That's a load of crap on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. But a good place to start would be talking about an HD 7970 GHz instead of an HD 7970. Since there's a difference between the 2.
An RX 460 would be a substantial upgrade being about 89% as fast? Closest match? What are you smokin'? First, an RX 460 is 16% slower than an HD 7970. And 25% slower than an HD 7970 GHz. Which would be a subtantial DOWNGRADE in either case. Especially in the latter.
Take it up with Wizzard, he write the reviews ... ya did get me on the copy paste error ... I took a work phone call in middle of post, and while **correctly stated** the 89% I didnt go back and edit the pasted text from the above line (now corrected ... thx) editing the text. So the math stands on its on and confirms the point. The Ghz is simply a factory overclocked version of the original card... Slapping a new label on a card for marketing purposes doesn't change what it is; different components do.
before we go on, let's do some math...
100 (7970) - 89 (460) = 11% slower
125 (470) - 100 (7970) = 25% faster
So which on of those ***is closer*** to 100% ? 11% or 25 % ? ... (Hint: It's the smaller number) ... 89 is closer to 100 than 100 is to 125, so despite my tping, the 460 remains the "closest match" to the 7970.
Continuing with the math issues, the 460 is 11% slower .... 470 is, in fact, 25% **faster** than the 7970.
Or another way ... from original post
"The 7970 was therefore 94/88 or 1.068 times as fast as a 380.
The 470 is 1.333 times as fast as the 380"
The way it works is... 1.333 is a bigger number than 1.068 so that makes the 470 25% faster than the 7970 (1.333 / 1.068) = 1.248 924.8%)
Quoting from the "original article"
"AMD launches its newest graphics processor, the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, in a **desperate bid** ... The card itself doesn't look any different from the reference design Radeon HD 7970, right down to its PCB layout." Has same voltage controller too. So no, no way... its not a different card, just one overclocked at the factory with a "desperate bid" marketing gimmick.
Setting all that aside, lets put your "different card" theory to the test ...is it a real thing or a marketing gimmick ? Is the GHz Edition a new and different product or just another factory OC'd 7970 ? Again, from TPU reviews...
7970 Ghz Edition = 1050 MHz Core / 1500 MHz Memory
Sapphire 7970 (no Ghz edition) Toxic = 1100 - 1200 MH / 1500 - 1600 MHz
So wait ... is this difference between the two cards you were talking about intended to tell us that the Ghz is a different, slower card ? Because the numbers show that it is actually slowera non "Ghz Edition" AIB 7970.
So no, it's not a "different card".... It is what it is .... The Ghz edition was as quoted a marketing gimmick AMD did, as the article states: "in a desperate bid to reclaim the single-GPU performance crown from NVIDIA. " Here's the Ghz Edition compared against the plain ole non Ghz edition 7970 AIB card from Sapphire.
We see the 7970 at 89% ... we see a factory overclocked version of the 7970 "called the Toxic" at 106% and we see AMDs factory overclocked "Ghz Edition" version at 100%. MSI called their Twin Frozr card te BE (Boost Edition"
On top of that, are you aware that the MSI web site has no record of a "Ghz Edition Twin Frozr" Card ? I could find no mention of any MSI 7970 GHz Edition card other than the Lightning.... so it would appear, a "different card" does not exist, the only "load of crap" therefore is by your own making. Have to admit didn't give it much effort ... because it really doesn't matter again, cause a name does not a new card make ...there just is no "different card". If such an animal was ever actually made / marketed, you would think it would be easier to find on their web site. The did have a "Boost Edition" but so did everybody else have AIB 7970s with catchy names and factory Ocs ... none of which were "different cards", just factory overclocked like every other AIB Gaming series card with a catchy name. If i took a 1080 Ti and factory overclocked it to 1.6 GHz, would that and printing "1.6 Ghz Edition" on the box make it a different card ? Of course not. So if MSI were to replace the twin frozr card, they'd only be required to replace it with a current TwinFrozr card comparable to th twin Frozr 7970 BE that they sold. ....
News flash .... the MSI twin Frozer 7970 BE (**not** the GHz Edition) lists "1000MHz Core (Boost Clock:1050MHz)"..... So again, the different car theory falls flat. The regular 7970 AIB factory overclocked cards always were in effect "GHz Editions"..... slapping a name on a box does not make it a new card when the GPU and all PCB components remain unchanged. The 460 and 470 gaming series cards will also be factory overclocked ... but no, they also are not "different cards" .
In addition, the twin Frozr line of cards has a 3 year warranty ... for a 2013 card, it's likely past its warranty period