AMD Radeon HD 7970 PCB Pictured Clear

[btarunr]

Here is the first clear picture of Radeon HD 7970 engineering sample PCB. The final product will feature an all-black PCB color. The picture reveals the PCB to have provision for two 8-pin PCIe power connectors, though on this sample, there are two 6-pin connectors. We've seen other samples using 8 + 6 pin connector arrangements. Unlike earlier thought, the HD 7900 single-GPU reference board very much does use a digital-PWM power design. There appears to be CPL-made single-phase PWM chokes, and Volterra-made regulators. Not all power domains, though, seem to have digital-PWM. We can find a 5+1+1 phase VRM, with some miscellaneous analog power domains.

The GPU package design is nothing like we've seen from AMD. It looks to be slightly larger than that of AMD Cayman. The die is oriented diagonally, with a sturdy brace around it reduce and stabilize the pressure applied by the cooling assembly. There are twelve memory chips around the GPU, as this chip features a 384-bit wide memory interface, to deliver nearly 50% higher memory bandwidth over the previous generation. The card features redundant BIOS, loaded into two separate EEPROM chips that can be toggled using a small 2-way switch located next to the Crossfire connectors. Display connectors include one DVI, one HDMI, and two mini-DP connectors. The second picture below reveals a curvy back-side of the cooling assembly. A nice aesthetic touch with zero function.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Nick89]

Awesome, can't wait for the price drops.

 

[btarunr]

Overall, AMD didn't cheap out with component quality, but then it didn't make the PCB exorbitant, either.

Again, the retail reference PCB will be black and have 8+6 pin power inputs. Also, no backplate.

 

[eidairaman1]

I want to see performance numbers of this with the proper drivers against the 6990/70/50/30, 6870x2/70/50, 5970/5870/50/30

 

[DarkOCean]

like the new fan hope is quieter,the chip itself looks quite small actually.

 

[Lionheart]

Where is blackplate? O_O

 

[eidairaman1]

bout the fan size, they could extend the fins farther inward and shrink the center hub

 

[btarunr]

Where is blackplate? O_O

Where GTX 580's backplate went. Backplate heaven.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

im pretty excited for these cards to come out.

 

[R_1]

Yeah! Where is the backplate? Also no Volterra Digital PWM, neither multiphase inductor. Chippooo ....

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

You see EVGA doing holes on their backplates and only doing thermal pads right around the core, couldn't you just get an ek plate and cover the whole back of the card with thermal padding to get the same or better cooling? I don't think backplate has to equal heat-trap.

 

[air_ii]

I want to see performance numbers of this with the proper drivers against the 6990/70/50/30, 6870x2/70/50, 5970/5870/50/30

Patience, less than 24 hours to go

 

[eidairaman1]

Patience, less than 24 hours to go

Initial Numbers dont mean anything till True 7000 series drivers are officially launched

 

[air_ii]

Yes, they do. You buy a product with performance provided by current drivers. No one is ever going to promise you that you'll see gains with future drivers, especially that GCN should not suffer from utilisation issues as VLIW 4/5 did.

How long are you willing to wait for the driver you're speaking of? 1 month, 2 months? Till the next generation? It makes perfect sense to me to take the performance as it is right now and hope (just hope, not wait) to see better performance at a later point.

Meanwhile enjoy performance numbers supplied by AMD (probably cherry picked):

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2493141&postcount=102

 

[jalex3]

The performance numbers looks very nice that and the features. Looks to be a winner.

 

[eidairaman1]

1 or 2 months i normally wait to do any major testing that way they have had time to iron out many issues with them.

 

[Aceman.au]

Getting 2 for crossfire... (Depending on reviews)

You jelly?

 

[ice_v]

I would really appreciate if wizz would measure and post the lenght/s of these cards when reviewing.

 

[Tenxu24]

Chamber liquid not is the solution.

I'll put one of them

http://www.skycomp.com.au/item/Arct...GTX580-570-480-470-465-460-ATI-6970-6870.aspx

or better I wait directcu II 7970 fan and voltage OC:

http://www.madboxpc.com/wp-content/gallery/asus_eah6970_directcuii/asus_eah6970_directcuii_02.jpg

 

[hhumas]

Just wait to see more

 

[entropy13]

It's apparently already being sold in Malaysia too and is 5% more expensive than the HD 6990...

 

[mediasorcerer]

thankyou santa!!!

 

[RejZoR]

Interesting. Cooler without heatpipes. Either GPU is super efficient or they're using vapor chamber beneath the aluminium fins.

 

[Super XP]

It's apparently already being sold in Malaysia too and is 5% more expensive than the HD 6990...

So it seems the early adopters are taking it in the airs with hyper inflated prices. It does really suck that people get hosed for their money by overpricing products which should never be overpriced.

 

[radrok]

Can't wait to get rid of my two 6990 ovens...
I don't like that they cheaped out on the VRMs though, let's hope that this new power circuitry doesn't mess with overclocking. Obviously no memory dedicated overvoltage on reference right?