Graphic Cards AMD HD7970 Review

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Re: Hot!!! Amd hd 7970 reviews are out~~~

The GTX 580 is a great card and so is the HD 6970. In fact if you dont include an unlockable HD 6950, then the HD 6970 is simply the best value for money high-end card we have seen since 2006. Sure it sometimes performs 15-18% slower than the GTX 580 but sometimes it actually performs 3-5% better than the GTX 580 too (with the HD 6970 costing almost 9-10k less than the GTX 580, its just awesome). With the current scenario of game development being held back by the puny consoles (my laptop with a HD 4670 packs more horse-power than either x360 or ps3), does it really matter which one is faster if you are already getting playable framerates with both the cards. Leaving aside crysis 2 dx11-ultra and BF3 dx-11 ultra, none of the games even comes close to maxing out either gtx 580 or hd 6970. The HD 7970 is a different proposition all together. Currently we dont require such a fast single gpu solution but from AMD's point of view it is simply the guinea pig for their GCN architecture. I fully expect the next revision/node-shrink of this architecture to blow NVIDIA away. Just recollect what AMD did with the 9700PRO. It was their first shot at a dx-9 architecture and although the competing FX-5900 Ultra was some times faster, the next revision ie the 9800PRO/XT became a legend simply because AMD was bold enough to take a big gamble by moving to a different architecture in the first place.

It might happen the GTX 780/680 might come out actually faster than the HD 7970 by as much as 25-30% (as typically NVIDIAs flagship always almost reaches performance parity with the last gen dual-gpu cards), but I fully expect AMD to pull a fast one by dropping the price of the HD7970 by 100USD if the kepler performance estimates were to be correct. That would mean there would be no competition to the HD 7970 and it will be in a class of its own. Also the HD8970 or whatever will be the part to watch out for. AMD has something legendary going with GCN. Just wait and watch. (Unfortunately the same cant be said for their CPU side of things)

But from a consumer's point of view, I am afraid we are not going to see the good years of 2008-2009 (where we got great performance at really cheap prices) in 2012-2013. For things to become like that we need a new console generation that will at least have a HD69xx/GTX 57xx class GPU and neither NVIDIA nor AMD having any superiority over the other.
 
Re: Hot!!! Amd hd 7970 reviews are out~~~

High end Kepler isn't coming for a long, long time. When it does come, 7970 won't be AMD's competitor. As mentioned by Icon211, since this is a radical new architecture drivers will gain majorly (last time was 2900 XT, it gained 10% in just a month or two). In fact Dave Baumann has mentioned that Battlefield 3 performance increased by 5% while the reviews were being written. 7970 makes most of its performance gains when it is seriously stressed - multi-monitor and DX11. For older games, it makes no difference between 100fps for GTX580 or 120fps for 7970 (unless you have a 120 Hz monitor and are very sensitive). Finally, there's plenty of headroom for Tahiti at 28nm and thus 7970 is insanely overclockable. Without a voltage boost you can get past 1.15-1.2 GHz, with little impact in power consumption. AMD played it safe due to the uncertain 28nm process - to maximize yields. By the time 28nm matures and Kepler is here, don't be surprised to see a 7980 drop running at 1.2 GHz stock. That's a 30% increase right there. Legitreviews have OCed it to 1165 MHz and at those clocks it is faster than 6990/590.
 
Re: Hot!!! Amd hd 7970 reviews are out~~~

don't be surprised to see a 7980 drop running at 1.2 GHz stock.
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will only happen if nVidia drops a bomb with GK104 and AMD cannot drop prices further to compete. Happened last time with HD4890. Hasn't happened since for 2 generations straight (not that it was needed at all)

As mentioned by Icon211, since this is a radical new architecture drivers will gain majorly (last time was 2900 XT, it gained 10% in just a month or two).
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Absolutely, we'll be seeing the real performance of these chips with drivers improving performance by the time GK104 releases. Infact, I wont be surprised with a driver that gives huge performance increases right the month when GK104 releases. Happened last time again, with HD5870 and nVidia's competition card launch.
 
Re: Hot!!! Amd hd 7970 reviews are out~~~

HailStonE said:
Sums it all... I am very impressed by power consumption & temps... My HD4850 idles at 84 C even in this winter.. :(
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When I can start my system after a long gap, the temperature readings are around 32-34 C which gradually increase and idles at 42-43 C. I have never seen my 4850 go above 73 C(on load). Its 2 years old now.
 
Re: Hot!!! Amd hd 7970 reviews are out~~~

HD5850 idling at 32C-35C mostly and load 58-68C depending on game @ 50% fan.
 
lower power consumption with higher performance per dollar...way 2 go amd.....hope drivers are as good as the current ones for the new cards....will grab one as soon as po9ssible.....
 
Most interesting factor is this is AMD's first attempt at a core built on the same principle as nVidia's CUDA, the GCN architecture has actually turned the tables against nVidia, in the benchmarks once considered biased to nVidia due to this entire limbo of CUDA and AMD's non-CUDA iteration architecture [VLIW 5 / 4] which depended on OpenCL library based applications, which frankly weren't around here and lacked the polish the nVidia co-developed CUDA offerings [Adobe, Autodesk and a lot of other productivity applications are heavily invested into nVidia because of CUDA], now what does this bode for AMD --

1) AMD is now rightly sitting on a 3 generation [assume start from HD 4*** series] leap over nVidia, they have released cards at regular intervals at all price points and most importantly targeted the market well.

2) In a rare opportunity AMD cards have completely quashed their nVidia counter-parts [the HD 69** and HD 58** series were competitive in price not head-to-head performance], the HD 7970 review shows that AMD really want to take th game to the next level.

3) The drivers, thank god, the drivers are no longer as lackadaisical as they were in the pre-HD 5*** era, most issues are well sorted out [games from the past still have a lot of artifacts].

Now AMD just needs to take care not to screw up on this like they did with the Athlon FX series processor marketing in 2005 and by jove I can see the discrete-GPU market balancing out in favor of the RED Team, demolishing the long held myth -- "...The Way its Meant to be played..." -- The RED WAY.

Hope you chaps like this small piece and I have not insinuated the feeling of anyone in particular, these are strictly my views and I am to be held responsible. Cheers!!

P.S. -- Hope they are available at competitive rates soon.
 
Whats the point in having Super fast cards if you dont have a Game for matching up to it since most PC games are console ports i really dont see any point in buying these superfast cards.
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unless you are an overlocking enthusiast who would like to see an hardware pushed to its limits.

as for me ill wait for 7770 or a 7850
 
ubergeek said:
Whats the point in having Super fast cards if you dont have a Game for matching up to it since most PC games are console ports i really dont see any point in buying these superfast cards.
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unless you are an overlocking enthusiast who would like to see an hardware pushed to its limits.

as for me ill wait for 7770 or a 7850
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People who want to game at 2560x1600 (or eyefinity multiple monitor setup) and don't want to deal with CF/SLI or people who want to run their games at 60fps.
 
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