XFX’s Radeon HD 7970 Black Edition Double Dissipation: The First Semi-Custom 7970
by Ryan Smith on January 9, 2012 6:00 AM ESTGame Performance: Crysis, Metro, DiRT, Shogun, & Batman
As the 7970 BEDD is a factory overclocked card it has a leg up in performance on the reference 7970, with the specific advantage depending on the game and whether it benefits more from the 8% core overclock or the 4% RAM overclock. Since this is architecturally identical to the reference 7970 we won’t make any drawn out conclusions, but it’s easy enough to see the benefits of higher clockspeeds on a 7970 card.
The BEDD leads the reference 7970 by about 4% in Crysis, more closely trending the memory clockspeed difference than the core clockspeed difference.
With Metro the story is similar; at 2560 we’re seeing a 4% gain. At 1920 however that gain is closer to 8%, which may mean Metro is teetering on being memory bandwidth limited at the highest resolutions.
DiRT 3’s performance gains almost strictly mirror the increase in the core clock, if not lead it by a bit. For this reason DiRT 3 is clearly the most GPU limited title in our lineup, and the title to benefit the most from XFX’s factory overclock.
Shogun is much like Metro: around 4% at 2560, and around 8% at 1920, indicating that it too may be reaching the limits of the 7970’s memory bandwidth.
Batman meanwhile is far more consistent. The gains from XFX’s overclock are just under 4%, almost exactly matching the memory bandwidth difference.
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radium69 - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
Maybe it's me, but this looks VERY classy!Not gimmicky and plasticky but very tight and sexy!
I'm going to keep an eye out for this card. hope they stick more with the allumium design.
RubyX - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
Couldn't you fix the idle noise issue by just changing the fan speed via software? Or is that not possible with this card for some reason?Ryan Smith - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
The lowest fan speed with AMD's fan profile is 20%, which is where it already settles to at idle. It's not possible to go below 20% right now, hence 43dB really is as quiet as the DD cooler can get.dj christian - Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - link
Well i can go to 0% in MSI Afterburner. But the fan never stops no matter how low you put itRyan Smith - Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - link
Afterburner is just a frontend to Overdrive in this case. It can't take the fan any lower than Overdrive will allow, and that's 20%.james.jwb - Thursday, January 12, 2012 - link
what about speedfan?cactusdog - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
I'm going to wait for a better quality non-reference cooler like the Asus DCUII, MSI Twin Frosr, Sapphire vapourX, Gigabyte Windforce.If you can hear the card at idle that is a disaster, especially when it costs $60 more
LB-ID - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
I completely agree. Sapphire's VaporX cards have spoiled me, I won't settle for less as far as acoustic management is concerned.Artifex28 - Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - link
Got lucky year back or so and got a VaporX 5870 instead of my original 5850. Can´t complain. Excellent card!In my case it´s an external HDD fan that makes the most noise and this pulsating hum...
piroroadkill - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
I agree that it is pathetic you can hear it at idle, especially given ATI's massive gains in the areas of idle power. Massive gains.I use a custom fan curve through MSI Afterburner on my Radeon 6950 Twin Frozr III, and it is simply inaudible at idle.