AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Review - willinghammandked81

AMD shipped its original Radeon HD 7970 in December 2022, and for a brief catamenia, this 4.3-billion-transistor colossus held the artwork performance crown. Several months later, Nvidia launched the GTX 680, a power-efficient nontextual matter card that retook the time slot as the best unity GPU card for gaming.

In some shipway, though, the GTX 680 is an curious beast. Nvidia has been loath to supply what's called GPU compute performance, and it's been suggested that Nvidia deemphasized the work out functioning in search of gambling performance glory. The latest GTX 680 drivers don't put up OpenCL 1.2 (more on that late), though you can still run along Nvidia's possess CUDA model for GPU compute.

That's proved a skillful product strategy, but now we're starting to insure a new generation of games that integrate GPU compute features into the game, either victimization DirectCompute or OpenCL. We'll get a load at a couple of these games later. For now, let's run down the key differences betwixt the original and the new circuit board.

Feature	Radeon HD 7970	Radeon 7970 GHz Edition
Graphics Cores	2048	2048
Texture Units	128	128
ROPs	32	32
Base Clock Frequency	925 Megahertz	1006 Megacycle
Boost Clock Frequency	NA	1050 MHz
Memory (Frequency)	3GB GDDR5 (1376 MHz)	3GB GDDR5 (1500 MHz)
Memory Interface	384-bit	384-bit
Transistor Look	4.3 billion	4.3 billion
Display Connectors	1 x Dual Connect DVI, 1 x HDMI 1.4a (Fast), 2 x mini-DisplayPort 1.2	2 x Dual Link DVI, 1 x HDMI 1.4a (Fast), 2 x mini-DisplayPort 1.2
Power Connectors	1 x 8-immobilise, 1 x 6-oarlock PCIe	1 x 8-tholepin, 1 x 6-immobilise PCIe
Thermal Design Index (TDP)	250W	250W

AMD claims the sum time boost from 925MHz to 1GHz is due to bettor understanding of the manufacturing process and a a few tweaks to that sue. The reference card has a sticker on the book binding tagged "Rev 02", though that believably refers to the card every bit a whole. Since a number of AMD partners already ship cards running in excess of 1GHz, formally supporting that clock rush ISN't a surprise.

AMD is also building the new adaptation with faster memory—the same 6GHz effective memory that Nvidia uses on the GTX 680. But possibly near gripping is the new "boost time"—something that Nvidia implemented in the GTX 680. AMD tweaked its PowerTune technology, which manages the power envelope of the card, to grant for slightly higher meat clock speeds if power demands aren't too high.

It's pretty undecomposable: AMD simply added new P-states to PowerTune to allow for higher clock rates for short periods of clock, when needed.

The Test System

Every our performance and power tests were run on our standard graphics test system:

Intel Core i7-3960X @ 3.3GHz
Asus P9X79 rich motherboard
Intel RT2011 sealed liquid CPU cooler
16GB Barbary pirate DDR-1600 memory (quad-transfer)
Corsair AX1200 ability supply
1TB Seagate 7200.12 HDD
Asus Blu-ray reader / DVD writer
Corsair Black lead 600T case

The system was non overclocked. A Isaac Watts Ascending In favor of USB power meter collected the system power data. All the game tests are reportable at 2560 x 1600 picture element resolution with 4x multisampling antialiasing enabled.

Power Draw

The computer architecture hasn't altered, and the AMD reference calling card looks most selfsame, conservative down to the display connectors and fan. However, PowerTune Boost, the higher core clock speed, and the faster memory does come at a cost—while idle power is in reality a little better than the original, at 120W (versus 124W for the first Radeon HD 7970), instinct loading power is a whopping 384W, over 18 percent higher than the 324W maximum power draw on the original HD 7970. The GTX is more power-efficient than either posting, at 119W dead and 318W under load. Note that the HD 7970 GHz Edition smooth uses the identical power connectors as the first 7970—one 8-pin PCIe top executive connecter and unitary 6-pin connective. The new AMD offspring is the same 11-edge length as the seminal; some are a half-inch longer than the GTX 680.

These are power ratings for a scheme with a 1200W PSU.

What this also substance is that the card may be louder, dependant on the chilling organisation design. Certainly the reference GHz Edition card is noisier under replete load than the original HD 7970.

Given the exact case and engine cooling system, though, noise can be mitigated moderately. How does the card peform? We ran done a number of our standard synthetic and brave benchmarks, plus a pair of revolutionary game tests, which shuffling heavier use of GPU compute.

The 3DMarks

Nvidia's GTX 680 has an stunning tessellation engine, which is reflected in the 3DMark 2022 score. That's the one benchmark that demonstrated a significant advantage for the GTX 680. The 3DMark Vantage test uses DirectX 10, and then it's a finisher race in that bench mark.

Game Performance

But it is game performance that's important here, so let's see how our suite of games runs on the three GPUs. First, we'll reckon at the older tests, which aren't as GPU-compute-compact.

The underivative 7970 has a thin edge o'er the GTX 680 in Crysis 2. The GHz Edition Radeon opens up a bigger extend.

The GTX 680 had a strong lead over the original HD 7970, but the Gc Edition 7970 wins outgoing.

In Subway 2033, the ii Radeons have little conflict, but the GTX 680 seems to lag in this game screen.

The faster memory, wider computer storage bus, and higher core clocks give the new GHz Edition 7970 a big promote in DiRT 3.

The newer Radeon performs noticeably bettor than the original, and outpaces the GTX 680 as well. And then the high core time and quicker memory (combined with the 384-second memory user interface) assistanc substantially.

Straightaway LET's address a duad of newer game titles that make heavier use of GPU compute. Sniper Elite V2 uses supersampling asset DirectCompute accelerated antialiasing. DirectCompute is also used for high-dynamic-set out ambient stoppage shadow effects and profoundness-of-field calculations. DiRT Face-of is the first game shipped to usance global illumination, plus other late lighting techniques.

Here, the differences are more dramatic work. AMD's concentrate on building a GPU that performs well in some art and GPU compute seems to take up freelance off. Note that we didn't test GPU cipher heavily, but IT's worth noting that the latest version of Winzip, Winzip 16.5, offers an option to enable OpenCL GPU quickening to compress files. It does make a difference—an 8GB folder took about 10 percent less time. However, this option doesn't appear when a GTX 680 is installed, even with the latest 304.48 beta drivers.

Final exam Thoughts

Competition is great for consumers. AMD wish be shipping the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition in the next couple of weeks, at just about $499—$100 cheaper than the original and in the same price ballpark as the GTX 680. On a purely operation basis, the new Radeon wins out over the GTX 680, albeit with a hefty business leader hit. However, the GTX 680 is quieter, consumes inferior power, and is more compact. That may affect your choice. But if you're looking for the fastest azygous GPU card available, AMD seems to accept retaken the crown.