Great Buy or But Acceptable for the Price?

There's no denying the Radeon HD 7970 has earned its status as the earth's fastest single-GPU card. AMD's new flagship offers huge performance gains over the Hd 6970 -- a tad over xl% in the dozen games nosotros tested. That's a significant boost compared to past generational improvements nosotros had seen more recently.

Unfortunately for consumers, AMD plans to charge quite handsomely for the Hard disk drive 7970'due south pixel-crunching prowess. When it replaced the HD 5870, the 6970 delivered 24% more performance and it only cost ~10% extra. At $549, yet, the HD 7970 is priced 60% college than the HD 6970 despite offer "only" 42% more speed.

Naturally, that means the Hard disk 7970 doesn't provide gamers with the aforementioned value equally the 6970 -- all the same, anyhow. Although it's pricey, the HD 7970 strikes somewhat of a balance in AMD'due south premium lineup when you compare it to the HD 6990. The dual-GPU card was 17% faster while costing 27% more and consuming 30% more power.

The HD 7970 might not deliver the aforementioned bang for your buck proffer as AMD'southward previous generation flagship cards, just it has secured the functioning crown for the time being. Based on the dozen games that we tested, the Hd 7970 was 17% faster than the GeForce GTX 580 at 2560x1600 and only fourteen% slower than the GTX 590.

This actually makes the HD 7970 a better value alternative to the GTX 580 as information technology provides 22% more operation while costing ~10% extra. AMD's new arrival likewise consumes much less ability across the board. Before you go all hot and bothered, the GTX 580 is however valid in our eyes (22% slower is a mere 9fps on average).

Because this is a soft launch you'll have to wait until January nine to even have the possibility to get your hands on an HD 7970. Early on 2022 should also bring the dual-GPU Hard disk drive 7990 (codenamed New Zealand) along with the Hard disk drive 7950 (codenamed Tahiti Pro), which is a more affordable version of what we've seen here today. Information technology's also quite possible we'll hear something more physical about Nvidia'south plans by the time CES hits the second week of January. Hang tight until and then.

Pros: First-class gaming, true next-gen operation on a single GPU. 22% advantage over GTX 580, over twoscore% over previous-gen Radeon. Good power consumption, especially at idle.

Cons: Not the best value, priced similar other very high-end graphics cards. GCN means cipher to gamers.