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Hardware AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB Review

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by arcticstoat, 22 Dec 2011.

  1. r3loaded

    r3loaded Minimodder

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    From what I've heard from an Nvidia rep, they've been planning to fix this weakness in Fermi for quite a while. I'd expect native 3-display output from Kepler at the very least.

    As for PCIe 3.0, AnandTech have run some tests with GPU compute applications and it's definitely working and making a difference on X79: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5264/sandy-bridge-e-x79-pcie-30-it-works
     
  2. Mentai

    Mentai What's a Dremel?

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    I'm still chugging along with my 2x 4870's, which other than missing DX11 support, are doing just fine for now. Looking forward to Nvidia's showing though, will probably upgrade in 2012.
     
  3. erratum1

    erratum1 What's a Dremel?

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    As it says in the review until we have a new generation of consoles your going to be stuck playing old generation games on these mighty gpu's.

    Even 2560x1600 doesn't phaze it which would be impressive but then you think it's because the games are made for old consoles.
     
  4. slothy89

    slothy89 MicroModder

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    Not quite a Christmas Present with a release date of January 6th, but nice news.

    Also need more tests! EyeFinity, Folding, GPGPU applications, comparison with GTX580 3GB

    I know you cant do crossfire as youd only get one card but that'd be interesting too..

    Also, my bet is the "Media sample" is very specifically cherry picked hence the good overclocks.
     
  5. McDuff32

    McDuff32 Minimodder

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    I want one.

    Nice review.
     
  6. Palmski

    Palmski What's a Dremel?

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    I was waiting for the numbers on Southern Islands before deciding on what to replace my dying 4890 with, something which will last a while and let me upgrade to a 1080p monitor and still be able to play games with all the bells and whistles.

    Looks like I'll need to wait a while longer, £440 odd for a graphics card is just silly money. Hopefully the 7950 will be a lot more affordable.
     
  7. Tomrh99

    Tomrh99 What's a Dremel?

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    Nice review, and congrats AMD!!!
    While the radeon 6000 series is a good siries, they had nothing really to compete with the higher end nvidia cards like the 570 and 580. The only thing they had that was good enough for them is the loud, hot and expensive 6990. But finally they gave something to compete with the higher end single GPU cards!
    Oh and I'm not sure having it against a 3gb 580 would make too much of a difference, the memory doesent matter all that much.
    So all in all a good card + great overclocking = WELL DONE AMD! :)
     
  8. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

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    This isn't strictly true*. Galaxy have some GTX5xx cards that can natively run 3 (or more) monitors from a single card. The GTX580 MDT is what HardOCP used to compare single card Surround performance to single card Eyefinity.

    *Although quite correct if we are strictly talking about the reference design.

    Excellent news assuming it plays out that way. I love Portrait Eyefinity on my single HD6970 but I do wish for more FPS with no extra noise. Turn down a few settings though and everything I hve tried is playable. A HD7970 would just allow me to turn up settings at the same FPS or push higher FPS at the same settings.

    I am not paying £440 for that boost though. My HD6970 (an Asus HD6950 flashed and clocked) was £199....
     
  9. bogie170

    bogie170 What's a Dremel?

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    £350 and you got yourself a deal AMD.
    £450 no thanks.
     
  10. damien c

    damien c Mad FPS Gamer

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    Hopefully when I am ready to upgrade there will be some new Nvidia card's out to really see how this thing perform's.

    At the moment though I will stick with my GTX 480, and will buy a waterblock for it and oc the nuts of it.
     
  11. Siwini

    Siwini What is 4+no.5?

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    I must admit. I did not expect this. Thanks guys and Merry Christmas!
     
  12. yassarikhan786

    yassarikhan786 Ultramodder(Not)

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    A good card with some impressive results. I wonder how it would perform against a factory OC'd 580 with a similar price bracket, like the MSI lightning or the Gigabyte SOC.

    The results would definitely be closer.
     
  13. warejon9

    warejon9 What's a Dremel?

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  14. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

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    Certainly not worth an upgrade from my GTX 580 1.5GB - 5fps gains at most for a £440 outlay? I think the price is a bit too high for a single card regardless - if they hit the £350 price point there would be a lot more interest.
     
  15. warejon9

    warejon9 What's a Dremel?

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    Well, what about the power savings as well? Which would you buy as a new card?
     
  16. Baz

    Baz I work for Corsair

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    I'd wait until Nvidia and AMD had a few more 218nm cards out!
     
  17. steve30x

    steve30x What's a Dremel?

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    I can finally feel comfortable changing to an ATI GPU even if Nvidia goes one better. Looking at reviews so far this 7970 matches my GTX580 and sometimes margianlly beats my GTX580. I am a fanboy of ATI and have been waiting for years for them to bring out a decent GPU.
     
  18. damien c

    damien c Mad FPS Gamer

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    For those wanting to see how this compares to the 3gb GTX 580, look and wait no more.

    http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...s/49646-amd-radeon-hd-7970-3gb-review-13.html

    Seem's it is faster than the 3gb GTX 580 so for those looking to upgrade from a low or medium spec card, and was thinking of going for a GTX 580 then unless you want to stick to Nvidia then this new AMD card seem's a better choice unless you want to save some money.
     
  19. damien c

    damien c Mad FPS Gamer

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    I switched from ATI when Nvidia released the 8800 series card's and have not looked back, but now I am considering switching back but will make my choice when Nvidia release there new card's.
     
  20. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

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    Power savings? Seriously? All these high end cards are going to draw more or less the same at load, and when I'm done gaming I turn my PC off - so this new low power mode when the display is asleep would achieve nothing.

    Plus, my PC under load uses just under 2p an hour of electricity. It'll take a lot of hours to justify the £440 price tag on those grounds alone.

    As a new card I'd still buy a GTX 580 1.5GB if I had to buy one today. The price jump to the 7970 is just too much for a marginal increase in performance. Of course, this all comes down to what the real price is in January...

    Totally agree, but this shows us what AMD's flagship single-GPU solution is going to be. For somebody already using a top-class card, the only other launch of interest is NVIDIA's GTX 680. Hardly going to step down to a 7950...
     
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