The AMD Radeon HD 7970 Review Thread

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caveman-jim

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Rage3D's review is unfortunately delayed due to system problems. We're hoping to bring you our review before the end of the week, if the holiday season doesn't mess up schedules too much. Tonight, you may be able to read an article about Tahiti by us, however... :D

Two words from my testing so far: Speeed. Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!

Post reviews links and thoughts in this thread!

VRZone jumped the gun and published already - http://vr-zone.com/

Kitguru- http://www.kitguru.net/?p=70903
Anandtech - http://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review
PCPerspective - http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/AMD-Radeon-HD-7970-3GB-Graphics-Card-Review-Tahiti-28nm
TechPowerUp - http://tpu.me/68S3JE8
Guru3d - http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/
HardwareCanucks - http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...iews/49646-amd-radeon-hd-7970-3gb-review.html
HardOCP - http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/12/21/amd_radeon_hd_7970_video_card_review
tested.com - http://www.tested.com/news/tested-amd-radeon-hd-7970-video-card-benchmarks/3328/
hothardware - http://hothardware.com/News/AMD-Radeon-HD-7970--New-3D-Graphics-Performance-King-Takes-Throne
neoseeker - http://neo.ly/sOlrHP
hardware heaven - http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...rossfire-performance-review-introduction.html
 
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A quick quote from VRzone...
The overclocking potential of the Radeon HD 7970 has been much vaunted in the recent leaks and it certainly didn't disappoint. Even without any software or hardware voltage mods, we managed to bring the CPU core from the default 925MHz up to the maximum 1125MHz that CCC would allow. We also turned memory up to 1500MHz and Power Control to +20% to prevent throttling.
Click to expand...

new OC king in town. :D
 
Seems that it's in triple monitor where it really shines the most according to hard OCP, and i finally found out what DX11.1 is about with regards to new features, and it's making stereo 3D part of the specification, meaning easier for developers to support 3D glasses while developing the game and it not being an afterthought anymore, but DX11.1 is still only slated for sometime in 2012 with th release of windows 8, so it's a moot point for the HD7970...



It hard to judge yet, but i think overall that the card will get faster still with more mature drivers, and the big bonus is how the damn thing overclocks even with the stock cooler, never mind me water cooling the cards, wich in my case, makes heat and noise mesurements a moot point, though it is nice that at default, it actually uses less power than the GTX580 at idle and load...Overall it is a very efficient card on many aspects.


Now Kepler has to match the performance of the dual GPU GTX590 cards to be worth the wait to be honest...Just barely edging out the HD7970 won't cut it if it's still a ways out...
 
I'm a bit disappointed that they still cannot reach Nvidia's AF in terms of shimmering. There has been progress, the AF-bug has been "fixed", but not to the extent I was expecting.
 
Sasquach said:
This card is beast....

Makes my 5870 look like a slow POS :cry:
Click to expand...

It's amazing how a single 7970 can do 5760x1200 games with AA/AF in some games no sweat...

EDIT: The 7970 was reminds me of the GTX 480...GTX 480 was the new arch, but the 5870 was able to keep up with GTX 480 and sometimes it was closer to the GTX 480 in some games due to the GPGPU. So this is the same sitauation what did 7970 performs in the games. Maybe refresh 7970 would do the same thing like GTX 580.
 
Looks like a solid card. I'm genuinely happy for them.

AMD makes great hardware, but their drivers steer me away every time. FWIW, I'll take lower performance for better software.
 
Seeing all of these reviews makes me so glad I bought these two 6870's not too long ago. Got them for $170 AUD each, and they appear to match or better even the new 7970 in a lot of cases. Man am I one happy camper - just wish I had 2gb on each card!!
 
Soft launch?

No Crossfire Benchmarks?

:cry:

nVidia has a card coming out when then? Hopefully it'll drive the 7970 down in price. Question is, will I have the patience? I normally don't.
 
Perky McGiggles said:
AMD makes great hardware, but their drivers steer me away every time. FWIW, I'll take lower performance for better software.
Click to expand...
This is the single most tiring thing posted on video card forums. Ugh.

I'll give the 7970 8/10, great but not kick in the crotch to the competitors great. With the inevitable driver improvements, will probably get to that point. Your move green goblin.
 
Impressive really. Here is what I think:

Pros:
- Definitive upgrade from my 2 year old 5870 but that also means upgrading my whole system (Mobo, CPU, RAM).
- Twice as fast as the 5870 1GB.
- Awesome power usage.
- Impressive improvement on tessellation engine when compared to the 6970.
- Good overclocking headroom when considering the stock cooler.

Cons:
- No major new graphics technology introduced (AA and AF wise).
- No Physx or anything similar to physics simulation. When looking at Batman AC, even though not many a game, still is impressive to have the effect. I used to ignore Physx but now, I think AMD has taken too long to board the boat or introduce an alternative.
- Stock cooler has a lot to be desired, especially with the noise level reaching 42 dB.
- The Q4 games released had a lot of driver issues with AMD and they were slow to react (now I am not comparing to nVidia, since I have no clue about their drivers) and so the case still is an issue of drivers lagging considerably behind the hardware.

Overall:
- Impressed but will wait and see what nVidia has to offer this time around.
 
Looking at the outputs the reference version wont do. Why they don't put 3 of the same type of outputs makes no sense to me. Will be interesting if NV does do the around 380 price drop for the GTX 580 as that may just affect the 7970 pricing. Going to have to pass on the 7970 and wait for 7990 or whatever NV has.
 
Seen some reviews, and this thing is insane. Superfast. Good job AMD! If only your CPUs could learn a thing or two from your GPUs.

However, this is too expensive for me, so not a card that I can buy. I hope the 7950 is much cheaper :)
 
I thought it might have been a touch faster, but I guess its a healthy upgrade over my current 5870, so I may have a look at one in Jan, though ill see what the prices are like first. I don't usually buy cards that are over £300, thats usually my limit.
 
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