When I heard that the 7870 was only 1280 SP instead of 1408, I didn't think the 7870 could even match the 6970 in performance. I guess with 32 ROP's they had to keep the Pitcairn die size in check somehow, and cutting down the SP's to 1280 was really a decent option.
Amazingly …
techsopt.com 7870/7850 …
..... (fps 1920x1200)..... 6970 ... 7870 ..... % faster
Aliens vs P .................... 48 ...... 42 ...... -14.3
Alan Wake .................... 46 ...... 48 ...... 4.3
BF3 .............................. 42 ...... 51 ...... 21.4
COD :MW3 ................... 80 ...... 87 ...... 8.8
Crysis 2 ........................ 26 ...... 35 ...... 34.6
Dragon Age 2 ................ 38 ...... 37 ...... -2.7
Deus Ex : HR ................ 69 ...... 74 ...... 7.2
Dirt 3 ............................ 61 ...... 68 ...... 11.5
Hard Reset .................... 52 ...... 58 ...... 11.5
Just Cause 2 ................. 42 ...... 48 ...... 14.3
King Arthur II ................ 25 ...... 29 ...... 16.0
Metro 2033 .................. 52 ...... 56 ...... 7.7
Elder Scrolls V ............... 56 ...... 63 ...... 12.5
The Witcher 2 ............... 59 ...... 63 ...... 6.8
Average ................................................ 10.0% ...faster for 7870
The 7870 averages a solid 10% faster over the 6970, and it is faster than the 580 in a few games (Alan Wake, King Arthur II, The Witcher 2) while being right at the level of the 580 performance in several other games too. Wow. Amazing.
I must say that AMD/ATI's new GCN is a great new architecture -- AMD/ATI sure knocked the GCN out of the park. If AMD can improve driver performance 5-10% in the next few months, the 7870 could be matching the 580 in performance.
Price $350 … ouch.
A little pricey, I was hoping for $299. Even $319 would have been much more palpable. At $299 this card would fly off the shelves. At $350 -- quite a few customers may balk, although it is easily a better card than the 6970 with better overclocking and much better power consumption. Hopefully the prices will drop a little soon and we'll see a 7850 1GB model come in around $200.