @ Hardware Heaven

And so combining results of both reviews for BF3 at Eyefinity resolution (which is the focus of my next upgrade), I can see how one 7970, versus two 580s, versus two 7970s would do under my desired conditions:

5760x1080 0aa 16af Battlefield3
-------------------
26 Avg: Radeon 6970 OC (2GB)
34 Avg: Powercolor 7970 (3GB)
36 Avg: XFX R7970 Black Edition (3GB)
NA : GTX580 (1.5GB) (not possible without SLI)
36 Avg: GTX590 (1.5GB) (2xGPU)
44 Avg: GTX580 (1.5GB) (SLI)
45 Avg: Radeon 6990 (2GB) (2xGPU)
65 Avg: Powercolor 7970(3GB) (Crossfire)

I bet if they had turned up the AA at Eyefinity levels the 3GB vram would have made even more of a difference, also I wonder if they had used 580GTX 3GB models for the SLI if it would have helped...

So I think this makes up my mind that two 580s for Eyefinity is not a good value compared to two 7970s, so I mainly need to wait to see if Kepler will bring new game for Eyefinity otherwise one 7970 now and then one somewhere down the line for crossfire seems to be a good approach.

My current crossfired 5870s are great but the main problem is the 1GB VRAM is easily used up at Eyefinity resolution with any AA on.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/24/12 12:42 AM

Originally Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Wouldn't a 6 port, 6 GB mem card likely be a 7990? rather than a 7970?


Nope, 7990 will be Dual GPUs,

7970 Eyefinity 6 Will be Single GPU with Double the Memory / Bus / Buffer to account for Higher resolutions, and All Display Ports.
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/25/12 06:02 AM

Reference 7970s from multiple brands back in stock at NewEgg without much price markup, maybe $10 more for Sapphire than the first round of stock... Wish we had more Kepler details other than that one rumor about it winning this round on all areas.

Still waiting to hear how the 7970 does in FSX too... The couple of DX9 benchmarks in reviews have looked pretty good compared to the 580 and 6970 and 6990... But still a big amount of money to gamble without more info.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/25/12 03:34 PM

FSX's problem is Coding.. not hardware..

Just look at how Lockheed bought a commercial FS license from MS and Fixed 98% of their problems w/ textures and frame rates.
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/25/12 03:49 PM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
FSX's problem is Coding.. not hardware..

Just look at how Lockheed bought a commercial FS license from MS and Fixed 98% of their problems w/ textures and frame rates.


FSX actually works fine for me even with lots of add-ons, the main thing I need the upgrade for is to be able to handle 3 monitor 5760x1080 resolution instead of my normal 1920x1080p which my 5870 handles ok but anything higher than that exceeds my 1GB VRAM and I start to see slowdowns in framerate.

According to the reviews the 7970 is also pretty good at DX9 games like FSX:


http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/har...-review-10.html
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7970-crossfire-review/11

So odds are good it will be good at FSX as well but will now be able to handle the 3 monitor resolutions with that 3GB VRAM, I just need to stay patient to hear from people who use it with FSX and to see how Kepler does in comparison when it comes out in March.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/25/12 04:13 PM

the Sapphire Eyefinity 6 edition w/ 6GB is your best bet.
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/25/12 04:33 PM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
FSX's problem is Coding.. not hardware..

Just look at how Lockheed bought a commercial FS license from MS and Fixed 98% of their problems w/ textures and frame rates.


I'm curious about this, do you have a link? (sorry for OT here)
A quick google didn't help much other than to find out that it's called Prepar3D...
Cheers,
C_G
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/25/12 05:04 PM

Prepar3d is Lockheed’s Private simulator that runs off the FSX Code, you cant “Buy” a retail copy,

You can buy a monthly subscription or a $500~ license to use it.

A lot of people have it and most of the FSX Addons transition to Prepar3d easily, other require some work.

A lot of the issues w/ FSXs textures and frame rates were fixed in Prepar3d. And they will be updating it to DX11 soon. (currently DX9.), So the Frame Rate will prolly be faster once some of the things get transitioned to faster shaders and tesselation.

check the screenshots forum...
(edit) http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3493909/Being_Prepar3d.html#Post3493909
Posted By: Cold_Gambler

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/25/12 05:49 PM

Thanks 'Zilla!
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/25/12 08:40 PM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
the Sapphire Eyefinity 6 edition w/ 6GB is your best bet.


Yeah definitely interested in that one, hoping the prices is $80 over the base price like it was for the 5870 E6 version, hopefully it will be out at same time as Kepler so my choices are clear, hoping Kepler will finally support 3 monitors on single Nvidia card and do away with the need for SLI/2xGPU card for 3 monitor support on NV.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/25/12 10:27 PM

Originally Posted By: kludger
Reference 7970s from multiple brands back in stock at NewEgg without much price markup, maybe $10 more for Sapphire than the first round of stock... Wish we had more Kepler details other than that one rumor about it winning this round on all areas.

Still waiting to hear how the 7970 does in FSX too... The couple of DX9 benchmarks in reviews have looked pretty good compared to the 580 and 6970 and 6990... But still a big amount of money to gamble without more info.


The Saphhire was already at $10 above ($559).


Im debating if i want to get a 6950 2GB for my system or wait for the 7950s.....

this weekend im ordering the ram, then when the Tax Return gets deposited the Board, Cpu, GPU... that wont be for prolly 2 weeks as I havent filed yet...

next weekend I'll prolly order an ASUS Screen (24 Inch DVI)......
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/25/12 11:16 PM

You have nothing to lose if you wait IMHO, the 6950 2GB is likely to drop in price when it's newer gen shows up and who knows maybe the 7950 reference will be unlockable to 7970 performance as the 6950/2GB ref cards were.
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/26/12 02:26 PM

HD7950 has popped up on a couple sites for preorder. The prices being close to $500 are too high, I think. Same thing happened with the first few HD7970 -- priced too high.

Nvidia, where are you when we need you (to provide competition and drive down prices -- I wouldn't actually buy one, of course smile ).
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/26/12 03:33 PM

Originally Posted By: Allen
HD7950 has popped up on a couple sites for preorder. The prices being close to $500 are too high, I think. Same thing happened with the first few HD7970 -- priced too high.

Nvidia, where are you when we need you (to provide competition and drive down prices -- I wouldn't actually buy one, of course smile ).


same, I only got the 8800GTS because it was too good to pass up at the time I built this system.

and once nVidia bought out PhysX, i figured I'd use it as a PhysX Card one day.

So a 7950 w/ 8800GTS as a PhysX Processor.. Still debating that.. as the 8800GTS Idles crazy warm.. (40C in winter, 60 ish in the summer...
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/27/12 11:58 AM

Comparing 3D, nVidia vs AMD (not 7xxx):

http://techreport.com/articles.x/22350
Posted By: - Ice

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/27/12 12:05 PM

Any idea when the 7950s will be coming out?
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/27/12 01:52 PM

Jan. 31st
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/30/12 06:07 PM

Rumors of a "7980" pending nVidia's Kepler release. (7980 will be Single core, 7990 Dual)
Posted By: December

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/31/12 10:55 AM

My son received his new PC with a 7970, it was returned the next day. The card was broken. They have replaced it and are testing it Fully this time before shipping.
It is going to be a very fast PC when working LOL.
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/31/12 11:43 AM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
Rumors of a "7980" pending nVidia's Kepler release. (7980 will be Single core, 7990 Dual)


Hmmm, would these be cherry picked 7970 chips on "Toxic" speeds, I wonder. popcorn


[EDIT]
I've created a new topic for all the 7950 reviews out today (and in the future)
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/31/12 01:20 PM

A new card needs to be significantly faster than my current CrossFire setup -- particularly at the prices.

I was hopeful of an "HD7980 type" GPU (however they arrive at one).

I could use a card with 3GB of memory. Skyrim, with all the huge aftermarket textures I now have installed, hiccups fairly often as textures load (the Hi-Res aftermarket textures range 8 to 48 times larger). So, the 3GB could easily give a "truly visible" improvement. I'm so into this game, I may be playing it the rest of this year; hence, April may not be too late to get a new card for it.
Posted By: Jedi Master

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/31/12 01:58 PM

How big is your Skyrim directory with those mega textures in it?



The Jedi Master
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/31/12 03:24 PM

you need to 6GB 79xx Card..
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/31/12 04:32 PM

AMD 7950s on Newegg ($450 and Up):
AMD 7950s on Newegg.com

7950 Review vs 580 (Tomshardware):
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7950-overclock-crossfire-benchmark,3123.html
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/31/12 07:14 PM

Originally Posted By: Jedi Master
How big is your Skyrim directory with those mega textures in it?


The entire Skyrim directory is a bit over 8GB. The original textures file provided with the game is about 1.36GB (not all textures are in use at one time). Meshes are originally roughly 1.5GB. My community generated textures (that replace some of those in the original file) is about 2.1GB. I only have about 45MB of new meshes. Generally, textures went from 256x256 and 512x512 size to 2048x2048 and many 4096x4096 (with the usual multiple mip maps per texture).

I presume textures are the issue because the "hesitations" didn't happen until I had many of the new textures in play. Related: The original Skyrim code only used 2GB of motherboard RAM (so everyone who added anything got choke points). First there was a user fix that allowed the code to use 4GB. Subsequently, a 4GB patch was quietly placed in one of the official Skyrim updates. One needs the 4GB patch, and my comments are for a system with it in place.

On the other hand, Skyrim is also CPU dependent in spots due to "poor programming" -- only make real good use of one core (sounds like a flight sim). There is a community patch that helps the slowest places speed up roughly 50 percent (I measured a slow spot of 16FPS increasing to 24FPS on my Eyefinity system -- usually get 30FPS+) -- does not eliminate hesitations that happen when I "run" through new terrain and new stuff is constantly loading. They say the next official patch (due this week) will also include some code optimizations.

Really surprised that the community could quickly provide simple patches for some of this stuff. But, the "professionals" didn't do it as a matter of course.

My usual verbose reply smile

P.S. The use of Eyefinity is also courtesy of a "community generated" patch that patches the Skyrim code once it is actually in use (in RAM) at the start of the game. Again, a few hours by one smart user tops the entire Bethesda team. Personally, I would have no idea how to "break into" functioning code and patch it.
Posted By: Bib4Tuna

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/31/12 07:57 PM


RE: Skyrim: Optimization and most performance issues fixed in latest beta patch. You need to subscribe to the beta program for Skyrim in Steam in order to get it updated. Or just wait for full release... but in my case it works great. No more performance utils needed.
Posted By: Jedi Master

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/31/12 08:02 PM

I think the problem is often they program these games for the LCD systems (lowest common denominator) and spend relatively little time on how the top-end systems are going to run. Res over 1920x1080? Multiple monitors? Lots of RAM? Multiple CPU cores? DX11? Can't take the time, we're concerned how the guy with a 3 yr old system (that was only mid-range then, not top-end) will experience it. Just look at Rage. Would've been a great PC game in 2007 (although it looks worse than Crysis, it runs better), but in 2011 PCs had advanced and a game designed for the 2007 consoles without additional work suffered.

I'm playing Rage now and I think it's a good game, but the low-res textures on many things is a real eye sore indoors. Outdoors things look great and it runs like glass. Leave to id to take the greatest weakness of their last engine and turn it into a strength while taking their strong point and letting it rot.



The Jedi Master
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 01/31/12 08:08 PM

they code it for the old old old CPU and GPU that powers the Xbox 360...

from there they or the community add coding optimization's for all the bells and whistles of the new hardware
Posted By: No Name

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 02/01/12 05:11 PM

Allen- what Skyrim texture add-ons/replacements are you using?
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 02/01/12 10:33 PM

Originally Posted By: peppergomez
Allen- what Skyrim texture add-ons/replacements are you using?


Have the official patch running as of a couple hours ago. Eyefinity is broken -- works for the game but not for menus.

The list is hard to write -- its so long. I'll try but this is a partial list. Under each mod there can be more optional files that I have used. I may be using a newer version of some of these -- this is what I could find fast in my "file system".

Basically, the textures cover nearly every texture one sees in the game (with no doubt some exceptions -- for example I don't use all the city re-textures, yet).

2K Real Ice V2_Parallax-5388-V3
Dramatic Clouds Ultra-4910-1-2
Hires_Road_Signs_Version_3-436-3-0
Improved Rock Mountain 4096x4096 version-849
Lush_Grass_1-2-3288-1-2
Lush_Trees_1-2-3385-1-2
Nicer_Snowflakes_-_Whimsical-296-1-0
Real_Ice-5388-V1
RealisticWaterTextures_High_v1_9_5-711
Skyrim_HD_v1_4_FULL-607 (covers A LOT of outdoors stuff)
coverkhajiits_female_version-5941-1-0
coverkhajiits_male_version-5941-1-0
Fixed female faces-136-NOPE-jpg
Sexy__Whiterun-7059 (not a sex mod -- just nicer buildings)
Sexy_Riften-7241-1-0 (as above)
HD Furniture and Barrels added cross and bark-238-final
HD High Resolution Map - 4X version-3721-1-0
Re-Defined Dungeons WIP Hall Murals-3147-0-1
Re-Defined_Dungeons_WIP-3147-0-1
Dovahkiinhideout0_3_7-6032
Deadly Dragons Mod
Normal Dragons Retex
Better_Gold_-_Shiny_-_both_versions_v1-21-362
Lockpick celtic retexture attempt-3547-1-04
Shiny Rings Amulets Circlets-533-1-01
Quality_World_Map_-_All_Roads-4929
Improved_NPC_Clothing_1_8_1-2674
Some Animal retextures
Sky retexture

And much more smile




Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 02/01/12 11:00 PM

1. set eyefinity 3x1 (three screen 1 desktop)
2. run haydens fix for the menues (http://widescreengamingforum.com/dr/elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/en)
3. launch skyrim , select options , select DEFAULT dont select any resolution it will be blank
play game and all three screen are working WIDESCREEN.

http://widescreengamingforum.com/forum/f...#comment-239715
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 02/01/12 11:34 PM

I was using Hayden's fix. It refused to work with the updated 1.4 Skyrim patch. I've been looking for the Hayden update. Haven't found it -- but, maybe I missed it.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 02/01/12 11:43 PM

ooops, didnt know that...
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 02/03/12 06:09 PM

Watercooled version soon.

Watercooled HD7970 Picture

I have "rethought" water cooled in my case. My gaming PC is water cooled. However, in a year or two, I'll want to put this card in a different PC -- one that does NOT have water cooling. So, planning ahead, even if I have to give up a couple tenths of a GHz, I should go with air cooling (not the right answer for everyone).
Posted By: Jedi Master

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 02/03/12 08:12 PM

I decided long ago never to bother with watercooling unless it became the defacto standard (because aircooling would no longer suffice for mainstream components). Instead of spending the extra money on a watercooling system, just buy the faster component.



The Jedi Master
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 02/09/12 10:44 AM

A review of the Arctic Accelero Extreme 7970 cooler:

Review @ KitGuru
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 03/20/12 05:42 PM

The 7990 rumours:

GPU 850 MHz, Mem 1250 MHz (5000 MHz) and 3GB.

http://www.inpai.com.cn/doc/hard/169592.htm
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 03/20/12 09:37 PM

7980 will be a single core Factory Clocked above 1 GHz, Limited QTYs, Memory at 6GHz
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 03/20/12 10:06 PM

So the Atomic cards might be 7980's??? Cool!
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/04/12 10:02 PM

Article name: Sapphire's Toxic HD7970 is a monster @ VR-zone

7970 Toxic with VaporX cooler, 6GB @ 1.75 GHz QDR, 1.3GHz GPU. Nice!
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/04/12 10:40 PM

Wow nice board, can't wait to see how this performs on triple monitor resolutions with AA, 2012 is such a nice year for video card geeks like me.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/05/12 02:13 PM

7990 will be 1+ Ghz x2 GPUs
Posted By: JAMF

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/15/12 09:53 AM

7970 to drop $70 in price and the 7950 to drop $50.
Posted By: kludger

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/15/12 06:08 PM

Cool, smart of AMD, pricewar on thumbsup
Posted By: robmypro

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/15/12 07:51 PM

The performance i get on my 5850 is still excellent, but i might upgrade to something like this in 1-2 years. The 5850 has been the best card i have ever owned. Thanks ASUS.
Posted By: Cali

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/16/12 01:52 PM

That's what I'm talking about, price drop baby. Now just waiting to get my money, wonder about the 69xx and 5xx series prices.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/16/12 03:04 PM

if 8000 series is good, I'll jump to the 8000 series, run 3 screens on that, and give my brother the 7950 as a hand me down gift.
Posted By: Cali

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/16/12 08:02 PM

Originally Posted By: SkateZilla
if 8000 series is good, I'll jump to the 8000 series, run 3 screens on that, and give my brother the 7950 as a hand me down gift.


Need another brother?
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/16/12 09:53 PM

naw, i have one that lives of my urges to buy electronics and PC components on a whim.
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/18/12 05:40 PM

The 7950 I bought for $479 a few weeks ago is now $399

Sapphire 7950 OC (900Mhz).

drop another $50 and I'll be set for XFire :p
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/24/12 05:10 PM

Amazon.com has the Sapphire 7970 OC for $479, which is what I paid for my 7950 OC.

Normally $625:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JGARVU/ref=pe_234220_23646340_pe_epc_dt2
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 04/24/12 05:20 PM

or Sapphire 7970 OC from NewEgg for $459:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102982

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102982
Posted By: SkateZilla

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 06/10/12 10:41 PM

Sapphire 7970 Dual X 6 GB Version!
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sapphire-Radeon-HD-7970-Vapor-X-gpu,15961.html
Posted By: Allen

Re: AMD RADEON HD7970 is a monster! - 06/10/12 11:55 PM

If not already mentioned (besides the Tom's article), AMD HD7970 will receive a speed boost in a month or so. Basically, the factory OC will rise to 1100/1150 from many manufacturers. This is due to better binning of the AMD product which is being very successfully produced. Apparently, the Nvidia design is hard to produce which is the cause of the Nvidia shortages. We need competition in the form of lots of stock on the shelves to get prices down.

Sapphire was planning an approximately 1.3GHz version a few months ago (according to rumored leaks). Its due in Summer.

I'll consider the HD8xxx series. Hard to believe I'll be able to justify a purchase based on increased practical performance. Also await the FX8350 CPU. However, I'm set for Summer and early fall, I think smile
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