Radeon HD 7970 SALE !

[RussianSensation]

Damn, at these prices I'm tempted to get a 2nd one for CrossFire.

Are you sure your 750W PSU will cut it? That Core i7 930 @ 4.0ghz on its own eats power like a Vegas stripper snorts yayo.

Each HD7970 @ 1150mhz would use 200-250W of power at 1.175V and more with 1.25V.

This deal is killer for sure, that game bundle alone is pretty insane for the price.....If AMD made the MSRP of these cards around that level I'm guessing they would make an absolute killing. From what I gather these visiontek cards are selling like hotcakes at this price.

No surprise. 6 free games to resell and ~ 10-11 BTC / month @ $9 per BTC and this card is basically free in 3-5 months. It's interesting that it took a price cut from $550 to $370 for HD7970 to become a good deal while GTX680 sold out for months at $500. AMD really should work on improving their reference cooler for HD8000 series and working on their marketing. I also think next time they should be more aggressive with clock speeds.

BTW, do you know if there is any benefit to flashing the stock HD7970 with the GE BIOS in terms of improving GPU overclocking? I am reading that it boosts GPU voltage to 1.256V on stock 7970 cards but overclocking on GPUs with ASIC of 70-80% only improves only by about 50mhz (while power consumption skyrockets 50-60W!). I don't know if that's worth it.

 

[HurleyBird]

You have those? :wub:

I think if you can afford $1600 CDN headphones (and probably a $1000-2000 amp to drive them), then you can probably afford a non-reference 7970 or an Accelero cooler.

Nah, this is just to tide me over until BigK or sea islands comes out. And it has some games I want anyway.

I'll mess with fan profiles, voltage, and clocks a bit and see how quite I can get it and at what clocks.

Oh, and my amp/dac/soundcard is a Grace m903

 

[ZimZum]

6 free games to resell and ~ 10-11 BTC / month @ $9 per BTC and this card is basically free in 3-5 months.

Had planned on skipping this generation, but this is tough to pass up.

 

[RussianSensation]

Nah, this is just to tide me over until BigK or sea islands comes out. And it has some games I want anyway.

I'll mess with fan profiles, voltage, and clocks a bit and see how quite I can get it and at what clocks.

Oh, and my amp/dac/soundcard is a Grace m903

:thumbsup: Wow, that's almost $4k in Audio equipment. Baller!! I am jelly. I listen to most of my music on the go. So if I could afford it, I'd get something like this. Right now the "poor man's" Triple Fi 10s will have to do.

You should set up bitcoin mining and make some $ on the side at night. That 7970 will pay for some of your next GPU upgrade by the time it's out. Just convert the BTC into Amazon/Newegg gift cards for your next upgrade, or use some other alternative transfer, etc.
http://www.btcbuy.info/

Had planned on skipping this generation, but this is tough to pass up.

Now is the best time to get in. 7970 dropped in price from $550 to $370! By October Butterfly Labs ASICs might destroy GPU mining. We have about 2-3 months before it might be ruined. Even if you just run mining at night, it'll make ~ $100 by then, making this card only cost $270.

 

[3DVagabond]

BTW, do you know if there is any benefit to flashing the stock HD7970 with the GE BIOS in terms of improving GPU overclocking? I am reading that it boosts GPU voltage to 1.256V on stock 7970 cards but overclocking on GPUs with ASIC of 70-80% only improves only by about 50mhz (while power consumption skyrockets 50-60W!). I don't know if that's worth it.

That's why God put the 2nd bios on it. Doesn't hurt to try. :thumbsup:

 

[HurleyBird]

But why would you? Boost is the first thing enthusiasts disable when overclocking processors. I don't see it being all that much better in GPUs.

Just figure out what your ideal voltage and clock speeds are. Let power tune do the rest.

 

[RussianSensation]

That's why God put the 2nd bios on it. Doesn't hurt to try. :thumbsup:

I manually pumped 1.256V (supposedly the new load voltage of GE BIOS for ASIC 70-80%) and my card can do 1200mhz. The extra 50mhz and voltage bump from 1.174V to 1.256V increases VRM temps from 95-96*C to 108-109*C, fan speed from 53-55% to 71% (to keep the same GPU temperatures), and power consumption increases from 192W to 231W (using HWInfo64). That extra 4% isn't worth it to me based on these measurements.

BTW, I just read the Hexus.net review of Sapphire Toxic 7970 6GB in more detail:

"Bear in mind that jumping from one BIOS to another [1200mhz GPU clock] also increases under-load GPU voltage from 1.256V to 1.281V." :thumbsdown:

Looks like the cream of the crop 7970 isn't actually that special. 1200mhz on 1.281V is disappointing. I thought all those premium components and XT2 binning meant the card is doing 1200mhz on 1.175V or so. Instead, it looks like the GE is nothing more but overvolted Tahiti XT chips from the factory! No wonder the power consumption for GE edition cards is so poor in 1200mhz+ overclocked states. D: Right now my average voltage is 1.092 with max 1.174V at 1150 mhz. I think I'll pass on the GE Bios flash for now.

 

[Shmee]

Interesting, and FYI, I do use a headset. I use the sennheiser PC350 headset, got it for about $120.

 

[3DVagabond]

I manually pumped 1.256V (supposedly the new load voltage of GE BIOS for ASIC 70-80%) and my card can do 1200mhz. The extra 50mhz and voltage bump from 1.174V to 1.256V increases VRM temps from 95-96*C to 108-109*C, fan speed from 53-55% to 71% (to keep the same GPU temperatures), and power consumption increases from 192W to 231W (using HWInfo64). That extra 4% isn't worth it to me based on these measurements.

BTW, I just read the Hexus.net review of Sapphire Toxic 7970 6GB in more detail:

"Bear in mind that jumping from one BIOS to another [1200mhz GPU clock] also increases under-load GPU voltage from 1.256V to 1.281V." :thumbsdown:

Looks like the cream of the crop 7970 isn't actually that special. 1200mhz on 1.281V is disappointing. I thought all those premium components and XT2 binning meant the card is doing 1200mhz on 1.175V or so. Instead, it looks like the GE is nothing more but overvolted Tahiti XT chips from the factory! No wonder the power consumption for GE edition cards is so poor in 1200mhz+ overclocked states. D: Right now my average voltage is 1.092 with max 1.174V at 1150 mhz. I think I'll pass on the GE Bios flash for now.

True these GPU's don't seem special. The extra voltage is obviously meant to guarantee stability at those clocks. Nothing stops an owner of one of these cards from undervolting. Definitely better to buy standard 7970's and O/C from a bang/$. Buying these does eliminate the silicon lottery and you do get a markedly better made card with the Toxic.

 

[aayjaay]

Slightly off-topic but does anyone know if the prices of 7950s are going to be lowered. In the US they're ~$330 (£210) but in the UK, the cheapest I could find was ~£280?

 

[Pray To Jesus]

I don't know man from experience with my GTX 470

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

my health aint worth $50

 

[Skurge]

um a 6990 is hardly any faster than 7970 and has lots of issues. its basically a pos if you care about smooth framerates and microstutter free gameplay. also the 7970 has more ocing headroom unless you want to turn that already obnoxiously loud 6990 into a torture chamber.

Totaly true. I ripped the Stock cooler off my 6990 on DAY ONE and replaced it with a AC Twin Turbo. it's quieter than my 800rpm case fans.

As for the FPS, they seem smooth to me although I'm CPU limited in every game.

 

[jacktesterson]

Makes me sad. My 7970s are less than a month old, I bought them used for more than those new Visiontek's..

 

[thilanliyan]

^If you wanted a cheaper price, you should have waited. The price of electronics trends downward...you shouldn't feel bad about it.

 

[Rvenger]

I paid $409 for mine but its an OC version which I don't like to OC my cards anyways so I think I still got a fair deal.

 

[jacktesterson]

^If you wanted a cheaper price, you should have waited. The price of electronics trends downward...you shouldn't feel bad about it.

Nah its ok!

 

[RussianSensation]

Makes me sad. My 7970s are less than a month old, I bought them used for more than those new Visiontek's..

You at least got it for $150 less than the reference 7970 on launch. I imagine a lot of the early 7970 adopters were mining on the side though to offset the higher initial entry cost. Compared to the Asus Direct CUII cooler, the reference cooler is not very good if you value noise. I feel the worst for the guys who paid $500 for after market 7950s. Now the same cards are going for $305-310. The reference 7950 has dipped from $449.99 to $279.99.

It don't recall a time when high-end GPUs depreciated that fast in value. It's only been 6 months and the reference 7970 fell from $549.99 to $369.99 on sale. OTOH, NV hasn't dropped prices at all.

I think that's how it's been though in the past. The early adopters pay the largest premium to have the latest and greatest.

 

[RaistlinZ]

^ Well, everyone knew the 7970 was overpriced even at lauch. But there was no competition so they could get away with it. When the 7970 launched the 580 was still selling for $499.99.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

It don't recall a time when high-end GPUs depreciated that fast in value. It's only been 6 months and the reference 7970 fell from $549.99 to $369.99 on sale. OTOH, NV hasn't dropped prices at all.

GTX 280 and GTX 480

People who bought those at launch lost their shirts on resale value in a very short time period.

Lets be honest, this is a Visiontek card. It wouldn't be my first choice. The offerings reputable vendors are still a fair bit more. In six months msrp dropped 20% and now that supply and demand have leveled off there are more sales. Its nothing really that extraordinary.

 

[RussianSensation]

GTX 280 and GTX 480

People who bought those at launch lost their shirts on resale value in a very short time period.

I guess you are right.

I think GTX280 was $650 and dropped to $500 but NV offered $150 back to early adopters. GTX280's resale value tanked 12 months from launch when AMD launched HD4890 with the 90-95% of the performance for $269 and when NV brought out the cheaper GTX275. Until that point, I am pretty sure GTX280 held steady and you could sell it and recoup most of that $500 value if you timed it right.

In the case of GTX480, it did tank. Still GTX480 @ 580 speeds was the fastest single GPU for almost 2 years (from March 26, 2010 to first week in January, 2012 when HD7970 was for sale in retail). It also had strong tessellation performance and 1.5GB of VRAM which means 2 years later and it's still a good card vs. HD5870 1GB that struggles in DX11 games.

HD7970 went from $550 to $370 in just 6 months....That's way worse than GTX480. I am pretty sure in September of 2010 (6 months after launch) that GTX480 was still selling for at least $450. Also, it's doubtful that HD7970 OCed will remain the fastest single-GPU for almost 2 years from January 2012. So I think it's worse than either the GTX280/480 cases.

^ Well, everyone knew the 7970 was overpriced even at lauch. But there was no competition so they could get away with it. When the 7970 launched the 580 was still selling for $499.99.

Yup. I think that's AMD's new graphics strategy now to be early an adopter and reap largest profits with predator pricing until NV launches and they are forced into a price war. I am anticipating HD8000 series to beat GTX700 to market and be priced at $549 once again.

 

[Homeles]

It don't recall a time when high-end GPUs depreciated that fast in value. It's only been 6 months and the reference 7970 fell from $549.99 to $369.99 on sale. OTOH, NV hasn't dropped prices at all.

This generation's "high end" is an artificial one. I'm not sure why you're surprised that the price drop has been so steep -- it was massively overpriced to begin with.

 

[cmdrdredd]

This generation's "high end" is an artificial one. I'm not sure why you're surprised that the price drop has been so steep -- it was massively overpriced to begin with.

8800GTX was $550 when it was top of the line. Why would you expect high end to be cheaper now?

I fail to see how you come to the conclusion the high end is artificial. The GTX680 and HD7970 are the top of the line from each manufacturer. There's nothing artificial about the best out there right now.

 

[Homeles]

8800GTX was $550 when it was top of the line. Why would you expect high end to be cheaper now?

I fail to see how you come to the conclusion the high end is artificial. The GTX680 and HD7970 are the top of the line from each manufacturer. There's nothing artificial about the best out there right now.

Seriously, it's been stated numerous times all over the internet, and several times by me directly to you. A 300-350mm² die is not high end. If you can't comprehend a subject so simple, please refrain from commenting on it.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Seriously, it's been stated numerous times all over the internet, and several times by me directly to you. A 300-350mm² die is not high end. If you can't comprehend a subject so simple, please refrain from commenting on it.

Die size doesn't mean anything when it comes to determining high or low end GAMING CARDS. It is performance only. It performs better than last gen and that's why they are priced as such.

It's not rocket science like you're trying to make it.

The simple subject you're avoiding is that Nvidia and AMD don't care what the die size is as long as the performance increases are enough to sell you a card. It is high end because the GTX 680 beats the GTX 580 and the HD7970 beats the HD6970.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Seriously, it's been stated numerous times all over the internet, and several times by me directly to you. A 300-350mm² die is not high end. If you can't comprehend a subject so simple, please refrain from commenting on it.

I've never heard that metric used when determining if a part is high end or not. That's like saying any GPU under 800MHz is not high end.