AMD Radeon HD 7970 Review: 28nm And Graphics Core Next, Together As One
by Ryan Smith on December 22, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- AMD
- Radeon
- ATI
- Radeon HD 7000
Batman: Arkham City
After a rocky launch last month, Rocksteady finally got their DirectX 11 problems sorted out for Batman: Arkham City earlier this month. Batman: Arkham City is loosely based on Unreal Engine 3, while the DirectX 11 functionality was apparently developed in-house. With the addition of these features Batman is far more a GPU demanding game than its predecessor was, particularly with tessellation cranked up to high.
At Extreme settings Batman is quite daunting for our entire GPU lineup at 2560. Nothing except the GTX 590 can crack 60fps, though the 7970 begins to come close at 52fps. Relative to NVIDIA’s lineup Batman ends up being one of the weaker games for the 7970, with the 7970 only taking an 18% lead over the GTX 580 at 2560. As for the 6970, the 7970 has another very strong showing opposite AMD’s previous generation, beating the 6970 by 44%.
At 1920 we’re still using Extreme settings and the story is much the same, though the 7970’s lead drops a bit more. Against the GTX 580 it’s now only 14% faster, and against the 6970 it’s 35% faster. Things do eventually pick up at 1680 when we back off to Very High settings and stop using MSAA, at which point the 7970 takes a surprising 32% lead over the GTX 580 while the lead over the 6970 jumps back up to 47%.
Looking at all of our cards it’s really the 5870 that tells the whole story. Tessellation plays a large factor in Batman’s performance, and as a result the partially tessellation-constrained 5870 absolutely struggles even at 1920. Consequently this is further proof that AMD was able to get a great deal of additional performance out of their geometry engines even with the 2 tringle/clock limit.
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tw99 - Thursday, December 22, 2011 - link
I just wanted to say thank you for including the 8800 GT in some of your benchmark charts. Even though its dated hardware, including it in your comparisons illustrates the punch that the newer hardware has and assists in decision making for people like myself looking to upgrade from their current setup, unlike most benchmarking articles on other sites that like to compare only the very recent generations, not taking consideration what people would have now.Leyawiin - Thursday, December 22, 2011 - link
I wonder if the Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo II I have sitting in the closet (and haven't ever used) would fit on one of these? Its compatible for up to an HD 6970 so I know it can cool one of these sufficiently (if the mounting holes match their old cards). Maybe I should wait to see what the HD 7950 is like - buying the top of the line card at launch usually isn't smart from a value standpoint.Leyawiin - Thursday, December 22, 2011 - link
Its all a moot point anyway. Damn "soft launch" not available for at least three weeks. Just a marketing ploy to keep people from buying Nvidia's top cards at the moment. If you aren't ready to sell your cards, keep your mouth shut.james.jwb - Thursday, December 22, 2011 - link
I have an Arctic Cooling Extreme Plus II on a 6970 and wouldn't use the lower sized versions. But Im also interest to know if it'll fit the 7970. But in all honesty, until these prices come down I won't go near this card, the performance increases just aren't worth it for most people.Dark Man - Thursday, December 22, 2011 - link
It looks like page 7 and 8 got the same content ?Dark Man - Thursday, December 22, 2011 - link
Sorry, page 8 and 9Dark Man - Thursday, December 22, 2011 - link
Page 13 and 14, tooRyan Smith - Thursday, December 22, 2011 - link
We added a couple of pages this morning; you're probably seeing the cascade effect of the rest of the pages being pushed back.evilspoons - Thursday, December 22, 2011 - link
I'd just like to say that I found this review harder to read than the usual stuff on Anandtech. Everything seemed wordy - if there was an opportunity to use a sentence instead of a word, the sentence was used.Good job on the comprehensive information, but trim the fat off the writing next time, please!
RussianSensation - Thursday, December 22, 2011 - link
Even if it's a 6 months lead, 2012 is so far looking like a year full of console ports. We have Syndicate (February 21, 2012), then Mass Effect 3, Max Payne 3 (both on March 6). Those games will get crushed by modern GPUs. HD7970 is an amazing buy for those who are building a new system now/soon and planned to spend $500+ on a GPU. But for current GPU owners, it's not enough of a performance boost imho. And on its own, it's still not fast enough for 2560x1600 either. It's a good card, but since modern GPU generations last 18-24 months, it's too early to call it great.