AMD Radeon HD 7970 3 GB

[dieterd]

why are many of you so happy about it??
in price/preformance this gen will suck ass or those prices need to bee cut BAD. it is first generation change with such a price increase, but such a preformance increase we have seen before. the price increase is even more than preformance increase!!!!
When next gen HD 8970 will be +30% faster than hd 7970 (do enyone is expecting less???) we will be paying for it >800$?

 

[THE_EGG]

OMG just bought a Gigabyte Geforce GTX 580 superoverclock a week ago to replace my ageing 460sli setup!. D:

 

[Crap Daddy]

Sssshhhh or you will be burned at the stake as the rest of us stating the obvious.

OK, here's another one. I was expecting this to smoke the 580 at 550$ MSRP so we can all enjoy better pricing on the 580, 570 and 6970. Well, it all went up in smoke. Now the Kepler dude, when he'll enter the scene, might ask 600$ for a ride as I can't imagine it'll be just 20-30% faster than his fellow Fermi.

But we will have to see what's the performance and the positioning of the other lower end 7000 series (lower than "high-end" that is) especially the 7950 and the 7870 (when will this be?)

 

[DOM]

OMG just bought a Gigabyte Geforce GTX 580 superoverclock a week ago to replace my ageing 460sli setup!. D:

at your oc its faster then it and about par with both oced

 

[AsRock]

Best of the bunch?

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7970/images/skyrim_2560_1600.gif

I am on about this lol.. Which is much closer to my resolution i use.

 

[Nimmer]

I find it hard to believe none of the 8 reviews AFAIK have not compared the new
7970 3gig to a GTX580 3 gig.

I sell AMD and Nvidia all day long I love them both and both have advantages and disadvantages. BUT ....I can tell you for sure 3 of the games tested in the TPU review use more than 1.5g of Vram (verified through MSI afterburner) at the highest settings in 1080p and 1600p. Can some of the more experienced members give me their take on this...

When BF3 came out most of my friends and customer who run mostly 1080p some 1600p want ultra settings and 40+ frame rates made the switch to 3gig 580's and there problems have been solved.

I wonder where the increase of price per performance would lay with a true 3gig to 3gig comparison???????

 

[Jeager]

I find it hard to believe none of the 8 reviews AFAIK have not compared the new
7970 3gig to a GTX580 3 gig.

I sell AMD and Nvidia all day long I love them both and both have advantages and disadvantages. BUT ....I can tell you for sure 3 of the games tested in the TPU review use more than 1.5g of Vram (verified through MSI afterburner) at the highest settings in 1080p and 1600p. Can some of the more experienced members give me their take on this...

When BF3 came out most of my friends and customer who run mostly 1080p some 1600p want ultra settings and 40+ frame rates made the switch to 3gig 580's and there problems have been solved.

I wonder where the increase of price per performance would lie with a true 3gig to 3gig comparison???????

580 w/ 3Gbs -> http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...s/49646-amd-radeon-hd-7970-3gb-review-13.html

 

[RejZoR]

I'm actually waiting for cards that offer more software based features like MLAA was. And Adaptive AA and so on. Features that work in all games and you don't have to wait for feature to get game support after 3 years or even never. I've hit the performance "wall" even with HD5850 so i'm looking more for features than raw performance.

 

[Nimmer]

Nice find thanks Jeager! Looks like the lead of 10% increase gets cut in half to 5% when comparing it to a 3gig GTX580...

 

[Super XP]

Like I said before, this is AMD's strategy to artificially inflate the HD 7970 to $549. Now watch, you won't see a price drop for the HD 6970 or HD 6950 at all. If anything a price increase for those cards too.

 

[TheMailMan78]

I'm actually waiting for cards that offer more software based features like MLAA was. And Adaptive AA and so on. Features that work in all games and you don't have to wait for feature to get game support after 3 years or even never. I've hit the performance "wall" even with HD5850 so i'm looking more for features than raw performance.

Yeah man. I think its due to the kinda games we are getting. All ports. I mean I LOVE BF3. But it was toned down a lot more then it should be IMO. The Back to Karkland maps show how much smaller the maps have become.

Really my 5850 rocks it on high and is very fluid. Its a three year old card on a "cutting edge" game. When in high end PC history has a 3 year old card cut it for so long. 500 dollars for any GPU nowadays is a waste of money unless you fold. If I could afford one I might get it for e-peen. But for anyone on a budget its useless.

 

[Jeager]

3Gbs seems overkill for a single card but it can rly help in >2560 resolutions

As for the price, I think they will maybe drop a little but not really until nVidia drop his new cards

 

[theJesus]

Its funny, everyone is happy with the performance of the 7970 except people who have 580's lol.

Really? I only have a 560 Ti and I'm disappointed. TheMailMan78 mentioned that he was expecting more too, and he's only got a 5850.

 

[TheMailMan78]

TheMailMan78 mentioned that he was expecting more too, and he's only got a 5850.

I also tend to drool on myself.

 

[theJesus]

I also tend to drool on myself.

Great, now I've lumped myself in with a loony; what was I thinking?

 

[Vancha]

The price is too high, but it will drop in time. That's not a problem.

I think the target for this generation was power and cooling efficiency. We already have the horsepower to play the vast majority of newly released games due to the limits of this generation's console hardware. We need to be reducing the size, power draw and heat generated in preparation for the next graphics boom.

With that in mind, the 7970 is alright. It's okay. It's not spectacular, but it's sort of gone in the right direction. It is what it is and I don't think it's worth the effort of complaining about.

 

[cadaveca]

Mature AMD drivers normally boost a few more percents across the board. 50% I don't think has ever happened in a single generation jump most two generation jumps don't offer that.

Personally, my own expereince with every generation of card has led to near 80% boosts in performance many times. Of course, it's app and res-dependant, and I've been running 2560x1600 for near 5 years now. At lower resolutions, fine, but high-res scaling is a different thing all together. Technically, I need high-end cards, and have been using them now, in pairs, for at least 7 years.

Great, now I've lumped myself in with a loony; what was I thinking?

Nah, I'm with you. I didn't expect a lot. In fact, I expected a 30% increase over 6970. It's pretty close to that. However, because the price is so high, it makes no sense for me to upgrade. I ahve dual 6950's, which should match, if not out-perform, the 7970 on it's own.

So what do I do? Get dual 7970's, @ near $1100? Or do i buy two more 6950's, for just $500? Igot 3960X CPU, so 4 cards should be great.



OF course, it's comical to me that I've been mentioning being interested in another two 6950 2GB cards...and ignoring the impending release of this 7970...you'd think i'd have accepted how this worked out, but damn me if I'm not dissappointed.

 

[theJesus]

So what do I do? Get dual 7970's, @ near $1100? Or do i buy two more 6950's, for just $500? Igot 3960X CPU, so 4 cards should be great.

You shouldn't do a damn thing. I think even at your resolution, two 6950's is plenty enough already and I don't think there's enough performance scaling with more than two cards.

 

[MatTheCat]

The performance definitely justifies the price. God, can't even imagine two of these bad boys.

A GTX580 killer for sure. Not to mention with future drivers to increase the performance even more!

Wot, a 10% increase in performance over the GTX 580 justifies it being 10% more expensive than the GTX 580 card that was released ages ago? Nvidia produces better quality cards with much better quality drivers and support. In contrast, ATI has always offered better value for money, but we aint seeing that here.

Early adopters of this card will be paying through the nose for the troubles they have had with the 28nm fabrication process. Combining the extoritionate price of these cards with the loudness of the stock fans, I will be holding off upgrading from my 5850 (which tbh still easily does the job for my purposes) for quite some time. That card is worth $400, and not a penny more.

 

[cadaveca]

You shouldn't do a damn thing. I think even at your resolution, two 6950's is plenty enough already and I don't think there's enough performance scaling with more than two cards.

Alas, the 6 23-inch monitors I have for the other rigs in my house and Eyefinity for me says I do not have enough performance.

Even 2560x1600 is still too slow, when in Crossfire.


Oh, and there are 6 people in my family, me, my wife, and 4 kids, which is why i have so many monitors. 3 for me, 4 for other rigs.

Anyway, most apps, even 30FPS is nigh on impossible for Eyefinity. IN fact, AMD uses 30 FPS as their "Schaweet-schpot". That's why I've been considering 4 GPUs.

 

[Kaotik]

W1zzard, now I'm 100% confirmed something went wrong, and badly, at least with 6870 - it's performance at 1920x1200 on average in previous review was nearly 20% over 6850 - yet in the 7970 it's mere 6% faster than 6850 at same resolution

edit:
In fact, 6870 has exactly same speed as 6850 in "all resolutions", and loses to 6850 1024x768 - no matter how irrelevant resolution, that simply tells that something borked on at least HD6870 benching.

 

[theJesus]

Alas, the 6 23-inch monitors I have for the other rigs in my house and Eyefinity for me says I do not have enough performance.

Even 2560x1600 is still too slow, when in Crossfire.


Oh, and there are 6 people in my family, me, my wife, and 4 kids, which is why i have so many monitors. 3 for me, 4 for other rigs.

Anyway, most apps, even 30FPS is nigh on impossible for Eyefinity. IN fact, AMD uses 30 FPS as their "Schaweet-schpot". That's why I've been considering 4 GPUs.

Well, in that case, if you've got the cash . . .

 

[Crap Daddy]

OF course, it's comical to me that I've been mentioning being interested in another two 6950 2GB cards...and ignoring the impending release of this 7970...you'd think i'd have accepted how this worked out, but damn me if I'm not dissappointed.

There is still hope. Other reviews point out at the great overclockability with these cards and nice performance jumps with that.

I can totally understand the price point, transition to 28nm, yields and stuff but I think that this launch - Papermaster Mark is doing his job well - is more of a prestige, psychological action. Look, we can do highest of ends, we can ask more than NV asked for top of the line in the past few years, we're back in business, we don't care that only a handful of people want this badly because anyway we don't have supplies. And we should expect a revision that will boost performance at a better price as soon as NV comes out.

 

[Yellow&Nerdy?]

I thought it was first going to release in January, so this came as a pleasant surprise. The price is with all honesty a little steep, but then again it does beat the GTX 580 with a solid 10% at 1080p, so it's obviously priced higher than the GTX 580. What's even greater is that it consumes as much/a little less power than the 6970, which is to be expected since it's 28nm. And it overclocks like a madman. Plus the drivers are very new, so more mature drivers will offer even better performance. Now I'm interested in seeing the 7950 and 7870, which will be priced lower, but likely still have the same overclocking potential.

As for Nvidia, they will most likely claim the "top single-GPU" title by a little margin, but be more expensive and power hungry. That has kind of been the trend in the past few generations of graphics cards. Though they will suffer from launching months later than AMD.

 

[cadaveca]

Well, in that case, if you've got the cash . . .

http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/656/2089955948.jpg

That's the thing..I don't have teh cash, really. I got 20 motherboards sitting here, and a CPU for nearly every platform, but I didn't pay for most of it. If I'm going to make a purchase like dual 7970's...I have to be very sure that it's gonig to work well for me.

I am done buying stuff for minor gains, for more than double the cost, and then some. I mean really..3960X? Even that CPU is kinda useless to me. but I'd liek to put it to use...

I just want the tech that AMD told me 2 years ago worked so well..to work like they described. I bought my monitors before the 5870 launch, and as soon as they were out, I bought two 5870's. I spent the next year RMA'ing my cards every three weeks, until the 6950's came out, and XFX replaced a 5870 with a 6950 for me. I then bought a second 6950. After NINE 5870 RMAs.

Still, I have flicker on secondary monitors, and Eyefinity performance is terrible. So terrible, in fact, that I tried going back to 2560x1600, but that was no better!!


And now..I'm supposed to believe AMD is being honest about high-res performance, again? after they blew the Bulldozer launch...I think not.

90% of the "new tech" offered in the 7970 is useless for 99% of users out there. THAT is why we have a paper launch, and no cards. Heck, FX-8150 has only been available locally for about 3 weeks.