# PowerColor Radeon HD 6970 Pictured



## btarunr (Dec 13, 2010)

With its launch not too far, AMD partners are busy sending their Radeon HD 6970 samples to reviews. It is inevitable then, that some would actually post pictures of those on the web ahead of launch. Some such pictures made it to HardwareLuxx.de, which shows PowerColor Radeon HD 6970 in fresh out of its retail box. The card, and the box itself, reveal quite a bit about the HD 6970. To begin with, Radeon HD 6970 (and HD 6950), are high-end single GPU graphics cards based on AMD's new "Cayman" high-end GPU. The HD 6970 is about as long as a Radeon HD 5870 (which it's intended to replace), and retains product design carried forward from the HD 6800 series graphics cards. 

The HD 6970 from PowerColor sports 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, perhaps some of the memory chips are located on the reverse side of the PCB, which is why a back-plate is used to cool them. The top side of the card reveals the power connectors: one 8-pin, and a 6-pin PCI-E power; two CrossFire bridge fingers, and a tiny switch. It is rumored that this switch lets users select between two BIOS ROM chips present on the cards; one chip is programmable, and partners can store an overclocked profile, while the other is not programmable, and stores the AMD reference profile. It gives users a nice fallback in case they brick the card with a bad BIOS. 



 

 

 




Another revelation is that HD 6970 supports an updated AMD Eyefinity feature set that lets users connect four displays to the card (instead of three on the previous generation non-Eyefinity6 cards). Display connectivity includes two DVI, one HDMI 1.4a, and two DisplayPort 1.2. PowerColor's HD 6970 should be out by mid-December (in this week).

*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## Lionheart (Dec 13, 2010)

Looks nice, but seriously gimme benchies


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## Volkszorn88 (Dec 13, 2010)

Wow amazing looking card. If the price right, it'll be an instant buy.


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## CBOT (Dec 13, 2010)

The Picture are all from Ducati750ss,he has Buyed one on German Shop.

All Infos and Benches are here : http://www.hardwareluxx.de/communit...le-technischen-daten-update-2-a-768017-7.html  Post 167


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## DanishDevil (Dec 13, 2010)

I seriously hope they're not as loud as the 6870s. I highly doubt it since they're more powerful and look to be using the same cooler, but I just hope it meets my strict noise standards. I can live with my reference 6870, but I'd much rather have something quieter under load.


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## Lionheart (Dec 13, 2010)

DanishDevil said:


> I seriously hope they're not as loud as the 6870s. I highly doubt it since they're more powerful and look to be using the same cooler, but I just hope it meets my strict noise standards. I can live with my reference 6870, but I'd much rather have something quieter under load.



I never heard anything about the HD6870's been loud, unless its just your own opinion


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## buggalugs (Dec 13, 2010)

Do we still need adapters for 3 monitors? Like, can we use 3 dvi monitors?


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## gumpty (Dec 13, 2010)

CHAOS_KILLA said:


> I never heard anything about the HD6870's been loud, unless its just your own opinion



They are quiet at idle, but as soon as you ramp up in a game that blower gets going. Sure, it's not as loud as cards from a few years ago, but it's louder than I'd like. And it's definitely louder than you'd think a 150W card would be.

Can't wait to see how these perform.


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## jasper1605 (Dec 13, 2010)

that sticker is awesome.  It's like transformers crossed with devil may cry/ffvii swords


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## inferKNOX (Dec 13, 2010)

Oh, how I hope that the 6950 has good price, 2x6-pin and low noise.


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## DanishDevil (Dec 13, 2010)

The 6870 isn't SUPER loud, but if you have an open air case and sit about 3 feet from your GPU, you're going to hear it while gaming unless you have headphones on with audio going constantly. Just a bit above my noise preference. My GTX 460 1GB from Gigabyte (dual fan version) was completely silent while gaming.


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## Atom_Anti (Dec 13, 2010)

CHAOS_KILLA said:


> Looks nice, but seriously gimme benchies


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## toyo (Dec 13, 2010)

After also reading the thread on that forums (Google translate though) I can only say that it is VERY disappointing. I expected AMD to come for once at least with the best single GPU on the market, but it seems a failure.
I'm not saying it's not marketable, just that it is not faster than the 580.
But since I haven't see an official review here, I cannot be definitive on my opinion - still I feel that ducatti is probably telling the truth.
Maybe new drivers will fix some lack of performance.


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## Hayder_Master (Dec 13, 2010)

w1zzrad bunches please


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## btarunr (Dec 13, 2010)

hayder.master said:


> w1zzrad bunches please



Bunches coming right up


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## the54thvoid (Dec 13, 2010)

I'm calling bull on the BFBC2 score.  At 1920 res (looks close to what was benched for fps) a 6870 scores 52.9, a 5870 scores 58.4 and a GTX 480 scores 66.3.  That puts a 480 as 13% faster than a 5870 and 25% faster than a 6870. (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_580/6.html)

The Ducatti dude post puts the 6970 at 8% slower than a gtx 480.  So it's only 5-8% better than a 5870?

Given BFBC2 is DX11, and the 6970 seems to do well on DX11, i'm calling that a crock of poo.

I'll wait for W1zz's review.  All this leaky speculation and homemade tables sucks balls.


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## gumpty (Dec 13, 2010)

toyo said:


> After also reading the thread on that forums (Google translate though) I can only say that it is VERY disappointing. I expected AMD to come for once at least with the best single GPU on the market, but it seems a failure.
> I'm not saying it's not marketable, just that it is not faster than the 580.
> But since I haven't see an official review here, I cannot be definitive on my opinion - still I feel that ducatti is probably telling the truth.
> Maybe new drivers will fix some lack of performance.



AMD have done well over the last few generations by winning the price/performance battle at the pointy end of the market. If they price it well, it will be a win - getting the fastest GPU trophy would be a bonus, I'm guessing.

Another week of hanging out for W1zzies Benchies™. When does the NDA actually end?


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## Flibolito (Dec 13, 2010)

Not sure if those benchies tell the whole story but hopefully by there end of this year we'll have an all-out GPU war on our hands. If those BC2 benches are accurate I am a bit disappointed by the low min fps as that is what the "high end" single gpu cards are for combat. Too early to tell, WHQL drivers later this year will show what we are really dealing with. Either way the consumer wins if these hold up against the 570/580 and will even out the price.


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## Paintface (Dec 13, 2010)

remember proper drivers are only out with the official release of the card, so ignore all benches till then.


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## makwy2 (Dec 13, 2010)

Paintface said:


> remember proper drivers are only out with the official release of the card, so ignore all benches till then.



True dat!  I am so excited for this card although I will never be able to afford one.  I have a feeling that by Q2 2011 soooo much will be changed!


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## Duckula (Dec 13, 2010)

More pictures.  

Didn't see any memory chip on the rear side.


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Dec 13, 2010)

So the backplate is just for aesthetics? They shouldve just ditch the plate and lower the cost.


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## crow1001 (Dec 13, 2010)

From the German benchmarks where these card images come from, it looks like a complete fail.


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## HammerON (Dec 13, 2010)

Need reviews from W1zzard~
Until then, all else is BS


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## buggalugs (Dec 13, 2010)

Bjorn_Of_Iceland said:


> So the backplate is just for aesthetics? They shouldve just ditch the plate and lower the cost.



The backplate does a few things but its good for shielding EMI especially if you have a soundcard right above it.

On topic, I never expected this card to be faster than the 580. It was designed to beat the 480(and it will) and was well into production when the 580 hit.

 Its actually a good thing it means the 6970 will be cheap. Its always about price/performance.


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## Mussels (Dec 13, 2010)

i only read about half of that, and have to say this:


benchmarks are useless, if it IS a dual GPU card. why? cause it likely has no crossfire profiles on whatever leaked drivers they're testing with...


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## pr0n Inspector (Dec 13, 2010)

Mussels said:


> i only read about half of that, and have to say this:
> 
> 
> benchmarks are useless, if it IS a dual GPU card. why? cause it likely has no crossfire profiles on whatever leaked drivers they're testing with...



If the pictures are true then it's obviously a single GPU card as there is only one bracket.


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## crow1001 (Dec 13, 2010)

Dual GPU....??


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## AsRock (Dec 13, 2010)

Bjorn_Of_Iceland said:


> So the backplate is just for aesthetics? They shouldve just ditch the plate and lower the cost.



NO, backplate all so helps to stop the card from bending.


Btw is this 4D ? if so don't that only make it 384 shaders ?. Sounds kinda low i know they are not every thing but they do help a lot even more so in games like Arma..


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## Mussels (Dec 13, 2010)

pr0n Inspector said:


> If the pictures are true then it's obviously a single GPU card as there is only one bracket.





crow1001 said:


> Dual GPU....??



they could have packed two GPU's into one space. not saying it is, but when someone says 'hey it performs like a 5870 in all the benches!' it makes me think its only half being used.


it is single GPU, however - the _970 threw mew off for a sec there. that said, leaked performance reviews always suck... early/beta drivers.


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## csendesmark (Dec 13, 2010)

YaaY! cant wait for it!


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## pr0n Inspector (Dec 13, 2010)

AsRock said:


> NO, backplate all so helps to stop the card from bending.
> 
> 
> Btw is this 4D ? if so don't that only make it 384 shaders ?. Sounds kinda low i know they are not every thing but they do help a lot even more so in games like Arma..



Stock coolers have alloy memory/VRM heat sink plates for that.


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Dec 13, 2010)

Can't say I much care for the looks, but preformence matters much more than looks, I'll take function over form any day.


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## doctr_nick (Dec 13, 2010)

Hey guys!
Don't forget too that the 6970, while likely being at least on par with a GTX480, it isn't the end of the line for AMD. There's still the good possibility of a dual GPU card, a la 6990 being released. NVIDIA may have the GTX580, but it won't hold up against the 6990. And considering that the 6970 will be far cheaper, and that the 6990 will likely be only a tad more expensive (but obviously far more powerful than a 580), AMD still has the upper hand.


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## crow1001 (Dec 13, 2010)

I think what we are looking at here is a slightly overclocked 5870 with better tessellation, in other words it's a bit crap, roll on the 15th.


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## inferKNOX (Dec 13, 2010)

I have to agree with buggalugs, that AMD, you'd better give us a damn good price for FAILing on the single GPU crown.
Quite a performance disappointment, but there's a good low price potential now.
That being said, it's unconfirmed for the moment so I wouldn't jump to complain just yet.


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## RejZoR (Dec 13, 2010)

First thing i'd do if i'd ever buy such card is to remove the damn ugly sticker. Yuck.


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## inferKNOX (Dec 13, 2010)

I couldn't care less about the sticker considering you typically will never see it if you have your mobo in the usual vertical orientation, with the slots below.
The side of the card maybe a bit more of a concern for chassis window lovers like myself... but IMHO what you want to look good is the result not so much the tools, ie, the graphics, not really the graphics card.


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## gumpty (Dec 13, 2010)

crow1001 said:


> I think what we are looking at here is a slightly overclocked 5870 with better tessellation, in other words it's a bit crap, roll on the 15th.



That's all this generation was ever going to be, I think. AMD's truly next-gen GPUs were meant to be 32nm but TSMC canned that, so they went with this hybrid generation on 40nm that is mainly the 5000 series with a few of their next-gen features bolted on (better tessellation, more efficient, etc). These are something of a stop-gap until the 28nm process ramps up properly. Same thing with Nvidia, their 500 series is a bug-fixed and warmed over 400 series.

But then again ... every generation is always a stop-gap for the next one.


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## TAViX (Dec 13, 2010)

If the 6970=5970 it will still be a blast!


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## inferKNOX (Dec 13, 2010)

TAViX said:


> If the 6970=5970 it will still be a blast!



So far every indication suggests that it's far from it...:shadedshu


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## mdsx1950 (Dec 13, 2010)

OMG. Simply beautiful!  

Need benchmarks now!!


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## Animalpak (Dec 13, 2010)

gimme games benches baby ! DX11 !!!


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## Volkszorn88 (Dec 13, 2010)

I have a funny feeling that the 5970 will still scale better than the 6970. Until the 15 Dec, everything is specualtion, not to mention beta-drivers.


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## Red_Machine (Dec 13, 2010)

Why on earth are they comparing it to a GTX 480?  Is it so people don't see how fail it is?

If it is indeed slower than a 580, AND more expensive, maybe the AMD fanboys will give the war a rest for a change.  But then again, I imagine they'll start up again once the 6990 is released.  They won't have a leg to stand on, however, as a single GPU card can't compete with a dual-GPU card and their arguments will be irrelevant.


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## mdsx1950 (Dec 13, 2010)

Man this card better be good. It better crush the GTX580! Or else i'm going to be very dissapointed.


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## Volkszorn88 (Dec 13, 2010)

Red_Machine said:


> Why on earth are they comparing it to a GTX 480?  Is it so people don't seem how fail it is?
> 
> maybe the AMD fanboys will give the war a rest for a change



Like Nvidia fanboys don't say anything lol


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## Red_Machine (Dec 13, 2010)

When we have the fastest GPU on the planet, we can say what we like.


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## Volkszorn88 (Dec 13, 2010)

Shouldn't your name be Green Machine? lol


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## Red_Machine (Dec 13, 2010)

Probably.


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## gumpty (Dec 13, 2010)

Fanboys of any persuasion instantly fail at life.


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## phanbuey (Dec 13, 2010)

i mean if those benches are for real than it really isn't a whole lot faster than the 5870.  Pricing will have to be very low for this to work.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Dec 13, 2010)

RejZoR said:


> First thing i'd do if i'd ever buy such card is to remove the damn ugly sticker. Yuck.



Then just get the asus. They seem to have figured out just about everyone hates those shitty random crap renders. Look at how they integrated the side accents.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121401


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Dec 13, 2010)

AsRock said:


> NO, backplate all so helps to stop the card from bending.


But if you check the stock cooler, its screwed on different parts of the card, and i think the stock cooler / vrm-mem unisink and shroud should cover that..


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## Paintface (Dec 13, 2010)

i repeat, the correct drivers arent released yet, the benches made till now are completely and way off, just wait and see.


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## v12dock (Dec 13, 2010)

Yes, the GPUZ screenshot does not display the proper shader units anyways.


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## Fourstaff (Dec 13, 2010)

Desperate times call for desperate measures: W1zzard, can you "leak" the benches for 6970 and apologise ála GTX 580?


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## Red_Machine (Dec 13, 2010)

I think if he did that, he'd never get any review samples again...


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## jpierce55 (Dec 13, 2010)

Considering the price of a 6870 the 6970 could be considerably cheaper than the 580, I can't see AMD falling that low on the 6970. It would be way better to buy to 6870's.


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## Fourstaff (Dec 13, 2010)

Red_Machine said:


> I think if he did that, he'd never get any review samples again...



Oh, that too, but we can always push the blame to TheMailMan, no?


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## crow1001 (Dec 13, 2010)

The MOD who works at OCUK has confirmed the 6970 beats a 5870 but not a 580, does not looks good.



Gibbo said:


> Hi there
> 
> Its gotten 5870 beaten in every synthetic benchmark we have run so far.
> 
> Its tesselation performance is very good.






Gibbo said:


> Hi there
> 
> Thats all I have compared against so far, I wanted to compare it against what it replaces.
> 
> ...



Now that's from a guy whos job is to sell these things, 6970 will be slightly faster than a 5870 but with better tessellation performance.


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## phanbuey (Dec 13, 2010)

Drivers are one thing, but even with phenomenal drivers, a good bet is that it will be no more than 50% faster than a 5870.  Unless those are the wrong number of shaders, this card will not perform like the last generational leaps.

The other thing they did is artificially boost expectations by renaming their cards.  That will happen whenever you decide to name the new mid range card the same naming scheme that used to be your top-of-the-line-big-f(**&-off card.

5970 vs 6970 ... yeah...


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Dec 13, 2010)

crow1001 said:


> .. 6970 will be slightly faster than a 5870 but with better tessellation performance.


I remember a card before that had that same characteristic, albeit, a higher power consumption and a bit hotter than a 280. In anycase, pricing here on our country is out.. ranges about 60-70 USD cheaper than a GTX580


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## cdawall (Dec 13, 2010)

So if this is single gpu what's their dual gpu card going to be called? 6990 sounds stupid...


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## Red_Machine (Dec 13, 2010)

HAHA.  I KNEW IT!

AMD, you fail.


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## jpierce55 (Dec 13, 2010)

cdawall said:


> So if this is single gpu what's their dual gpu card going to be called? 6990 sounds stupid...



In fact, yet it will be.


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## phanbuey (Dec 13, 2010)

I hope they redesign the cooler too.  I like the boxy look, but want them to rip off NV's chamber design that they used for the 580.


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## horik (Dec 13, 2010)

man im tired of the waiting game,i want to see game benchmarks


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## OneCool (Dec 13, 2010)

if its fast then it will be between the GTX570 and GTX580 in price point and preformance.

I dont see it beating the 580 :shadedshu


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## stupido (Dec 13, 2010)

Fourstaff said:


> Desperate times call for desperate measures: W1zzard, can you "leak" the benches for 6970 and apologise ála GTX 580?


c'mooonn... be patient... patience is a virtue...   all good stuff come slow...


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## mdsx1950 (Dec 13, 2010)

Red_Machine said:


> HAHA.  I KNEW IT!
> 
> AMD, you fail.



 You knew what?


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## Red_Machine (Dec 13, 2010)

I knew the 6970 wouldn't beat the 580.


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## bear jesus (Dec 13, 2010)

Red_Machine said:


> I knew the 6970 wouldn't beat the 580.



And the official benchmarks are where? 

You could at least wait until they are out to mock them for being so fail


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## jpierce55 (Dec 13, 2010)

The only reason I see for waiting to release the benchmark tests is that it does not perform like expected .


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## bear jesus (Dec 13, 2010)

jpierce55 said:


> The only reason I see for waiting to release the benchmark tests is that it does not perform like expected .



But only for those who expected too much 

As long as it's cheaper and preferably uses less power than the 580 then it hits an acceptable place in the market as it will sit in the position the 5870 and 4870 did in past generations.


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## jpierce55 (Dec 13, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> But only for those who expected too much
> 
> As long as it's cheaper and preferably uses less power than the 580 then it hits an acceptable place in the market as it will sit in the position the 5870 and 4870 did in past generations.



I don't disagree at all. I would much rather have a g-card a little slower using much less power. If it is reasonably cheaper you have to figure it needs a cheaper psu as well (less power).


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## crow1001 (Dec 13, 2010)

It will be over $150 cheaper than the cheapest 580.


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## mdsx1950 (Dec 13, 2010)

Red_Machine said:


> I knew the 6970 wouldn't beat the 580.



Proof? :shadedshu


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## the54thvoid (Dec 13, 2010)

The guy at OcUK (Gibbo) is inferring it will be substantially cheaper and readily available.  I've said since launch that the 580 is pretty rare.  I hope we see more but at the moment, it's in very limited supply.

All that said, I wanted something to replace my 5850's and it's looking more and more likely it'll be NV as an overclocked 580 gets close/beats a 5970.

Though since i changed my case my 5850's stay cooler and quieter when flat out.  Maybe i should wait.....

And it's not a 'fail' if it achieves AMD's goal.  It's only us idiots that have hyped things so much we lose track of what good value and performance 'most' consumers want.


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## phanbuey (Dec 13, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> But only for those who expected too much
> 
> As long as it's cheaper and preferably uses less power than the 580 then it hits an acceptable place in the market as it will sit in the position the 5870 and 4870 did in past generations.



yes and no.  The 5870 was king of the hill for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGG time.  It is only recently that it sits below a better card.  For most of its life, the 5870 was up against the 285, which it butchered in terms of features and performance.

Also, the 4870 was over 2x the speed of the 3870 and the 5870 was damn close to 2x the 4870.  If the 6970 is too far off the generational improvement will be much smaller.  It looks like a 30% increase on average over the 5870, which nixes any leadership that AMD worked so hard to gain...


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## largon (Dec 13, 2010)

Looks like the situation will be pretty much equal to pre-GTX580-launch era. 
nV has the fastest single GPU but AMD owns perf/$ and perf/W. 

And I think AMD being able to tweak Cypress -> Cayman and gain such boosts with minimal die size increase is actually an impressive feat compared to nV jury-riggin' GF100 -> GF110.


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## phanbuey (Dec 13, 2010)

largon said:


> Looks like the situation will be pretty much equal to pre-GTX580-launch era.
> nV has the fastest single GPU but AMD owns perf/$ and perf/W.
> 
> And I think AMD being able to tweak Cypress -> Cayman and gain such boosts with minimal die size increase is actually an impressive feat compared to nV jury-riggin' GF100 -> GF110.



yes but fermi is not as old as Cypress, as far as actual mass-implementation so I feel like AMD has also had alot more time than GF100-GF110. Then again this could all be for nothing since we dont actually have drivers yet.


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## niko084 (Dec 13, 2010)

DanishDevil said:


> I can live with my reference 6870, but I'd much rather have something quieter under load.



Tis why we invented water blocks 

Lets give up the Nvidia VS Ati trash for one thread maybe?
Last I checked the title didn't say 6970 vs 580 benchmarks!


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## largon (Dec 13, 2010)

phanbuey said:


> yes but fermi is not as old as Cypress, as far as actual mass-implementation so I feel like AMD has also had alot more time than GF100-GF110.


nV had to spin GF100 three times (A3) before retailing it so that means something like a 6 month delay. There goes the time difference.


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## Wile E (Dec 13, 2010)

I was hoping for a bigger leap from the 5870. I will reserve judgment until the TPU benches release.


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## N3M3515 (Dec 13, 2010)

OH MY god....
Why are people so f***ing stupid? doesn't anyone READ?

1. 6900's series is not a f***ing new generation, it's the SAME 40nm!!!, don't dream with 80% leaps!! IT'S A REFRESH!

2. FAIL????......omfg......FYI AMD/ATI every new iteration, closes the gap to nvidia!
HD3850 < HD3870 < 8800GT < 8800GTX
HD4850 < GTX260 = HD4870 < GTX280
HD5850 < GTX470 < HD5870 < GTX480
HD6950 <= GTX570 < HD6970 <= GTX580  (acording to leaks)

GET IT??

PD: 1536 shaders and almost equal perf than GTX580!! Bravo AMD!
PD2: could it mean they plan to release a 1920sp refresh part? who knows!, maybe it beats GTX580!!, maybe nv has a refresh planned aswell! (maybe overclocked because fermi's max shaders are 512)


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## niko084 (Dec 13, 2010)

N3M3515 said:


> PD: 1536 shaders and almost equal perf than GTX580!! Bravo AMD!
> PD2: could it mean they plan to release a 1920sp refresh part? who knows!, maybe it beats GTX580!!, maybe nv has a refresh planned aswell! (maybe overclocked because fermi's max shaders are 512)



Well before you start going into a tyrant let me inform you that the entire shader design between ATI and Nvidia are totally different.

And yes, they probably will not see a huge performance difference, just some baseline design tweaks, which are indeed helpful.

Lastly considering the release date of the GTX580, a refresh will not be coming for at least 6-12 months, if they even do one, by then ATI will most likely be ready with their next either refresh or design.


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## wolf (Dec 13, 2010)

dual chip cards from both camps coming soon, thats a beast waiting to happen.

even if its only a dual GF104, that's going to be one frikken potent card. also very keen to see what AMD pull out in the way of a dual cayman.


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## N3M3515 (Dec 13, 2010)

niko084 said:


> Well before you start going into a tyrant let me inform you that the entire shader design between ATI and Nvidia are totally different.
> 
> And yes, they probably will not see a huge performance difference, just some baseline design tweaks, which are indeed helpful.
> 
> Lastly considering the release date of the GTX580, a refresh will not be coming for at least 6-12 months, if they even do one, by then ATI will most likely be ready with their next either refresh or design.



Don't get me wrong, i was not being sarcastic about the 1536 shaders, bravo amd for making a gpu with less shaders than the 5870 and making it almost equal in perf to the GTX 580.

Also, what everyone fails to see is that the jump from hd5870 to hd6970 is bigger than gtx480 to gtx580, again, acording to benchmark leaks.


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## crow1001 (Dec 13, 2010)

Yeah that jump is because the 5870 tessellation capabilities sucked ass, the 6970 corrects this but still it sucks in less tessellated games, for a card thats come out 15 months after the 5870, it's crap performance which the reviews will show. AMD are pricing this card way below the 580 because it does not compete.


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## N3M3515 (Dec 13, 2010)

I don't know how to explain it for you to understand my friend....it's FOURTY nm!!! 40!! what did you expected??? 50% over 5870??? dreamer!, and it's closer to the gtx580 than 5870 ever was to gtx480.


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## bear jesus (Dec 13, 2010)

crow1001 said:


> Yeah that jump is because the 5870 tessellation capabilities sucked ass, the 6970 corrects this but still it sucks in less tessellated games, for a card thats come out 15 months after the 5870, it's crap performance which the reviews will show. AMD are pricing this card way below the 580 because it does not compete.



Could you direct the rest of us to this official information you must be quoting? 

Can't everyone just wait until the official reviews before saying how crappy and fail the 69xx cards are, I'm not saying they won't be but it would be nice for people to give exact examples of why they are so bad


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## crow1001 (Dec 13, 2010)

Check the reviews out, 480/570 performance and it will win some and lose some, considering the 5870 was never that far behind a 480 it's pathetic, but I'll let the reviews do the talking.

And you can cry 40nm all you want, the 6870 with a lot less SPs than a 5870 is almost on par with it, 40nm didn't hold that back.


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## bear jesus (Dec 13, 2010)

crow1001 said:


> Check the reviews out, 480/570 performance and it will win some and lose some, considering the 5870 was never that far behind a 480 it's pathetic, but I'll let the reviews do the talking.
> 
> And you can cry 40nm all you want, the 6870 with a lot less SP's than a 5870 is almost on par with it, 40nm didn't hold that back.



What reviews?


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## N3M3515 (Dec 13, 2010)

crow1001 said:


> Check the reviews out, 480/570 performance and it will win some and lose some, considering the 5870 was never that far behind a 480 it's pathetic, but I'll let the reviews do the talking.
> 
> And you can cry 40nm all you want, the 6870 with a lot less SP's than a 5870 is almost on par with it, 40nm didn't hold that back.


You are the one whining, i don't care if it doesnt beat the gtx 580 i do care about price/performance ratio. that's what's important.

MAYBE a 1920sp refresh part will beat the gtx580, but i don't think nv won't do anything about it.


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## Red_Machine (Dec 13, 2010)

N3M3515 said:


> I don't know how to explain it for you to understand my friend....it's FOURTY nm!!! 40!! what did you expected??? 50% over 5870??? dreamer!, and it's closer to the gtx580 than 5870 ever was to gtx480.



Please don't capitalise and overuse exclamation marks and question marks.  It's rather annoying, not to mention rude.


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## wahdangun (Dec 14, 2010)

wow the fanboy wars really intense in every tech forum, can AMD release the card faster, because its look like it gonna be have a lot casualties from both side


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## mdsx1950 (Dec 14, 2010)

The only way to end the war is the benchmarks.


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## Delta6326 (Dec 14, 2010)

when does nda end? or what ever its called


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## btarunr (Dec 14, 2010)

Delta6326 said:


> when does nda end? or what ever its called



Sometime tomorrow (12/15).


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## pr0n Inspector (Dec 14, 2010)

mdsx1950 said:


> The only way to end the war is the benchmarks.



That would only end a battle. The war never ends.


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## mdsx1950 (Dec 14, 2010)

pr0n Inspector said:


> That would only end a battle. The war never ends.



Yeah i guess. But im tired off all the @#$%ing speculation. :shadedshu


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## wahdangun (Dec 14, 2010)

here are some first realy really legit review HD 6970 CF result







and here are some single card result :






and this is the HD 6850 CF result :






wow its turn out HD 6970 will be head to head with GTX 580 its even faster than HD 6850 CF

here are some GTX 580 SLI :






here are some single card GTX 580 result :






source @ ocuk


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## gumpty (Dec 14, 2010)

wahdangun said:


> here are some first realy really legit review HD 6970 CF result
> 
> http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/9099/heaveny.png
> 
> ...



Forgive me for being skeptical, but those benchies have been run on different systems, with different processors, running at different clocks. I'll continue to wait for Wizzie's Benchies™.


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## Red_Machine (Dec 14, 2010)

Maybe they're trying to obfuscate its performance.  Note the 6970 is running on a 950 and the 580 on a 930, and it can't even beat it then!


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## bear jesus (Dec 14, 2010)

Red_Machine said:


> Maybe they're trying to obfuscate its performance.  Note the 6970 is running on a 950 and the 580 on a 930, and it can't even beat it then!



Both running at 4ghz, all the 9xx i7's are the same cpu at different clocks excluding the two 6 core ones so they can be uses for valid comparisons if all the clocks and memory are the same speed. 

as far as beating the 580 it does not have to do so to sell well just like the 48xx and 58xx cards as they were cheaper and used less power, it's all about position in the market with AMD thus why they have been making cheaper less power hungry cards since the 2900xt screw up.


But i know what this is about, you don't want the 6970 to beat the 580 as you already shelled out for one and if a cheaper less power hungry card beat yours then you would be unimpressed


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## Red_Machine (Dec 14, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> Both running at 4ghz, all the 9xx i7's are the same cpu at different clocks excluding the two 6 core ones so they can be uses for valid comparisons if all the clocks and memory are the same speed.



They were all running at different clock speeds, it said in the images.



bear jesus said:


> But i know what this is about, you don't want the 6970 to beat the 580 as you already shelled out for one and if a cheaper less power hungry card beat yours then you would be unimpressed



Yeah, but I still wouldn't buy one!


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## TAViX (Dec 14, 2010)

Oh bwoy!! Cannot wait for 7970 and 7990 cards!!!!


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## bear jesus (Dec 14, 2010)

Red_Machine said:


> They were all running at different clock speeds, it said in the images.



OK i admit the 580 result the CPU was 4011 and the 6970 result it was at 4027 so yes there was 16mhz difference.



Red_Machine said:


> Yeah, but I still wouldn't buy one!



I don't blame you, if the 580 supported three monitors on a single card i would be looking at buying one as well.



TAViX said:


> Oh bwoy!! Cannot wait for 7970 and 7990 cards!!!!



 i agree the 7970 and 680 will be awesome cards


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## wahdangun (Dec 14, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> Both running at 4ghz, all the 9xx i7's are the same cpu at different clocks excluding the two 6 core ones so they can be uses for valid comparisons if all the clocks and memory are the same speed.
> 
> as far as beating the 580 it does not have to do so to sell well just like the 48xx and 58xx cards as they were cheaper and used less power, it's all about position in the market with AMD thus why they have been making cheaper less power hungry cards since the 2900xt screw up.
> 
> ...



yeah especially HD 6950 was gonna be priced for less than $ 300, and you can get CF for less than $600 and have the uber performance even for eyefinity


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## HossHuge (Dec 14, 2010)

Check this out!!!  $310 for the 6950 and 375 for the 6970.


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## N3M3515 (Dec 14, 2010)

It seems charlie discovered what the secret switch does 
6970 beats gtx580 (at 300W)


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## pr0n Inspector (Dec 14, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> Both running at 4ghz, all the 9xx i7's are the same cpu at different clocks excluding the two 6 core ones so they can be uses for valid comparisons if all the clocks and memory are the same speed.
> 
> as far as beating the 580 it does not have to do so to sell well just like the 48xx and 58xx cards as they were cheaper and used less power, it's all about position in the market with AMD thus why they have been making cheaper less power hungry cards since the 2900xt screw up.
> 
> ...



You mean like both sides position their cards precisely in a linear fashion so neither side needs to do a price cut?

_*Can't wait!*_


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## bear jesus (Dec 14, 2010)

pr0n Inspector said:


> You mean like both sides position their cards precisely in a linear fashion so neither side needs to do a price cut?
> 
> _*Can't wait!*_



It's semi what has happened with certain cards form both sides for a few generations now but then something else comes out and causes a drop but only after months.


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## Red_Machine (Dec 14, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> OK i admit the 580 result the CPU was 4011 and the 6970 result it was at 4027 so yes there was 16mhz difference.



Huh?  For the 6970 the CPU was 3.07GHz and the 580's CPU was running at 2.8Ghz...


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## pr0n Inspector (Dec 14, 2010)

Red_Machine said:


> Huh?  For the 6970 the CPU was 3.07GHz and the 580's CPU was running at 2.8Ghz...



They're both OCed to around 4GHz

CPU FLAGS


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## Red_Machine (Dec 14, 2010)

That's me not paying attention, sorry!


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## mdsx1950 (Dec 14, 2010)

I'm quite impressed at the Unigine Heaven Benchmark, as the HD6970 Crossfire gets a better score than my HD5970 4GB cards on Crossfire(technically quad fire). nVidia always had the upper hand when it came to Tessellation. So if it's this close. I think the HD6970 will have better frames in games. 

EDIT - Just noticed HD6970 CF has both better Min FPS and Max FPS than GTX580 SLI. LOL Fail


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## Delta6326 (Dec 14, 2010)

I CAN"T wait for the beast! I want to upgrade so badly my computer is now 2 years old  and i still don't have troubles with the games i play! i want a tough game for my computer so i can upgrade it!!


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## AsRock (Dec 14, 2010)

pr0n Inspector said:


> Stock coolers have alloy memory/VRM heat sink plates for that.






Bjorn_Of_Iceland said:


> But if you check the stock cooler, its screwed on different parts of the card, and i think the stock cooler / vrm-mem unisink and shroud should cover that..




True but it's better to screw metal to metal than metal to PCB and it's strengthens it even more against coolers like the MK-13


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## Sihastru (Dec 14, 2010)

N3M3515 said:


> It seems charlie discovered what the secret switch does
> 6970 beats gtx580 (at 300W)



As always, S|A is full of bullshit.


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## pantherx12 (Dec 14, 2010)

pr0n Inspector said:


> You mean like both sides position their cards precisely in a linear fashion so neither side needs to do a price cut?
> 
> _*Can't wait!*_




I lulzed! gota love "competition"


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## Mussels (Dec 15, 2010)

Sihastru said:


> As always, S|A is full of bullshit.



really? no way!


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## bear jesus (Dec 15, 2010)

Mussels said:


> really? no way!




Thanks that really made me smile in such a bad time, i feel like I'm going to explode waiting for the NDA to expire as since i have seen the prices i know i could quite likely afford one so need reviews so bad it almost hurts  yes i may be a little drunk


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## WarEagleAU (Dec 15, 2010)

Me do want!


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## pr0n Inspector (Dec 16, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> It's semi what has happened with certain cards form both sides for a few generations now but then something else comes out and causes a drop but only after months.



And now I won't see a price cut on GTX 570 anytime soon. Life.


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