AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3072 MB

[MxPhenom 216]

I would just get a normal HD7970 maybe even the MSI lightning and then just clock the dog snot out of it.

[alienstorexxx]

Originally Posted by HellasVagabond

1) Custom cards offer Factory OC coupled with Less Noise & Temperatures
2) Why not get the 680 and overclock it to get a more powerful card ? Makes no sense to choose the 7970GHz when you can outperform it and have a card with less power needs, noise and temperatures.

In any case i feel we are all going in circles. ATI/AMD fanboys will never admit what's right there (same goes for NV fanboys when NV releases something bad) so everyone can't be happy, ever.

since when 680 overclocks scales better than a 7970? also read other reviews when putting 7970ghz edition vs oced gtx680 like !AMP from zotac. wich costs 550usd. thats what i call outperforming. not even overclocked gtx680 can against it, not to mention we haven't already seen custom of these new 7970.

7970 ghz ed = performance crown. deal with it, it can be noisy, hotter, or whatever you can think but "my logic is undeniable".

pd. the card can also be overclocked, have you forgot it?

[MxPhenom 216]

Originally Posted by alienstorexxx

since when 680 overclocks scales better than a 7970? also read other reviews when putting 7970ghz edition vs oced gtx680 like !AMP from zotac. wich costs 550usd. thats what i call outperforming. not even overclocked gtx680 can against it, not to mention we haven't already seen custom of these new 7970.

7970 ghz ed = performance crown. deal with it, it can be noisy, hotter, or whatever you can think but "my logic is undeniable".

pd. the card can also be overclocked, have you forgot it?

Im pretty sure if you take a reference $499 GTX680 and clock it it would beat the 7970 ghz edition. the 680/670 are still better options because they run cooler, quieter, and more efficient.

[raghu78]

Originally Posted by HellasVagabond

1) Custom cards offer Factory OC coupled with Less Noise & Temperatures
2) Why not get the 680 and overclock it to get a more powerful card ? Makes no sense to choose the 7970GHz when you can outperform it and have a card with less power needs, noise and temperatures.

In any case i feel we are all going in circles. ATI/AMD fanboys will never admit what's right there (same goes for NV fanboys when NV releases something bad) so everyone can't be happy, ever.

If you can overclock a GTX 680 so can you do with a Radeon HD 7970, Radeon HD 7970 OC and Radeon HD 7970 Ghz edition. Most Radeon HD 7970s did 1125 Mhz in AMD CCC at stock voltage from launch day. Custom HD 7970 models like Sapphire HD 7970 OC Dual X , Gigabyte HD 7970 OC Windforce have been shown to hit 1250+ Mhz.

http://hardocp.com/article/2012/04/1...o_card_review/
http://hardocp.com/article/2012/02/0...o_card_review/

Lots of enthusiasts have even hit 1300 Mhz with watercooling setups without any problems associated with heat and noise.

But that said overclocking might always differ from card to card . What AMD is doing with the Radeon HD 7970 Ghz edition is giving better out of the box speeds. So this gives you guaranteed performance. This is an answer to GTX 680. AMD partners are definitely going to ship excellent Radeon HD 7970 Ghz edition OC models with 1100 - 1150 Mhz speeds out of the box.

And also the difference at 2560 x 1600 is significant even at stock comparison. So a GTX 680 OC will have a difficult if not impossible job of catching up a Radeon HD 7970 OC / Radeon HD 7970 Ghz edition with voltage tweaking at this resolution and even more so at 5760 x 1080.

[HellasVagabond]

Originally Posted by raghu78

If you can overclock a GTX 680 so can you do with a Radeon HD 7970, Radeon HD 7970 OC and Radeon HD 7970 Ghz edition. Most Radeon HD 7970s did 1125 Mhz in AMD CCC at stock voltage from launch day. Custom HD 7970 models like Sapphire HD 7970 OC Dual X , Gigabyte HD 7970 OC Windforce have been shown to hit 1250+ Mhz.

http://hardocp.com/article/2012/04/1...o_card_review/
http://hardocp.com/article/2012/02/0...o_card_review/

Lots of enthusiasts have even hit 1300 Mhz with watercooling setups without any problems associated with heat and noise.

But that said overclocking might always differ from card to card . What AMD is doing with the Radeon HD 7970 Ghz edition is giving better out of the box speeds. So this gives you guaranteed performance. This is an answer to GTX 680. AMD partners are definitely going to ship excellent Radeon HD 7970 Ghz edition OC models with 1100 - 1150 Mhz speeds out of the box.

And also the difference at 2560 x 1600 is significant even at stock comparison. So a GTX 680 OC will have a difficult if not impossible job of catching up a Radeon HD 7970 OC / Radeon HD 7970 Ghz edition with voltage tweaking at this resolution and even more so at 5760 x 1080.

We are talking about overclocking Without losing your warranty, thus without upping voltages (something 90% of people don't do). In that case there's simply no way for an 7970 to beat an 680. Even the GHz edition performs worse than the 680 in several games, something which at least for me looks really bad since the GHz edition even comes with increased voltages. And then you have noise, power and temperatures which are very important to some people (i wish one day ATI fanboys decided if they care about those things, they ignored it before the 5xxx series, then they considered them important it when NV released GTX4xxx series and now they ignore them again).

[W1zzard]

Originally Posted by raghu78

Given that a USD 500 card is intended for multi monitor configurations and single monitor with high resolutions like 1440p / 1600p some method needs to be worked out to include the 5760 X 1080 results into the performance average. Its extremely unfair while reviewing a card which people will look to use in multi monitor configurations to leave out the multi monitor performance.

As for weights here are some suggestions. for cards which are in the USD 350 - USD 500 price point the 1280 x 800 chart does not need to be a part of the review and the performance average. For weight in this class I can give only what I feel is right given you are spending a lot of money.

1600p - 0.3, 5760 x 1080 - 0.3, 1080p / 1200p - 0.2, 1680 x 1050 - 0.2 .

For cards in USD 200 - USD 350 the 5760 x 1080 can be removed and weights can be as follows

1080p / 1200p - 0.4, 1680 x 1050 -0.3, 1600p - 0.2, 1280 x 800 - 0.1

For cards in USD 100 - USD 200 , 1600p can be removed and weights can be as follows

1080p / 1200p - 0.4, 1680 x 1050 - 0.3, 1280 x 800 - 0.3

using those methods for all cards tested, would you say our performance summary, performance per dollar and performance per watt will still be valid, if all the cards in there are subject to different weight factors?

How to solve the 0.0 score issue on 5760x1080?

nvidia's architecture is weak at higher resolutions, so going from $350 to $349 (for example) will increase each nvidia's card "performance summary", just by making the card cheaper, not faster in real life. it will also affect "performance per dollar" more than $1 alone. thoughts on this?

[cadaveca]

I only see that working if you seperated cards into entry-level, mainstream, and high performance.


If entry to mainstream or entry card does well with higher resolutions, it gets a bonus for it. IF a high-end card fails, it gets a deficit because of it.

But, at the same time, I think 5760x1080 should be ranked on it's own, seperate from all other resolutions, as it's not exactly the same thing as running a single monitor. If this section was seperate, and had it's own ranking in perf/watt perf/dollar. It coudl be treated like OC, it's own section for teh high-end user, like OC section is for those that like to clock their cards.

[Random Murderer]

Am I the only one that thinks w1z's testing methods are fine the way they are now?

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Random Murderer

Am I the only one that thinks w1z's testing methods are fine the way they are now?

No. They are fine. People just need a reason to live. Some peoples reason is to bitch on the Internet. W1zz is just giving these sad souls a reason to live. Hes like a saint. Saint W1zzard.

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

No. They are fine. People just need a reason to live. Some peoples reason is to bitch on the Internet. W1zz is just giving these sad souls a reason to live. Hes like a saint. Saint W1zzard.

That's getting sigged.

[MxPhenom 216]

I would like to see this card go head to head against the GTX680 Lightning!

[radrok]

Originally Posted by nvidiaintelftw

I would like to see this card go head to head against the GTX680 Lightning!

Nah, you should compare the 680 lightning with the 7970 lightning, it makes more sense, especially because the lightning already uses cherry picked Tahiti which don't seem any different from the ones used in the "GHz" edition.

[raghu78]

Originally Posted by W1zzard

using those methods for all cards tested, would you say our performance summary, performance per dollar and performance per watt will still be valid, if all the cards in there are subject to different weight factors?

How to solve the 0.0 score issue on 5760x1080?

nvidia's architecture is weak at higher resolutions, so going from $350 to $349 (for example) will increase each nvidia's card "performance summary", just by making the card cheaper, not faster in real life. it will also affect "performance per dollar" more than $1 alone. thoughts on this?

Nvidia Surround does work in most of the games in your test suite except Dirt 3, Civilization V and Hard Reset. Also I am surprised that Dirt 3 does not run at 5760 x 1080. I don't know the difference in test scenarios but quiet a few reviews have run Dirt 3 at 5760 x 1080. so definitely a average for 5760 x 1080 should be calculated. the games which fail do not contribute to the average and so average perf at 5760 x 1080 will and should be affected.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6025/r...p-to-gtx-680/6

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-17.html

As for the classes the problems pointed can be handled as follows. But most products are launched at fixed price points like USD 549, USD 499, USD 449, USD 399, USD 349. All of these cards fall under the high end class. A USD 349 card can't get into a smaller class given that its too close to the higher class. Only a USD 329 or a USD 319 card can fit in the second class. similarly for the lower classes. A USD 199 card is the second class or midrange class. a USD 179 card can get into the third class of USD 100 - 200.

[entropy13]

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

Hes like a saint. Saint W1zzard.

Blasphemy! A practitioner of magic, called a saint???

[tacosRcool]

Why is everybody complaining about this card? Looks good to me! W1zzard should review a non reference one soon!

[raghu78]

Originally Posted by HellasVagabond

We are talking about overclocking Without losing your warranty, thus without upping voltages (something 90% of people don't do). In that case there's simply no way for an 7970 to beat an 680. Even the GHz edition performs worse than the 680 in several games, something which at least for me looks really bad since the GHz edition even comes with increased voltages. And then you have noise, power and temperatures which are very important to some people (i wish one day ATI fanboys decided if they care about those things, they ignored it before the 5xxx series, then they considered them important it when NV released GTX4xxx series and now they ignore them again).

Overclocking at stock voltage in AMD CCC is easy and straightforward. So there is no issue of warranty problems with that. Only overclocking using third party software allows above 1125 Mhz. And you have a choice to try and extract as much OC you can at stock voltage or go for extra voltage if you need. There are lots of users who hit 1150 Mhz - 1200 Mhz at stock volts, though thats not a guarantee.Here is an example of a very high OC (1220 Mhz) at stock voltage using MSI Afterburner.

http://hardocp.com/article/2012/02/0..._card_review/3


also custom cards are designed with good cooling solutions and maintain excellent temps with low noise. In the XFX HD 7970 DD Black edition review the XFX HD 7970 overclocked to 1125 Mhz increased temps by just 1c because all of that was at stock voltage.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5314/x...icustom-7970/6

I think you are confusing the HD 7970 to be a power guzzler like GTX 480 which ran extremely hot at above 90c and very loud. sorry to say you are badly mistaken.

[pantherx12]

Originally Posted by tacosRcool

Why is everybody complaining about this card? Looks good to me! W1zzard should review a non reference one soon!

He already has.

See the 7970 lightning review.

[Crap Daddy]

This launch has purely marketing reasons. It is the same 7970 that we had at the beginning of the year overclocked and overvolted. I really fail to see the logic behind this other than claim a performance crown by pimping a card that's already on the market.

What next? Nvidia will continue this childish competition by releasing a voltage unlocked GTX680 with out of the box Ghz plus 200 Mhz edition which will get back the 2% it lost now?

Last generation we had three cards above the 300$ mark, 570/580 and the 6970. (not counting dual) Now we have six?! AMD has gone from one to four? I thought we're in stagnation, recession whatever. Crisis, what crisis? Or should I say Crysis?

[D007]

Nice review as always Wiz..
I was suprised to see ATI being more power hungry and running at above 80c.. Usually their trade mark to go for lower consumption and lower heat..
It's a dam good card, seems to tie up the top tier imo..
Wonder how it is in 3d apps/cuda, etc..
Would be nice to see the "Ultra" version of the 6 series against the "ultra" version of the 7 series though..
Can't really claim the crown when that test has yet to be taken..

[Kaleid]

Too much fighting over cards few will actually buy.

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Kaleid

Too much fighting over cards few will actually buy.

People argue over sports teams, politics and religion. Few are rarely involved. Your point?

[D007]

Originally Posted by Kaleid

Too much fighting over cards few will actually buy.

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

People argue over sports teams, politics and religion. Few are rarely involved. Your point?

Hell I fight for being looked at wrong or even insinuations of it..lol.. What u wanna fight about it?!!

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by Kaleid

Too much fighting over cards few will actually buy.

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

People argue over sports teams, politics and religion. Few are rarely involved. Your point?

Originally Posted by D007

Hell I fight for being looked at wrong or even insinuations of it..lol.. What u wanna fight about it?!!

"Patty Tanager, the caddy manager. Yeah, it rhymes, big whoop! Wanna fight about it?"

[OneCool]

yawn!!

Where is the damn XT2 or XTX or XT pe WHATEVER THE HELL

[HellasVagabond]

Originally Posted by raghu78

Overclocking at stock voltage in AMD CCC is easy and straightforward. So there is no issue of warranty problems with that. Only overclocking using third party software allows above 1125 Mhz. And you have a choice to try and extract as much OC you can at stock voltage or go for extra voltage if you need. There are lots of users who hit 1150 Mhz - 1200 Mhz at stock volts, though thats not a guarantee.Here is an example of a very high OC (1220 Mhz) at stock voltage using MSI Afterburner.

http://hardocp.com/article/2012/02/0..._card_review/3


also custom cards are designed with good cooling solutions and maintain excellent temps with low noise. In the XFX HD 7970 DD Black edition review the XFX HD 7970 overclocked to 1125 Mhz increased temps by just 1c because all of that was at stock voltage.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5314/x...icustom-7970/6

I think you are confusing the HD 7970 to be a power guzzler like GTX 480 which ran extremely hot at above 90c and very loud. sorry to say you are badly mistaken.

Again you miss the point that even the 7970GHz edition with overvoltage and OC loses to the GTX 680 in several games and where it comes on top we are talking about a 3% increase at most. So i really don't know what you are trying to say. That Some people have OCed the 7970 more ? So what ? Some will have also OCed and GTX 680 more, again so what ? We are not looking for the exceptions, we are looking for the rule and the rule is that the 7970 at stock is no match for the GTX 680 at stock and the 7970GHz edition still falls behind the stock GTX 680 in several games so if one was to slightly OC the GTX 680 it would certainly beat the 7970GHz.
I am not saying that the 7970Ghz is a bad card but it's just an OCed 7970 and nothing more, hardly something for people to get excited for.