AMD Radeon HD 7950 Review: Up Against GeForce GTX 580

[Gordon Freeman]

[citation][nom]serendipiti[/nom]Seems to me that AMD stands in bussiness just thanks to the graphics division. AMD Has lost its battle to intel in the CPU market (BD should had got better performance) and needs to battle Nvidia in graphics just to keep going on... so graphics cards are getting attention and new products from month to month...[/citation]
Laptops are where the money's at and AMD does very well with there APUs and this is where they make there cheddar.

 

[cknobman]

Ill never buy Nvidia as I am an AMD stock owner and have never been dissatisfied with an ATI/AMD card. In fact the only gfx card I have ever had die on me is a Nvidia 6800.

That being said I will be getting a AMD 7 series card but not until Nvidia releases their 6 series. Anyone who buys before Nvidia's next gen is getting ripped off.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

[citation][nom]cknobman[/nom]Ill never buy Nvidia as I am an AMD stock owner and have never been dissatisfied with an ATI/AMD card. In fact the only gfx card I have ever had die on me is a Nvidia 6800.That being said I will be getting a AMD 7 series card but not until Nvidia releases their 6 series. Anyone who buys before Nvidia's next gen is getting ripped off.[/citation]
Just buy what is cheapest GPUs that give you acceptable performance to your personal standards and config. GPUs in most cases are not an investment they are a benign waste of money really.

 

[cknobman]

[citation][nom]Gordon Freeman[/nom]Just buy what is cheapest GPUs that give you acceptable performance to your personal standards and config. GPUs in most cases are not an investment they are a benign waste of money really.[/citation]

While I see your approach I take a slightly different one. I buy the most expensive GPU (I am willing to pay for) for the money (relative to performance) so it remains usable as long a possible. I am still running a AMD 4 series card. If I had bought minimum back when I made that purchase I would not be playing games like BF3 today and would have had to upgrade long ago.

Im not saying my approach is better than yours just different which is why I want a 7 series but am going to wait until a price drop occurs because I feel they are overpriced since Nvidia has not released their next gen yet.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

[citation][nom]cknobman[/nom]While I see your approach I take a slightly different one. I buy the most expensive GPU (I am willing to pay for) for the money (relative to performance) so it remains usable as long a possible. I am still running a AMD 4 series card. If I had bought minimum back when I made that purchase I would not be playing games like BF3 today and would have had to upgrade long ago.Im not saying my approach is better than yours just different which is why I want a 7 series but am going to wait until a price drop occurs because I feel they are overpriced since Nvidia has not released their next gen yet.[/citation]
Sometimes less is more take Radeon HD 6850 Crossfire for example they have competitive performance with GTX 580 and now run well under $300 and will last for 3 years to come.

 

[cknobman]

@Gordon

I really need to man up and step into Xfire one of these days. I have always shied away from it because I do single monitor gaming and wanted to stay away from the complexities of a multi card rig (more mobo, power supply, better cooling, and then what used to be scaling issues which are largely gone nowadays).

Maybe on my next build(hopefully March) Ill try a xfire rig out and go with something similar to what you mentioned.

 

[jaquith]

Chris damn good article!!! It's bookmarked! 5-Star Approval!

I agree with your setup, mythology, and conclusions - rare bird for me. I would have like to see the 3GB GTX 580, but in the resolutions tested IMO wouldn't have had much if any impact.

I look forward to the upcoming GTX 600 series and I hope you do the reviews. Keep up the great work!

 

[Gordon Freeman]

[citation][nom]cknobman[/nom]@GordonI really need to man up and step into Xfire one of these days. I have always shied away from it because I do single monitor gaming and wanted to stay away from the complexities of a multi card rig (more mobo, power supply, better cooling, and then what used to be scaling issues which are largely gone nowadays).Maybe on my next build(hopefully March) Ill try a xfire rig out and go with something similar to what you mentioned.[/citation]
Xfire or SLI is very easy and economical to do now in days I can recommend it 100% from my experience with it.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

[citation][nom]cknobman[/nom]@GordonI really need to man up and step into Xfire one of these days. I have always shied away from it because I do single monitor gaming and wanted to stay away from the complexities of a multi card rig (more mobo, power supply, better cooling, and then what used to be scaling issues which are largely gone nowadays).Maybe on my next build(hopefully March) Ill try a xfire rig out and go with something similar to what you mentioned.[/citation]
PS 6850 takes one 6pin power dongle and Xfire 6850 can be done on a powersupply that it made for a single card like GTX 570 etc. 127watts max power draw from on single 6850 they are GREAT little cards. http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_r6850_cyclone/7.htm

 

[ZakTheEvil]

[citation][nom]lou007a[/nom]It beats the GTX580 one on one in most benchies and that's not taking into account the overclocking headroom these things have, they're also power friendlier and with XFX, cooler, quieter and expected to be cheaper so what's the problem? Me thinks me smell's NV fanboys!![/citation]

Are you really that obtuse that you don't realize that GTX580 is nearly a one and a half years old? If I was AMD I would be embarrassed. If I were you I would be even more embarrassed...

 

[Achoo22]

[citation][nom]stm1185[/nom]Im not Paying $450 for barely better then GTX 580 performance a year after its released. They will have to knock that down to like $300, $250 for a 2gb version when Nvidia releases their next gen cards. Wait those money grubers out imo.[/citation]

Thank you! I'm aghast at how many folks actually seem to believe this is a good value. The current pricing structure, from both AMD and NV, is quite absurd and I don't understand why more folks don't see the situation as it is. There are a lot of folks out there with cards that they've had for /years/ who might be considering upgrading, and they're telling these potential customers that they are going to have to jump price tiers to upgrade a card that they've been using for years. This is clearly a sign that the companies are failing to make forward progress. They deserve severe censuring for their failures, and instead I'm seeing all this undeserved praise lavished upon them.

 

[elect86]

[citation][nom]ZakTheEvil[/nom]Are you really that obtuse that you don't realize that GTX580 is nearly a one and a half years old? If I was AMD I would be embarrassed. If I were you I would be even more embarrassed...[/citation]


Have you realised that the GTX580 is the "current" top gpu of Nvidia?

When they will release Kepler (and we still dont have a fixed date), than things will change, but for the moment this is

 

[Gordon Freeman]

[citation][nom]Achoo22[/nom]Thank you! I'm aghast at how many folks actually seem to believe this is a good value. The current pricing structure, from both AMD and NV, is quite absurd and I don't understand why more folks don't see the situation as it is. There are a lot of folks out there with cards that they've had for /years/ who might be considering upgrading, and they're telling these potential customers that they are going to have to jump price tiers to upgrade a card that they've been using for years. This is clearly a sign that the companies are failing to make forward progress. They deserve severe censuring for their failures, and instead I'm seeing all this undeserved praise lavished upon them.[/citation]
Nvidia is the biggest Culprit of the conundrum you speak of.

 

[sarcasm]

I'm waiting for the GTX 680 which shouldn't be too far away. This card seems to be a little "me too" in comparison to people who've been enjoying the GTX 580 for a year now (me included.)

 

[g4114rd0]

Make sure don't miss out 4 Diablo III players, 1t is highly recommended to use Nvidia GTX 666 OC.

 

[maxinexus]

They should have put the price to 399 and perhaps 349 for 1.5 version. That would certainly be awesome buy.
Anyway great 580 performance for less. Good job.

 

[g4114rd0]

 It's finally almost official, Launch dates of MSI AMD HD 77x0

 

[Gordon Freeman]

[citation][nom]BigMack70[/nom]If nVidia gets its high end Kepler card out within the next 2-3 months, and IF it is as powerful as some of the leaked/planted specs/benchmarks would have it, then AMD is going to look like a tool for selling its 7970 and 7950 at these prices. However, if (as I'm currently suspecting) it takes till near the end of the year to see the high end Kepler part, or if it doesn't perform much better than the 7970, then AMD is golden.I'm currently happy with my 7970 (OC'd almost 30%), but part of me is expecting that I'll want to sell it in a couple months so I can get in line for the high end Kepler card. We'll see.[/citation]
How does something that might be a bit better than a 7970 = a better gaming experience LOL 60fps is as good as it gets unless you have a 120hz monitor but even than is kinda down hill price/performance wise.

 

[clownbaby]

Though I'm impressed with the performance, the pricing is ridiculous. Both AMD and Nvidia have gone from trying to price each other out, to seeing how high of a pricing model they can create. It honestly smells like price fixing, and it's not right (or legal). Both of these companies have been accused of, and prosecuted by the FCC before for price fixing, so I'm sure it's old hat to them. My pair of 4870s will suffice for now as they still have about the same performance as a 6970, as ancient as they are. I'll replace them when there's a sub $250 card that can beat them and/or I can stand to do business with one of these companies.

 

[clownbaby]

When intel introduces a new line of processors that are considerably faster than their last generation, they replace the former chips in their pricing structure.

By AMD/Nvidias model, if I paid $300 for a Core 2 4 years ago and wanted to upgrade now, a Sandy Bridge processor of the same level would cost $600 because it's twice as fast, and a bottom end chip would fall in at the $300 slot and not be worth upgrading.

I bought 2 AMD 4870s a few years back for about $400. They perform in the same realm as a current 6970. That means, to upgrade performance today, I would have to buy a 7950 for $450. How is that innovation? 4 years and the amount of performance per dollar has hardly changed.

Most (top end) PC games are being ported from consoles now anyway. I am seeing less and less reason to bother gaming on my pc anymore. I haven't owned a console since Sega Genesis, but the next version of Playstation will make more sense to buy for $500-600 than a single graphics card for the same price. The next graphics card I but will likely be a low end, power saving model that is just enough for my after effects work. If playstation were smart enough to throw in a keyboard/mouse with their silly controllers, they could own the world.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

[citation][nom]BigMack70[/nom]Some of the leaked/planted info on Kepler would suggest that it might be as much as 50% more powerful than a 7970. I suspect that's marketing BS, but if it proves true then I will definitely sell my 7970 and get a 680 (or whatever they end up calling their high end chip). I bought my 7970 so that I wouldn't have to buy a new card for a few years but so I'd still be able to play anything I want on high settings. The 7970 was an upgrade to a 5 year old 8800 GTS, which was still playing most games at high settings 1080p just fine. The goal of a $500-600 card isn't to get 60fps now; it's to get 60fps now and have great performance for as long as possible. Not to mention that at that price, you want the highest performing single GPU card available, and if the 7970 isn't close to the "680", then people looking for top-end single GPU performance will look elsewhere. Your logic applies more to mid-range purchases.[/citation]
no the only logic is 60fps is 60fps is 60fps that is the golden standard in gaming for a perfect experience so there is no point in paying more for it one 60fps config is as good as another LOL it comes down to how much you paid to receive that 60fps that determines how smart you are. You can pay less now to receive 60fps gaming or pay more now choice is yours I will pay less for same end result and do it with more money saved in my pocket.

 

[warezme]

So it is slightly faster in some applications and slower than others I would say it falls between the 570 and the 580 when you take DX9 in to account and no overclocking is considered because if you are going to overclock the 7950 you could also easily overclock a 580 or a 570 per se and be back to square one in comparisons. It is a good card for AMD but hardly revolutionary. It's not like when Nvidia released the 8800GTX in the face of AMD's 2900XT, now that was a sad match up.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

[citation][nom]clownbaby[/nom]When intel introduces a new line of processors that are considerably faster than their last generation, they replace the former chips in their pricing structure.By AMD/Nvidias model, if I paid $300 for a Core 2 4 years ago and wanted to upgrade now, a Sandy Bridge processor of the same level would cost $600 because it's twice as fast, and a bottom end chip would fall in at the $300 slot and not be worth upgrading.I bought 2 AMD 4870s a few years back for about $400. They perform in the same realm as a current 6970. That means, to upgrade performance today, I would have to buy a 7950 for $450. How is that innovation? 4 years and the amount of performance per dollar has hardly changed. Most (top end) PC games are being ported from consoles now anyway. I am seeing less and less reason to bother gaming on my pc anymore. I haven't owned a console since Sega Genesis, but the next version of Playstation will make more sense to buy for $500-600 than a single graphics card for the same price. The next graphics card I but will likely be a low end, power saving model that is just enough for my after effects work. If playstation were smart enough to throw in a keyboard/mouse with their silly controllers, they could own the world.[/citation]
Well when a 6850 that is currently $140 blows away any console do I need to explain why that is a far better deal than any console LOL unless you are anti PC and do not and never will own one.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

[citation][nom]warezme[/nom]So it is slightly faster in some applications and slower than others I would say it falls between the 570 and the 580 when you take DX9 in to account and no overclocking is considered because if you are going to overclock the 7950 you could also easily overclock a 580 or a 570 per se and be back to square one in comparisons. It is a good card for AMD but hardly revolutionary. It's not like when Nvidia released the 8800GTX in the face of AMD's 2900XT, now that was a sad match up.[/citation]
8800GTX was also like $700 at launch = what a fail card and I should know because I owned one pre ordered in fact.

 

[fulle]

A card this powerful would have cost roughly 400 dollars last gen. $470 after a die shrink, with the reduced cost to make this card.... is actually kind of insulting.

AMD is price gouging until Nvidia can release proper competition.