# AMD Radeon HD 7850 & HD 7870 2 GB



## W1zzard (Mar 3, 2012)

Today AMD released their new Radeon HD 7800 Series, which is based on their new 28 nm Pitcairn graphics processor. The HD 7850 and HD 7870 offer a significant performance increase over the previous generation - up to 40% faster in our testing. Power consumption is also at a new record low, putting these cards in the leading performance per Watt spot.

*Show full review*


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## borden5 (Mar 5, 2012)

thanks wizard, hd 7850 perform close to 6970 for 50 dollar less, do want.


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## v12dock (Mar 5, 2012)

A well priced 7XXX card


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## btarunr (Mar 5, 2012)

So nearly half the power-draw as GTX 570, and higher performance, for just $20 more. No-brainer.


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## Rowsol (Mar 5, 2012)

6870 for $165 on newegg is still the leader in price/performance.  Shucks.


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## entropy13 (Mar 5, 2012)

It's inevitable that these two would be great. What's a bit surprising is that the series above and below them are both underwhelming when the prices are added into the "equation", being too expensive, or the alternative still offering a better price/perf ratio.


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## Bullly (Mar 5, 2012)

7870 is total win-win!


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## Brod (Mar 5, 2012)

Another GPU review with an outdated Nehalem based PC. How unfortunate.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2553379#post2553379


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## Vancha (Mar 5, 2012)

What happened with Crysis 2? Is that just the driver updates since the 7970 review or something?


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## xenocide (Mar 5, 2012)

That Crysis 2 benchmark has to be an error...


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## W1zzard (Mar 5, 2012)

Brod said:


> Another GPU review with an outdated Nehalem based PC. How unfortunate.
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2553379#post2553379



our most cpu limited benchmark is star craft II.











so our overclocked nehalem is still faster than sandy bridge stock.

only other cpu limited benchmark is civilization 5, where the situation is similar.

the other benchmarks are gpu limited at higher resolutions

i've gotten requests to ditch cpu limited benchmarks and thought about it. but it's a pc gaming reality that some games might be cpu limited, no matter what cpu, so i kept star craft II because it's such a big title


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## W1zzard (Mar 5, 2012)

Vancha said:


> What happened with Crysis 2? Is that just the driver updates since the 7970 review or something?



yeah i think driver optimizations. just waiting for a final whql driver that supports all new amd cards so i can rebench


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## buggalugs (Mar 5, 2012)

These cards look pretty good to me, at least the 7870.

The 7870 is faster than last gens fastest card(6970) for$350 bucks cant really complain. Plus you get good overclocking. Prices will settle in a matter of weeks.


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## jamsbong (Mar 5, 2012)

This is the most impressive card from the 7xxx series yet! The numbers at 2560x1536 shows that 7870 is nearly on-par with GTX580! This accessment is based anandtech and tpu. 

What impresses me the most the the tiny amount of power it consumes! It makes the previous gen cards look like gas-gussler (joule-gussler).

Looks like the efficient GCN core made the 7870 > 6970. Well done ATI!

Note: TPU, I think you guys need to re-run some of the 79xx benchmarks, I've noticed some results showed 7950 slower than the 7870.

So, should I wait for Kepler? Not really, because I have doubts that a GK104 can beat ATI with performance/dollar AND...  NV's top gun (the GK110) is not due until much later (rumored to be in sept), so that means ATI is expected to lead for about 9 months.


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## N3M3515 (Mar 5, 2012)

NOW we're talking, nvidia hurry up and make prices competitive!!
7850 at $200 would be a shut up and take my wallet!!!
.....and talk about overcloking man.......no voltage tweaking and these bad boys are past 25%!!!!!


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## xenocide (Mar 5, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> NOW we're talking, nvidia hurry up and make prices competitive!!
> 7850 at $200 would be a shut up and take my wallet!!!
> .....and talk about overcloking man.......no voltage tweaking and these bad boys are past 25%!!!!!



Implying that Nvidia couldn't offer something competative around that price point...


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## jamsbong (Mar 5, 2012)

Yes, the low power consumption means these babies can overclock really well! 1200Mhz is just the start, I reckon..


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## N3M3515 (Mar 5, 2012)

xenocide said:


> Implying that Nvidia couldn't offer something competative around that price point...



If nvidia prices gk104 at $299(even $340) and it is able to overtake 7950.....omfg that would be AWESOME!


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## devguy (Mar 5, 2012)

Hmm, the 7870 and 7950 perform a lot closer than I'd have expected.  Those Crysis 2 results were also pretty strange.  W1z, did you rerun the Tahiti tests on Battlefield 3 after the most recent patch?  I got a huge boost in fps from that (7950), and I'm curious if your results show the 7870 performing that close even after the patch.


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## DonInKansas (Mar 5, 2012)




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## Steevo (Mar 5, 2012)

Rowsol said:


> 6870 for $165 on newegg is still the leader in price/performance.  Shucks.




Not when it plainly rapes it with the overclock. 



Brod said:


> Another GPU review with an outdated Nehalem based PC. How unfortunate.
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2553379#post2553379


I see you can read, but you need work on comprehension and obviously implied results. 












N3M3515 said:


> If nvidia prices gk104 at $299(even $340) and it is able to overtake 7950.....omfg that would be AWESOME!



And if it beats this card by 5% and is consuming the electrical output of a small nation and costs $100 more you will probably still buy it and love yourself for it.







 *Not directed at you, but that the hordes of Nvidiots who are frothing at the mouth with implied supposed rainbow out a unicorns ass results from a tweet from Nvidia Italy, who have dick all to do with anything from what I can see.


If I recall, the performance of the gk104 is, oh wait, all Nvidia is doing is throwing shit at the wall of Nvidia fanbois and seeing how much they liken it to roses.

Amazing review, and once we get some competition these cards will really be a great deal. But for now they are about $50 over what I, just me, think they should be priced at.


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## buggalugs (Mar 5, 2012)

The 7850 can actually beat the 580 when overclocked, the overclocking performance is where these cards really shine.


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## dir_d (Mar 5, 2012)

I really think the 7950 and 7970 being low is due to drivers and when a proper driver comes out the will show the hardware scaling correctly like the 7870. Makes me think of a conspiracy theory. AMD purposely gimped the 7950 and 7970 in the drivers for kelper. Then when kelper drops there will be a magic 10% plus driver.


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## afw (Mar 5, 2012)

after seeing the avg performance of these cards ... i think somethings wrong with the 79xx series  ... i mean the 7950 has 40% more SPs and has a 384-bit memory ... but is only 7% faster ... somethings seriously bottlenecking the 79xx-s


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## 1nf3rn0x (Mar 5, 2012)

WOW! Great review wiz, definitely gonna buy a 7870 when they get released in Australia!


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## N3M3515 (Mar 5, 2012)

People, on a second thought, wasn't the 6870 released at $240?  WTF?
OH, NOW we are comparing from price points?¿, not naming scheme??
When 7770 came out at $160, it was the same the 5770 cost when released, good. even $30 more than 6770, fair enough.

BUT $110 more than 6870 release prices, seriously WTF?

This is hilarious, when: 7770 $160 why are everyone whinning?, its only 30$ more than the card it replaces!!!
Now IF 7870 is replacing 6870, why does it cost $110 more AT RELEASE?

Seriously even $300 would have been expensive, but understandable because of new tech and all that crap......
AMD is really triying to recover all the money that has been losing

Nvidia, your mission is make gk104 cost $299 and overtake HD7950, and hurry up damn it!!!(also make it consume the same as 7950 )

Benetanegia i need you here to say the opposite i do xD, although this time i don't think you antagonize as much.

AMD stop milking!!

This from hardOCP forum: 
"350 bucks for the 7870? remember when the 6870 was technically just a replacement for the 5770? by that I mean it was slower than the 5870 and really was just a shuffling and moving of model numbers. so reality is this would be a 7770 based on the way their naming scheme was with the 5000 series. so now we have a mid range card that is about 120% faster than the 2.5 year old 5770 while costing 120% more than the 5770 originally launched at. 2.5 years later and we get exactly the SAME performance per dollar. anyway lets now look at the 6870 which launched at $240. well the 7870 costs 45% more while being about 45% faster. lol, again we are getting the SAME performance per dollar. all AMD seems to be doing is keeping things the same or in the case of the 7950/7970, charging even more for it. whatever happened to next gen cards giving more performance per dollar?"


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## sanadanosa (Mar 5, 2012)

What a great card. I always on green side and now I'm really surprised.


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## Imhoteps (Mar 5, 2012)

Fixed`n`deleted.


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## kid41212003 (Mar 5, 2012)

Steevo said:


> And if it beats this card by 5% and is consuming the electrical output of a small nation and costs $100 more you will probably still buy it and love yourself for it.
> 
> *Not directed at you, but that the hordes of _*Nvidiots*_ who are frothing at the mouth with implied supposed rainbow out a unicorns ass results from a tweet from Nvidia Italy, who have dick all to do with anything from what I can see.
> 
> ...



 i have a gtx480 (bought in 06/2010)


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## Jeffredo (Mar 5, 2012)

I don't buy a new GPU that often. Its too close to Kepler and I want to see what they can do before I lock myself in for a couple years.  If they're a dud the HD 7850 looks like a perfect match for my hoary old Phenom II.


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## Crap Daddy (Mar 5, 2012)

No suprise here. More or less you get same performance after more than one year and a new generation for the same bucks you paid for the 6000 series.

Only reason to buy these cards is upgrading from 6870/6850/GTX560/GTX460 or lower.


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## dj-electric (Mar 5, 2012)

Crysis 2 results are very very weird...
Other reviews show that things are normal there with HD7950 being faster then the HD7870


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## moonlord (Mar 5, 2012)

Kepler will be noisy and power hungry, 7870 is a great card and 7850 is a champ of its class, well done AMD.


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## dj-electric (Mar 5, 2012)

^Saying that will be like saying "Look i know what is going to happen, i know the future, screw NVIDIA, buy this"


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## Harlequin_uk (Mar 5, 2012)

awesome review - as allways 

now - is it me or is there a huge hole in AMD prices? between the 7770 @ £120 and the 7850@ £190

and , will there be a review in CF? would be ncie to see how these compare to 5850/6850 etc in CF


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## Frick (Mar 5, 2012)

Just look at that power consumption.


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## Recus (Mar 5, 2012)

Steevo said:


> Not when it plainly rapes it with the overclock.
> 
> 
> I see you can read, but you need work on comprehension and obviously implied results.
> ...



You don't choke while barking.


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## wahdangun (Mar 5, 2012)

wizz are you sure you don't do any mistake in crysis benchmark ?? i mean how can HD 7870 faster than HD 7970 ???


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## W1zzard (Mar 5, 2012)

wahdangun said:


> wizz are you sure you don't do any mistake in crysis benchmark ?? i mean how can HD 7870 faster than HD 7970 ???



old driver vs. new i guess


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## mudkip (Mar 5, 2012)

In other reviews I've seen 6950 performs 1-2% slower than 7850. I see no reason to upgrade if you have 6950 or 6970.


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## W1zzard (Mar 5, 2012)

mudkip said:


> I see no reason to upgrade if you have 6950 or 6970.



that's correct


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## damric (Mar 5, 2012)

Great review but I was wondering how much more you can overclock them with more voltage? 

Maybe you can add that chart in when you do your retail samples.


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## R_1 (Mar 5, 2012)

At that pricepoint, I guess I'll just wait for GK104.


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## mrb00m (Mar 5, 2012)

Thats it as soon as 7850's hit with better non stock coolers im getting one, i only use one monitor at 1920x1080 and thats looks the perfect card to replace my zotac 460 gtx.


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 5, 2012)

The performance of a 6950 with the power consumption of a 6850? That's pretty good. Wish the price was bit lower, but oh well.


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## DarkOCean (Mar 5, 2012)

I want a 7850 even if the prices are a little to high.. damn nvidia release kepler allready.


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## Over_Lord (Mar 5, 2012)

20% overclock on the 349$ HD7870 and it beats the 499$ HD7970.

Nuff Said. A sapphire TOXIC or ATOMIC version of HD7870 @ 399$ should become the king card!


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Mar 5, 2012)

When it's OC'd and pulling 7950 performance is the power consumption still lower than a 7950s?


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## AlienIsGOD (Mar 5, 2012)

Im thinking i should start saving now for a7850  its gonna take me awhile   Great review tho W1z, was waiting for these to come out to see how much of an improvement over my 6870 the HD7800's would be.


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## redeye (Mar 5, 2012)

AMD really does not believe that nvidia will release their new card at 299 do they?... i do not believe nvidia will... (of course semi-accurate is my source for the 299 price... grain-of-salt-thing)
so the price of the new nvidia card is going to be at least 350.. more like 450...


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## xenocide (Mar 5, 2012)

redeye said:


> AMD really does not believe that nvidia will release their new card at 299 do they?... i do not believe nvidia will... (of course semi-accurate is my source for the 299 price... grain-of-salt-thing)
> so the price of the new nvidia card is going to be at least 350.. more like 450...



If AMD weren't a little worried they wouldn't have paper launched and gotten everything out as quickly as humanly possible.  Nvidia seems confident GK104 will be enough to counter AMD offerings, only time will tell.


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## Harlequin_uk (Mar 5, 2012)

a paper launch is better than a wood shop launch


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## ZoneDymo (Mar 5, 2012)

My HD6950 is very sad now


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## mudkip (Mar 5, 2012)

ZoneDymo said:


> My HD6950 is very sad now



Why? It performs the same as the 7850, just consumes more power.
If it's unlocked to 6970 it outperforms the 7850 with 5%.


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## DarkOCean (Mar 5, 2012)

mudkip said:


> Why? It performs the same as the 7850, just consumes as much power as a 7950.
> If it's unlocked to 6970 it outperforms the 7850 with 5%.


fixed.
@ZoneDymo  Don't worry about it 6950 its still a great card.


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## Quattroking (Mar 5, 2012)

How does the ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP 1GB card compares to the Radeon HD 7850 card?

I see the overall improvements in performance is 9% better for the 7850 card over the stock GTX 560 Ti card.

But the ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP card is a bit more powerfull than the stock GTX 560 Ti card.

If the Radeon 7850 card is just 2-3% better than the ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP card, then i don't see a reason to change out my GPU to the Radeon 7850, because the GTX 560 Ti cards have CUDA and PhysX that i actually use in some programs and games that would make rendering things in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 to take much lesser time to render for example.


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## imitation (Mar 5, 2012)

Just wanted to give a big THANK YOU out to W1zz for the review (and all past ones, too) - TPU's graphics reviews are - for me - the best there are, as everything that needs to be tested gets tested and compared to all other relevant cards.


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## DarkOCean (Mar 5, 2012)

afw said:


> after seeing the avg performance of these cards ... i think somethings wrong with the 79xx series  ... i mean the 7950 has 40% more SPs and has a 384-bit memory ... but is only 7% faster ... somethings seriously bottlenecking the 79xx-s



Maybe rops its the bottleneck seeing they both have 32.


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## dj-electric (Mar 5, 2012)

Still, the ratio between SPs and performance is really weird comparing HD7800 to HD7900


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## Benetanegia (Mar 5, 2012)

DarkOCean said:


> Maybe rops its the bottleneck seeing they both have 32.



I think we would see a bigger difference between both as we went to lower resolutions in that case, and I always say that if you are making a GPU you just don't let a very small portion of your GPU bottleneck the rest, meaning they would have put 40-48 ROPs in that case, since they are completely decoupled now and die size wouldn't increase a lot. But who knows it could be.

But if I had to bet I'd say it's the same "problem" as with previous generations HD6000 and HD5000 and the culprit is the front end. With this one it would be the 3rd generation to suffer from this small-ish limitation, but it's their decision, a compromise that probably allows them to make it simpler and release cards easier/sooner and with less problems and R&D. It's worked for them in the past so why not.


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## OneCool (Mar 5, 2012)

I did not expect that!! 

Now to slap some voltage on her and a better cooler and see what she can really do


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## Volkszorn88 (Mar 5, 2012)

I'm very happy with my 2x 6950s for the time being, but these are some nice cards.

A bit pricey, but nice nontheless.


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## ChristTheGreat (Mar 5, 2012)

Nice review.

I hope the price will drop. If so, maybe the HD7870 would be a nice replacement for my HD6950. It depends if I can get at low price a second HD6950. Planning to play on eyefinity 3 monitor, so


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## demonkevy666 (Mar 5, 2012)

disappointed with only 1 crossfire tab  
AMD WHY U LIMIT ALL LOWER CARDS TO TWO CARD CROSSFIRE NOW!
price is right where I thought it would be.


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## Steevo (Mar 5, 2012)

Unless GTA5 is a killer I think one massively overclocked 7870 is in my future.


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## Wrigleyvillain (Mar 5, 2012)

btarunr said:


> So nearly half the power-draw as GTX 570, and higher performance, for just $20 more. No-brainer.



Yeah...5xx series was already overpriced too, at least at this later stage in it's life.

Can't wait for the Crossfire reviews.


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## Casecutter (Mar 5, 2012)

Very good show... AMD and W!zzard, while not extra ordinary for a reference board… I'm liking!  

Consider that very quickly most AIB's will offer OC'd and different coolers at or not much more than such MSRP, so start pricing isn't the worst.  78XX OC's are stratospheric, and if 7770 Cross-Fire is any indication 7850’s CF and some OC will be very quickly be the legitimacy for  low power and $/perf.

We've yet to see how Nvidia will present their TSMC 28Nm price increase for the coming GK104.  I think we will see Nvidia GK104 in 3 variants; first something that works above a 7850 for under $300, then the more common OC’d cards can really sparing with 7870 $370; lastly a limited run of Uber and FTW OC’s that can best the 7950 at 1920x, but power would be stratospheric and $420 or above.


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## Crap Daddy (Mar 5, 2012)

Casecutter said:


> Very good show... AMD and W!zzard, while not extra ordinary for a reference board… I'm liking!
> 
> Consider that very quickly most AIB's will offer OC'd and different coolers at or not much more than such MSRP, so start pricing isn't the worst.  78XX OC's are stratospheric, and if 7770 Cross-Fire is any indication 7850’s CF and some OC will be very quickly be the legitimacy for  low power and $/perf.
> 
> We've yet to see how Nvidia will present their TSMC 28Nm price increase for the coming GK104.  I think we will see Nvidia GK104 in 3 variants; first something that works above a 7850 for under $300, then the more common OC’d cards can really sparing with 7870 $370; lastly a limited run of Uber and FTW OC’s that can best the 7950 at 1920x, but power would be stratospheric and $420 or above.



Well according to Charlie next week we'll know more about Kepler as the press will be briefed about the GTX680. If GK104 is the new GTX680 then be very sure that it will be better than Tahiti XP. Prices will be probably according to performance and market.


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## Steevo (Mar 5, 2012)

kid41212003 said:


> i have a gtx480 (bought in 06/2010)




Umm, good for you.


Recus said:


> You don't choke while barking.
> 
> http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image//skymtl/GPU/HD7870/HD7870-61.jpg
> http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image//skymtl/GPU/HD7870/HD7870-62.jpg



So a single review that disagrees with one from W1zz 

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/26.html


When his review and others show different, and then the overclock results come in where they have....talk is cheap.


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## Casecutter (Mar 5, 2012)

Crap Daddy said:


> If GK104 is the new GTX680 then be very sure that it will be better than Tahiti XP. Prices will be probably according to performance and market.


Well based on that what will Nvidia "call" their top dog once GK110 is brought to market? 

I don't care what chip they use or what they call it, if it battles performance directly with Tahiti(s) and priced in the same realm $400-500 it's the successor to the GTX570/580... and Nvidia needs to think up a new name for the top dog whenever it shows! 

If Nvidia feels there a whole new rung on the enthusiast realm and they can bring it to market at $600+ best of wishes... Selling them and really bringing anything to their bottom line or if they want to wear a crown at that price... it's fine.


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 5, 2012)

Brod said:


> Another GPU review with an outdated Nehalem based PC. How unfortunate.
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2553379#post2553379



You're forgetting the rest of the results (other cards) are benched on the same system as well.
Consistency is _sorta_ important in reviews, at least the ones that are worth reading.

---

Nice review wizz. 
 7870 seems like an awesome card, just a little bit pricier than I suspected.


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## Mr Verro (Mar 5, 2012)

*dam these cards are awsme*


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## EarthDog (Mar 5, 2012)

johnnyfiive said:


> You're forgetting the rest of the results (other cards) are benched on the same system as well.
> Consistency is _sorta_ important in reviews, at least the ones that are worth reading.
> 
> ---
> ...


+59765723894568234756 for consistency in reviews.

Its a tough call when to switch platforms, thats for sure. If you do, then all other cards/reviews, especially at lower resolutions, their results are rendered useless to compare.

Nice review on these cards W1zz!


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## Jdat (Mar 5, 2012)

Can you post some oc results with voltage tuning?


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## sergionography (Mar 5, 2012)

this sure is incredible, and only makes me think an hd7970 is disappointing
an hd7870 has 1280 stream processors(40% less than hd7970), and yet performs only 20% slower than an hd7970
i guess hd7970 can use some more memory bandwidth thats for sure because as far as my calculations(hd7970 vs hd6970) went GCN cores were on par with VLIW4 cores in graphical operations, and had double the performance in compute
but with hd7870 out this changes everything, its almost as if the GCN cores on the pitcairn are doing a better job than tahiti


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## HD64G (Mar 5, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> yeah i think driver optimizations. just waiting for a final whql driver that supports all new amd cards so i can rebench



Nice thought W1z! It is very obvious that newer drivers will add much in 7970, 7950, at least in most popular or recent games with new game engines.


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## jamsbong (Mar 5, 2012)

HD64G said:


> Nice thought W1z! It is very obvious that newer drivers will add much in 7970, 7950, at least in most popular or recent games with new game engines.



Agree, the 79xx cards don't have optimised drivers yet. 

Here is a speculative thought, is ATI sandbaging, holding out the real performance and getting ready for Kepler? I bet there will be a driver release on the day when Kepler hits the reviewers. hehehe... At least I hope that is the case. One thing is definitely true, there is more within the 79xx cards than what we are seeing now.


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## W1zzard (Mar 5, 2012)

jamsbong said:


> is ATI sandbaging, holding out the real performance and getting ready for Kepler? I bet there will be a driver release on the day when Kepler hits the reviewers. hehehe... At least I hope that is the case



those changes will be included with the new bulldozer driver that doubles performance



jamsbong said:


> One thing is definitely true, there is more within the 79xx cards than what we are seeing now.



definitely not true. the two lower end GPUs have disabled shaders, but not tahiti


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## cadaveca (Mar 5, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> those changes will be included with the new bulldozer driver that doubles performance


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## jamsbong (Mar 5, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> those changes will be included with the new bulldozer driver that doubles performance



I like the sound of that! hahaha...


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## Maban (Mar 5, 2012)

So what I get from this is that AMD was rather stupid not to give Tahiti 48 or 64 ROPS. Would love to see a crossfire 7870 review.


/awaits Kepler


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## cadaveca (Mar 5, 2012)

Maban said:


> Tahiti 48 or 64 ROPS.





I kinda wonder about this myself.


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## m1dg3t (Mar 5, 2012)

Maban said:


> So what I get from this is that AMD was rather stupid not to give Tahiti 48 or 64 ROPS.





cadaveca said:


> I kinda wonder about this myself.



+2 I'm an idiot and i wonder as well 

Maybe they really are sandbagging a bit, toying with consumer's/Nvidia 

Edit: W1zz class review as always


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## xenocide (Mar 6, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> I kinda wonder about this myself.



Because then they can relaunch the same GPU reworked with 48/64 ROP's at the end of the year or in the fall as the 8xxx series!


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## Benetanegia (Mar 6, 2012)

Come on guys it just cannot be ROPs. If it had 40 ROPs, that'd be a 25% increase, so more than enough. 

And now die size, how much do you think ROPs take, 1/4th of the die being very very generous*? So having 25% more ROPs would increase die size by 1/16, a little more than 5%. You just don't skimp 5% of die area on your flagship GPU if it's going to hurt performance in  any significant way, you just don't. And in fact, you just don't put R&D money researching how to decouple your ROPs from memory controller, so as to being able to go 384 bit if a lower number of ROPs is going to hurt performance. It's not ROPs.

* The last AMD GPU die shot that I'm aware of is RV770. 800 SPs, 16 ROPs. The orange area is suposed to be ROPs + cache + other things. And also note that Tahiti has a higher SP-to-ROP ratio and it's shaders are more advanced and have more functionality so the area devoted to shaders is probably bigger.


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Mar 6, 2012)

The extra performance comes from dual on die gpus as i thought dual geometry and setup makes for less waste and a good half bin . Plus the circuits pre tested prior to trunity bonus its doin well.
Gd review wiz


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## N3M3515 (Mar 6, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> those changes will be included with the new bulldozer driver that *doubles performance*



Epic sarcasm.....LOL


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## Homeles (Mar 6, 2012)

Benetanegia said:


> * The last AMD GPU die shot that I'm aware of is RV770. 800 SPs, 16 ROPs. The orange area is suposed to be ROPs + cache + other things. And also note that Tahiti has a higher SP-to-ROP ratio and it's shaders are more advanced and have more functionality so the area devoted to shaders is probably bigger.



Here's a nice diarrhea-brown colored die shot of Tahiti:


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## Nihilus (Mar 6, 2012)

THIS is the card that the Xbox 3 needs!  An under clocked "7860" would be perfect.  We know sony is going AMD now so if they would use this card instead of the Xbox's foretold 6670, I will be canceling my Live account.
   As for the price, they are a bit high but AMD is definitely in the driver's seat.  Remember the price of Nvidia's cards before the hd 4800's and then after.  Green team will have the 680 big dog to brag about for 1% of the market, but AMD will have lots of room to play for the rest of the 99% of the market.  Maybe this generation, AMD will have an hd 4890 type card to counter back....or maybe they wont need it!


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## legends84 (Mar 6, 2012)

a massive upgrade from my GTX460 1gb and 5850... dang.... want one of two 7870 or must wait for kepler performance first


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## hardcore_gamer (Mar 6, 2012)

Nihilus said:


> As for the price, they are a bit high but AMD is definitely in the *driver's* seat .



AMD will be in the *driver's* seat when they make better *drivers.*


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## symmetrical (Mar 6, 2012)

Volkszorn88 said:


> I'm very happy with my 2x 6950s for the time being, but these are some nice cards.
> 
> A bit pricey, but nice nontheless.



Agreed.

I actually just pulled the trigger on 2 6950's that are unlocked to 6970s for $415 after seeing these reviews.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure 2 7870s would be boss, but not for $349 a piece or 2 for $761 (w/ tax) or even 2 7850s for $543 (w/ tax).


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## mrb00m (Mar 6, 2012)

Why you no!


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## qubit (Mar 6, 2012)

The 78xx & 79xx series cards are very competitive with nvidia, so hopefully they will start a price war. We really need one.

I'm waiting to see what Kepler offers.


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## m1dg3t (Mar 6, 2012)

Benetanegia said:


> Come on guys it just cannot be ROPs. If it had 40 ROPs, that'd be a 25% increase, so more than enough.



I don't think anyone is saying the performance is lacking due to the ROP's just curious why ATi stay's with 30 ROP's and less on their card's; at the same time additional ROP's would/could increase performance. I don't think ATi has ever used more than 30 ROP's on any card


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## Benetanegia (Mar 6, 2012)

m1dg3t said:


> I don't think anyone is saying the performance is lacking due to the ROP's just curious why ATi stay's with 30 ROP's and less on their card's; at the same time additional ROP's would/could increase performance. I don't think ATi has ever used more than 30 ROP's on any card



I have the impresion they said that 7800 and 7900 are so close to each ther because of a lack of ROPs in HD7900 cards. And probably don't use more ROPs because they are not needed. ROPs only play an important role as resolution and AA goes up, since ROPs mostly take care of blending the final pixels. Unless there's a requirement for higher resolution, there's no much need for more ROPs. 16 ROPs were mostly sufficient for 1920x1200 a long time ago already, and 32 are probably more than sufficient for 2560x1600. i.e HD7970 has 29.6 GPixel/s and 2560x1600 is 4 Mpixel. So about 7400 frames can be blended per second or at 100 fps 74 blends per frame, so in theory at least more than enough for blending all the stages with 32xAA and then some...

Nvidia used more because they have them coupled to the memory controllers, as did AMD before Tahiti, so for 384 bits you get 48, 320 bit 40 and so on, but the advantage of extra ROPs is negligible.


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## Yo_Wattup (Mar 6, 2012)

W1zzard, why do you not include 1920x1080 in your reviews? It's currently the most common resolution among gamers.

There is a few (silly) shortcomings in your reviews that prevent them from being the best on the web. Close though.


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 6, 2012)

Homeles said:


> Here's a nice diarrhea-brown colored die shot of Tahiti:
> 
> http://www.chipworks.com/media/wpmu/uploads/blogs.dir/4/files/2012/02/7960gfx-backside.jpg



dont matter what color it is aslong as it performs well. AMDs Unlocked Athlon XPs were all brown, XP-Ms being Green and Locked models being yellow or green.

So I dont see how your thoughts really pertain to anything...

N Yo Wattup

Just look at 1920x1200 for a relative performance number for 1080p.

1080vs 1200, Ill take 1200 anyday, n plus its more standard than 1080 for monitor resolutions.



hardcore_gamer said:


> AMD will be in the *driver's* seat when they make better *drivers.*



I dont see the point ur trying to make, ATI/AMD users that have been here for sometime are not having any issues with drivers, i havent hand any since Before Cat 4.3s Launched, same with customers ive built machines for.


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## EarthDog (Mar 6, 2012)

I dont think he was trying to start anything from the post you quoted. Jesus, this place is brutal sometimes.

You want to see trolling...here: You been here for almost 5 years... find the edit button instead of double posting or the multi quote button n00b.  (really... I KID I KID! But I hope you see the difference.)


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 6, 2012)

EarthDog said:


> I dont think he was trying to start anything from the post you quoted. Jesus, this place is brutal sometimes.
> 
> You want to see trolling...here: You been here for almost 5 years... find the edit button instead of double posting or the multi quote button n00b.  (really... I KID I KID! But I hope you see the difference.)



fyi i removed the double post before you posted thanks for noticing lol

N Jr i oughta take you out back n whip you lol


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## bbmarley (Mar 7, 2012)

any chance of trying to crossfire these 2 and review?


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## Homeles (Mar 7, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> dont matter what color it is aslong as it performs well. AMDs Unlocked Athlon XPs were all brown, XP-Ms being Green and Locked models being yellow or green.
> 
> So I dont see how your thoughts really pertain to anything...



I wasn't talking to you. I also never said anything about the color meaning anything.

I don't see how _your _thoughts pertain to anything. I was just showing a guy the die shot of Tahiti. Why do you need to get involved... and what is there to be involved with in the first place?


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## Harlequin_uk (Mar 8, 2012)

would like to see a compare of the 5850>6850>7850 (and same for the xx70) at identical clocks


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## m1dg3t (Mar 8, 2012)

Harlequin_uk said:


> would like to see a compare of the 5850>6850>7850 (and same for the xx70) at identical clocks



Aside form the comparison's listed by W1zzard in his review's of said card's you can check out http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php for comparison, i find it to be pretty accurate


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## Harlequin_uk (Mar 8, 2012)

m1dg3t said:


> Aside form the comparison's listed by W1zzard in his review's of said card's you can check out http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php for comparison, i find it to be pretty accurate



thanks but that doesnt show me what i asked?? theres no 5870 @ 7870 clocks


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## m1dg3t (Mar 8, 2012)

Harlequin_uk said:


> thanks but that doesnt show me what i asked?? theres no 5870 @ 7870 clocks



 You can compare ANY card you want against any other card on that site. Hit the drop down menu/s and select what ever card/s you want and go from there, even give's the option for OC & CF/SLI once you select a card/s 

Here i did it for you http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=613&card2=677# 

Edit: Strange? It was linking with the OC'd clock's, just hit the + tab beside where it list's core speed untill you reach desired speed  

Not much of an "upgarde" is it? I need at least DBL performance before switching, 7970 is almost there (@ stock) but price's are still to high for me, if/when they come down to $300 or less i'll bite otherwise i'm waiting for the "refresh" and the subsequent 89xx card's  

That's if they do a refresh and not just jump to new arch


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## Initialised (Mar 11, 2012)

7800 pricing Listed here: 
http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/Infinity_i5_Silent_Edition/

7850 £170 + VAT
7870 £240 + VAT


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## N3M3515 (Mar 17, 2012)

If anyone is interested, the guys at vr-zone managed to get 315Mhz out of the 7850 DirectCU II TOP, with 1.3 volts, it's faster than 7870 at stock.

http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-hd7850-directcu-ii-top-review/15243-4.html


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## sliderider (Mar 30, 2012)

HD7850 performs phenomenally in comparison to the HD6950 and HD6970 in most of the tests but it falls flat on it's face in the Dragon Age II test. What is it about that particular game that the HD7850 struggles so hard with?


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## SonDa5 (Apr 3, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> definitely not true. the two lower end GPUs have disabled shaders, but not tahiti



So how do we enable them?  



How did you get past the 1050mhz core speed limit that is on most of the new HD7850s?


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## DarkOCean (Apr 3, 2012)

sliderider said:


> HD7850 performs phenomenally in comparison to the HD6950 and HD6970 in most of the tests but it falls flat on it's face in the Dragon Age II test. What is it about that particular game that the HD7850 struggles so hard with?



Doesn't matter, who plays DA2 anymore?


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## mudkip (Oct 31, 2012)

dir_d said:


> I really think the 7950 and 7970 being low is due to drivers and when a proper driver comes out the will show the hardware scaling correctly like the 7870. Makes me think of a conspiracy theory. AMD purposely gimped the 7950 and 7970 in the drivers for kelper. Then when kelper drops there will be a magic 10% plus driver.



Dude, you were right....


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## 3870x2 (Oct 31, 2012)

mudkip said:


> Dude, you were right....



Outstanding find mudkip.


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## mudkip (Oct 31, 2012)

3870x2 said:


> Outstanding find mudkip.



Haha I was just looking up some reviews. 

But to explain my comment to other people. 8 months ago dir_d said AMD would release a magical driver to boost performance to compete with nvidia. Just a few weeks ago AMD actually did release the driver. Therefore I think that dir_d
 has a foreseeing gift.


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