AMD Radeon 6970/6950 Retail Pictured, released Dec 13-17, $500/$375 pricing

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happy medium

Lifer
Jun 8, 2003
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There was another pic with the reviewer from Lab501.ro holding up 2 Cayman cards. One (or both?) had a backplate, and I assume it's the 6970.

I would find it but the Beyond3d site isn't even loading for me.

That was 2 6950's with one crossfire connector. there was a thread on this allready.
 

happy medium

Lifer
Jun 8, 2003
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The 6950 and 6970 wouldn't have different number of crossfire connectors as they can be used together. Or so we can assume.

in ant event they were 2 6950 cards, I havent seen 1 6970 yet.
I read a rumer that the 6970's are gonna be in short supply this month.
 

MangoX

Senior member
Feb 13, 2001
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Another guy who claims to have a friend who works for one of the AMD AIB's and tested the cards.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=17930581&postcount=38

Good to know there will be plenty stock of the 6970. For those thinking will the 6970 be faster than a 580, I got news for you, how does 30-40% faster at stock sound.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=17934449&postcount=133

Don't know system specs but I would assume it would be an i7/i5 CPU. Benchmarks were..

Heaven 2.1
Crysis warhead frost flythrough and airfield flythrough
3Dmark Vantage
Dirt 2
Justcause 2 concrete jungle bench

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=17936116&postcount=167

Here's the specs ran with the 6970, I have been assured the results are 100% legit. Come the 13th the 580 will be shortest lived fastest GPU on the planet ever. 580 even overclocked will not touch a stock 6970. I think that's why Nvidia have rushed the 5*** cards out, they got wind of the performance AMD will soon bring to the market and are trying to make some sales and publicity before AMD clean up.
 
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happy medium

Lifer
Jun 8, 2003
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Skurge

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2009
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WTF, sounds too good to be true.

Yeah, that's ridiculous. I just don't believe it at all.

If it is true, which is highly unlikely I think its safe to say this does live up to the R300 name.

That would also mean a 6990 would be twice as fast if not more than a 580? That would mean about 45fps in crysis warhead at 2560x1600 with 4xAA.
 
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Skurge

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2009
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in ant event they were 2 6950 cards, I havent seen 1 6970 yet.
I read a rumer that the 6970's are gonna be in short supply this month.

There have been plenty of pics of a card with and without a back plate and 2 crossfire connectors.
 
Feb 19, 2009
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I had sources saying awhile back cayman xt is about 50% faster than cypress xt with the tweaked 4D optimized drivers, and only around 35% with old-cat drivers.

BUT, 30% over a 580 is a bit outside believability/expectation range. I'm still expecting a close match instead, as high res and AA, the 580 is about 40%-50% faster than cypress xt. Their pricing model reflects that, there's no way they are going to sell a 30% faster card for less/same.
 

Grooveriding

Diamond Member
Dec 25, 2008
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I think his estimates are either exaggerated, false or more likely if true; taken from one example and not across a wide array of benches.

The 6970 will faster than a 580 overall is my continued prediction. I even offered the nv fanboys a $100 bet in another thread on it and got no takers ;)

6970 unlike the 580 has some significant architectural changes. A 480 was about 15-20% faster than a 5870. The GTX 580 is a GTX 480 with 32 more shaders and a small overclock.

Nvidia is going against a new updated architecture and bigger die from AMD with an overclocked GTX 480, there is a reason they rushed the 580 out the door and a reason there is no concrete data on 6970/6950 and 6990 performance available. AMD is playing their cards close to their chest.

My big question as a multi-gpu user is if the big Crossfire boosts seen in 6870 and 6850 are going to be in 6970 and 6950, hopefully so, but expect to see another repeat of a $700-$800 multi-gpu 6990 holding its price the way the 5970 did and the 6970 being an expensive $500 card not dropping in price due to being the halo part like the 5870 did for most of its life.
 

MangoX

Senior member
Feb 13, 2001
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It's entirely plausible. The rumors of the 6970 being 5% slower/faster are actually based on the 6950. I mean think about it. AMD already knows their targets. Perhaps they targeted the 6950 to be 20% above 480 (competitive with 580) and the 6970 to be 45% faster than 480, therefor 6970 is 25% faster than 6950 (384SP vs 480SP). Add in other improvements like 2x better tessellation, dual setup engines, and also improved ROPs and drivers optimized for 4D can add some extra performance on top.

Oh and CAT 10.12 is going to be huge!
http://twitter.com/#!/CatalystMaker/status/10548746026745856
 
Feb 19, 2009
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HUGE!!! Terry just became the hypernator.

Funny that the ATI driver team is busy on facebook and twitter.. no wonder their drivers suck. :D j/k
 

cusideabelincoln

Diamond Member
Aug 3, 2008
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Good to know there will be plenty stock of the 6970. For those thinking will the 6970 be faster than a 580, I got news for you, how does 30-40% faster at stock sound.

I find this hard to believe.

I think his estimates are either exaggerated, false or more likely if true; taken from one example and not across a wide array of benches.

This sounds like a good explanation for someone making a claim: They only have a limited view of the situation. Of course perhaps I am giving too much credit, and he could just be lying.

that I would believe. A 6970 35% faster then a gtx580, would make it 70% faster then a 5870. No way, not with a refresh.

This is not a simple refresh. It's possible for AMD to get such performance, but I remain skeptical if they actually did it.
 

Will Robinson

Golden Member
Dec 19, 2009
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Originally Posted by rUmX
Good to know there will be plenty stock of the 6970. For those thinking will the 6970 be faster than a 580, I got news for you, how does 30-40% faster at stock sound.

Uh oh...cue the JAWS theme.....:sneaky::awe:
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
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Being faster in certain games by 30% is not out of the question (say Crysis). AMD cards are known to perform well in Crysis, BF:BC2 and F1 2010. Similarly, we can throw Metro 2033 tessellation benchmarks and state that GTX580 is faster than HD6870 CF. However, we would need various reviews and 10-15 games to arrive at a better representation of performance.

30-40% faster on average is not the same as "can be up to 30-40% faster". I am waiting until official benchmarks.
 
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3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
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Good to know there will be plenty stock of the 6970. For those thinking will the 6970 be faster than a 580, I got news for you, how does 30-40% faster at stock sound.




Uh oh...cue the JAWS theme.....:sneaky::awe:


Get your popcorn ready! :eek: :awe:

Seriously though, I'll crap my pants if it's that fast. Then watch the prices go up and up... It would really suck for consumers if the competition was so lame. Same speed as the 580 +/- 5% for 20% less money sounds better for us.
 

chewietobbacca

Senior member
Jun 10, 2007
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AMD pricing is interesting, because AMD knows precisely what their targets are, so there's no way they'd price the 6970 the same as the GTX 580 if it were slower. That being said, if it's faster, the question is how much?
 

digitaldurandal

Golden Member
Dec 3, 2009
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This is not a simple refresh. It's possible for AMD to get such performance, but I remain skeptical if they actually did it.

I think if this were true there would be leaks about it by now. I don't think they would sit on the info with the 580 gtx taking their crown away like it has.