***AMD Radeon HD7970 GHZ Edition - Official Reviews Thread***

[AtenRa]

I consider both equal.

One is better here, the other is better over there. Some games run faster with HD7970 others run faster with GTX680. It seams that HD7970 draws more power but at those high prices only a few will consider that as a factor.
If you are one of them the GTX680 seams to be a better choice.

Really, i dont have any problem recommending both of them.

Edit: Just to add, there are 1GHz HD7970 Cards with custom PCBs and Coolers (lower thermals + lower noise) a few months now on the market.

 

[Jaydip]

I don't think NV will bother with a refresh,some of the custom cards are already faster.But if they really do it will be a disaster for AMD. Honestly for a refresh it is underwhelming.580 was a real refresh.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Stil going thru the review links in the original post. It seems, as if different reviewers have got different hardware for tests, as the numbers are not very consistent when you cross-compare.

Objectively, the new AMD card is competitive and the amount of 'haters' in this thread clearly shows you that.

 

[Jaydip]

This is a very fast card,no doubt about that.But most of the 7970 owners are already running with these clocks for a long time now.The problem is it offers very little.

 

[amdftw]

Lets add in another game that everyone loves

Ohh no.. Check this out:
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1527/pg10/amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-graphics-card-review-max-payne-3.html

7970GHz is still faster than an overeclocked GTX680...:whiste:

 

[Jaydip]

That looks like the only site where the 7970 is faster in BF3.

 

[-Slacker-]

Lol seems like every time there's an AMD launch something inside of Don Karnage snaps and he starts foaming ... just lie down and cool off a bit dude.

 

[Silverforce11]

Don only cares about BF3 results, he seems to base his measure on how good a GPU is just one that game and ignore everything else. Look at large datasets, even a STOCK 7970 is within 5% of a gtx680.

Also regarding Max Payne 3, the gtx680 can't even run 3 monitors with MSAA on, vram limited. Or even at 1080p, put on AA and 7970 wins. I think in the long run, the benefit of having that extra vram AND the extra compute power which developers may use for directcompute functions in games is an advantage that needs to be considered, JUST as much as the extra power use is a disadvantage that needs to be considered.

But the product is a gimmick, any 28nm product AMD has released so far can be pushed manually with vcore tweaks to get a very high OC. It's a gimmick to release pre-OC models and not even bother to bin it for better power use.

Paying such a premium (for either 7970 or gtx680) when the gtx670 and 7950s are hitting >1.2ghz is just unwise.

Pretty signifcant win at high res. Still a gimmick.

 

[psolord]

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition/

http://www.hardware.fr/articles/869-1/amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-test.html

My personal favorite sites, but their sum up seems to differ. Hardware.fr says 7970 is equal with the 680 and the Ghz edition is faster than both (at the resolution I am interested in, 1920x1080). Computerbase is matching the Ghz edition with the 680.

 

[tviceman]

The Tech Report

Yeah,sounds like a real disaster Don...

Quote the last paragraph of that same article, same page troll.

EDIT: I'll do it for you, since I know you won't.

AMD's HD 7970 GHz edition is priced at $499, the same as NVIDIA's GTX 680. While this might seem enticing at first glance, since the GHz Edition is faster, NVIDIA's card wins at power-draw, noise, and manual overclocking, with the better card overall. I find $499 is just too high to really draw away much attention from the GTX 680, if the HD 7970 GHz Edition was $450 I'd definitely consider it, until that happens I'll happily take a GTX 680, or even GTX 670, which offers better price/performance at not much lower performance.

 

[SirPauly]

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition/

http://www.hardware.fr/articles/869-1/amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-test.html

My personal favorite sites, but their sum up seems to differ. Hardware.fr says 7970 is equal with the 680 and the Ghz edition is faster than both (at the resolution I am interested in, 1920x1080). Computerbase is matching the Ghz edition with the 680.

Indeed some of my personal favorite sites as well

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition/4/

The key is there is separation from AMD with 2560 x 1600 with AA and multi-monitor with AA, based on Computerbase's findings. Nice to see and can see how some enthusiasts may see this as compelling.

For me, AMD has the fastest GPU in the world at this time. Awesome -- the more pressure and strong competition from AMD -- may force nVidia to release a GK-110 for GeForce.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Well at least when it wins it wins big... Its nice seeing the 7970 being almost twice as fast as the 6970 in some of those games

Still cant recommend anything other than a 670 for a high end card though

 

[tviceman]

This card compares significantly worse to the gtx680 than the infamous gtx480 did to the hd5870. The hd7970 is the loudest single GPU card at anandtech, techpowerup, and techreport. It consumes significantly more power than the gtx680. And all for what? A 2% to 5% performance increase, depending on your resolution? At least the gtx480 was noticeably faster across the board, and not game-dependent.

Anyone defending this card as being superior are hypocrites if they weren't singing the same, or even higher praises, for the gtx480.

 

[Silverforce11]

Indeed some of my personal favorite sites as well

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition/4/

The key is there is separation from AMD with 2560 x 1600 with AA and multi-monitor with AA, based on Computerbase's findings. Nice to see and can see how some enthusiasts may see this as compelling.

For me, AMD has the fastest GPU in the world at this time. Awesome -- the more pressure and strong competition from AMD -- may force nVidia to release a GK-110 for GeForce.

Yep, and even 1080p with high AA there's a big lead for AMD, such a gap is often present in an entire upper tier of product. ie. 670 vs 680 etc. Here the 7970 Ghz is clearly in a different tier.. and its an attractive purchase for users who want MSAA or 1600p/multi monitor users.

But the point here is that a 7950 with vcore tweaks will give you similar performance for less $$ and power use. So why pay extra for a 7970? (Likewise, 670 vs 680).

 

[Silverforce11]

This card compares significantly worse to the gtx680 than the infamous gtx480 did to the hd5870. The hd7970 is the loudest single GPU card at anandtech, techpowerup, and techreport. It consumes significantly more power than the gtx680. And all for what? A 2% to 5% performance increase, depending on your resolution? At least the gtx480 was noticeably faster across the board, and not game-dependent.

Anyone defending this card as being superior are hypocrites if they weren't singing the same, or even higher praises, for the gtx480.

Apparently enthusiasts don't care about these factors, especially power use. Thats what ppl keep on spouting when I point out efficiency matters and is heavily factored into the final "price" of a product.

 

[SirPauly]

It's really nice to receive great acoustics with a default sku -- but this is not always the case. If acoustics bother some -- AIB's offer differentiation and great cooling options.

Power output is nice as well, but since when does power requirements mean so much for higher end enthusiasts; to sacrifice performance? I respected the balance of the 5870 and GTX 680 but sacrifice over-all performance?

It's wonderful to see separation with 2560 x 1600 and multi-monitor from AMD -- trying to offer more performance for the enthusiasts.

I would kill for a GK-110 choice that wasn't as balanced as the Gk-104 -- but offered more performance.

 

[railven]

I'm more interested in the GPU Boost (rip-off) since this concept to me is still something I don't entirely get (and it's hard to explain to people.)

Does the new GE still "boost" if manually OC'ed? Or does Manually OCing void that feature? It seems the stock boost is 50mhz, so if one manually OC's to 1150 (as AT did) does it run at 1150 or 1200? If I missed that in the review my fault, read it last night at midnight.

Temps/Noise/Power draw are awful, at $500 AMD is shooting themselves in the foot. This card should be $450 as is (replacing the old 7970) and custom AIB should slot in the $480-500 spot.

 

[tviceman]

Apparently enthusiasts don't care about these factors, especially power use. Thats what ppl keep on spouting when I point out efficiency matters and is heavily factored into the final "price" of a product.

If power use is within 15% of each other, then I personally do not think it matters. I'm pointing out that the hd7970 takes on many characteristics of the gtx480 except for the performance advantage.

 

[railven]

If power use is within 15% of each other, then I personally do not think it matters. I'm pointing out that the hd7970 takes on many characteristics of the gtx480 except for the performance advantage.

Well of course it does, if you go by the hierarchy of chip names, the same would apply when comparing the HD 6970 to the GTX 560 ti, and HD 5870 to the GTX 460.

While I'm not trying to make excuses, nVidia managed to trump AMD with their traditionally mid-tier chip. If GK100 launched outside of AMD getting curb-stomped in performance, I'm sure Taihiti XT would be the cooler/less-power-hog chip.

 

[SirPauly]

A nice example to see if there are efficiency gains when compared to the first HD 7970's:

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition/12/

 

[Olikan]

A nice example to see if there are efficiency gains when compared to the first HD 7970's:

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition/12/

cumputerbase....man, i am starting to get really impressed by those guys...

but my german sucks, 10 years without practice....

 

[Skurge]

If power use is within 15% of each other, then I personally do not think it matters. I'm pointing out that the hd7970 takes on many characteristics of the gtx480 except for the performance advantage.

The standard 7970 does a better job as power use is very close between it and the 680 and performence is about 10% in favour of the 680. So I guess it doesn't matter in that case? The 480 used nearly double the power of the 5870 and used more power than the 5970.

I don't think power use is this cards biggest enemy, although I think the GPU boost feature adding voltage is what puts it so far ahead of the standard 7970 in power use. I wonder if you can disable the GPU boost. The biggest problem I have is the reference cooler. WTF? They had 6 months to produce a better one. Well maybe we won't see any referece 7970GE's but still.

Another thing is it looks like the GPU boost on the 7970 is more sophisticated than on the 680 and faster. Them switching from a monthly driver schedule also seems to have helped. I'd like to see what they can do with GPU boost with a GPU built around it.

So I think this card was a valient effort, but not a good one. The custom 7970s were doing pretty good against the 680/670 and AMD should have just givem them GPU boost.

Overall It's good to see AMD trying to one up nV, instead of just being content with 2nd palce.

(Only the 1st part of my post had anything to do with yours Tviceman)

 

[SirPauly]

I couldn't agree with Ryan more -- again:

Noise issues aside, we’re finally seeing something that we haven’t seen for a very long time: bona fide, cut throat, brutal competition in the high-end video card segment for the fastest single-GPU video card. To call it refreshing is an understatement; it’s nothing short of fantastic. For the first time in 6 years AMD is truly performance competitive with NVIDIA at the high-end and we couldn't be happier.

 

[SirPauly]

cumputerbase....man, i am starting to get really impressed by those guys...

but my german sucks, 10 years without practice....

A great site with nice investigations!

 

[Rvenger]

I just hope if Nvidia releases GK110, AMD responds with the 8970 or what ever it supposed to be. I don't want to hear Rory say their GPUs are fast enough.