AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Review: Battling For The Performance Crown
by Ryan Smith on June 22, 2012 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- AMD
- GCN
- Radeon HD 7000
Crysis: Warhead
Kicking things off as always is Crysis: Warhead. It’s no longer the toughest game in our benchmark suite, but it’s still a technically complex game that has proven to be a very consistent benchmark. Thus even four years since the release of the original Crysis, “but can it run Crysis?” is still an important question, and the answer continues to be “no.” While we’re closer than ever, full Enthusiast settings at a 60fps is still beyond the grasp of a single-GPU card.
Since the launch of the GTX 680 it’s been clear that Crysis is a game that favors AMD’s products and this is no clearer than with the 7970GE. AMD was already handily beating the GTX 680 here, most likely due to the GTX 680’s more limited memory bandwidth – so the faster 7970GE widens that gap even further. The 7970GE is a full 25% faster than the GTX 680 here at 2560 and is extremely close to hitting 60fps at 1920, which given Crysis’s graphically demanding nature is quite incredible, and for all practical purposes puts the 7970GE in its own category. Obviously this is one of AMD’s best games, but it’s solid proof that the 7970GE can really trounce the GTX 680 in the right situation.
As for the 7970GE versus the 7970, this is a much more straightforward comparison. We aren’t seeing the full extent of the 7970GE’s clockspeed advantage over the 7970 here, but the 7970GE is still at the lower bounds of its theoretical performance advantage over its lower clocked sibling with a gain of 8% at 2560. The 7970GE is priced some 16% higher than the 7970 so the performance gains aren’t going to keep pace with the price increases, but this is nothing new for flagship cards.
When it comes to minimum framerates the 7970GE further expands its lead. It’s now 35% faster than the GTX 680 (and just short of 30fps) at 2560, which neatly wraps up the 7970GE’s domination in Crysis. Even its performance lead versus the 7970 improves, with the 7970GE increasing its lead to 13%. A year ago NVIDIA and AMD were roughly tied with Crysis, but now AMD has clearly made it their game. So can it run Crysis? Yes, and a lot better than the GTX 680 can.
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AnnihilatorX - Friday, June 22, 2012 - link
"All the same AMD has also boosted their memory clocks from 5.5GHz to 6GHz, which will give the card 9% more memory bandwidth with it needs it."=>
"when it needs it"
raghu78 - Friday, June 22, 2012 - link
RyanAs you mentioned Dirt Showdown will take the place of Dirt 3 in your test suite I would like to make a suggestion that a few more games be changed. Max Payne 3 and Alan Wake are good changes. Maybe Crysis Warhead could be replaced by Alan Wake and Portal 2 by Max Payne 3. Another very demanding game which could find a place is Witcher 2 Enhanced edition. Focusing on games released in the last 12 months in your test suite helps prospective buyers / gamers decide based on performance on recent titles which they will most probably be playing.
HighTech4US - Friday, June 22, 2012 - link
You are showing the OCed version of the 7970e in comparison to the stock GTX680.For fairness the stock GTX680 should be Overclocked also.
kyuu - Friday, June 22, 2012 - link
There's nothing fair or unfair about overclocking. Why do people bring this up every time there's one of these articles...CeriseCogburn - Saturday, June 23, 2012 - link
Good to hear it this time, as all the prior moaning has been amd fans wailing that the 680 core is already overclocked out of the box !L M H O
I just want to see the 470, 480, 570, and 580 at the equivalent radeon clocks for those series, and see amd get SPANKED even more in those series.... to be fair, of course....
Yes, thanks so much for saying "you guys always say it" - no - it's not "you guys" - it's the amd fan boys !
This time they didn't moan and complain about fairness, because amd got beat anyway, and they wouldn't if it won, which it did not, I must point out, feeling the overwhelming need to state, again, and again.
This sums it up well: AMD loses, as usual
seapeople - Friday, June 22, 2012 - link
They're also comparing the OCed version of the 7970e to the stock 7970e. That seems unfair to me. To be fair, you should only compare the OCed 7970e to itself, the OCed 7970e.Arbie - Friday, June 22, 2012 - link
It's probably too late now, but there were at least three more places where you could have used "performance crown" in the opening paragraphs.
CeriseCogburn - Saturday, June 23, 2012 - link
Amd LIED, with their false advertising about this card - their hot loud slow housefire...Amd is an evil corporate monster who lies to the little children they sell their products to (and to soccer Mommies who actually pay the card price to keep the lies going - granted they pay less than Abu Dhabi oil sheiks)
Wreckage - Friday, June 22, 2012 - link
Another successful paperlaunchI'm not sure why they could not wait until they had actual product available.
behrouz - Friday, June 22, 2012 - link
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition = $499AMD Radeon HD 7970 = $549 ? or $449 ?