AMD Radeon HD 7950 Clock Speeds Revealed

[btarunr]

This month-end, AMD will launch the second product in its high-end Radeon HD 7900 series, the HD 7950, which is based on the same "Tahiti" silicon as the HD 7970, but with a few components disabled. Reliable sources revealed to DonanimHaber the reference clock speeds of the HD 7950. The core of the HD 7950 will be clocked at 800 MHz, and the memory at 1250 MHz (actual), 5.00 GHz (GDDR5 effective). This, compared to the 925 MHz (core), 1375 MHz (memory actual)/ 5.50 GHz (memory effective) clock speeds of the HD 7970. The HD 7950 will hence be a good overclocker considering the speeds it comes with, there is scope for quite a few factory-OC models from AIBs. In related news, DonanimHaber notes that the HD 7950 on average will be US $100-150 cheaper than the HD 7970 (US $400-$450).



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[cdawall]

That's reasonable hope for unlockability I guess!

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

I wonder if AMD lost or made money on the whole unlocking thing. I know it made for quite the 6950 sales boom, but also a good bit of dead cards before people figured out they should just unlock the shaders.

 

[xenocide]

I wonder if AMD lost or made money on the whole unlocking thing. I know it made for quite the 6950 sales boom, but also a good bit of dead cards before people figured out they should just unlock the shaders.

I can see it as only a loss really. The people that were going to get 6970's, went for the cheaper 6950's since there was no reason to pay more for the same card.

 

[cmberry20]

^ Obviously this happened with the ATI 9500.

Simple unlock via driver & you got yourself a 9700 Pro but £100 cheaper!

The ATI 9500 is one of the main reasons why the techPowerup web site & forum exists!!

 

[n-ster]

what about the people who didn't go NV because 6950 were such great value? or people who dished out a bit more over the 6870 to get a better card?

 

[btarunr]

I can see it as only a loss really. The people that were going to get 6970's, went for the cheaper 6950's since there was no reason to pay more for the same card.

I'd imagine they made money on it. People pick an HD 6950 over GTX 560 Ti so they could try their luck unlocking it.

 

[entropy13]

I'd imagine they made money on it. People pick an HD 6950 over GTX 560 Ti so they could try their luck unlocking it.

Maybe, maybe not. The 6950 2GB is actually a bit more expensive than the GTX 560 Ti anyway. So those who would pick the unlockable 6950 over the 560 Ti means they have a bit more money, but there would still be people out there whose options were either the 560 Ti or the 6950 1GB.

 

[1Kurgan1]

I can see it as only a loss really. The people that were going to get 6970's, went for the cheaper 6950's since there was no reason to pay more for the same card.

And people who weren't going to buy AMD's at all instead did since there was so much extra performance to be unlocked. It's a 2 way street. Also some people who weren't planning to upgrade for a while decided to because they unlocked and OC'd so well (that was me).

 

[gorg_graggel]

i guess we will know, if amd made a significant amount of money, by wether the 7950 will be unlockable or not...

 

[Benetanegia]

I'd imagine they made money on it. People pick an HD 6950 over GTX 560 Ti so they could try their luck unlocking it.

The 560 has sold almost 3x times as much tho and HD6970 has sold pretty poorly* according to Steam statistics, even compared to HD6950, while in the past generations HDxx70 and HDxx50 sales where more evened out. Xenocide's scenario makes more sense to me, considering those things.

EDIT: There's also more HD6950 than HD6850/70s and that's a first time in history where high-end is above mid-range afaik, so clearly enough people must have thought the HD6950 was more appealing (than other AMD cards), for whatever reasons. Unlockability might be one of them, but it's imposible to tell to what extent.

* I mean there's significantly more GTX480s despite only being in the market for a few months and all its problems and bad press.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Sounds like it will be on par with a 580 for 50 to 100 bucks cheaper. THATS the AMD I know.

 

[gorg_graggel]

yeah pretty much...

invalidating the justification for the 7970's high price by forcing nvidia to lower the 580's price...

very smart move amd

 

[afw]

Is this is only around 10% faster than 6970 ... then I think we're better off buying a 6970 for $300 ...
perf/$ would be better with a 6970 ... only downside i see is the power consumption ...

 

[TheMailMan78]

yeah pretty much...

invalidating the justification for the 7970's high price by forcing nvidia to lower the 580's price...

very smart move amd

Invalidating what? The 7970 is faster then the 580. 7950 should be as fast as the 580 (guessing). But much cheaper. If its 100 bucks cheaper I DOUBT Nvidia will drop it 100 bucks to compete. The 580 at that point (in theory) is the only card that becomes invalid.

 

[Benetanegia]

Invalidating what? The 7970 is faster then the 580. 7950 should be as fast as the 580 (guessing). But much cheaper. If its 100 bucks cheaper I DOUBT Nvidia will drop it 100 bucks to compete. The 580 at that point (in theory) is the only card that becomes invalid.

Not too long ago the GTX 580 was going down in price and approaching low $4xx figures. Ironically it's been the $550 (and >$600 due to low supply) HD7970 which has allowed the GTX 580 to reach $500 price tag again. They could lower it again enough to remain semi-competitive, but if GK104 is really close to being released, they probably won't. In that case I doubt Nvidia is selling GF110 based cards anymore, for a long time now.

 

[gorg_graggel]

Invalidating what? The 7970 is faster then the 580. 7950 should be as fast as the 580 (guessing). But much cheaper. If its 100 bucks cheaper I DOUBT Nvidia will drop it 100 bucks to compete. The 580 at that point (in theory) is the only card that becomes invalid.

no, they won't drop that much, but nonetheless, the price gap compared to the relatively small performance plus of the 7970 vs the 580 will grow bigger and make the amd card less desireable, so they will need to drop the price.
don't get me wrong, as a consumer i actually want that.
but i wouldn't begrugde amd very much having a larger window of a higher margin before they have to buckle, to actually make some surplus money for once...
they could end up having more resources, which in the long run could allow them to make decent cpus again...well, if this would not only be limited to that one product...

 

[radrok]

to the relatively small performance plus of the 7970 vs the 580 will grow bigger and make the amd card less desireable, so they will need to drop the price.

I'd like to point out that who purchases the 7970 hopefully knows that the advantage is not about stock performance and thus the 7970 is much much more value than a GTX 580.
If I was in the market for a GPU right now I wouldn't buy a 580 even at 450 USD

 

[gorg_graggel]

i know...i myself am very much interested in the gpgpu features...but i'm talking market perception and psychological effects...

 

[neko77025]

Is this is only around 10% faster than 6970 ... then I think we're better off buying a 6970 for $300 ...
perf/$ would be better with a 6970 ... only downside i see is the power consumption ...

where do you get this is only 10% faster then the 6970 ?

the 7970 is 40% - 45% faster then the 6970 ... and thats not getting into the OCs.

 

[Huddo93]

I really do hope that the 7950 will be unlock-able to the 7970 specs, would save me a hell of a lot of money. Especially when 7970 prices are up around $700-$800 AUD, which is parity to the USD at the moment. Fingers crossed >.<

 

[EastCoasthandle]

And there is no competition in sight or even announced.

 

[magibeg]

Unlockability might be one of them, but it's imposible to tell to what extent.

I think here is one of those things where we forget about just how small of a market we are. I know we're all tech enthusiasts who spend time talking to other tech enthusiasts, but we are such a small % of the market it's incredible. I would think other factors such as company partnerships, marketing, and the all around mass market have more to do with the sales of these cards than a very niche market discovering one of the cards is unlockable.

 

[afw]

where do you get this is only 10% faster then the 6970 ?

the 7970 is 40% - 45% faster then the 6970 ... and thats not getting into the OCs.

According to W1zz its only around 30% faster at all resolutions ...

So given that the 7970 has 33% more shaders than 6970 and is only 30% faster than the 6970...
I assumed, with less shaders and less clock speeds, that it'll be only 10-15% faster ... I might be wrong here tho ... just assuming with the help of whats available ...

 

[Benetanegia]

I think here is one of those things where we forget about just how small of a market we are. I know we're all tech enthusiasts who spend time talking to other tech enthusiasts, but we are such a small % of the market it's incredible. I would think other factors such as company partnerships, marketing, and the all around mass market have more to do with the sales of these cards than a very niche market discovering one of the cards is unlockable.

Yeah that's the common interpretation, which I usually agree with, but it doesn't really explain why the HD6950 has sold more than other AMD cards that cost half as much and are not much slower. I can see an scenario where even if not directly, unlockability has helped in sales. For example, the masses might not unlock or OC, or they might not even know about it, but they do hear about such cards more than others from "people who do know".