ASUS introduced the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT DUAL OC graphics cards. The two join ASUS's rather slim RX 7900 series custom-design lineup, which until now only included the TUF Gaming OC products for the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX. ASUS's common board design for the cards it's launching, features a large cooler shroud, a tall, yet triple-slot board design, and a cooling solution that uses an aluminium fin-stack heatsink that uses no more than two Axial-Tech fans, hence the name DUAL OC. We've seen this exact board design on some of the RTX 30-series "Ampere" DUAL OC products, so ASUS may probably be carrying over the design, with suitable changes for compatibility with the "Navi 31" GPU.

Both the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT DUAL OC cards feature a milder factory overclock compared to the company's TUF Gaming OC products. The RX 7900 XTX DUAL OC does 2455 MHz Game clock (compared to 2365 MHz reference); while the RX 7900 XT DUAL OC offers 2075 MHz Game clocks compared to 2025 MHz AMD reference. It's also interesting to note here, that the RX 7900 XTX/XT DUAL OC cards feature a significantly different board design than the RX 7900 GRE DUAL OC, which features a design closer to that of the RX 7800 XT DUAL OC. Both the RX 7900 XT DUAL OC and RX 7900 XTX DUAL OC feature triple 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and display I/O that includes three DisplayPort 2.1, and one HDMI 2.1. Besides the minimal RGB, the cards offer dual-BIOS, with the Q-BIOS running them at reference speeds, and with a tighter fan curve. The card measures 32.3 cm in length, 14.7 cm in height, and is no more than 3 slots thick. The company didn't reveal pricing.

ASUS over the weekend introduced the China-exclusive Radeon RX 7900 GRE TUF Gaming White graphics card. The card shares a lot in common with the other RX 7900 series TUF Gaming custom-design cards, but swaps out the gunmetal-gray cooler shroud and backplate combo for one that's matte white. The whitewash even extends to the impellers of the three Axial Tech fans. The PCB remains black, but due to the 3-D design of the shroud and backplate, is largely concealed. The card draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and uses a 14-phase VRM to condition it for the "Navi 31 XL" ASIC.

The Radeon RX 7900 GRE (golden rabbit edition) is based on a "Navi 31 XL," a unique package that combines the 5 nm graphics compute die (GCD) of "Navi 31," with the 4-MCD (memory cache die) setup of the smaller "Navi 32" package. AMD designed this primarily to drive the mobile RX 7900 series SKUs, but it found its way to the desktop platform to fill the gap between the RX 7800 XT and RX 7900 XT, and possibly undercut the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. It is configured with 80 out of 96 available compute units on the GCD, giving it 5,120 stream processors, 160 AI accelerators, and 80 Ray accelerators, the Infinity Cache size is reduced to 64 MB, since there are only 4 MCDs, driving its 256-bit memory bus that handles 16 GB of 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory (576 GB/s bandwidth).

AMD Radeon RX 7900 series enthusiast-segment graphics cards now start at a street price of $719. A PowerColor Radeon RX 7900 XT Hellhound custom-design graphics card is listed on Newegg for $749, with a coupon code that shaves a further $30 off, bringing it down to this new low price. At this price, the RX 7900 XT offers significantly higher performance per Dollar than the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, which starts at $799, and is tested to offer around 5% lower performance than the RX 7900 XT.

Meanwhile, prices of AMD's flagship graphics card, the RX 7900 XTX, has been on a downward slope, too, with a PowerColor RX 7900 XTX Red Devil premium custom-design card being listed for as low as $889 with a coupon discount. This would space the RX 7900 XTX at least $200 apart from the cheapest GeForce RTX 4080, which is starting at $1,089.

AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su, in her Q2-2023 Financial Results call, confirmed that the company will launch new "enthusiast-class" gaming graphics cards within Q3-2023 (any time before October). "In gaming graphics, we expanded our Radeon 7000 GPU series in the second quarter with the launch of our mainstream RX 7600 cards for 1080p gaming. We are on track to further expand our RDNA 3 GPU offerings with the launch of new, enthusiast-class Radeon 7000 series cards in the third quarter," she stated.

There are two distinct possibilities of what "enthusiast class" entails. The first and most obvious one, could be the introduction of the RX 7800 series, including the RX 7800 XT, which is expected to closely resemble the limited-edition RX 7900 GRE by the specs; but a less talked-about possibility could even be the RX 7950 series. In its testing, the RX 7900 GRE was found to offer raster 3D performance comparable to the previous-generation RX 6950 XT although with better ray tracing performance on account of improved Ray Accelerators, which would put it behind the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti that AMD is trying to compete with. This should mean that for AMD to have a compelling "RX 7800 XT" product, it should perform faster than the RX 7900 GRE (possible through higher clock speeds or a few more CU).

AMD's upcoming China-exclusive Radeon RX 7900 GRE (Golden Rabbit Edition) graphics card is reportedly configured with 80 compute units (CU), and not the previously thought 84, according to a leaked TechPowerUp GPU-Z screenshot. While GPU-Z 2.54.0 isn't fully aware of the RX 7900 GRE, and can get some hard-coded details (such as release dates) wrong, since it has the ability to detect "Navi 31" and the RX 7900 series, it is able to count the compute units.

The screenshot describes the RX 7900 GRE as featuring 80 CU, or 5,120 stream processors—the same count as the previous-gen RX 6900 XT, but based on the newer RDNA3 graphics architecture. Also detected are a TMU count of 320, ROP count of 80 (a vast reduction from the 192 available on the silicon, if true). We've known from older reports that the RX 7900 GRE is configured with a 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface, holding 16 GB of video memory. What's new is that while the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX use 20 Gbps memory, the RX 7900 GRE is given slower 18 Gbps memory, as detected by GPU-Z. This results in a memory bandwidth of 576 GB/s, a significant reduction from the 960 GB/s enjoyed by the RX 7900 XTX.

Here are some of the first pictures of the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 GRE, a unique China-specific product that isn't just its own Sapphire custom-design, but also a whole different SKU. We first learned about the existence of the RX 7900 GRE earlier this month, and this would be one of its first custom design implementations. The Golden Rabbit Edition (GRE), is a limited edition SKU of the Radeon RX 7900 series. It's neither the RX 7900 XTX nor the RX 7900 XT, but positioned a notch below the latter. Based on the same "Navi 31" silicon as the two, the RX 7900 GRE is equipped with 84 CU (5,376 stream processors), or the same GCD core-configuration as the RX 7900 XT. It however, gets just 16 GB of memory, across a narrower 256-bit wide memory bus.

The Radeon RX 7900 GRE is carved out of the "Navi 31" by disabling two of the six MCDs, which reduces the Infinity Cache size to 64 MB, and the GDDR6 memory bus width to 256-bit. The 5 nm GCD is carried over from the RX 7900 XT—you get 5,376 stream processors, 168 AI accelerators, 84 Ray accelerators, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. It is possible that the Sapphire RX 7900 GRE uses a variation of the company's NITRO+ cooling solution that's similar to the NITRO+ Lite SKUs available in markets outside China. The key difference here is that the cooler lacks a vapor-chamber plate, and instead uses a solid copper base-plate to pull heat from the GPU and memory. AMD needs to fill the vast gap in its product stack between the $250 RX 7600 and the $700+ RX 7900 XT, and SKUs such as the RX 7900 GRE could help it compete better against the likes of the RTX 4070 Ti in competitive markets such as China.

AMD today released the latest version of its Adrenalin graphics software. Version 23.2.2 WHQL works with all GPU generations dating back to the RX 400 series. This release adds optimization for "Atomic Heart," the much awaited survival horror FPS, as well as "Company of Heroes 3." Some display corruption observed with window-switching for the Netflix app, has been fixed. Maximum video encode bitrate being limited to 100 Mbps for some applications, has been fixed. AMD Bug Report Tool pop-up or system hang on some hybrid graphics notebooks, has been fixed. An application crash noticed with "Hitman 3" with RT enabled, has been fixed. Valve Index VR headset showing a blank screen with 144 Hz on GPUs such as the RX 7900 series, has been fixed. A performance drop observed on RX 6000 series + Ryzen machines, has been fixed.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 23.2.2 WHQL

Even more performance for RTX 4080 Suprim/Strix and RX 7900XT (X) GPUs! Alphacool presents new and innovative solutions for active water cooling of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4080 as well as AMD Radeon RX 7900XT (X) graphics cards with the Eisblock Aurora coolers.

In order to dissipate the enormous waste heat of the new graphics card generations in the best possible way, numerous optimizations were implemented on the water cooler compared to the previous models of these coolers. The fin structure has been modified and allows an optimal water flow while increasing the cooling surface. The modified jet plate with improved inflow engine ensures the best possible distribution of water on the cooling fins. The fully chrome-plated copper base is resistant to acids, scratches and damage. In addition, the chrome plating provides homogeneity and shine that cannot be achieved by nickel plating.

MSI was conspicuous in its lack of a Radeon RX 7900 series RDNA3 graphics card when AMD launched these cards on December 13, 2022. The company later came out with a clarification that while it was skipping reference-design made-by-AMD (MBA) graphics cards under its marquee, it would release custom-design RX 7900 series cards in the first half of 2023 with some of the first cards being unveiled at CES. Well, here they are.

The MSI Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT Gaming Trio Classic gets the latter part of its name from the fact that MSI used the older Tri Frozr 2.0 cooling solution from the previous-generation of graphics cards (RX 6000 series and RTX 30-series), rather than the latest Tri Frozr 3.0 it unveiled with the RTX 40-series. This cooler also gets the slightly older TorX 4.0 fan compared to newer TorX 5.0 fans with the RTX 40-series. This cooler has dealt with 350 W-ish TDP cooling requirements of GPUs such as the RX 6950 XT or the RTX 3090, so we reckon they could suit the RX 7900 series. There's still a brand new custom-design PCB underneath it, which pulls power from a trio of 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and so we could expect a fairly good power-limit for these cards.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today, is excited to unveil two brand-new Radeon RX 7900 series graphics cards. Powered by the groundbreaking AMD RDNA 3 architecture, BIOSTAR is latest Radeon RX 7900XTX-24GB and RX 7900XT-20GB graphics cards deliver up to 50% more performance per watt than their previous generation RDNA 2 GPU units. Featuring AMD is superior RDNA 3 architecture and the world is fastest interconnect technology, the all-new BIOSTAR Radeon RX 7900XTX and RX 7900XT graphics cards combine 5 nm and 6 nm process nodes with updated chiplets that leverage AMD is Infinity Links and high-performance fanout packaging to deliver blazingly fast 5.3 TB/s bandwidth.

Unleash jaw-droppingly high frame-rates on AAA game titles with breathtaking 4K visuals powered by AMD is most advanced graphics technology with BIOSTAR is Radeon RX 7900XTX and RX 7900XT graphics cards. Ideal for gamers and content creators, they carry AMD is second-generation Infinity Cache technology and high-speed GDDR6 memory with up to a 384-bit memory interface.

AMD is preparing the launch of the Radeon RX 7900 series of graphics cards for December 13th. And, of course, with recent launches being coated in uncertainty regarding availability, we are getting more rumors about what the availability could look like. According to Kyle Bennett, founder of HardOCP, we have information that AMD is allegedly preparing 200,000 Radeon RX 7900 SKUs for launch day. If the information is truthful, among the 200,000 launch-day SKUs, there should be 30,000 Made-by-AMD (MBA) cards, while the rest are AIB partner cards. This number indicates that AMD's market research has shown that there will be a great demand for these new GPUs and that the scarcity problem should be long gone.

A few days ago, we reported that the availability of the new AMD Radeon generation is reportedly scarce, with Germany receiving only 3,000 MBA designs and the rest of the EMEA region getting only 7,000 MBA SKUs as well. With today's rumor going around, we would like to know if this is correct and if more SKUs will circulate. America's region could receive most of the MBA designs, and AIB partners will take care of other regions. Of course, we must wait for tomorrow's launch and see how AMD plans to execute its strategy.

AMD's next-generation Radeon RX 7900 high-end graphics cards are set to arrive next week and bring the new RDNA3 GPU architecture to the masses. However, it seems like the customers will have to fight for their purchase as the availability could be scarce at launch, leading to potentially increased prices with low stocks. According to Igor's Lab report, Germany will receive only 3,000 reference MBA (Made By AMD) units of Radeon RX 7900 series cards. In contrast, the rest of the EMEA region will receive only 7,000 MBA units. These numbers are lower than expected, so AIB partners may improve the supply once their designs hit shelves.

On the other hand, mainland China will not receive any MBA units of the new cards as a sign of increasing tension with Taiwan. Of course, AMD's board partners will supply their designs to China, and they are allowed to; however, it seems that only AMD is making a statement here. In addition to supply issues, the launch is rumored to be covered in BIOS issues such as memory leaks and the COVID-19 outbreak affecting production in closed factories. Of course, all of this information should be taken with a grain of salt, and we must wait for the official launch before making any further assumptions.

It looks like AMD's desktop discrete GPU lineup for 2015 will see a mix of rebrands, re-codename, and one big new chip, all making up the new Radeon R7 300 and R9 300 series. Cards based in this lineup should begin rolling out this month. Leaks from OEMs such as this one, suggest that the first of these should begin rolling out as early as June 16.

The spread is pretty cut and dry. "Hawaii," the chip driving the R9 290 series, will not only get a new codename as "Grenada," but also a seamless rebrand to the R9 390 series, with Grenada Pro making up the R9 390, and Grenada XT making up the R9 390X. One possibility could be AMD taking advantage of low 4 Gbit GDDR5 chip prices to cram 8 GB of standard memory amount, across Grenada's 512-bit wide memory interface. The R9 390X will compete with the GeForce GTX 970, while the R9 390 will offer an option in the vast price and performance gorge between the GTX 960 and GTX 970.

After last minute hiccups, AMD managed to release Catalyst 14.1 beta to the press. The driver brings along the first release of Mantle, AMD's ambitious 3D graphics API to rival Direct3D and OpenGL. Installing the driver was less than straightforward. We couldn't just install the driver over our Catalyst 13.12 WHQL installation like we normally do. A driver cleanup and reinstalling did the trick. Catalyst 14.1 beta enables the 3D renderer option in Battlefield 4, which lets you choose between DirectX 11.1 and Mantle.

Our first (subjective) impression, is that we couldn't tell the difference. Our Radeon R9 290 already offered frame-rates well above 60 FPS (1920 x 1080, Ultra, 4x MSAA), on Direct3D, and so we never really stood to gain anything that makes the game more playable than it already was. What could have been interesting, was to see how Mantle makes the lives of R9 270X owners better, who could see frame-rates drop below 60 FPS at our settings. According to a change-log of the driver posted by Guru3D, AMD hasn't optimized Mantle for any of the Graphics CoreNext (GCN) based GPUs other than Radeon R9 290 series, R9 260X, and A-Series "Kaveri" APUs.

AMD updated its "Never Settle" game bundles for all graphics card models upwards of Radeon HD 7700 series. The update adds a game to each of the three product families - HD 7700, HD 7800, and HD 7900 series. The offer covers new purchases made after the 15th of May. Buyers of single-GPU HD 7900 series graphics cards no longer have to choose between Crysis and Tomb Raider; while buyers of HD 7800 series get Crysis 3 Hunter Edition. In essence, single-GPU HD 7900 and HD 7800 series buyers get the same bundles.

You get Crysis 3 Hunter Edition, Bioshock: Infinite, Tomb Raider (2013), and FarCry 3: Blood Dragon; with both single-GPU Radeon HD 7900 series, and Radeon HD 7800 series. Buyers of Radeon HD 7700 series will get an addition, too, Tomb Raider (2013). This is a limited offer that runs while supplies last, covers only new purchases made after May 15, and only targets North America, EMEA, Australia, and New Zealand.

AMD's product manager for desktop graphics products Devon Nekechuk, in an interview with Japanese publication 4Gamer.net, revealed that his firm won't be launching any new Radeon GPUs in 2013, and that the company would instead play out the year on its current Radeon HD 7000 series' performance, with price adjustments and possible performance increments through driver updates. In a slide released to 4Gamers.net, AMD pointed that its Radeon HD 7900 series (high-end), HD 7800 series (performance), and HD 7700 series (mainstream), will carry on the company's mantle "throughout 2013."

This announcement is indication that GPU makers have decided to slow things down from the streak of rapid new GPU launches that lasted from some time around 2007, running up to 2012, which can be heavily taxing in terms of R&D costs for either companies. We know for sure that NVIDIA is clearing its backlog of consumer GPU development by releasing the GeForce GTX "Titan" graphics card in a couple of weeks' time, and we know from older reports that NVIDIA could launch a "refreshed" GeForce Kepler lineup, that largely retains the GeForce Kepler silicon while topping up with subtle changes (clock speeds, software features that don't involve redesigning the silicon, etc.,) but AMD coming out in the open with this announcement could change everything. NVIDIA has the opportunity to save a few coins by sticking to its current lineup (plus the upcoming GTX "Titan,") and responding to competition from AMD by price-adjustments and timely driver optimizations of its own.

NVIDIA's next high-end graphics card, the GeForce "Titan" 780, is shaping up to be a dreadnought of sorts. It reportedly ships with 6 GB of GDDR5 memory as its standard amount. It's known from GK110 block diagrams released alongside the Tesla K20X GPU compute accelerator, that the chip features a 384-bit wide memory interface. With 4 Gbit memory chips still eluding the mainstream, it's quite likely that NVIDIA could cram twenty four 2 Gbit chips to total up 6,144 MB, and hence the chips could be spread on either sides of the PCB, and the back-plate could make a comeback on NVIDIA's single-GPU lineup.

On its Radeon HD 7900 series single-GPU graphics cards based on the "Tahiti" silicon (which features the same memory bus width), AMD used 3 GB as the standard amount; while 2 GB is standard for the GeForce GTX 680; although non-reference design 4 GB and 6 GB variants of the GTX 680 and HD 7970, respectively, are quite common. SweClockers also learned that NVIDIA preparing to price the new card in the neighborhood of $899.

AMD stumped PC gamers last October by announcing its first Never Settle game bundle that sees its various AIB partners bundle 2~4 AAA game titles with their performance-thru-extreme segment graphics cards. In a bid to overcome post-X'mas slump, and build the brand in the run up to summer, the company released its Never Settle Reloaded bundles.

Based around games that launch within Q1, the bundle covers four new AAA titles: Tomb Raider (2013); Bioshock Infinite, DMC: Devil May Cry (2013); and Crysis 3. That's right, one of the biggest PC games of this season will be freely distributed with AMD Radeon graphics cards. Those buying a single Radeon HD 7900 series graphics card get Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinite; a single Radeon HD 7800 series card gets you Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider (2013).

While testing Club 3D Radeon HD 7870 jokerCard, one of the three Radeon HD 7870 "Tahiti LE" graphics cards you can buy, we discovered that it can pair with Radeon HD 7900 series cards in CrossFireX. Our VGA testing lab, which has battened down the hatches for winter (lack of VGA launches), spent a lot of time toying with Club 3D's card and while brainstorming for the review's conclusion, it came up that HD 7870 Tahiti LE is "bad" because it can't pair with common HD 7870 or HD 7850 "Pitcairn" graphics cards. A bulb supernova just went off over our heads: "...sure Tahiti LE won't pair with Pitcairn, but will it pair with HD 7900 series "Tahiti", which have more stream processors, and more memory?" The answer turned out to be yes!

We successfully managed to pair the Club 3D HD 7870 jokerCard with a Radeon HD 7950 and HD 7970 (reference). We casually put it through 3DMark 11 and Sleeping Dogs, and found the contraptions to scale fairly well. We noticed some micro-stutter in 3DMark 11, but Sleeping Dogs felt smooth. This could be great news for current HD 7900 series owners who can upgrade to CrossFire for a modest $249~269. We even tried our luck at unlocking disabled shaders (stream processors), which didn't work. AMD used the mod-proof fuses method to lock the shaders. Check out our Club 3D HD 7870 jokerCard review.

Club 3D offers a wide range of graphic cards. But which one will you choose ? Perhaps the games which you will get when purchasing your graphic card will help you decide. This page summarizes the games that are available with Club 3D's graphic card line. The page is divided into three sections. The first section,"The games", will lead you through the available games, and will point to the graphic cards that have this game included in the bundle. The second section, "the graphic cards and the bundles", starts with the graphic cards and will point out which game or even multiple games that are included, and the third section identifies the software that is included with which graphic cards.

AMD is reportedly working on a new performance-segment GPU in the Radeon HD 7800 series, based on the 28 nm "Tahiti" silicon (which goes into making HD 7900 series products). The so-called "Tahiti-LE" silicon could help AMD plug a hole between the HD 7870 GHz Edition and HD 7950, getting close to the performance-level of GeForce GTX 660 Ti, at a lower cost. According to a HT4U.net report, AMD is deciding against referring to the new chip as "HD 7930," since the 7900 series is already crowded with five models, and would rather name it something along the lines of "HD 7870 OC."

A similar approach was adopted by NVIDIA in the recent-past, when it created the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448-cores, using higher-end GF110 silicon to create an SKU traditionally based on GF114. At this time, one can only speculate what the new HD 7870 specifications sheet could look like. Since "Pitcairn" already achieves clock speeds in the 1 GHz range, AMD is left with other features to tinker with. 1536 GCN stream processors seem like a middle ground between the 1280 SP-laden HD 7870 "Pitcairn," and 1792 SP HD 7950. Memory bus width is another component. The new desktop SKU could launch in mid-November. The new SKU could even be a "limited-edition" for the winter shopping season, much like the GTX 560 Ti 448-core.

In addition to the Never Settle Catalyst 12.11 drivers that give a shot of NOX to Radeon 7000 series GPUs, AMD unveiled the "Never Settle" Game Bundles. With each purchase of Radeon HD 7900 series, HD 7800 series, or HD 7700 series graphics card purchase, you get Steam coupons to a up to three games, with a guaranteed 20% off on purchase of Medal of Honor: Warfighter, on Steam.

With every Radeon HD 7900 series product (HD 7990, HD 7970 GHz Ed., HD 7970, HD 7950 BE, and HD 7950), you get Steam coupons to FarCry 3, Hitman: Absolution, and Sleeping Dogs. With two HD 7800 or HD 7700 series products, you get coupons to FarCry 3 and Hitman: Ascension; with one HD 7800 series or HD 7700 series product, you get a coupon to FarCry 3. The promotion could run all the way through the Holiday season.

At the AMD Fusion Developer Summit (AFDS) 2012, the host unveiled its next flagship professional graphics card, the FirePro W9000. What makes the card particularly interesting is that it is dual-GPU, packing two Tahiti-derived GPUs, the same chips that go into making Radeon HD 7900 series. The FirePro W9000, is what many believe to be a professional variant of the Radeon HD 7990 "New Zealand" dual-GPU graphics card, which is facing delays for reasons unknown (actually, here's a possible reason).

The W9000 packs a total of 6 GB of GDDR5 memory, up to 264.8 million pixels/s; 4 TFLOPs single-precision and 1 TFLOPs double-precision floating-point performance. The card design does away with lateral-flow cooler, and uses a triple-fan heatsink assembly that packs three 90 mm low-speed (low-noise) fans. A surprise here, is that the card draws power from [just] two 8-pin PCIe power connectors (it's probably using two low-voltage Tahiti chips). It's an established fact that FirePro products are merely variations of Radeon products with possibly higher build quality, and an expanded software feature-set.

Here is the first picture of EVGA GeForce GTX 680. The best-selling GeForce AIC partner in the US, EVGA, opted for a minimalist sticker design, while sticking to NVIDIA reference board and cooler designs. In fact, all GeForce GTX 680 launched in the first-wave, do. Speaking of first-wave, TechnoReviews managed to screengrab American Retailer Newegg.com listing out nearly all the GeForce GTX 680 models that will be available on launch of the SKU.

The listing confirms the US $499 (before taxes) pricing of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, because that's how low these cards are available for; they will never price it below NVIDIA-recommended MSRP. Newegg.com applying a $10 margin is quite natural, they've done it with pretty much every major graphics card market-launch this year, including that of the Radeon HD 7900 series. Assuming the GeForce GTX 680 beats Radeon HD 7970, as NVIDIA claims, our educated guess is it still won't start a "price-war" as such. AMD might recalibrate prices of HD 7900 series down 5~10%, but AMD and NVIDIA won't be able to drive prices below a threshold, and that threshold is governed by TSMC, its ability to ship 28 nm chips in volumes big enough, and at prices low enough, to support a price-war between the two GPU giants.

The new SAPPHIRE HD 7800 series of graphics cards is based on the third family of GPU's from AMD built in its new 28nm process and featuring the highly acclaimed GCN graphics processing architecture. The new HD 7870 and HD 7850 GPUs have an optimised internal structure sharing many of the features of the high performance HD 7900 series already released but with fewer Stream processors and a new high speed 256-bit memory interface to the latest DDR5 memory types. It is aimed at mainstream gamers looking for excellent performance together with good value and all the latest features.

Two models of the HD 7870 are being introduced by SAPPHIRE at launch. The first is the SAPPHIRE HD 7870 which will ship with a core clock speed of 1GHz, and will be known as the SAPPHIRE HD 7870 GHz Edition. It is equipped with 2GB of the latest DDR5 memory clocked at 1200MHz (4.8Gb/s effective). At the same time SAPPHIRE is introducing a higher performance model, the SAPPHIRE HD 7870 GHz OC Edition, in which both core and memory are factory overclocked and the PowerTune limits are raised to allow even further performance tuning. Both models are equipped with SAPPHIRE's new dual-extractor technology - Dual-X - a highly efficient multi-heatpipe cooler with dual fans providing quiet and very cool operation during normal operating conditions, and superb cooling performance even under extreme load.