XFX’s Radeon HD 7970 Black Edition Double Dissipation: The First Semi-Custom 7970
by Ryan Smith on January 9, 2012 6:00 AM ESTFinal Words
Being the first mover in any market has its advantages, and this is especially true for XFX’s Radeon HD 7970 Black Edition Double Dissipation. While there’s nothing here we haven’t seen in the past on other video cards – a custom cooler and a moderate factory overclock – for the time being XFX is the only vendor offering either of those. Not surprisingly the Black Edition Double Dissipation appears to have sold out over at Newegg before our NDA even expired.
At this point in time XFX’s biggest advantage is that they’re the only vendor offering an open air cooler. There are obvious tradeoffs in these designs and it’s definitely not suited for everyone, but for cases that can handle the heat load of an open air cooler, XFX’s Double Dissipation cooler makes the resulting card significantly quieter than the reference design under load, offering the performance of a 7970 with less noise than any current high-end card. The only thorn in XFX’s side here is that their idle noise is a bit high, something I suspect they’ll fix on their first fully custom card when they can program in a more fitting fan profile.
Meanwhile XFX’s factory overclock gives the Black Edition Double Dissipation a distinct edge over the reference 7970 and any cards at similar clockspeeds, but I don’t believe this is as a significant advantage for the Black Edition Double Dissipation as its cooler. There’s plenty of evidence that most if not all 7970s can reach XFX’s factory overclock, so you’re effectively paying for the privilege of having those speeds pre-burnt into the BIOS. Not that there isn’t a place for a factory overclock, but unless you’re absolutely sheepish about doing it yourself, there’s probably nothing here you can’t do on your own. At best an argument can be made that by grabbing a pre-binned card you can expect a better aftermarket overclock – and you’ll absolutely want to do some overclocking of your own as we were able to get another 125MHz out of our sample.
Of course XFX isn’t giving this away for free – the Black Edition Double Dissipation comes at a $50 premium making it a $599 card, and the notable absence of the active miniDP to SL-DVI adaptor means you’d need to shell out another $25 to build a kit at parity to most other vendors' 7970 kits. Nevertheless XFX has generally earned their price premium. If you were satisfied with the reference 7970’s performance for its price, then the Black Edition Double Dissipation is not far off that curve, though at the end of the day it’s a factory overclocked card and you are definitely paying a premium for that.
With that said, if you’re looking to save a buck we’d suggest keeping your eyes open for the non-Black Edition version of the Double Dissipation card in the future. Without the factory overclock it should be a bit cheaper than the Black Edition, conferring the same advantages of the open air cooler without quite the price premium.
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piroroadkill - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
The overclocking scales amazingly, and without increasing voltage.Soon we'll see some great coolers, and some high clocks.
NVIDIA has their work cut out...
Beenthere - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
The kiddies won't be able to get that $600 out of their pockets fast enough. It's like crack for a crackhead. :)imaheadcase - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
It would take a fanboy to buy a card that is less than %6 faster than a GTX 580 and $200 more.piroroadkill - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
Not really. It overclocks like crazy, uses less power while doing it, and has an updated feature set.Not to mention the increased VRAM. I've seen my 6950 use 1.6GB while playing Skyrim with custom texture packs, where there the 580 would be hitting the limits.
If you're running an assload of screens at once, you really, really could use the extra VRAM.
piroroadkill - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
Further to this, if you own a GTX580, it means you wanted the fastest single GPU card without caring about the cost to start with - a GTX580 looks like bad value compared to getting a 6950 2GB, unlocking it 6970 and then applying mild overclocks.Point is, some people want the best there is. This is without doubt the best single GPU card there is.
Revdarian - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
Less than 6% faster than a 580? 200$ more?Which benchmarks are you seeing? because it is obvious that you aren't looking at the ones on this article.
Crysis Warhead is 31% faster on average.
Metro2033 is 36% faster.
Dirt3 is 32% faster
Shogun is 34% faster
Batman is 22%
Portal 2 is 17% faster with SSAA
BF3 is 20% faster
And all that is without the other overclock that adds up to exactly 11% better across the board (multiplicative, so all those other scores, multiply by 1.11 and you get the proper scaling)
34.41; 39; 35; 37; 24; 19; 22
And as for 200$ more, please link a retail 3GB 580 for 400$ as plenty of peeps would be interested on it, and since this Black Edition isnt really worth the premium as the standard ones are able to get the same clocks if a bit louder, then try to link a 350$ 3GB 580.
imaheadcase - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
1.5 gigs GTX 580 are about $400-450 now with rebates.Vram is a non-issue for %99 of games so that point is moot.
People don't care about powering savings or draw in a gaming card, if you do you can't afford it.
Most people who get a high end card don't overclock it. Maybe THIS card, but majority of people buy reference cards.
%6 is being to generous..what i meant to say 6 FPS on average.
Point still stands correct. :P
imaheadcase - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
Point is, people buy gaming cards not for minor increases, even if you can afford the best even by a small UNNOTICEABLE gain.Revdarian - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
Dude the second you said that 6% is being too generous you showed a total lack of Math understanding, as i said from the numbers in this review the lowest increase was around 17% and it usually hovered towards 30% and higher, those are significant numbers if you understood math.BTW this card isn't meant for low resolutions/low settings, so hmm yeah, of course that in low resolutions and settings the VRAM won't matter, but then again, you are bringing a cannon to a gun fight, totally overkill, so no, your post does not stand correct at all.
piroroadkill - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
No, your point doesn't stand. VRAM does matter, especially on multi-monitor setups.Also, in some cases, the 7970 is quite a lot faster than the 580.
I would say you're being a fanboy by saying faster card? Why would you need a faster card.
A 580 should be enough for anyone!
It's called progress, and for some, it doesn't matter what the cost is.