AMD Updates Radeon HD 7950 to Thwart GeForce GTX 660 Ti

[btarunr]

AMD is preparing to update the specifications of its Radeon HD 7950 graphics processor to make it more competitive in the sub-$400 market segment, particularly against NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTX 660 Ti graphics processor. The update is much like that of the Radeon HD 7750, which got its core frequency increased from 800 to 900 MHz in a specifications update. The company released a new BIOS ROM image file which works on all AMD reference design Radeon HD 7950 graphics cards, which implements the new specifications.

The new specifications sees the GPU core frequency increased to 850 MHz (from 800 MHz), and introduces PowerTune with Boost, which sends the GPU clock speed up to 925 MHz, when applications demand it. The memory frequency stays unchanged, at 1250 MHz, and so do the physical specifications of the GPU, such as stream processor, TMU, and ROP counts. All Radeon HD 7950 graphics cards manufactured from mid-August will feature the new specifications, prices will remain unchanged. If you're familiar with manually updating the BIOS, you can check it out (at your own risk) from our VGA BIOS Database. Set your card's BIOS selector switch to "1" (if available), and update the BIOS. It works only with AMD reference-design HD 7950 cards.



DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon HD 7950 Specifications Update BIOS

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Delta6326]

That's sweet if you already own one its like a free upgrade.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Sapphire copies nvidia and then AMD copies sapphire?

 

[dank1983man420]

So they overclock it for you, which would put a big dent on user overclocking past those new specs. Would it not?

 

[Mathragh]

So they overclock it for you, which would put a big dent on user overclocking past those new specs. Would it not?

Wasnt this the same with the new 7970 bios?

 

[buggalugs]

Sapphire copies nvidia and then AMD copies sapphire?

And Nvidia copies Intel. Actually AMD had it on their processors and onboard gpus before Nvidia used it so I guess Nvidia copied AMD too.

Anyway good move from AMD. No need to rush out a completely new GPU or drop prices too much.

 

[dank1983man420]

Wasnt this the same with the new 7970 bios?

Yeah pretty much. AMD released a new GHz model to thwart the 680. Then the GHz bios got leaked and people found out they could just flash their standard 7970's with the bios and turn them into the GHz edition for an easy ~$70 savings. At least it's free this time without trying to release a new model !!

 

[RejZoR]

I'll get my HD7950 with core at 900MHz out of the box anyway so i don't care

 

[dj-electric]

I lol'ed

 

[Hayder_Master]

nice i am have one

 

[micropage7]

so its called official OC, bumping some MHz to boost the performance

 

[dj-electric]

Well, it does include the boost option so...

I say - every improvement is always welcome.
There's no need to bash AMD for actually doing something good

 

[Zubasa]

I wonder if other non-reference models will get update bios as well

 

[SIGSEGV]

i don't really care on what amd did on their southern island cards as long as they can help my daily working, so yeah, i don't care with gaming benchmark scores..

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-grafikkarten-2012/

 

[Kenshai]

So if AMD is putting this out, they clearly believe every single reference design will hit 900 mhz (presumably with a minor voltage bump.) Why wouldn't they just release them this way from the start? Essentially sandbagging their GPU for extra cash at the time. I know this is common practice but just annoying

 

[hardcore_gamer]

It'd be a lot better if they unlocked some cores also.

 

[Ghost]

That's sweet if you already own one its like a free upgrade.

Overclocking is free anyways..........

 

[Zubasa]

Overclocking is free anyways..........

They are also giving you the boost feature for free, need it or not

 

[phanbuey]

So if AMD is putting this out, they clearly believe every single reference design will hit 900 mhz (presumably with a minor voltage bump.) Why wouldn't they just release them this way from the start? Essentially sandbagging their GPU for extra cash at the time. I know this is common practice but just annoying

Well they did not do it at the time because they didn't want to hurt the sales of their top of the line card, IMO.

 

[jateruy]

800 and 850 is not too much difference. and in fact almost half of the reference 7950 could be overclocked to 1G without a volt tweak.

 

[Crap Daddy]

Interesting move. Now, I have done some research and it seems that this BIOS has been sent to reviewers with a recommendation to use it when comparing to the upcoming 660Ti. Only Wizzard can confirm this but anyway AMD seem to know more about the performance of the 660Ti than us, people who try to get a picture from different leaks. Don't want to comment about the usefulness of such a BIOS update since anyway the major benefit of a 7950 is not the out of the box performance but the overclockabilty. But then again, reviews are made with reference cards and it's not nice to loose from a lower end card. Or not?

 

[m1dg3t]

Le Sigh....

BIOS, GOOD! Boost, BAD. :shadedshu

Now all we/I need is some better z77 iTX (hear me MFGs?) enthusiast style boards, no bottom feeder budget stuff, and my blasted case to arrive!

Side note: Just started dealing with NCIx.ca, don't think it will continue. Abhorred customer service.

 

[pantherx12]

So if AMD is putting this out, they clearly believe every single reference design will hit 900 mhz (presumably with a minor voltage bump.) Why wouldn't they just release them this way from the start? Essentially sandbagging their GPU for extra cash at the time. I know this is common practice but just annoying

Because they released their cards before Nvidia, by clocking them lower Nvidia release their cards at a lower clock speed (enough to beat AMD but leaving a lot of wiggle room for 3rd party board makers)

Which in turn allowed AMD to do this.

 

[Frogger]

Side note: Just started dealing with NCIx.ca, don't think it will continue. Abhorred customer servi

worst in CA

 

[T4C Fantasy]

when will wizzard add TMUs to gpuz?