AMD Radeon HD 7970: Promising Performance, Paper-Launched

[joytech22]

AMD = Advanced Monster Devices.
Lol that was so cheesy it wasn't funny. -.-

 

[scrumworks]

Amazing card. Funny that Tom's trying to desperately find weak spots by playing with graphs axis in noise test. Zero X-point starts from 41dB instead of 0 so the card appears much noisier than the competition even though the difference is just 2-3 decibels. Of course those 3 decibels are HORRIBLE for Tom's. In any case, competition was using custom cooler which will of course provide better thermals and noise readings than stock one. Clearly HD7970 with custom coolers like DirectCU or Vapor-X etc. will make those extra 3dB disappear and will probably be even more quieter than competiiton.

 

[sosofm]

With this card card you beat Nvidia 590 with a new BIOS update http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1805/14/ this card is awesome.

 

[sosofm]

And here what those cards do in Crossfire http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1362/pg1/amd-radeon-hd-7970-crossfire-performance-review-introduction.html

 

[Headspin_69]

[citation][nom]cangelini[/nom]Not at all, actually. It offers great gaming performance, and for everything else...we have to wait, because it's not fully baked yet. They say fools rush in. This thing launched today. We were given less than a week with it. It won't be available to even *buy* for another three weeks. Are you telling me you're ready to crown a paper winner, and you're not biased? Please...[/citation]
LOL this 7970 is already before it's release on par or at leased coming very close the GTX 590s performance and it cost $550 at launch and has only one chip not two. This means that as drivers mature like always in the past with Radeon cards it will get better like a fine aged wine so ya Nvidia pretty well got a big RED slap in the face.

 

[Headspin_69]

[citation][nom]zepfan_75[/nom]XD When I looked at the first graph I was like 580 at the top? not surprising, AMD close behind not surprising............wait.....something isn't right here.......WAIT.............that is a 590 not 580......where is 580?....AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GRAPH!I guess the Nvidia fanboys like myself have to give it to AMD for now, just until both cards are out because I doubt too many people expected this.[/citation]
The Radeon 6850/6870 were highly underrated and don't forget about how the 5870 is 2 years old and still a viable option to the GTX 570.

 

[viridiancrystal]

Priced right around a GTX 580 (for now) and completely whipped it. Way to go AMD.

 

[scrumworks]

Don's negative attitude at the conclusion for AMD cards is really a tradition. Price is too high (even if its clearly the fastest GPU on the planet), don't buy it. All features haven't been tested (even though those features are a super set from the competition), don't buy it. Crossfire cannot be tested yet, don't buy it. Stock cooler is 3 decibels louder than competition, don't buy it. AMD card "has potential" (I think the results speak from themselves) but still, don't buy it. Seriously Don, can't you ever lighten up for AMD even when they have the fastest and most advanced card on the market? You can criticize of course but this card here, while not perfect, is 95% bad-ass and should get at least some praise. Give it thumbs up for Christmas' sake . I think AMD over-exceeded the expectations.

 

[Headspin_69]

[citation][nom]scrumworks[/nom]Don's negative attitude at the conclusion for AMD cards is really a tradition. Price is too high (even if its clearly the fastest GPU on the planet), don't buy it. All features haven't been tested (even though those features are a super set from the competition), don't buy it. Crossfire cannot be tested yet, don't buy it. Stock cooler is 3 decibels louder than competition, don't buy it. AMD card "has potential" (I think the results speak from themselves) but still, don't buy it. Seriously Don, can't you ever lighten up for AMD even when they have the fastest and most advanced card on the market? You can criticize of course but this card here, while not perfect, is 95% bad-ass and should get at least some praise. Give it thumbs up for Christmas' sake . I think AMD over-exceeded the expectations.[/citation]
Radeon has been on top for years with price/performance example 6850 CFX = GTX 580 matching performance for under $300 and now there is unequivocal proof that Radeon is the best with 7970.

 

[julianbautista87]

HOLLY F.... That gpu even match the dual gpu 590/6990 in some cases. That's a little beast.

 

[a4mula]

Let's be honest, we've kind of become accustomed to ATI/AMD launching at prices that were under current nVidia offerings, not above them. I got my 5870 for $380 when it launched. If I remember correctly the 5970 launched at $549, and it was a dual-gpu pcb. Just because people have become accustomed to outrageous prices from nVidia doesn't mean we should automatically clap AMD on the back for one upping them in that department.

 

[gxpbecker]

very nice! Though I am still standing by my goal of making a Non Heater/engergy hog build next year lol. Show me the 7850 , gotta get rid of this dang 5830.

 

[chesteracorgi]

An impressive sample, but pre-releasing a not-ready-for-prime-time piece of hardware harkens back to the old days of vaporware. I would, and may be much more impressed when the product actually ships. I've seen enough vaporware to hold my nose, and not hold my breath for the real ware to arrive.

 

[geekapproved]

WOW

 

[geekapproved]

It's obviouls why the paper launch. AMD doesn't want people going out and buying Nvidia cards for Christmas, they want to tease them so that they wait. Smart move in my book.

 

[alandjackson]

Thanks for doing the triple monitor tests. I know they aren't the most popular setups, but now that 1080p monitors are so cheap, there is a good chance that someone looking in this price range will have them instead of a 30" (at least I do).

 

[bucknutty]

Bucky Likey!

 

[hannibal]

Hmmm... worlds fastest Math co-prosessor? ;-)

In some ways very similar as Ferni. More attention to computational power than pure graphic, but not bad at all! Waiting unpatiently 77xx and 78xx versions to come out.

Allso huge price option by releasing 1.5 GB memory version later. It should be possible to reduce the prize by 70-100$ by using less memory. 3 GB is huge amount at this moment. Mayby not too much, but many of us could be fine with less of it.

 

[scrumworks]

Here is the noise test done right. Axis starts at 0 and has plenty of comparisons:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/10

Clearly less noise than GTX480 whose loud levels wasn't even noticed in a review year ago. Not with even a single word about it in conclusion.

 

[Onus]

In your Skyrim benchmarks, you suggest a CPU bottleneck. This is the perfect opportunity to retest later and see if PCIE 3.0 makes a difference. It probably won't, in which case it IS the CPU, but if it does...

I also have to wonder, would this card NOT be bottlenecked by ANY AMD CPU? In other words, if you don't have an Intel CPU, is there any point in buying this card? Or, are the issues that glared out from the recent $1200 SBM machine only applicable to multi-GPU setups? It will be great when you can get a second one of these for more tests.

 

[crisan_tiberiu]

would there be a bottleneck if you use this card on PCI-e 2.1? i wanna see the difference.
And gg AMD, nice card.

 

[digitalzom-b]

Generally I buy Nvidia because I enjoy their driver support, but results like this are impressive and I will definitely consider this card.

 

[punnar]

Ding! AMD gain "Ludicrous speed" achievement!!!

 

[hannibal]

would there be a bottleneck if you use this card on PCI-e 2.1? i wanna see the difference.
And gg AMD, nice card.

Anandtech find only difference when using pure computation programs. Not any in the games... And even in that compute-test the difference was small, but measureable.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5264/sandy-bridge-e-x79-pcie-30-it-works

Some test also in here:
http://vr-zone.com/articles/does-pcie-3.0-matter-for-today-s-gpus-we-test-with-the-radeon-hd-7970/14306.html

 

[darkstar845]

Aw, I thought that it would only have a tdp of 190watts. My PSU is only 610w so I am not sure it can handle this.

I can't believe that the 6990 has a noticeable lead over the gtx 590