Radeon HD 6970 And 6950 Review: Is Cayman A Gator Or A Crock?

[stasdm]

Not too impressing in gaming, but ought to make exellent professional card (if AMD would not spoil drivers again)

 

[bluekoala]

[citation][nom]bluekoala[/nom]Seems like AMD really improved features and balance more than anything else with this card. I have a feeling the HD7000 series will be more inclined towards muscle like the HD4000 and HD5000 cards were. I'm not disappointed as this is good progress.[/citation]
The 6970 replaces the 5870.
The 6970X2 will replace the 5970 as the 5970 is a 5870X2.
A bit confusing due to inconsistency but it gives a clearer indication as to what is a top end card VS midrange-high-end for future cards to come

 

[cheesesubs]

imo, using Metro 2033 to bench is not a fair comparison, the game is designed for Nvidia and supports physx which is unfair to amd cards. And Btw, why did the HD 5970 beat the 6970?? Isnt it supposed to replace the 5970???

then compare what? these crappy outdated graphic xbox console ported garbage like bad company and cod? don't tell me most of people are play these ***! console ported are for average noob and definitely not suitable for enthusiast website like tom's hardware.

if you don't like it please go back to either mad zone or xbox forum!

 

[_Pez_]

I would like to see something extreme on the side of AMD, One single GPU with a Die size of 550mm2 and as many transistors as are capable to be in there,and Im very sure that Hipotetical GPU would be a real monster without competition but AMD is too shy to do that .. why AMD ?? why ????! what stops you in doing something different?

 

[beans4you]

why AMD ?? why ????! what stops you in doing something different?" Individualism lol?

 

[bluekoala]

I also urge people to put more emphasis on MINIMUM FPS as that is when you require high FPS the most.

 

[reprotected]

Has AMD finally found out the secret to good graphics card includes good drivers?

 

[ortoklaz]

wow.. not impressed at all,was little bit anxious to see what AMD will bring to the table after switching to nividia with the purchase of GTX570 and boy !..am I glad i did,the only nice thing about this card is dual BIOS switch ,that's it.

 

[dapneym]

I really was hoping that at least some of the hype around Caymen was correct, so it's a bit disappointing.

 

[bystander]

Out of curiousity, why was there no benchmarks with DX10 and DX9. Last I checked, DX11 is still not the most popular engine. I'd be interested to see if it's just the DX11 stuff that the new card is failing at, or everything.

 

[whey]

Fail 570>6970 is even extra 20$ more LOL

 

[moozoo]

>Intel has something waiting in the wings that’ll take both graphics companies by surprise

They are talking about video encoding/decoding not 3D performance.

 

[ramx]

no power draw charts?

 

[Guest]

Eclipse are doing an unbranded 570 for £219ex. vat if anyone is interested. http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=GC-XNGTX5712

 

[ramx]

I feel that the ideal price of 6970 would be GTX 570's price of $349 despite 2GB VRAM.570 has better AA performance,cuda support(good for useful applcns like vReveal,badaboom etc),physx..

 

[Maziar]

Thanks Chris, it was a great review
Well, I was frankly expecting more from HD 6xxx series but their price is good. IMO They aren't the successor of HD 5xxx series but they offer roughly the same performance (with the exception of HD 5970) and cost less.

 

[tony singh]

Not as fast as I expected...but still very fast for the price , specially 6950.

 

[nekromobo]

Please add Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart.

There's some mix about the price? At least in euroland..

 

[techworm]

future DX11 games will stress GPU and video RAM incrementally and it is then that 6970 will shine so it's obvious that 6970 is a better and more future proof purchase than GTX570 that will be frame buffer limited in near future games

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]ramx[/nom]no power draw charts?[/citation]

Please check the second to last page, and the PowerTune page for more there

 

[reaversedge]

its a nice progress, but somewhat disappointing regarding my expectation to ati, after releasing 480s with power issues, nvidia countered again with 500series, and now ati's 6xxx series in the line. Just like what happens when they release a new card (this concerns the red and green) the difference of the new release from their latest current flagship is minimal.

 

[ehcastro3]

[citation][nom]terror112[/nom]WOW not impressed.[/citation]

Same...guess I have to wait for the 6990

Those who have a 5870 already i think ure better off getting another 5870 for crossfire...

 

[tony singh]

In my opinion , HD 4870 >> HD 5870 >>HD 6970 , with respect to its impact on my mind !!

 

[redraider89]

[citation][nom]namelessonez[/nom]but nVidia's is the quality....imho!As rightly stated, 'reality hits'.[/citation]

You say "imho" then try to say that "reality hits". Your humble opinion doesn't necessarily equate with reality. There is nothing in this article that indicates lesser quality by AMD. It's just Nvidia fan's opinion. I've had ATI and Nvidia. So far, it's only been Nvidia that has had sudden blank screens so bad for me that I had to send the video card back. That's the reality that hit me. All of my ATI cards have been rock solid. So, let's keep the unsubstantiated "quality" talk out of this if it's just humble opinion.

 

[demodus]

[citation][nom]cangelini [/nom]Ten points, by the way, if you can figure out the reference in this story’s title.[/[/citation]

It's caiman, and it's a crocodilian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Caiman